E-commerce, Field Service, and Load Calc

Click To Buy Services (www.clicktobuyservices.com) is a flexible e-commerce platform that gives home services companies the ability to accurately estimate and sell their services online. It can connect to any website and allows customers to click on various services, view accurate pricing and flexible payment options (e.g. monthly, semi-monthly, quarterly, and annually), accept it, and then pay upfront by credit card before work begins. The format allows homeowners to buy services 24/7/365.

To help ensure customers are a good fit and to accurately calculate services before committing, Click To Buy provides qualifying and disqualifying questions and validates that customers are within your service boundaries.   

Service companies can also use the platform to supercharge marketing initiatives by allowing direct linking to service checkout pages, use of coupon codes, and automatic discounting when select services get adding to a shopping cart.

Click To Buy is also integrated into Zapier (www.zapier.com), which allows businesses to build simple yet sophisticated workflow automation with their favorite online software. For example, when a service is purchased online it can automatically trigger events like sending customers information directly to CRM tools, populating spreadsheets, and even creating more complex automation that includes text messaging and QuickBooks invoicing.

Each location in Click To Buy has its own centralized dashboard for tracking such data as best-selling services, average monthly purchases, and annual current revenue.

Pricing: one-time custom set-up cost + a monthly fee scaled by number of locations and services offered.

Kickserv

Kickserv (www.kickserv.com) is field service software that enables companies to create professional estimates, schedule one-time and recurring appointments and, through its mobile app, invoice clients in the field, capture signatures, and collect payment through an integrated payment platform.   

You can set up multiple service locations under one parent account. When you request a payment from the Kickserv mobile app, the customer’s mobile device is sent a text or email.

A planner tool lets you see which technician is where for efficient scheduling. Technicians can create estimates and invoices and request payments from clients’ mobile phones by text or email.

Through the integrated Customer Center, clients can request an appointment, leave notes for the technician and pay an invoice. Kickserv has incorporated Karna, an installment plan payment option enabling customers to “buy now and pay later” which transfers funds, upfront, into Stripe account (a payment processing platform) with fees collected and Karna collecting the payments from your customer. 

Kickserv also integrates with QuickBooks Online, Stripe (payment processing), and MailChimp (www.mailchimp.com), a marketing platform for small businesses.

Pricing: Kickserv has a 14-day free trial, a free plan (for up to two users) and four paid plans scaled by number of users and other limitations/allowances. All plans include estimates, CRM, customizable tags, Customer Center. The paid plans include automated email and text reminders, 20+ business reports, and time tracking. Three of the four paid plans also include dispatch mapping and GAPS check-in, custom reports, and the ability to add (for a fee) integration with QuickBooks Desktop.

HVAC Load Calc Bundle Plus

HVAC Load Calc Bundle Plus (www.carmelsoft.com) packages together six of Carmelsoft’s HVAC iOS apps, all optimized for the iPad and/or iPhone.

HVAC ResLoad J performs peak cooling and heating load calculations per ACCA Manual J8 for residential and light commercial buildings and uploads your projects to the cloud for sharing with other authorized technicians.

HVAC Psych HD plots HVAC and other psychometric processes on the iPad screen while in the field, saving the (customizable) graph and emailing the graph and results to yourself and clients.

HVAC Duct Sizer sizes one HVAC duct run or a range of duct sizes. Users can specify in CFM (or L/s), the aspect ratio, and either the total velovity of air or the friction loss per 100 feet, The results include the exact and rounded height and width (or diameter) dimensions and the calculated velocity and friction loss.  The app uses slider controls to quickly increment or decrement the input values and immediately observe the calculated results.

HVAC Pipe Sizer Plus includes three pipe sizer apps, for liquid, steam, and gas (low and high).

HVAC Ref Charge is a refrigerant charging calculator for performing superheat and subcool refrigerant calculations on the fly. It includes pressure/temperature data for 100+ refrigerants including both dew and bubble versions of many azeotropic refrigerant types.  

Steam Tables calculates 23+ different combinations of input parameters for saturated and superheated steam. HVAC Equipment Locator (also embedded in most of the above apps) enables tracking of customer equipment, nameplate, and maintenance data, including photos and spec sheets and allows you to upload the information to the cloud for sharing with other technicians.

The bundle also runs on all new Apple MacBooks with the M1 and M2 chips.

Pricing: downloadable at the App Store, one-time fee includes free updates.

Update

ServiceBox  (covered in January 2023 column) recently added ServiceBox Purchasing, enabling a user to import (from QuickBooks Desktop, QuickBooks Online, or Sage 50 Canada) or create vendor lists, send purchase orders to any vendor, track what is received, and push results into inventory or accounting. The new feature enables ordering from mid-job and having the items added under the “Time & Materials” tab once you designate the items are received.

Patti Feldman writes articles and web content for trade magazines and manufacturers of building products. She can be reached at [email protected].