Plumbing Software
Get the best plumbing software for your business. Compare product reviews, pricing below. Read our buyer’s guide for more help.
Plumbing Software Buyer’s Guide
No matter how big or small your plumbing company is, an industry-specific software solution will be able to handle the more complex needs of your business from tracking expenses and scheduling jobs to dispatching plumbers. The right plumbing software will maximize efficiency and reduce overhead, letting you take care of more projects while minimizing errors–keeping your customers happy.
This buyer’s guide will go over:
What is Plumbing Software?
Plumbing software is a field service system that ties operational and financial modules together in one comprehensive solution. Having software specifically tailored to your industry will help your business run smoothly whether you’re a one-person company or a large company with multiple locations.
Plumbing software will help your business grow and increase efficiency by streamlining work order management, improving document organization and management, simplifying scheduling and job costing, and tracking financial transactions.
Plumbing Software Features
| Functionality | Description |
|---|---|
| Estimating | Create an accurate estimate of the cost to perform the job based on the materials, equipment, and labor needed. |
| Job Costing | Assigns costs to things like labor, equipment, and materials to monitor the profitability of any particular job and improve cost control. |
| Scheduling | Keep track of already scheduled appointments and schedule new appointment requests based on date/time availability. |
| Work Order Management | Coordinate the field work a plumber will perform by assigning labor to the most qualified employee. |
| Accounting | Record and track payments made to vendors (accounts payable) and invoicing/payments from customers (accounts receivable). The general ledger provides insights into your business’s financial performance, so you can find where you’re profitable and where improvements could be made. |
| Inventory Control | Track the materials and parts you currently are needed to complete a job to know when you need to order more. |
| Asset Tracking | Track the equipment, tools, and machinery you own, know who is using it, and where it is with barcoding or RFID. |
| Document Management | Store and record essential documents and files including photos from a job, service agreements, purchase orders, daily reports, and customer contact information. |
| Customer Relationship Management | Maintain your business-customer relationships by tracking customer contact information and work history and scheduling follow-up appointments. Bring in new business with outreach automation, marketing campaign management, and cross-selling. Many plumbing companies rely on repeat business and referrals as part of their growth. Having a good customer relationship management system will help you leave a positive impact on new and existing clients. |
| Fleet Management & Dispatching | Keep track of your company’s vehicles and vehicle inventories to ensure plumbers are arriving at job sites on time and have the equipment they need with them. Map service calls to optimize driving routes, allowing plumbers to move between jobs as efficiently as possible. |
| Project Management | Coordinate project scheduling, resource allocation, planning, time tracking, task management, quality management, and document management for new construction, large jobs, and other complex projects. |
Benefits of Plumbing Software
- Streamlined daily reporting - Plumbing software makes it easy for field technicians to record notes and upload imagery while on the job. These daily logs and files make a great historical record in case of a discrepancy with the customer or if a claim gets made against you.
- Easier scheduling - See when and where currently scheduled projects are. When a new appointment request comes in, you’ll be able to schedule around the other projects., making it easier to plan service routes based on location to maximize the number of jobs an employee can get done in a day. You also won’t have to worry about overbooking if you can easily see which employees are scheduled at which times. With scheduling, you can also list appointment details to match the most qualified technicians to the job.
- Better organization - With plumbing software, you’ll be able to save and quickly access important documents from each project, so you won’t have to waste valuable time sifting through paperwork to find the information on a specific job or customer. You can also use asset tracking to see what equipment, tools, or machinery you have and who is using it, so you can spend less time looking for what you need. Inventory tracking will let you keep track of materials or parts you need to complete jobs. If you’re running low on something, you can easily order more. Having the right parts on hand will let you get the work done sooner, making your customers satisfied with faster turnaround times.
- Remote access - The use of mobile devices on the job makes it much more efficient for plumbers to access the information they need even while out on a job. Your field service technicians will be able to obtain project information (including details on the issue or project and what materials or tools will be needed), scheduling in case a follow-up appointment is necessary, history of work completed for the particular customer, customer contact information, service contracts, and invoicing. The technician can also accept payment on the spot.
- Improved communication between plumbers and office staff - Both the plumbers on the job and the office staff can access project information to coordinate the work that was done and invoicing. If payment is accepted onsite, that information will be automatically updated, so the office staff knows the payment was received.
What Does Your Business Need?
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One-person company - As a one-person company, the most important plumbing software functionalities will be used to keep yourself organized to optimize the number of jobs you take on and keep track of your financials to make sure you’re profitable. Scheduling, document management, and accounting will be useful features to look for in a software solution.
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Small businesses - A small business with a few plumbers on staff need software that will help you grow as your client base grows. Keeping track of appointments, project details, and customer information in spreadsheets or on paper will only slow you down. Look into a plumbing software that provides work order management, scheduling, document management, and accounting functionalities.
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Large businesses with many locations or franchises - Large companies with many plumbers, office staff, and even multiple locations need a more complex software solution. In addition to work order management, scheduling, document management, and accounting, you should also consider having inventory control, asset tracking, payroll, and customer relationship management.
Common Pain Points
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Implementing a new system - Switching to new software or getting a software solution for the first time can be tough to get used to, especially for employees that have been with the company for a long time using old fashioned methods for things like work order management or accounting. If implementing a new system sounds daunting, some vendors will provide training to you and your staff to make the transition as smooth as possible. Many plumbing software solutions today are user-friendly and easy to learn.
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Finding the right solution specifically for the plumbing industry - Some people refer to plumbing software as “field service software,” lumping together other service-based industries into one solution. Your business won’t need some of the same functionality as other industries like HVAC technicians or electricians. Plumbing software will have more features that are specifically meant for your industry because many developers and resellers of these solutions come from a background in plumbing and know what functionalities are most important.
Plumbing Industry Trends
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Real-time tracking. GPS tracking on vehicle fleets helps to let you know where your vehicles are and who is using them but also gives you the ability to provide customers with estimated arrival times. Dispatchers can even give the driver real-time directions to avoid slow areas and optimize the driving route, so your plumbers get to the job as efficiently as possible.
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Cloud-based software. Having the ability to access your plumbing software from anywhere is extremely important today. Your plumbers will be able to give quicker estimates, answering dispatch calls for unexpected emergencies, collecting payment on the spot, and more.
Related Software
Having software specifically tailored to the plumbing industry is most likely the ideal solution for you. However, plumbing software might not be practical or cost-effective for your particular situation. Some other software you might benefit from include:
- ERP Software: Mid to large size companies rely on enterprise resource planning (ERP) software to handle a variety of functionalities like accounting, project management, budgeting, logistics, and human resources.
- Fleet Management Software: If you have tons of vehicles and employees to manage locations of, fleet management software will be a good fit. This software helps manage vehicle location history, route optimization, driver records, dispatching, and scheduling.
- Field Service Software: This solution has many overlapping functionalities as plumbing software, but is an industry-neutral option. Some of the features include work order management, estimating and quoting, asset tracking, dispatching, and scheduling.