Most HVAC software is sold to the shop you might be in ten years. Dispatch boards, call centers, membership dashboards and payroll. If you run one to five trucks, the real problems are smaller and more urgent: the phone rings while you are in an attic, a replacement quote goes quiet, and half your tune-up customers forget about you until the system quits on the first hot day.
This page is about that size of shop. It covers what to look for in an HVAC CRM, what scheduling software should do for you, and how the usual names compare on the things that matter at your size.
- For a small shop, the CRM is your customer list plus what happens next: the reminder, the follow-up, the invoice.
- Scheduling should sort the day by the drive and let customers book a time without phone tag.
- Maintenance plans and seasonal reminders are where steady HVAC revenue comes from. Check how each tool handles them.
- Look at what you pay per person. A helper or a second tech can change the bill a lot on some plans.
What an HVAC CRM is for, at your size
CRM stands for customer relationship management. In a big company it means a sales team and a pipeline report. In a small HVAC shop it means three plain things.
- Who your customers are. Name, address, phone, the equipment at the house, and what you did there last.
- When they need you again. A tune-up before the cooling season and before the heating season, a filter change, a plan visit.
- What is still open. The quote you sent on Tuesday, the invoice from last week, the call you did not get to.
If a CRM does those three things without you typing it all in at night, it is doing its job. Everything else is extra.
The trap is buying a CRM that stores the list but does nothing with it. A list of 400 past customers is worth very little sitting in an app. It is worth a lot when it turns into booked tune-ups every spring and fall.
What HVAC scheduling software should do
HVAC scheduling is hard for two reasons. The work comes in waves, and the jobs vary in length. A no-cool call can be twenty minutes or four hours. A system replacement takes a day or more.
Good scheduling software for a small shop does this:
- Shows every stop for you and each tech in one view, in the order that makes sense to drive.
- Lets a customer pick a time by text or from your website without a phone call.
- Only offers times that fit the route you already have.
- Sends the customer a reminder the day before and an on-my-way text when you leave the last stop.
- Still works in a basement or a crawlspace with no signal, and catches up when you are back in range.
What you probably do not need yet is a dispatch board built for a dispatcher. If nobody in your shop has that title, a day plan sorted by the drive does the same job with less setup.
A plain checklist for HVAC software
Before you sit through a demo, write down which of these you need now and which can wait. Then ask every company to show you each one on a real job, not a slide.
- Calls answered, and missed calls texted back, when you are on a roof or in an attic
- Booking by text or from your website, into your real day
- Estimates with options, so a customer can choose repair or replace
- A signature and deposit on the same page as the estimate
- Pay over time for a new system
- An invoice that goes out when you finish, not that night
- Payment at the door by card or phone wallet
- Seasonal tune-up reminders to past customers
- Maintenance plans that bill on their own and book the visits
- Your techs' stops and hours, if you have techs
- A website that books jobs, and Google reviews that keep coming
- Your books kept in step, or at least an easy export for your accountant
How Koira covers the list
Koira was built for small trade shops, so most of that list is done for you rather than set up by you. Here is what each item looks like in Koira, and which plan it is on.
Calls and missed calls. On the Grow plan, Koira answers on a Koira number. When you cannot pick up, it texts the caller back in about a minute, asks what they need and offers three open times. It works in English and Spanish. If a caller says it is an emergency, Koira texts you. It never makes up a price. See the AI receptionist.
Booking. Customers can reply to a text with a time, or tap Book online on your Koira site. The visit lands on Today in driving order. Booking by text runs on the Koira number on Grow. The site and the day plan are on every plan, including the free one. See booking by text and Today and routes.
Repair or replace. An estimate can carry up to three options from your own price list, such as repair the unit, replace the condenser, or a full new system. The customer picks one, signs with a finger and pays the deposit on the same page. You can snap photos of the job and Koira drafts the estimate from them. Estimates are on every plan. See estimates and signing.
Follow-up on the big quote. Koira nudges every open estimate on day two and day four, then stops. You can see who opened it. See bid follow-ups.
Financing. On the pay page, a customer can choose to pay over time through Affirm or Klarna and apply on their own phone. You do not run credit or set terms. See financing.
Getting paid. When you tap done, the invoice is built from the signed estimate and sent. At the door, the customer scans a QR code on your phone and pays by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay. No card reader. See invoices and pay at the door.
Seasonal reminders. On Grow, Koira texts and emails past customers who agreed to hear from you when the season turns, with one tap to book. You do not build a list or write the message. See email and text campaigns.
Maintenance plans. On Front Office, a plan is offered on your site, on the estimate and on the invoice. Koira bills it on the card on file, books the visits when they come due and asks for a new card by text if one fails. See maintenance plans.
Techs. On Front Office, each tech clocks in and out of jobs from their phone and sees their own stops in driving order. You see everyone's lane, status and hours. There is no per-person fee on any plan. See crew.
Getting found. Koira builds your site from your business, with a page for every town you work, keeps your Google and Bing listings matching, and asks every paid customer for a Google review an hour after they pay. See contractor website and reviews.
Books. A QuickBooks connection is built and waiting on Intuit's review. Until it is on, invoices, payments and what is owed all live in Koira. See QuickBooks.
What to compare
These are the features that tend to matter most to a small HVAC shop. The table shows where each one first appears on each company's public pricing page. It is not a full feature list for anyone, including us.
| What you need | Koira | Jobber | Housecall Pro | QuoteIQ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win the job | ||||
| Calls answered and missed calls texted back | Grow | Plus, or a $29 add-on | Listed as a separate product | Essentials (AI call team) |
| Customers book online | Office (free) | Core | Basic | Elite (InstaSchedule) |
| Estimates | Office (free) | Core | Basic | Essentials |
| Options on one estimate | Office, up to three | Grow (optional line items) | Max (sales proposal tool) | – |
| Customer financing | On the pay page | – | Listed as a separate product | Essentials |
| Get paid | ||||
| Invoices and online payments | Office (free) | Core | Basic | Essentials |
| QuickBooks | Grow (coming) | Connect | Essentials | Pro |
| Bring them back | ||||
| Seasonal email and text campaigns | Grow | Plus, or a $99 add-on | – | Elite |
| Recurring service or maintenance plans | Front Office | – | Max | – |
| Review asks | Office (free) | – | Basic | – |
| Run the day | ||||
| Stops sorted by the drive | Office (free) | – | Essentials (routes) | Elite |
| Crew scheduling and hours | Front Office | Plus | Basic (assign techs) | Max (crew management) |
| Extra people | No per-person fee | Priced by team size | 5 on Essentials, 8 on Max, then $35 each | $25 a month each |
Each cell names the lowest plan whose card on the company's public pricing page lists that feature, checked October 8, 2026. A dash means we did not see it on the plan cards. The company may sell it as an add-on or on a higher tier, so ask them.
ServiceTitan is left out of that table because its pricing page does not list features by plan price. It sells three packages, Starter, Essentials and The Works, priced per technician on request. It is built for larger shops, and many HVAC companies grow into it.
What each one costs
Here are the published prices for each company's lower plans. Read the people column carefully. HVAC shops often add a helper in the summer, and on some plans that adds a monthly fee.
| Plan | Price a month | People | What the plan card lists |
|---|---|---|---|
| Koira | |||
| Office | Free | No per-person fee | Site, estimates with signing, invoices, card payments, day plan |
| Grow | $249 plus usage at cost | No per-person fee | Adds the receptionist and text-back on a Koira number, Turbo, campaigns |
| Front Office | $499 flat, usage included | No per-person fee | Adds maintenance plans, crew routes and hours, commercial outreach |
| Jobber | |||
| Core | $49 monthly, or $29 billed yearly | 1 user | Online booking, quotes, invoices, a website |
| Connect | $139 monthly, or $99 billed yearly, for 1 user. $199, or $149 yearly, for 5 | 1, 5, 10 or 15 users, priced by team size | Adds quote and invoice follow-ups, QuickBooks Online sync |
| Plus | $499 monthly, or $399 billed yearly, for 5 users | 5, 10 or 15 users | Adds crew scheduling, Marketing Suite, AI-powered Receptionist |
| Housecall Pro | |||
| Basic | $79 monthly, or $59 billed yearly | 1 user | Online booking, scheduling, quotes, invoices, review tools |
| Essentials | $189 monthly, or $149 billed yearly | 5 users | Adds routes, flat-rate pricing, QuickBooks Online sync |
| Max | $329 monthly, or $299 billed yearly | 8 users, extra users $35 each | Adds recurring service plans and route optimization |
| QuoteIQ | |||
| Essentials | $29.99 monthly, or $299.99 a year | 1 user, extra users $25 each | Estimates, invoices, scheduling, online payments, AI call team |
| Beginner | $99.99 monthly, or $999.99 a year | 2 users, extra users $25 each | Adds MapMeasure Pro and e-signatures |
| Pro | $199.99 monthly, or $1,999.99 a year | 4 users, extra users $25 each | Adds email and text automation, QuickBooks |
| Elite | $299.99 monthly, or $2,999.99 a year | 10 users, extra users $25 each | Adds InstaQuote, route optimization, campaigns |
| ServiceTitan | |||
| Starter, Essentials, The Works | Not published, priced on request | Priced per technician | Dispatching, scheduling, call booking, invoicing, estimates |
Prices from each company's public pricing page, checked October 8, 2026: Jobber, Housecall Pro, QuoteIQ, ServiceTitan and Koira. Prices are per month in US dollars and change often, so check the page before you buy.
How to choose
A simple way to decide is to look at last July. How many calls did you miss? How many replacement quotes never got an answer? How many tune-up customers did you forget to remind in the spring? Whichever number hurts most is the first thing your software should fix.
- If missed calls hurt most, look hard at how each tool answers the phone, and what it costs.
- If quiet quotes hurt most, look at options on the estimate, signing with a deposit, financing and follow-ups.
- If the shoulder months are slow, look at seasonal reminders and maintenance plans.
- If you are about to hire, look at what each extra person costs per month.
Whichever you try, put one real week of jobs through it before you commit. Koira has a free plan, and most of the others offer a free trial, so ask.
