- Hold a slot in the afternoon for the call that will come; filling it with planned work at noon is easy, finding one at nine is not.
- The core of plumbing scheduling is on Koira's Front Office plan, $499 flat, with no per-person fee.
- Customers book online and stops sorted by the drive decide most of it for plumbers.
How a plumbing shop's calendar works
Plumbing days are a mix of planned work and emergencies. A burst pipe does not wait, and the shop that answers and gets there first usually gets the job and the customer for life.
Scheduling for a small shop means answering every call, slotting the urgent ones where the drive allows, and keeping the planned installs on track around them.
What lands on a plumbing calendar
- Leaks and no-water calls, same day
- Drain clearing
- Water heater installs
- Fixture installs and remodel rough-ins
- Sewer camera visits
- Return visits for parts
- Estimates for repipes
- Maintenance plan inspections
What scheduling software should do for plumbers
- Bookings only into times that fit the day
- Every stop in driving order
- Day-before reminders the customer can answer
- Each person's stops on their own phone
- Paid on the spot, which matters for plumbers
How Koira does it
In Koira, every booking for a plumbing shop, from a call, a text or your site, lands on Today in driving order on its own, whether it is leaks and no-water calls, same day or drain clearing. Koira only offers customers times that fit the route, and the day before it texts them to confirm or move. That is on Office, the free plan.
On Grow, calls are answered on a Koira number and booked into your real day. On Front Office, $499 flat, each person gets a lane with their stops on their own phone and clocks in and out of jobs.
For plumbers in particular
- Customers book online. Customers book from your Koira site on every plan, or reply to a text with a time on Grow.
- Stops sorted by the drive. Today puts every stop in driving order on every plan, and new bookings only land where the drive makes sense.
Side by side
The features that matter for plumbing scheduling, where each first appears on each company's public pricing page, then the people, usage, card and add-on rows every company gets.
| What you need | Koira | Kickserv | ServiceM8 | Housecall Pro |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Customers book online | Office (free) | Contact form on Start; online booking not listed | Every plan (online bookings) | Basic |
| Stops sorted by the drive | Office (stops sorted by the drive) | Run (dispatch mapping) | Not listed | Essentials (routes), Max (route optimization) |
| Day-before reminders | Office, the day before | Start (email and text reminders) | Not listed | Not listed |
| Crew scheduling | Front Office | Not listed | Every plan (scheduling) | Basic (schedule and assign techs) |
| Calls answered by AI | Grow | Not listed | Not listed | CSR AI, listed as a separate product |
| Paid on the spot | Office, QR code at the door, 2.9% + 30¢ (Stripe) plus 0.5% to 2% (Koira) a payment | Every plan, 2.9% with Tap to Pay | Not listed | Tap to Pay, listed as a separate product |
| People, usage and card fees | ||||
| Extra people | No per-person fee; one or fifteen people, the same price | Move up a plan | No per-user fee on paid plans | $35 a month each on Max; on Basic and Essentials, move up a plan |
| Usage or credits | None on Office, at cost on Grow, included on Front Office | None on the pricing page | New jobs a month: 30, 50, 150, 500, or 1,500 and up (20¢ per added job on Premium Plus) | None on the pricing page |
| Card payments | 2.9% + 30¢ (Stripe) plus 2%, 1% or 0.5% by plan (Koira) | 2.9% with Tap to Pay, 3.9% when the card is not present (Stripe) | Not published on its pricing or payments page | From 2.59% a card payment, 1% bank payments |
| Add-ons | None; postcards are a flat price per card | QuickBooks Desktop $50 a month; 5% off the plan when you process enough payments | ServiceM8 Phone from $19 a month | CSR AI, Pipeline, Campaigns, Voice, Websites and Tap to Pay, sold separately, no price listed |
From Kickserv pricing and ServiceM8 pricing, checked October 9, 2026; Housecall Pro pricing, checked October 8, 2026. ServiceM8's prices fill in by script, so we read the page in a real browser. Part of Housecall Pro's pricing page fills in by script and it was running first-month offers when we checked. The plan prices below are the regular ones its plan cards show. A cell names the lowest plan that lists the feature; "Not listed" means we did not see it, so ask. Prices change often, so check the page before you buy.
What each one costs
Every plan in the same columns: price, people, usage, card rates and add-ons.
| Plan | Monthly | Billed yearly | People included | Usage or credits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Koira | ||||
| Office | $0, free | Monthly, no contract | One or fifteen, the same price | None charged on Office |
| Grow | $249 a month | Monthly, no contract | One or fifteen, the same price | Texts, call minutes and emails at cost, nothing added |
| Front Office | $499 a month, flat | Monthly, no contract | One or fifteen, the same price | Included in the $499 |
| Kickserv | ||||
| Start | $60 a month | 20% off with a yearly subscription | 5 users | None on the pricing page |
| Run | $119 a month | 20% off with a yearly subscription | 10 users | None on the pricing page |
| Scale | $199 a month | 20% off with a yearly subscription | 20 users | None on the pricing page |
| ServiceM8 | ||||
| Free | $0 | No yearly price published | 1 user | 30 new jobs a month |
| Starter | $29 a month | No yearly price published | Unlimited users | 50 new jobs a month |
| Growing | $79 a month | No yearly price published | Unlimited users | 150 new jobs a month |
| Premium | $149 a month | No yearly price published | Unlimited users | 500 new jobs a month |
| Premium Plus | $349 a month | No yearly price published | Unlimited users | 1,500 jobs a month, then 20¢ a job |
| Housecall Pro | ||||
| Basic | $79 a month | $59 a month billed yearly | 1 user | None on the pricing page |
| Essentials | $189 a month | $149 a month billed yearly | 5 users | None on the pricing page |
| Max | $329 a month | $299 a month billed yearly | 8 users | None on the pricing page |
What comes on top: people, card payments and add-ons
| Company | Each extra person | Card payments | Add-ons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Koira | No per-person fee on any plan | 2.9% + 30¢ (Stripe) plus 2% on Office, 1% on Grow, 0.5% on Front Office (Koira); on Office that share replaces a monthly fee | None; postcards are a flat price per card |
| Kickserv | Move up a plan | 2.9% with Tap to Pay, 3.9% when the card is not present (Stripe) | QuickBooks Desktop $50 a month; 5% off the plan when you process enough payments |
| ServiceM8 | No per-user fee on paid plans | Not published on its pricing or payments page | ServiceM8 Phone from $19 a month |
| Housecall Pro | $35 a month each on Max; on Basic and Essentials, move up a plan | From 2.59% a card payment, 1% bank payments | CSR AI, Pipeline, Campaigns, Voice, Websites and Tap to Pay, sold separately, no price listed |
From Kickserv pricing and ServiceM8 pricing, checked October 9, 2026; Housecall Pro pricing, checked October 8, 2026. ServiceM8's prices fill in by script, so we read the page in a real browser. Part of Housecall Pro's pricing page fills in by script and it was running first-month offers when we checked. The plan prices below are the regular ones its plan cards show. A cell names the lowest plan that lists the feature; "Not listed" means we did not see it, so ask. Prices change often, so check the page before you buy.
Card rates as each company publishes them (also Kickserv payments, ServiceM8 payments), checked October 9, 2026. Koira's is Stripe's 2.9% + 30¢ for a US card plus Koira's share, which pays for Office in place of a monthly fee.
Sources, each checked October 9, 2026: Kickserv pricing, Kickserv payments, ServiceM8 pricing, ServiceM8 payments, Housecall Pro pricing (checked October 8, 2026), Housecall Pro industries (checked October 8, 2026), Stripe pricing, and Koira pricing. We read each page's own text; we did not use summaries or third-party price lists.