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Field service software ROI calculator
Plug in 4 numbers about your business — get a realistic estimate of monthly software cost, annual ROI, and payback period. Based on industry-standard 15–25% efficiency gains documented across HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and roofing operations.
Including yourself if you do field work.
Rough estimate. Typical HVAC tech: $250k–$400k. Plumber: $200k–$350k. Solo contractor: $100k–$250k.
Per technician. Industry research averages 6–10 hrs/week for shops without FSM software.
What you charge customers per billable hour.
Frequently asked questions
How realistic are the ROI numbers shown?
The numbers shown are mid-case estimates using industry-standard assumptions: 15-25% admin-time reduction (documented across FSM deployments), 8-12% revenue uplift from better dispatching and quote-to-close conversion (also industry-standard), and conservative software-cost estimates. Your actual ROI depends on team adoption, integration depth (especially QuickBooks), and how disciplined you are about converting recovered admin time into billable work.
Why does the calculator assume 60% admin-time reduction?
Independent FSM-deployment surveys (BizPilot, FSM Reports) consistently find 50-70% admin-time reduction post-deployment for shops moving from spreadsheet/paper workflows to modern FSM software. We use 60% as a conservative mid-case. Heavy QuickBooks-integrated shops sometimes see 75%+ reduction; shops without strong office processes see less.
Why does the calculator assume only 50% of recovered admin time converts to billable work?
Pure time-recovery math (60% admin saved → all of it converts to billable) overstates real-world ROI. In practice, recovered admin time gets split between: more billable work (50%), better planning and customer follow-up (30%), and slower-paced or higher-quality work (20%). The 50% conversion figure matches what shops actually report seeing in cash terms.
What about the 8% revenue uplift assumption?
Better dispatching captures 8-12% more jobs (less drive time, more daily appointments). Faster quoting closes 15-25% more high-ticket deals at the moment of decision. We use 8% combined as a conservative mid-case — actual numbers vary by trade (HVAC consumer financing pushes this higher; pure scheduled-recurring services like pest control see less of this lift since revenue is contract-bound, not capacity-bound).
Should I trust this for a software-purchase decision?
For directional ROI sizing, yes. For a precise business-case spreadsheet, layer in your specific software vendor quote (use this as the cost input), your specific team adoption assumptions, and your specific revenue mix (service vs install vs recurring contracts). The calculator gives you a defensible starting estimate; a real business case requires shop-specific refinement.
How the numbers work
Field service software has two distinct ROI levers:
- Time savings (admin reduction). Most contractors waste 6–10 hours/week per tech on scheduling chaos, paper invoicing, hunting for paperwork, and double-data-entry. FSM software typically cuts this by 50–70%. At $100/hr billed rate, that's $13,000–$30,000/year per tech recaptured.
- Revenue uplift (capacity + close-rate). Better dispatching = 8–12% more jobs completed per week. Faster quoting = 15–25% higher quote-to-job conversion. For a $250k/year tech, that's another $20k–$30k/year.
Combined, mid-case ROI on FSM software at small shops (3–15 techs) typically runs 8×–25× the software cost in year one — assuming actual adoption by the team.
How accurate are these numbers
The numbers shown are mid-case estimates using industry-standard assumptions across all platforms in our directory. Your actual ROI depends on team adoption, integration depth with your existing tools (especially QuickBooks), and how disciplined you are about turning admin-time savings into billable work.
Assumptions
- Mid-tier FSM software cost: ~$150/tech/month (per-user pricing) or ~$300/month flat (per-company pricing) for shops under 10 techs
- Admin time recovered by software: 60% of current admin hours
- Recovered admin time converted to billable work: 50% (the other half goes to better planning, training, customer follow-up)
- Revenue uplift from capacity + close-rate gains: 8% annually (conservative mid-case)