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Switching software

What is a Simpro alternative for an electrical and HVAC contractor that needs flat rate pricing and invoicing from the field?

The main alternatives are a residential flat rate platform such as ServiceTitan or Housecall Pro, whose price books add ready-made task prices and Good, Better, Best options; a smaller trade job tool such as Fergus, which quotes and invoices from the phone and bills monthly with no lock-in; or a configurable field service platform that rebuilds your own flat rate tasks, add-ons and multipliers around how you already price. Simpro itself already does flat rate: a flat rate pre-build has a set sell price whatever the parts and labor cost, and Simpro Mobile lets a technician add pre-builds, create the invoice and take payment on site. So the real question is not whether a tool has flat rate, but whether it fits your price book, your mix of service and project work, your card processor and your contract terms.

  • Flat rate means the customer sees one price per task; your book still needs labor hours, part cost and markup behind each price.
  • In Simpro a flat rate pre-build's Pricing Type cannot be changed after it is used on a quote or job, so plan the book before you import it.
  • Simpro Mobile creates a tax invoice for the whole or remaining job; partial invoicing or invoicing per item is not available on mobile.
  • Third-party flat rate books are often add-ons: Housecall Pro's Profit Rhino book is $199 a month for HVAC, plumbing, drain and electrical.
  • Export your pre-builds, catalogue and labor rates before you sign anywhere, and test that the new tool can hold your largest task with its add-ons.
Fieldproxy

This page is for electrical and HVAC contractors who already price by the task. If you bill time and materials on every job, flat rate software is not the fix you need first.

Facts checked as of November 2026. Sources at the end of the page.

Step by step

How flat rate pricing and field invoicing work, step by step

Whatever tool you pick, the chain from price book to paid invoice has the same six links. Check each one in a demo with your own tasks.

1. Build each task from its parts

A flat rate task such as replace a 40 amp breaker or replace a condenser fan motor is a set of catalogue parts, an estimated labor time and a labor rate. Simpro calls this a pre-build and lets it combine materials and labour, materials only, or labour only as a single billable item on jobs, quotes and invoices.

2. Decide how the price is set

A calculated task takes its price from the parts and labor inside it. A flat rate task has a fixed sell price. Simpro offers both: standard price pre-builds calculate from their components, while flat rate pre-builds have a pre-determined sell price regardless of the material and labour costs involved. Simpro also notes that flat rate pre-builds are not affected by pricing tiers.

3. Add the rules around the price

Real books carry add-ons (a permit, a disposal fee, a surge protector upsell), options (repair, replace, replace with a better unit) and multipliers (after hours, weekends, holidays, member discounts). These are the parts that differ most between tools.

4. The technician picks tasks on site

On the job the technician opens the job, picks tasks from the book, adds any extra parts and shows the customer the price. In Simpro Mobile the technician taps Materials/Labour to add pre-builds, catalogue items, labour rates, one off items and service fees to a cost centre.

5. Create the invoice before leaving

After the work is done, the job becomes an invoice. In Simpro Mobile, after Stop Work and Finish, the technician reviews cost centres and taps Create Invoice. The result is a tax invoice for the entire or remaining price of the job, and invoicing is not available for jobs that are open in Simpro Premium or have retentions applied.

6. Take payment and sync to accounting

The technician records payment by card reader, tap to pay, a payment link or cash, and the invoice and payment flow to QuickBooks or Xero. Simpro Mobile supports partial payments by percentage or amount, a Stripe Terminal over Bluetooth, and Square through the Square Point of Sale app.

What we hear

Why contractors leave, and why the switch goes wrong

These are the problems electrical, HVAC and related trade buyers described to us on sales calls, by trade only.

The book is huge and hard to get out

A multi-trade appliance, electrical, air conditioning and solar business on Simpro said its parts catalogue ran to about a million items and could not be downloaded in one go. A plumbing and HVAC company could not export the add-on price book it paid for. If you cannot export the book, you rebuild it by hand.

Flat rate is an extra fee, and so is the processor

A residential plumbing and HVAC company said its flat rate book and its GPS were each a separate add-on fee, and that it was tied to one card processor with high fees. Price the book, the payment processing and the app together, not the base plan alone.

The tool holds the price but not the rules

A locksmith with a shop and mobile technicians needed 2x holiday pricing, 1.5x after-hours pricing and a default discount line on one job type, and wanted only some staff able to add or change prices. A book that holds prices but not these rules pushes technicians back to mental maths.

Customers should not see the whole book

A property maintenance network wanted property managers to see only the flat rate items for their issue, not the whole price book they could shop and push back on. Check what a customer portal or quote link exposes.

Workflows that do not fit the template

The same multi-trade business found a quote that follows an earlier diagnostic visit hard to build in Simpro, and a commercial electrical contractor that had tried Simpro still did its estimating in spreadsheets. Both wanted the new system to copy how they already work so technicians would not need retraining.

Options

Ways to get flat rate pricing and field invoicing after Simpro

What each option says in its own docs, as of November 2026. Check the current docs and your contract before you commit.

OptionFlat rate and field invoicingWatch for
Stay on Simpro and tidy the bookFlat rate pre-builds with a set sell price; Simpro Mobile adds pre-builds, creates the invoice and records payment on site, including a Stripe Terminal or Square.No partial or per item invoicing on mobile. A pre-build's Pricing Type is fixed once used. Read your current term and notice period first.
ServiceTitanGood, Better, Best proposals from Pricebook > Templates > Proposal Templates, presented side by side in the mobile app. Pricebook Pro adds content updates to costs, images and sold hours, and auto proposals. ServiceTitan Payments collects in the field.Pricing is by request. ServiceTitan says Tap to Pay and Pay by Bank are only available in the US.
Housecall ProFlat-rate pricing is listed on the Essentials plan. The Profit Rhino book covers HVAC, plumbing, drain cleaning and electrical, priced on national averages and updated quarterly.Profit Rhino is an add-on at $199 a month. Built for residential service; check how commercial and project work fits.
FieldEdgeFieldEdge Flat Rate gives technicians pricing from the truck. FieldEdge Payments is built in.FieldEdge Payments is powered by one processor (Xplor), so ask whether you can keep your own and what the card rate is.
FergusThe Fergus Go app creates job cards, quotes and invoices from the phone on site; customers pay by QR or card from the invoice with Fergus Pay.Monthly billing with no lock-in and no yearly plan. A trade job tool rather than a flat rate book; check options and multipliers.
Configurable platform (Fieldproxy is one)Your own tasks, add-ons, options and multipliers set up as pricing rules, picked on the technician app, turned into an invoice with a payment link.No ready-made national price book: you bring your prices. Best when your pricing or workflow does not fit a template.

Vendors are named for what their public docs say. Being listed here does not mean an option covers your workflow.

Worked example

A worked example: pricing one task and invoicing it on site

Say an electrical and HVAC contractor prices a task called replace 40 amp breaker. The book says 0.75 hours at a $150 billing rate, which is $112.50 of labor, plus $45 of parts at a 60% markup, which is $72. The calculated price is $184.50, which the contractor rounds to a flat $185. Every technician quotes $185 whether the job takes 30 minutes or 70.

Now the rules. The same call at 9 pm uses a 1.5x after-hours multiplier, so $277.50. If the customer also takes a whole-home surge protector add-on at $395, the invoice shows two lines and $672.50 before tax. The technician should not have to work out any of this: the app should apply the multiplier from the job's time and show the add-on as an option.

Watch the markup method too. Simpro's own help gives this example: two items each cost $200, one with a 50% markup and one with 25%. Using the default 25% markup, the pre-build sells for $500; using each item's own markup, it sells for $550. Two settings, same parts, a $50 difference per task. When you move tools, write down which method each task used so prices do not shift on the first day.

Finally the invoice. On site, the technician finishes the job, the invoice is created with both lines, and the customer pays by card or by a payment link sent to their phone. If they pay half now and half on completion of a follow-up visit, check the tool supports a partial payment, and whether it supports a partial invoice; Simpro Mobile does the first but not the second.

Before you buy

What to check before you buy

Good signs

  • You can import your own tasks, parts, labor hours and markups from a spreadsheet, and the vendor will do it for you.
  • Add-ons, options and after-hours or holiday multipliers are rules, not notes for the technician.
  • You can restrict who adds or changes prices, and show customers only the tasks that apply to them.
  • The technician app works offline and can create the invoice and take payment before leaving site.
  • You can keep your own card processor, or the processor and card rate are written into the quote.
  • Invoices and payments sync to QuickBooks or Xero with the same invoice numbers.
  • Month-to-month or annual terms are in writing, with the notice period.

Red flags

  • The flat rate book is a paid add-on you cannot export if you leave.
  • Prices come only from a national book you cannot adjust per customer or contract.
  • One processor is required, with the rate given only after you sign.
  • Service work fits but project jobs, retentions or progress claims do not.
  • The vendor cannot show your largest, most complicated task in the demo.

In Fieldproxy

Setting it up in Fieldproxy

Fieldproxy replaces Simpro rather than syncing with it. Pricing rules, forms and stages are set up to how you already price, within a day.

Bring your book across

Export pre-builds, catalogue items and labor rates from Simpro, and we load them as your price book: each task with its parts, hours, markup and flat price (e.g. a task_type of flat_rate or calculated, so both kinds keep working).

Add the rules as pricing rules

After-hours and holiday multipliers, add-ons, repair or replace options and per-customer contract rates become pricing rules on the job, so the technician picks a task and the price is applied.

Quote and invoice from the technician app

Technicians use the Android or iOS app, offline when there is no signal, to pick tasks, take photos and a signature, and turn the job into a quote or an invoice on site. Command Center can look up a part's price and add it to a quote when someone asks in plain English.

Get paid and keep accounting in step

Each invoice can carry a payment link, through the Stripe account you already have. Invoices sync to QuickBooks or Xero. Autopilot drafts the chase for unpaid invoices and open quotes, and a person approves each one before it sends.

Keep service and project work together

Projects with change orders, progress billing and retainage sit in the same system as service calls, for contractors who do both.

Regional notes

Regional differences that change the setup

United States: whether labor is taxed depends on the state, so a flat rate task may need separate labor and parts lines for tax even if the customer sees one price. Texas, for example, lists nonresidential real property repair and personal property maintenance or repair among its taxable services. Tap to pay on a phone also has device rules: Stripe's Tap to Pay needs an iPhone XS or later, or an Android phone on Android 13 or later.

Australia: Simpro's help guide marks some features AU only, such as tracking STCs on flat rate pre-builds for solar work. If you use them, make sure the new tool can hold the same certificate data before you switch.

How switching works

Moving from Simpro to Fieldproxy

We move your data over and set the system up to the way you already work. Fieldproxy replaces the old tool; it does not run alongside it.

  1. Send us your Simpro exports

    Pre-builds, catalogue, labor rates, customers, sites and open jobs. Tell us which tasks are flat rate and which are calculated.

  2. We rebuild your book and rules

    Tasks, add-ons, multipliers and contract rates are set up as pricing rules, and the demo runs on your own tasks, not a template.

  3. Price-check before go live

    We price your 20 most common tasks in both systems side by side so nothing moves on the first day.

  4. Technicians go live

    Technicians get the app with your book, invoices and payment links go out from site, and Simpro is switched off.
Fieldproxy vs SimproQuotes and estimates built your wayInvoices, contracts and payment linksPricing: one price per company, unlimited users

FAQ

Questions people ask

Does Simpro do flat rate pricing?
Yes. Simpro flat rate pre-builds have a set sell price regardless of material and labour cost, and are not affected by pricing tiers. Standard price pre-builds calculate the price from their parts and labour instead.
Can technicians invoice and take payment from Simpro Mobile?
Yes. After finishing a job, the technician can create a tax invoice for the whole or remaining job and record payment, including partial payment, a Stripe Terminal or Square. Partial invoicing or invoicing per item is not available on mobile, and jobs with retentions cannot be invoiced there.
Can I keep my own price book if I leave Simpro?
Usually, if you export it first. Export pre-builds, catalogue items and labor rates while you still have access, note which pre-builds are flat rate, and ask the new vendor to load and price-check them for you.
How do I de-risk migrating off Simpro?
Run both systems side by side on your most common tasks and compare the price each gives, move open jobs and customers before go live, and switch technicians over on a quiet week. Keep read access to Simpro until the first month of invoices has reconciled.
Can one tool handle fixed-price bundles and a very large parts catalogue?
Ask to see it with your data. A catalogue of hundreds of thousands of items needs search on the technician app and an import that runs in batches; bundles need parts, hours and a fixed price on one task.
Can after-hours and holiday rates be applied automatically?
In tools that support pricing rules, yes: a multiplier such as 1.5x after hours or 2x on holidays applies from the job time. Check whether the tool applies it or leaves it to the technician.
Can customers pay by a link that reconciles automatically?
Most tools send a payment link with the invoice and mark it paid when the card payment clears, then sync the payment to QuickBooks or Xero. Ask which processor is required and what the card rate is.

Sources

Competitor details on this page come from the vendors' own pages and documentation, checked as of November 2026. Plans and prices change, so check the vendor's current page before you decide.

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