How much does it cost to build custom field service software?
A first release is typically $50,000 to $80,000, about 6 weeks after discovery. A full core system takes 3 to 6 months. Upkeep is typically $12,000 to $30,000 a year.
A first release of jobs, dispatch, the technician app, and QuickBooks sync is typically $50,000 to $80,000, about 6 weeks after a 2 to 4 week discovery. A full core system typically takes 3 to 6 months. Upkeep is typically $12,000 to $30,000 a year. Over 5 years, owning with Evertech is about $146,000 to $318,000 for a 20-technician team.
These are typical ranges, confirmed when we scope your shop. They are not a bid. They are the same ranges on the field service offer.
The ranges, in order
Discovery, 2 to 4 weeks. A fixed-price engagement maps dispatch, quoting, billing, and your contract dates. You leave with a written scope and a written price. If a rental is the better fit, that is the answer. You can stop after discovery.
First release, about 6 weeks after discovery. Typically $50,000 to $80,000. The shop can run jobs, dispatch the board, put technicians on the phone app, and sync invoices, payments, and customers to QuickBooks Online or Desktop. It is the first module, not every screen in a rented platform.
Full core system, 3 to 6 months. Discovery, the first release, the rest of the core workflows, migration, and training sit in this window. Training for dispatch, technicians, and owners is part of the standard cutover. The 5-year figures below are for a full core system. Stopping after the first release costs less across those five years.
Upkeep, typically $12,000 to $30,000 a year on a full core system. It covers security updates, bug fixes, monitoring, and small changes. New modules are quoted separately and named before they are built.
What a 20-technician shop spends over 5 years
| Path | Over 5 years |
|---|---|
| Renting ServiceTitan | About $418,000 |
| Owning with Evertech | About $146,000 to $318,000 |
Estimates for a 20-technician team. ServiceTitan’s pricing page describes per-technician pricing and does not list a public price, so the rent figure is a planning total. Bring your written quote. If it differs, the comparison changes.
Owning is the build plus upkeep. The low end is a tighter core and the low end of upkeep. The high end is a larger core and the high end of upkeep. Hiring another technician does not add a license. Hosting runs in cloud accounts you control. Payments, text messages, and accounting keep their own vendor fees on both sides. We do not turn the gap into a savings percentage.
What drives the cost
Modules
The first release is jobs, the dispatch board, the technician app, and QuickBooks. A full core system adds the workflows the office actually runs: good-better-best quoting, payments, maintenance agreements, a customer portal, reminders. Each one is named in the written price. A screen your shop never opens is not automatically in the build. HVAC agreements, plumbing memberships, and roofing measurements are why a core system takes 3 to 6 months rather than six weeks for everything.
Integrations, including QuickBooks
QuickBooks sync is inside the first-release range. Invoices, payments, and customers sync to QuickBooks Online or Desktop, and QuickBooks stays the books. Payroll, card payments, calendar, and SMS are scoped one by one. A clean connection to a system you already use is predictable. A messy export or a second accounting file costs more, and discovery is where we look at the real file. If QuickBooks is not your books, say so before the price is written.
The technician mobile app
The app is part of the first release, not a later phase. Technicians open the job, history, photos, signatures, and checklists on the phone, including where the signal drops. Offline work syncs when the connection returns. That is more than a mobile website, and it is why the first release is not a thin office tool with a link. Phones and tablets the shop already owns are enough. New hardware is not inside these ranges.
Migration from ServiceTitan
The contract date sets the calendar. We plan the work so the new system is live before a renewal, then move customers, jobs, and history in a tested cutover. A clean customer list costs less to move. Years of attachments, custom fields, and memberships are the usual reason a project sits toward six months. The plan says what comes across, what is archived, and how a sample is checked before the board flips. While the subscription is still active you can export. We test the file we actually receive, on a schedule that does not wait until access has ended.
What does not change the price
Technician count does not add a license. A 20-person crew and a 40-person crew can run the same core when the workflows match. On ServiceTitan, and on the per-user or quoted models from Jobber, Housecall Pro, FieldEdge, and BuildOps, headcount is the meter. Those models are on ServiceTitan versus a custom build. Here, the meter is scope.
A shop well under 10 technicians usually spends less, and starts sooner, on a published plan from Jobber or Housecall Pro. These ranges are for shops with roughly 10 to 100 technicians.
Before you sign
Ask for three numbers in writing: the discovery price, the first-release price and what done means, and the upkeep price plus what a later module costs. Compare the same crew over five years. Put the rental total, including the onboarding you were quoted, on one side. Put the build and the years of upkeep on the other. Leave hardware and payment processing out of both. If the rental still wins, stay.
The next step is a discovery call, not a contract for the whole system. How we work is that sequence. Own your field service software is the offer these ranges come from.