What HVAC shops need from estimating software
HVAC estimating splits into two jobs, and most tools are only good at one of them.
Repair pricing on service calls. The tech diagnoses a failed capacitor, a weak inducer motor or a clogged condensate line and needs a price the customer will accept on the spot. A flat-rate pricebook handles this: each task carries labor time, parts and your markup, and the tech picks it from the tablet. The pricebook has to be easy to update, because when your distributor raises motor prices you want every task that uses that motor to reprice without anyone touching 40 entries.
Replacement proposals. A system changeout is a sales conversation. The homeowner wants choices, and three options let them compare your systems with each other instead of with the other contractor's bid. A good proposal shows:
- Three systems side by side, with the same pad, line set, thermostat, permit and haul-away so the comparison is honest
- Efficiency, warranty length and comfort features for each
- A monthly financing payment next to each price
- Optional add-ons the customer can tick, like a media filter, UV light or extended labor warranty
- An e-signature and a deposit request, so a yes turns into a booked install before you leave the kitchen table
Sizing comes before any of this. Estimating software builds the price; it doesn't replace a Manual J load calculation. Quote three options around the wrong tonnage and you've just sold the wrong system three ways.
Labor is the other half of a flat-rate price. If your pricebook assumes 1.5 hours for a blower motor and your techs average 2.5, every one of those calls loses money at a price the customer thought was fair. Pick a tool that lets you compare the hours on the task with the hours on the timecard, or at least export both so you can check a few times a year. Pricebooks drift, and nobody notices until margins slide.
Equipment cost tracking is the piece shops forget. If a proposal from March is still open in June, check whether equipment prices changed in between. Tools that build proposals from the pricebook catch that. Tools where you typed the prices by hand don't.
How the picks compare
Housecall Pro is the most complete for a 2 to 8 tech shop at a published price. You need MAX for the proposal tool, so budget $299/mo billed annually, not the $149 Essentials plan that only covers flat-rate repairs.
ServiceTitan goes further when replacements are a big share of revenue and someone's job is closing them. Its value is in the follow-through: tracking unsold estimates, tying memberships to proposal prices and reporting close rates by salesperson. If nobody in your shop is going to read those reports, you're paying for them anyway.
Jobber is the pick for an owner who sells replacements himself and mostly needs proposals that look professional and chase the customer automatically. It's the weakest of the three on repair pricing.
FieldEdge and Profit Rhino solve the pricebook problem from different angles. FieldEdge gives you a whole system built around flat rate. Profit Rhino gives you the content and the presentation tool and lets you keep the system you have.
Workiz is here because it's a reasonable choice for repair-heavy shops that care more about tracking calls than selling systems.
For trades beyond HVAC, our guide to estimating software for contractors covers takeoff tools and quoting apps for every trade we review.
What to look for before you sign
- Ask what the pricebook ships with. An empty pricebook is weeks of evenings. Ask whether HVAC tasks come preloaded, what the content add-on costs and how often it updates.
- Build one real replacement proposal in the trial. Use a job you quoted last month and see how long it takes to get three options, financing and a signature line onto one screen.
- Check how equipment costs update. Can you import a distributor price file, or are you editing each item by hand?
- Look at the financing fine print. Who's the lender, what does each transaction cost you, what are the minimum job sizes and eligibility rules?
- Confirm deposits work from the signed proposal. A signed proposal with no deposit is a maybe.
- See how unsold estimates are tracked. You want a list of open proposals by age and value, not a search box.
- Check offline use. Kitchen-table proposals happen in basements and rural houses with one bar of signal.
What it costs
Estimating features usually live inside a field service plan, so the real question is which plan includes the parts you need. Prices are as of October 2026, billed annually.
| Shop size |
Housecall Pro (proposals on MAX) |
Jobber (options on Grow) |
ServiceTitan |
| 1 user |
MAX $299/mo (Basic $59 has no proposal tool) |
Grow $149/mo |
Rarely sold at this size |
| 5 users |
MAX $299/mo |
Grow $229/mo |
Third-party est. $1,225 to $2,500/mo |
| 15 users |
MAX plus 7 users at $35, about $544/mo |
Grow $399/mo |
Third-party est. $3,675 to $7,500/mo |
ServiceTitan figures multiply a third-party range of $245 to $500 per tech per month and leave out implementation and Pricebook Pro; none of it is published by the vendor. FieldEdge, Profit Rhino and Workiz are quote only or don't publish prices on their main pages.
Add financing cost to the math. At 3.9% per financed transaction on Jobber's Wisetack offer, ten $11,000 replacements a month carry about $4,290 in financing fees, which is more than any software plan on this page.
