The flat rate book used to be a binder in the truck, and the binder had two problems: it was built on someone else's costs and it was out of date the day wages moved. Flat rate pricing software fixes both if it is built from your rate and your task times and updates every technician's phone when you change a number. This page is for the owner of a US HVAC contracting business asking what HVAC flat rate pricing software has to do, what separates it from a generic flat rate software product, and how the HVAC pricing app on the phone turns the book into a sale.
HVAC flat rate software must be built from your rate
The first question for any flat rate software is where the prices come from. If the answer is a national database, the prices are an average of other people's costs. The right answer is that you enter your loaded labor rate, your overhead per billable hour and your profit target, and the software builds every task price from them. The labor rate calculator on this site works that rate; whatever software you choose should accept it as the input.
Task times you can edit and a parts markup that slides
The book is a list of tasks with hours and parts. The software should let you edit any task's time, apply a sliding markup so cheap parts carry more and expensive parts less, and rebuild every price when the rate changes. HVAC flat rate software that locks the task list or the markup is a binder with a login.
The HVAC pricing app at the unit
The book only earns money when the technician opens it in front of the customer. The pricing app should find a task in two taps, present the repair as good, better and best options built from the same book, and pass the approved option straight to the ticket and the invoice. Judge it on a phone, offline, in a basement.
One change, every truck
When the billing rate moves, every technician's book should move at once. Ask the vendor how a price change propagates and how long it takes, and ask to see the version history so a disputed price can be traced to the book in force that day.
What flat rate pricing software costs
Flat rate books are usually a module inside a broader product priced per user, sometimes with a separate price book fee. Jobber lists Core at $49 per month for one user and $29 per month for each additional user; Housecall Pro lists Basic at $79 per month for one user. Count every technician who will carry the book. CoilDesk Pro is $29 per month for the whole crew, and the rate and task arithmetic is free on this site.
Questions people ask about hvac flat rate pricing software
Can we build a flat rate book in a spreadsheet?
Yes, and the arithmetic on this site does the hard part. The spreadsheet fails on the phone and on updating six trucks at once; that is what the software is for.
Should HVAC flat rate pricing software include a national price database?
Only as a starting point for task times. Prices should always be built from your rate, or the margin is someone else's.
How do we get technicians to use the pricing app?
Make it faster than composing a price in their head: two taps to a task, options built automatically, approval on the screen. Adoption follows speed.