Application de gestion des interventions
4.7/5 (2013 avis)Avantages
Seamless integration with Quickbooks is the most important feature. Once we learned to categorize where we wanted charges to show in QB such as "Labor" or "Material & Supplies" then reconciliation became easy. Software is easy to navigate and customize. Scheduling service for our customers is a major feature and increases customer confidence. Our A/R has improved dramatically. More of our customers use the pay online feature and the ability to accept cc payments is a huge plus. Admin settings allow to set cc minimum payments and employee access through mobile app.
Inconvénients
Would love have an attachment icon in customer history window indicating service calls that have attached photos or documents uploaded without having to open each one individually. I would also like to have the ability to record customer equipment Model & Serial #'s and connect services to particular equipment. Example: Customer has (5) individual air con systems. Enter Model & Serial #'s, and name systems. Then all future service at that site can be attached to a particular piece of equipment with the ability to run a report. Options for "Summer" & "Winter" maintenance to run reports for recurring future would also be on my wish list.
MY overall experience has been great, whenever i need customer service they are available and always helpful via chat or phone call
Avantages
The owners were use too and liked a different dispatching/invoicing system. When I was hired as the Office Manager I was trained to use that system but always felt like it was out dated and not user friendly. I ran across an ad for house call pro on social media. I immediately loved what I saw, the ease of the program and how customers could make payments online and leave reviews for our business and technician experience. I showed the owners and we made the switch to housecall pro and have never regretted it.
Inconvénients
I wish the system could notify me when my technicians went in route, started there job and finished there job. Wish some sort of push notification or a chime when the dash board is open
We enjoy using HCP. There the best we've used by far, and we've used camelot and servicemonster. The Mastermind was helpful and we get the feeling they overall care and are out there to make us better. Our clients rave about the omw's and finishes communication. I love texting through the app (although I wish you could see/use that from the desktop). It simply makes us look more professional and it usually works... which is more than I can say about other services.
Avantages
I like that a conference call was set up with me to discuss a major issue I had with billing multiple contact/dept clients. They listened to my concerns and within 2 hours made a change to the software they we now utilize on a weekly basis.
Inconvénients
There's still a few buttons that need to be accessible a little easier. For instance, the client search has too many steps to be the single most used button. (that's why we have hcp is to keep track of our clients info etc. (too many un-needed steps). You've made me click the client page, then I have to select the search bar... which happens to be on the opposite end of the screen. Either have the search bar auto fill (start curser there) so we can click client, and then start typing the clients name, or (my preference) add the search bar to the header and have it accessible from every page.
2nd biggest fix requested: I really wish we would get a notification similar to when a invoice doesn't connect with QBO properly for when our text and emails don't go through to the client. We love the software so much that we use the omw, finish tabs as well as sending estimates via email... and it's frustrating hearing the client didn't receive the notification only to then learn we had a missing letter or wrong digit etc. that we could have caught initially. It makes the client feel like we've forgotten them when they are expecting the notification and we do our part, but they don't receive it.... and we don't know that it didn't get completed.
My availability calander being available to customers who visit my website is the number one reason I've doubled my business in the past year.
I'm thrilled with it.
Avantages
About a year ago I got a call from someone from House Call Pro requesting to schedule a demo on my laptop.
I requested an in person demo.
I went to San Diego and talked with the amazing people there.
I was told I could have a software that would allow my customers to schedule an appointment online from my website. I was floored because I was looking for exactly that. Plus they could set me up so after I was finished with a service call I could send my customer an invoice that they could use to pay me with a credit card and also I could use the software to record that they payed by check or cash as well. I would have a complete CRM and at a very affordable price.
Inconvénients
I realized early on that in order for me to benefit from using this software I'd have to really use it to it's full potential.
Most if the time if I dropped the ball it was because I did not fully utilize the full capacity of the software.
Avantages
App use experience is phenomenal. I have written estimates In a time crunch in the driveway of the customers house b4 a sales meeting. While not ideal, the ability to have something for my client rather than nothing is all the difference. Only Houscall makes this possible.
Inconvénients
Housecall over all gets 5 stars , no question about it. The only reason I gave 4 stars is some areas is because I am seeing the potential of the product and would like to see house call achieve that potential.
Web based use is definitely not the same experience as the app. Pages bog, cursors lag, and it takes time to write proposals and navigate.
While the organization of the web based platform is truly superior, the navigation is not.
I choose to log on the web based platform because of the clarity and organizational benefits but I often find myself frustrated, losing unsaved pages or saying “ common”.
With that said there is nothing that even comes close to what housecall offers me so take that criticism in perspective to the the truly awesomeness of house call as a whole.
I would like to add that house call software engineers have come up with some great ideas! Ideas I never knew I needed but now can not go with out.
Features such as street view and home value in the customers page is very helpful. Other helpful features SA colab with employees and sales updates, employee tracking and credit card processing on site are In app features I have been introduced to that I can’t live with out. These features may not seem like the back bone of your business head on but i can tell you in hindsight they all add up and contribute to your over all competitive edge.
I love that it talks to quick books, but sometimes there are glitches that my book keeper can't figure out without an HCP rep. I love how easy it is to use on my phone.
Avantages
The feedback I get from clients is that they love the professionalism of the software, the easy ways to communicate, the online booking option, the automated 'on my way' text and paying online. What I like is how easy it is to look at. I know other software have more options, but sometimes less is more. You can get lost in all the functions and it makes it harder to use. I don't need a lot of the other features that other software offers. I need software that is quick and easy to use (and hard to screw up). The way everything is set up makes each page easy to look at, therefore, easy to navigate and use.
Inconvénients
I don't like that I can't call someone to help me figure something out. I don't like that the invoice number is not the same as the estimate number and sometimes it can be tricky to keep them the same. I wish there was an automated function to send an invoice for the deposit once someone approves an estimate. Another thing that would be helpful is if people can schedule an estimate online, not just a job. I know I can convert jobs to estimate, but numbering can get tricky. One more thing. It would be helpful if on the app, you can see the invoice number right on the calendar or when you open up the job. I'm in metal warehouses a lot buying material and I have to select the invoice button just to see the invoice number and reception is bad. My way around it has been putting the invoice number in the notes, but that's obnoxious.
HCP is giving me time to market and feels like a partner or mentor to our continued growth and success.
Avantages
Ease of setup. Kind and patient support team. Did I say patient? After our office manager retired, we were able to implement HCP and within weeks realized that we no longer needed an office manager! It was tough to change my ways after doing “what worked” for the first 28 years, but these last two years with HCP have really helped us grow and I spend about 15 hours/week less sitting at a desk. Our crews like having the power to create estimates and quote work and extras. The payment portal speeds up collections. The software is constantly improving. We are a completely paperless company now, save for permit applications and such. It is so easy to schedule out days, weeks, a month. Drag and drop to move appointments. Creating/changing unit prices is so easy.
Inconvénients
Making changes to estimates or invoices to a customer puts you back to the dashboard, which is distracting if you are handling multiple invoices for a property management company for instance. A work around is to open each one in a new window on the desktop. We use the desktop site in the field since the mobile site will not rotate on our iPads and we have keyboard cases. The dashboard shows outstanding invoices when you log on, but you cannot click on them individually to review. No integration with QB desktop, though I may be the only person who has that problem.
Before Housecall Pro, my previous employer had stacks of paper invoices she was trying to collect on and manually texting out service calls to each of her in-field technicians EVERY DAY.
I was hired specifically to help implement an easier way to operate her small but growing HVAC company.
I started research on the different software available and even trialed two before I came across Housecall Pro. One week after implementing and training our technicians we saw a significant improvement in communication between staff and customers as well as collecting on invoices.
I was so pleased with Housecall Pro I recommended it to a family member who also has an HVAC company out of Phoenix. I now work remotely for him and cannot be more thrilled that I am again working with Housecall Pro.
Thank you for such awesome customer service and a great overall product. This software was perfect for the small service-based business's I have had the pleasure to work with.
Avantages
With my main responsibility being dispatching service calls and administrative work, Housecall Pro makes it so easy to have all of the information in one place. You are able to see the status of service calls and invoice homeowners directly from the app. Another great feature of Housecall Pro is offering direct communication with customers and employees via text from the app. The convenience of an online dispatching system is that information can be accessed and updated in real-time so that everyone has accurate information at all times.
Customer service agents are available via chat during business hours and provide solutions to problems that you have within minutes which is also very helpful and reassuring when you have questions.
Inconvénients
There is nothing in particular that I don't like about Housecall Pro. Housecall Pro will continue to offer an excellent product, while actively improving their site and adding new features on a regular basis.
It is much easier to look up phone numbers, addresses, and prior work orders within Housecall Pro vs. our former manual paper system. Also a good feature HC Pro provides is the ability to collect payments in the field which is probably more accurate and faster than other methods.
Avantages
Housecall Pro is a great CRM product. We are a plumbing company and we use this software every day and it helps us keep track of our customers in the cloud. We have not started using Housecall Pro in the field as of yet, but we will soon. Once a person learns the software it is fairly easy to upload a list of inventory items such as plumbing parts and then add these parts to a customer's invoice. We are experimenting with locating parts through voice recognition from the tablet and then adding these parts to the invoice rather than keying them in by hand. We use a time and material vs. flat rate customer invoicing system. Many companies are hard to reach or place you on long holds when you call them. Housecall Pro utilizes a chat feature which provides a timely response to our questions. Housecall Pro is an affordable and good quality software program that is web based. Some of the features of the program include job scheduling, dispatch, customer invoicing, the ability to accept credit cards in the field, and more. Overall we are very satisfied with Housecall Pro and recommend them as a Field Service Software solution.
Inconvénients
It would be nice to have sub categories or some type of drop down menu for our parts so they would be easier to find. For example it would make sense to have a category called copper fittings and then a sub category called elbows, and then a sub category to that for different types of elbows such as 22, 45, and 90 degree.
Since we are time and material plumbers it would also be nice to have an automated way to calculate our labor costs based on time spent on the job, but this still requires a manual calculation from what I understand.
Sometimes, using multiple software applications, to try and get one job done can be frustrating. Not so with HouseCall Pro. The customer service over chat is so quick and easy, as well as the "tips and troubleshooting" search -- any problems I am having are usually "self-generated." LOL!
Avantages
This has got to be the easiest "learning curve" I have ever experienced. Coming from a completely different industry, to manage the office here was a bit daunting. BUT - HouseCall Pro made it much easier.
a) Customers: Easy to set up customers in system, note their special preferences, create "tags" to track for where they heard about us, and contact them via emails or texts. Each account has the Zillow pic and profile of each of our customers - providing a wealth of information to us before we even arrive to service their home.
b) Employees: Love the "personal touch" of adding the photos of our team - Our customers can see who is arriving - and - with the notification system, they know when they will be there. TimeTracker makes payroll a snap, and allows employees the flexibility to check in and out while out in the field thru the app - not tied to a punch clock or computer in the office.
c) Scheduling: Easy to use, nice 'color-coding' features for each employee, with options to notify your customer of changes or not. Quickly able to schedule on the fly, thru the phone app. Can look day, week or month with a quick tab change.
d) Invoicing: LOVE it --- the team can enter in all their details, which would normally have to be transcribed from paper notes, on the Work Orders thru the phone app. Nice presentation to the customers, with immediate email invoice available, the minute the job is done and paid for. AND it flows to QuickBooks!
Inconvénients
Creating "work arounds" for creating multiple sub-accounts for a main client. Sometimes, there needs to be a three layer deep ability to categorize a customer. Example: Parent Company (Main Customer), which has multiple condominium complexes (Sub Accounts of Main Customer)- each one having its own name/ billing account, and then, the need to create sub accounts for each Condo Complex (a Sub Sub Account) - for each individual Unit (for service address)
Avantages
I no longer have to fill out work orders or contantly update customers with arrival times and scheduling. The app does it for us! It's saved me a lot of time so I can focus on other aspects of our business and has pleased our customers greatly! It's showing from the increase of reviews! The ability to link to Google and QBO are two of the best features as well as the time I save on the phone with customers playing call tag, etc. In plumbing, we are able to edit the blocks of time for unexpected repairs that come up and prevent overbooking and add segments for ongoing WIP jobs. HCP has made my work streamlined from the start!
Inconvénients
There are a few features I wish that are available but that doesn't mean they won't be in the near future with their hard working support team. A subtotal line is desperately needed. I wish I got emails when my customers do so I can quickly reference what and when I sent it. Segment options for estimates would be nice since at this point you can only select one of multiple estimates. A drop down list of customers when searching for one would save me some time. Some customers have difficult spelling of names so to be able to type the first and second letter and have it bring up the customer list would be a huge help without having to press enter.
Avantages
Housecall pro was designed with the most important things to be successful in business in mind. They are constantly improving the software, and have estabilshed a community that you can tap into to become a better business. They listen to their users and are proactive. And the mobile version works great!
I have Housecall pro fully integrated with Quickbooks Online, offer integrated online booking, offer service agreements, and impress customers with the automated texts and emails. I originally spent I don't know how many hours looking for the right software, trying to figure out what they all actually did, and tried several different programs. I even switched to another software after using Housecall for a year because I thought they were not going to develop their service agreement capabilities, but that
Inconvénients
Over the past two years, there have been several issues for which I have needed to use a work around, but most of those issues have been, or are being addressed. Currently the most inconvenient issue is a somewhat clunky estimate process, and the inability to create multi-option estimates from the mobile app, but they are working to solve that issue.
HCP has brought our business to the next level. We have been using the software for two years and have a very basic plan. Before HCP, we were keeping our appointments in a spiral calendar and customer information was difficult to maintain. With HCP, we have been able to better track our customer activity and history. One of the newer features that I find interesting is the lifetime value of the customer. This is giving us some insight into how much revenue our customers generate. I am considering upgrading to the next level of HCP to begin accessing some of the marketing tools that HCP promotes.
Avantages
I like the ease of use for employees and users in the field. It is simple, yet allows our company to be in contact with our customers. From the office perspective, we have reduced how many invoices we are sending the mail significantly. Our customers like receiving e-mails from us, including the invoices. The portal for payment is easy to use. There has been a significant increase in online payments through the portal.
Our employees find the app easy to use and the location services make it easy for them to find our customers homes.
Inconvénients
The times on the schedule page, need to somehow be highlighted or the top of the hour bolded. It is really difficult to schedule an appointment on the week view for Friday, because the time is in the far left margin.
I would love to have the ability to make comments on the time card section. That way when I need to make a change to an employee's time card, I can also note why the change was made.
The way that the credit card payments integrate with quickbooks is frustrating, as I have to go to each transaction and manually change where it posts the payment. I would like to have the ability to designate where the payment goes. In addition, it would be nice to change the QB display name on HCP ourselves, instead of talking with customer support. One more thing, can payments affecting more than one invoice be posted as one payment, versus each individual invoice. This would make processing deposits so much easier.
I like HouseCall Pro very much on the desk top version and would definitely recommend the program to others. I would not recommend the mobile version at this point only because of the issues I have stated. I hope that in time the mobile version will catch up to the desk top version for the ADMIN to be able to conduct business whether in the field or in the office.
Avantages
I like the way house call works on the desk top. It is quick and easy for me to do all my daily tasks as it pertains to each individual project I have going on. It is pretty easy to navigate through. The system allows me to keep all projects organize even if we have to go back out on more then one occasion.
Inconvénients
I don't like how difficult it is to search on the desk top version for a particle project. It would make it quicker and simpler to have a "1" step process to look up any project by address or contractor name. Too many steps and difficult right now to find what I am looking for.
The mobile version needs to be simpler for the ADMIN to be able to use. If I am away from the office I can only see my projects, not ALL. I need to be able to see all as the ADMIN in order to conduct business when I am away from my desk and office. Our business requires putting in the home owner address which is not the contractor's address on file. When I try to schedule a job in the field on the mobile version I can never put in the address of the home owner which is where I need my employee to go.(NOT THE CONTRACTOR OFFICE) I have to always put it in the notes and take an extra step to tell the employee address is in the notes instead of where it should be. This makes it very difficult to work with and dispatch my employee to the correct address.
it makes my job way easier AND we were able to have a paperless office.
Avantages
Ok so my partner and I started a new business together and I was using Joist which, for free, is a sweet app but I quickly realized that a serious business needed a serious software to help with logistics. Demo ensued and... Long story short our sales person was really cool and answered all of my difficult questions with ease. And trust me I am an office gorilla. And if you are trying to bamboozle me, well, I have those maternal instincts that can smell bamboozling a mile away. the program was easy to use and easy to learn. It has a real-time app that my tech in the field uses, it is partnered with zillow so the service address shows up with all the juicy details, bed/bathroom, sq ft, price it sold for . my tech uses the map function so he doesn't have to call me for directions. you can search specific date ranges and tag customers with specific tags for ROI data. It keeps a graph display dashboard of all the business vitals. Unlike other programs this one lets you pick the level you want to pay and for more you can get extra services. the lowest level still gives you plenty to run a successful business. I LOVE house call Sparky, the virtual text concierge, that reminds clients when their appointment is, confirms appt, tells them when the tech is en route and when a job is finished. There is a pay online feature, a "bill to separate address" feature, and the customer service is the BEST I've ever dealt with. they even take suggestions.
Inconvénients
when you use the payment box to run a credit card it pops up in the center of the screen and you cant move it to see what the billing zip is on the screen below it.
I don't know if it's me but sometimes it takes a few seconds longer than I like to load between screens. There might be a toggle feature I am missing.
I work hard and I expect my technology to do the same.
I would like to see a little more flexibility in the price list feature. It should operate faster with the line item selection. If I pick something I know is in our saved price list it takes a minute for it to populate the selection box.
When you are inputting the prices of line items by hand the cursor goes to weird places in the price. drives me bonkers
We are a commercial cleaning business and have been in business for almost 20 years. For the last few years we have been transitioning from paper to digital. We have multiple employees, that are private contractors. They work at several locations. Each location has it's own pricing. Most times any additional services or charges added to a job are reported back with in a day or two.
We were using a paper calendar for on the go access, that was then copied to a shared online calendar. That information was entered into an invoicing program and invoices were emailed via a private email account. The process from work ordered to invoice sent could take up to a week depending on when our employees got back with information about the job.
Going into this next year we decided to try an "all in one" program. Housecall Pro so far has been great! It has most of the features we need. I love the app feature that comes with this program. It pings the employee when a job is assigned. Reminds them of upcoming work, gives directions to the location and lets them add details, pictures, or services to that job on site.
My workload has been cut significantly, allowing me to get to other administrative demands finished that usually get pushed into my weekend. Having the calendar, employee assignment, clients, services, and invoicing all in one place is amazing.
I've had to make some adjustments and "tricks", since it is a basic program. But nothing enough that's made it difficult to use.
Overall it has taken a good amount of stress and transition from our plate.
For single users to a company with multiple employees, this program can do a lot for you.
Avantages
Convenience, combines most of your business programs into one easy to use program
Customer Service, with offices on both coasts I am able to get in contact with customer service within 10 minutes.
Accessibility, I can access the program from any computer with internet connection or use my phone via the app.
Faster Reporting, employees out on the job can add details, services, or new jobs on sight.
Cuts out bridges between programs and communication, I can enter in a job on the program, assign my employee and it's sent to whomever I need it to be sent to (employee or client) saves me from having to enter it onto either a paper calendar, or a shared calendar, and then notifying the employee of the job and then waiting on a report that they have completed the work.
No contract - you can do monthly, half year or annual commitments
Inconvénients
Limited customization, I have to incorporate my own item code to personalize my clients services. The invoices are also limited on what can be changed/added
Only completed jobs can be searched. There's no search or sort option for each client. So I have to scroll through jobs. Once a client accumulates work it can be a hassle to scroll though pages of information.
Confirmation emails, because the invoices are sent though the program. I don't receive confirmation emails. It only show what has been sent.
Avantages
I have been a user since House Call Pro went national with their service. I don't have anything but good things about the company itself and the app/software!
First, the app is for the phone works flawlessly and has improved so much since I first started. (aka awesome development and customer service team behind the app).
The latest feature that I love is the employee time tracking feature! They can clock in and out right in the app! and the report for that is simple and user-friendly! I have 1 employee and looking to add another and this solves that huge time tracking issue I was having because they listen to their pros.
Now that doesn't cover what my customers have said to me about how they like all the notifications and email reminders and text alerts and so on and so on. This adds so much value to my company. Communication with customers is I think #1 in service based business' and House Call Pro knocks it out of the park!
Also great customer service. Great development speed. They are always getting feedback from their pros and using that to put the more requested features to the top of their development roadmap. I love that and have seen it over and over again the past 1.5 years or so I have been using the app.
Inconvénients
Cons? I would have to say no Ipad native app. However, they have made changes to the web portal so it is touch screen friendly and you can still use the mobile app as well just zoomed in. But the web portal through the browser on my iPad works well, I just know it would be snappier as a dedicated app. BUT I also know adding another version of the app would slow overall development of new features as a whole so I am understanding.
I am a painting and drywall contractor in the Indianapolis area and have looked at about a dozen different programs to help me run my business. The first thing I can say, is that it seems that no perfect program exists, since most are either too generic (difficult to tailor to my industry) or too cumbersome. I actually "used", as in, not really, Builder Trend for a period of time, but found it to be way more than I really needed. Method CRM was another, but it seemed too difficult to master. Several of my coleages in the industry are using estimating software, in addition to Basecamp, Pipeline Deals and other things.
Since I am a one man operation, I have to do everything from sales to production to marketing to billing, so time is at a premium for me and I needed a solution that was easy enough to learn. I also needed a program that would synch with my Quickbooks online (another imperfect program, but its what I know) and allow me to function in the field. I eventually stumbled upon HouseCall Pro and was impressed enough to give it a shot.
Right from the start, I found it easy to learn. In fact, I signed up, had my personalized tutorial and three hours later was writing my first estimate in the field on it. I will highlight the pros and cons in the fields below, but I can say that this is a company that is constantly improving its product. I get the sense that they want to be able to provide a one stop program. I say that because I have had conversations with one of their specialists and he was asking me what else would I like to see them doing to improve. They have a chat bubble online (at your desktop only) that is available most hours and they connect quickly with helpful answers.
My biggest beef with this program is that they are spending a lot of time building new features into the program when I think they should be tweaking existing features. For example, there is an auto responder email feature that you can set up for as many emails as you like, but they have not included an option to include hyperlinks in the emails. I am sending out a survey form and also a review request form, in which I have created the links, but the customer is forced to copy and paste in order to access these. Unfortunately, I am getting zero responses because a hyperlink would be easier.
All in all, I think HouseCall Pro is on the right track, but they have a way to go before they can live up to their true potential.
Avantages
QBO synchronization, ease of use, ability to do estimates and invoices in the field. Tags allow tracking of specific items (similar to classes) like lead type and services provided. GPS to track employees and picture of house from Google maps shows on customer page. Auto responder feature, postcard program that is cost efficient. Great customer service, responsive. Online booking of jobs for customers. Ability to take credit cards. Mobile program lets customers know when you are on the way to their home. You can set up employees/techs and have their picture sent to the customer before they arrive at a job.
Inconvénients
I have found issues with duplication of invoicing; there seems to be no recognition of multiple invoicing for a single estimate. No hyperlink option for the auto responder email program. Credit card option cannot be turned off on a mobile device, must be done on desktop version when invoicing. There is no job costing function. At $199.00 per month, I feel that this program can do so much more.
Avantages
For 18 months we were looking for a software that could do three things:
1. Manage our customer database (CRM)
2. Schedule appointments and send automatic reminders to customers
3. Assign and dispatch employees to jobs (Field Service Management)
It seemed every software was designed to do one, MAYBE TWO, of these things, but no software could do all three. Then we found HouseCall Pro. It seemed almost too good to be true, but HouseCall does it all for us. We haven't looked back.
1. App for field technicians is awesome! Best I've seen.
2. Strong and powerful integration with Google -- autofills addresses and integrates with Maps.
3. Automatic e-mail reminders sent to customers.
4. Postcard marketing campaigns.
5. Quickbooks compatible.
6. Incomparable customer service. They have a friendly, helpful and intelligent group of people working for them. They are always there to listen to requests and solve problems. The messaging app within the desktop software lets you communicate with them directly anytime. They always seem to respond within mere minutes.
7. They are constantly releasing updates and improvements to the software. It gets better with every release and it shows they really listen to customer suggestions!
Inconvénients
1. The schedule view is hard to read and use. When you are trying to get an overview of your resources and availability, you have to scroll left/right as well as up/down. It's made it hard for us, so we still have to rely on Google Calendar to view employee availability when trying to schedule jobs.
2. No automatic reminders sent to employees. There is a push notification one hour before a job starts, but this is not enough time for us. We want an email or test least a day, even a week, in advance.
3. Few customization options. (eg - You cannot rename "professional" to "stylist" or "technician" to suit your industry.) You can't include hyperlinks in follow-up emails to link customers to a satisfaction survey. (They have to copy/paste the address into the browser.)
4. No way to "black out" dates on scheduler for employee time off. Again, we still have to use Google Calendar. Although they just released "Non-Job Events" and this could serve as a possible workaround for us. We are looking into it!
5. The CRM is weak. (No multiple contacts for a business, no way to name different service addresses, no pipeline for making sales, etc.)
Avantages
I own and operate a small plumbing company in San Diego and I have been searching for a product like housecall for years. Yes there are competitive products on the market and I've tried them all. The main problem for the other products was the disconnect or lack of care for the user's (me) feedback. I would find an issue with the software that prevented me from running my business the way I needed to and when I voiced my issue, the response was vague at best but usually nonexistent. My experience with housecall has been the exact opposite. EVERY time I have had an issue or needed help, they have been IMMEDIATELY responsive in helping me to resolve an issue and even develop their product further to improve all aspects.
Years ago when we transitioned from the old carbon triplicate paper invoices to electronic means, I had to use a different kind of software for each business task i.e. invoicing, scheduling, dispatching, processing credit card payments, taking photo records for completed jobs, sending appointment reminders and thank you notes, etc.
Now, I have ONE software platform that I use for EVERYTHING! HOUSECALL! It does everything I need it to do. It's made my life and business run more efficiently than ever before and the best part is that they're constantly improving it! Almost every week there is added functionality, fine-tuning and improvement on an already fantastic product.
If you have a small service company, you would be mistaken to look elsewhere for your field management software. Simply stated... Housecall does it best!
Inconvénients
It's difficult to come up with anything negative about a product that have benefitted my company in such a massive way. All I can say is that it's a bummer that Apple forces app developers to go through such a difficult process to get app updates released, because it slows down the process. Housecall is constantly updating and adding new functionality to the web and mobile applications.
Avantages
Our main concerns were to appear as professional as we can. We own a small HVAC company in CA. Its just me, my husband, and a hired hand. I got tired of entering paper invoices and worst of all loosing them >,<. We started with a software that did our pricing for us based on our industry. I will tell you it was a nightmare. They charged us per line on our invoices and the bill just range up. It seemed impossible to get ahead with that software. I won’t name names to avoid shaming them. When i heard about HCP i decided to do a demo. I was astonished at how much value was actually in the program. included was email marketing to keep in touch with our current customers, smooth connectivity with Quickbooks Online (no more entering invoices) yay!, they send email reminders to clients, they let clients know we are on our way, and tons more. Not only that but customer service is SOOO easy to get ahold of. I almost never have to wait more than a few minuets to get a response via chat. Its fantastic. Its the best software we have used AND its only 1 low monthly fee. We don’t get charged per invoice or customer. so its really a limitless software and for the price its a steal. They even charge less than paypal for processing credit cards! We couldn’t be happier. If your thinking about going with Housecall Pro just do it!
-new features added all the time
-we look professional to our clients
-free email marketing included with your subscription
-you can set up unlimited campaigns for email to tailor to each group of clients
-test messages sent to customer to remind them of appointment and that we are on our way
-great estimate and invoice set up
-easy to reach customer support
-low monthly fee (and even lower if you pay upfront)
- syncs with quickbooks (no entering invoice data yay!)
- customers can be imported directly from quickbooks online so everything is together.
-can get a signature on invoices
-all invoices are emailed to customers when job is complete
---The list seriously goes on
Inconvénients
- the only con i can think of is that (like any new software or app) you have to learn how to use it. It takes a little bit to get it down. BUT support is there the entire way to answer your questions --AND even fix your mistakes :) --.
Housecall Pro streamlines my entire customer interaction. The software maintains my customer database, and my customer history. Housecall Pro handles all my scheduling. Housecall Pro sends reminder emails to my customers and makes it easy to notify my customers as to my location on the day of service. Housecall Pro handles my invoices and makes it easy to collect payment. After the work is complete, Housecall Pro sends follow-up emails to my customers to help maintain customer loyalty. Housecall Pro also integrates with Quickbooks making my bookkeeping a breeze. Housecall Pro makes owning a business so easy!
Avantages
I LOVE this software! It does absolutely everything for me and makes it so easy for me to run the behind the scenes part of my business. Housecall Pro is super easy to use, the app interface is very clean, and it totally streamlines my interaction with the customer from their first phone call, through to the completion of the job, and beyond. Housecall Pro makes every part of my carpet cleaning business so much more efficient.
Inconvénients
I wish that the user had greater control in customizing messages that are sent to their customers. For instance, Housecall Pro sends a text and an email asking for a Google review and a review on Housecall Pro when the work is complete, but I have little control over the content/message of that communication. Another example is that I have little control over the content of the "On My Way", or the "Job Finished" texts that get sent to my customers on the day of their appointments. I would love to be able to send more personalized messages to my customers, so that they seem less generic and bland.
The system has enabled me to manage the techs schedule and time keeping. Setting up appointments is fairy easy but I have to assign every tech to all jobs because they can't see other jobs other than one's scheduled to them.
Avantages
The product is priced right for a small business.
Inconvénients
There isn't a phone number to call for support or issues. When I have an issue sometimes I would like to talk to a live person instead of instant message. It would be a lot easier to explain some issues than try and type it out when I'm unsure of what I'm trying to say and some of my issues have taken a couple days to resolve or just answer a question I have because I don't always have time to wait for a response.
It would be nice to have a good better best estimate presentation when presenting potential customers with a proposal. It would also be nice to sell a customer a reoccurring maintenance agreement from the mobile app instead of logging in to web-site to set up payment. My service techs who will sell the product can't set it from the app on their phone, they have to call me to set it up and most of the time it's after the tech leaves the customers house before it is set up. When we get busy I know some will fall through the cracks.
I would like the techs to be able to view the entire work schedule instead of just the jobs they are assigned from the mobile app. I have to assign all techs to every job so they can see what's going on for the day, this makes the customer seem everyone is showing up instead of just the tech assigned to the job. I'm a small business and the techs take each job as they finish the one they are on. It's hard to schedule each job to a specific tech because they often finish a lot earlier or later than anticipated.
100% better than what we had before. We love it.
Avantages
What we like most about this software is the scheduling/dispatching aspect of it. It is VERY EASY to schedule several employees, they receive the appt information through the app installed on their tablets/phones and contains all the pricing and info that they need for their calls. Has cut WAY down on missed calls, money not collected and wasted time. The Service Agreement feature has also been great. Customer Services, while only available during normal business hours, is fast to respond via the "blue bubble" when we have a problem. Just this morning got a problem fixed in under 10 minutes.
Inconvénients
I would not use the app for accounting purposes.
Avantages
Scheduling and invoicing jobs, automatic text reminders to employees and customers about upcoming work, email and postcard follow up with customers, Online booking for website and FB pages, invoice tracking, earnings tracking, etc, etc, etc, all kinds of tracking. HouseCall Pro customer service is fantastic. Ease of use. There's almost zero learning curve. You just dive right in and start using it! And if you can't figure out something, help is generally only seconds away, at the most a few minutes. And they speak real English, not Geekspeak! They have a great Facebook group. I've learned so much about business tips and strategies from other members all over the country it's unbelievable. It's like I've been introduced to a whole group of people who share the same struggles in operating a business and everybody on the group helps everybody else. HouseCall Pro is always adding more improvements and integrations with other services. The people at HouseCall Pro listen to their members and are constantly making it better and better. I own a plumbing business and have invested in hundreds of great tools for doing my work, but I'd have to say HouseCall Pro is the best tool I've ever invested in. For the first time, I'm in control of and working on my business. It no longer controls me. I've added one new truck and service tech this year and looking at an additional cost at least, in receipts this year. Couldn't have done it without HouseCall Pro.
Inconvénients
I really can't think of anything. I really can't thing of anything. I really can't think of anything.
We are a small HVAC service and install company. Using Housecall Pro has been a positive experience. It has greatly improved scheduling for both customers and employees. A/R has been a very positive aspect. Integration with QB has made the accounting side of the business cleaner with less conflict. We are now beginning to use the service contract feature. HCP support always respond in a timely fashion and are always seeking to improve.