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Table of Contents

• What is Plumbing Software?
• The benefits of Plumbing Software
• Typical features of Plumbing Software
• The cost of Plumbing Software
• Considerations when purchasing Plumbing Software
• Relevant Plumbing Software trends

What is Plumbing Software?

Plumbing software allows contractors in the plumbing and repair industry to receive plumbing and repair requests from customers, schedule technicians for fieldwork, estimate job costs, and bill customers for the services provided. The solution facilitates communication between field technicians and the back-end staff and provides field personnel access to service history and customer details while in the field.

The benefits of Plumbing Software

• Reduces fuel cost: The solution schedules all of a technician’s tasks for the day. It provides suggestions for the most efficient route for the technician to take based on their schedule. This enables companies to reduce fuel and time wasted by preplanning routes. 
• Real-time tracking: The software allows managers to see the location of their teams and equipment. It also lets them view a project status in real time. Managers or back-end staff are then better equipped to manage the demand for technicians or tools, and the solution allows them to reschedule projects, team members, and equipment when required. 
• Equipment management: The software predicts the future demand for equipment on the basis of historical data present in the system. This helps businesses to manage its resources. It enables managers to keep track of the employees when they leave for an assigned task along with the assigned pieces of equipment. Managers can leverage this data of available inventory to schedule projects out since they know what equipment will be available and how long they have been in use on previous projects.

Typical features of Plumbing Software

• Job management: Manage all job or project information in one place.
• Scheduling: Allows you to see availability and assign specific time slots for tasks and resources.
• Work order management: Create work orders and track their status to completion.
• Billing and invoicing: Allows you to create and manage monetary interactions between parties (i.e., bills and invoices).
• Dispatch management: Helps you manage requests and send personnel or resources to a site as needed.
• Quotes/estimates: Generates quotes and estimates to share with customers.
• Technician management: Allows you to keep track of and manage work orders assigned to technicians.

The cost of Plumbing Software

Most products in the market are priced on a “per user, per month” basis and can be divided into three pricing tiers based on their starting price.

Price ranges*:

• $10 - $17
• $17 - $29
• $29+

*The pricing included is for the entry-level/lowest-priced offerings found on vendor websites on Dec 1, 2019. These ranges correspond to the 25th, 75th, and 100th percentiles of pricing information gathered from vendor websites of sample products.

The above list summarizes pricing for the base plans of most products. An enterprise or premium product, which is priced higher, may include additional features such as mobile apps, custom integration, unlimited invoice generation, inventory management, electronic signature capture, data backup, and dedicated support.

Considerations when purchasing Plumbing Software

• Web-based application or website: Check for a free website or web-based application that is offered by the vendor. A website or web app is useful, especially in today’s world, where the majority of customers tend to make online bookings either via their laptops or mobile phones. If the solution is compatible with mobile devices, people find it more convenient to book services online. 
• Quality of support the vendor offers: Buyers should consider the level of support the vendor offers to field personnel. The vendor should provide a quick turnaround in resolving issues and queries from technicians. 
• Built-in invoicing capability: The plumbing software should offer invoicing capabilities so that technicians can generate an invoice and accept payment while in the field. This will ensure on-the-spot payment collection from customers while still at the location of the repair. 
• Mobile is a must: Plumbing software typically supports a few dispatchers headquartered in the main office, as well as several field personnel. It is crucial that the software provides connectivity and clear communication between dispatchers and field workers. It will allow the dispatchers to send the job to the employee’s mobile device, so the field employee can update the job status, upload documents, create estimates, generate invoices, and track their time.

Relevant Plumbing Software trends

• Internet of things (IoT) will benefit plumbing contractors: The sensors connected to equipment will enable the business to monitor inventory. They will detect resource availability and help the manager automate reordering whenever necessary. In time, the software will be able to monitor inventory usage and optimize inventory levels to minimize capital tied up in material. Similar to the monitoring of home appliances, equipment will be monitored with a running list of maintenance requirements and locations.
• IoT-based predictive maintenance is becoming a necessity: A report suggests that field service software industries such as plumbing and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) will focus on IoT-based predictive maintenance, as it will enable the technicians to stay updated on when work is due. This will help the plumbers manage their schedules and be proactive in reaching out to their customers about upcoming maintenance. 
• Rise of technician bots: By augmenting chatbots in a plumbing solution, experts will be able to shift their focus to maintenance and heuristic diagnostics instead of spending time on data collection. Customers will make greater use of portals and bots to initiate service. Many organizations foresee the use of portals in enhancing their capabilities. Portals will allow technicians and customers to interact with the chatbot. These chatbots will be able to collect information, order parts for plumbers, verify that the next scheduled customer is home, and help customers to reschedule a job.
• Integration with online payment processors: According to a finder.com report, three-fourths of the consumer population in the U.S. prefer making payments through digital wallets. They feel it is a more comfortable mode of payment in comparison to carrying cash. Mobile payments via digital wallets are a growing trend as consumers are moving toward making their finances mobile. Given this, businesses will adapt and integrate with online payment processors to support digital payments.