PlumbingBossPro Blog — Plumbing Software

What to Look for in a Plumbing Software Demo

Software demos are built to impress. The salesperson knows exactly which screens look best and clicks through them in the right order. Forty minutes later, you have seen a lot of nice dashboards and still do not know whether your tech can find a water heater's model number from the driveway. A good demo is one where you drive, and you ask about your own work.

Go In With Your Own Jobs

If you are moving off paper, as covered in Getting Off Paper and the Whiteboard: Moving a Plumbing Company Into Software, the demo is your chance to see whether the software can replace what you have.

Before any demo, write down three real jobs from last week:

• A service call that turned into a bigger job, like a no-hot-water call that became a water heater replacement.
• A recurring job, like a yearly flush or a restaurant grease-line jetting.
• A commercial client with several addresses, if you have one.

Ask to walk each one through from the first call to the paid invoice. If the software cannot follow your actual work, the rest does not matter.

Check the Plumbing-Specific Parts

This is where generic field-service software usually falls short. Ask to see:

• Equipment on the house. Can you save a water heater with brand, model, serial, year, size and fuel? A softener, sump pump, shut-off and cleanout with location notes?
• Equipment on the next job. When you book a new job at that house, does the equipment come with it? When the tech replaces the heater, does the house update?
• An inspection checklist. Does the tech have a plumbing checklist with readings like water pressure, and can the office print a report for the homeowner?
• Recurring work. Can you set a yearly flush or a 30-day jetting cycle and have it come due on its own?

For what good equipment records look like, see Equipment Saved on the House: Water Heaters, Softeners, Pumps and Shut-Offs in Plumbing Software.

Look at Scheduling the Way You Actually Schedule

Ask to see how a day gets built:

• Where do new calls and due maintenance show up? Is there a map?
• Can you see jobs by van and by day?
• Can it route a van from your shop, and can you change the order by hand?
• What happens when an emergency comes in at 11am? How many clicks to put it on a van and tell the tech?

The answer to that last question tells you a lot about how the software will feel on a busy day.

Also ask what happens to a job that does not get done. If a tech skips a stop because nobody was home, does it come back to the list on its own with the reason attached, or does someone have to remember to rebook it? Work that quietly disappears is the most expensive kind of mistake for a small shop.

Hold the Tech App in Your Hand

Do not let the demo show the tech app on a laptop screen. Ask to log in on your own phone. Check:

• Does it need an app store download, or a special device?
• How do techs sign in? Is each tech tied to their own work?
• Does each card show the address, navigation, equipment, access notes and past notes?
• How many taps to Start, take a photo and Complete?
• What happens at Complete? Is the invoice created? Can a card be charged?

Picture your least patient plumber using it with dirty hands. If it would annoy them, it will not get used.

Ask About Customers and Money

• Alerts. Do customers get automatic texts the night before, on the way and on arrival? Can they choose which ones?
• Texting. Can the office text back and forth with customers? How many texts are included?
• Estimates. Can customers approve online? Does the approved estimate become the job?
• Billing. Card on file, charge on completion, online payment, past-due follow-up?
• Commercial. Can a property manager get one statement for every address?

Get the Price in Plain Numbers

The last question in any demo should be the full monthly price, in writing, for your number of vans and office users. Ask what costs extra: more users, more techs, texting, setup fees, a contract term. Big enterprise platforms often quote per technician, and it adds up quickly.

PlumbingBossPro is $59, $89 or $199 a month for Start, Pro and Crew, with unlimited customers, addresses and employees on every plan. You can skip the sales call entirely: try the live demo on your own, then start the 14-day free trial with no credit card and test it with your own jobs.

For the full overview of the platform, visit the PlumbingBossPro plumbing software page.