So i have been working for the same company for about four years. small company and really not an awful place to work, but i’ve recently been offered a job at a bigger company locally for about a 4 dollar raise.

At my current company, we are guaranteed 40 hours of pay no matter what, i could sit at my house for a week straight and still get paid the 40 hours for the week. We still get paid overtime if we go over 40 hours, very relaxed work environment and i get along with everyone i work with. This also is the company that gave me a chance to even do this line of work, super close with the owner/boss and his whole family.

At the new company i would be getting a somewhat sizeable raise, the work hours are more family friendly (7-3) and they don’t limit overtime. Meaning i could work until the same time i do now (5:30-6:00) and get more money. Also this company offers retirement benefits, my current does not. Also for going on call i would get a 200 dollar bonus just for that. The company also doesn’t limit vacation time to certain months outside of the slow season. The downside to this company that i can see is more of a corporate structure with layoffs happening in the winter, whereas i have super great job security where i am at.

Please leave any advice you have for me in making this decision. I am younger and would love to hear some wisdom from the older guys about moving around in the industry.

For those with HVAC or plumbing businesses, how do you figure out what to charge? I've seen the "know your costs" advice in group posts, but nobody explains how to actually do this on an ongoing basis. And then how do you keep track of all the actual costs to see what you made in the end for a job?

I’ve been trying to find good software for an HVAC client going digital and spent the last week testing different options for field service software they were looking at. I figured I’d share my notes because most comparisons online are super generic and clearly written by affiliates that haven’t actually used the systems. But I'd love to hear more about these options from people who have actually used them - especially if there's something I missed!

Main things I cared about:

• custom pricebook flexibility
• ease of use
• ability to handle HVAC-specific workflows
• price

Here’s my breakdown after testing everything:

Software	Best For	Key Strengths
FieldPulse	Small and mid-sized companies wanting full customization to import their existing price book or build one from scratch.	Most customizable by far. Includes custom folders/subfolders, advanced visibility controls, add-ons tied to flat-rate jobs, pre-built pricebooks, and supplier integrations with live pricing support.
Housecall Pro	Small and mid-sized companies that want a simple, visual pricing system with built-in automation without the need for heavy customization.	Optimized for simplicity and speed. Less flexible structure but includes several automation features like AI-generated descriptions, the ability to increase/decrease prices all at once, booking portal integration, custom pricing forms, built-in image library.
ServiceTitan	Enterpise HVAC companies with office staff who want full customization or complex ready-made HVAC databases.	The most complete option. Includes dynamic pricing for after-hours emergency calls or members, commission tracking, warranty descriptions, the most supplier catalog integrations, and pre-built pricebooks.
FieldEdge	Mid-size companies wanting a ready-made HVAC database	The fast and easy option. Includes 25,000+ prebuilt repairs.
Jobber	Solo contractors and very small shops	Simple setup, low learning curve, handles basic pricing/markup/tax management, easy for non-technical teams. No true pricebook.

FieldPulse

FieldPulse is best suited for mid-sized HVAC businesses that want maximum customization and “live” pricing flexibility. It supports both prebuilt databases and fully custom pricebooks, including the ability to import FieldPulse's HVAC pricebook or build your own from scratch.

Unlike many competitors, FieldPulse does not force a rigid structure. Users can create fully customized hierarchies with folders, subfolders, and tags, making it highly adaptable for complex workflows. It also offers advanced privacy controls, allowing you to define exactly who on your team can see pricing—and what customers see on estimates (e.g., service-only pricing vs. full material and labor breakdowns). You can also maintain different descriptions for estimates and invoices, which adds flexibility in presentation.

Another strong feature is its add-on system, where optional services can later be linked to core line items. It is also the only platform in this group offering true real-time pricing integrations with suppliers like Trane and Reece.

However, it does have limitations: it lacks built-in AI tools, and its booking system operates separately from the pricebook, which can create extra administrative work for teams relying heavily on automated scheduling.

Housecall Pro

Housecall Pro has one of the cleanest interfaces but is more structured and opinionated in its setup, requiring users to work within predefined categories and folders. This can be restrictive for HVAC companies with highly customized organization systems, and the platform itself is often more service-business oriented (cleaning, landscaping, etc.).

Its strengths lie in ease of use and automations. Key features include full integration with its booking platform, AI-generated service descriptions that help make estimates more polished and professional, and built-in image libraries. Custom pricing forms also allow for variable-based job calculations, adding flexibility within its structured framework.

It also includes a percentage-based price adjustment tool, which allows businesses to quickly update entire pricebooks—or specific categories like repairs—in response to inflation or supplier cost changes.

ServiceTitan

The most complete option by far. ServiceTitan is built for large HVAC enterprises with dedicated office staff and complex sales workflows, especially companies managing memberships and advanced dispatch operations. It supports both custom pricebooks and prebuilt catalogs such as Pricebook Pro (available as an add-on).

It integrates with a wide range of suppliers, though most integrations do not currently support real-time pricing. Where it stands out is in advanced pricing automation—features like dynamic pricing can automatically apply after-hours surcharges, emergency fees, or membership discounts.

The platform is extremely powerful but also expensive and operationally heavy. It is designed with the assumption that you have administrative staff managing it full-time. For smaller shops, it can feel like buying a semi-truck to deliver a pizza. 

FieldEdge

FieldEdge is designed for small to medium HVAC businesses that prefer not to build a pricebook from scratch. It comes preloaded with a large managed database of over 25,000 repair items and integrates with Profit Rhino, a well-known HVAC flat-rate pricing system.

The main advantage is convenience: businesses can get started quickly with a ready-made pricing structure. However, it is not ideal for highly customized operations. Companies that want to deviate significantly from the built-in structure or build a unique pricing system may find it restrictive.

Jobber

Jobber is a strong entry-level option for HVAC startups or solo operators who do not yet need a complex pricebook system. Instead of a true pricebook, it uses a simple item list, which limits scalability for large or highly detailed inventories.

One notable feature is its AI-assisted writing tools, which can rewrite service descriptions in different tones (friendly, professional, concise, etc.). This helps improve customer communication without requiring manual copywriting effort.

However, as businesses grow, many outgrow Jobber due to its limited pricing structure and lack of deeper inventory and pricing controls.

Hey, all. So I'm applying for a program that can help me get training for HVAC work. I have everything done except for one interview with someone currently in or formerly in HVAC. If anyone is will to do this, please PM me the answers to these questions:

Company

Company Address

Interviewee’s phone number (You can put your business phone or "Decline to State" if you want)

Name

Position

What advice can you give to someone seeking a career in your field?

What skills are most essential for effectiveness in this job?

What training and education are required for entry into this career field?

How far can one person go in your career area?

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Thank you so much in advance. This will really help me with my life going forward.

My husband is starting home PD dialysis in a few weeks. I dust our bedroom every day where he’ll be connected to the machine doing this each night. My concern is that the next day, there is a light layer of dust on the furniture I dusted the day before. Infection is a big concern with these patients. I was thinking about putting a supply vent filter on the one coming into our room, but I don’t want to damage our system. Is putting a filter on one filter going to be okay?

We are on a fixed income and can’t afford a vent system cleaning, but my husband thinks he might help the situation by vacuuming as far into the vent as he can get. Is that a waste of time?

Hired a consultant once, got a deck, some recommendations, and then he disappeared and nothing changed. Took me a while to realize the problem wasn't consulting in general, it was that I hired the wrong type of person for what I actually needed.

What a real advisory engagement looks like for an HVAC business:

Regular structured meetings with accountability built in, not when you feel like it. Cadence matters because without it the relationship has no teeth.

They push you on the stuff you're avoiding, not just what you bring to them. That's the value, not having someone confirm decisions you've already made.

They cover more than one area of the business. Pricing, technician utilization, margins, team structure are all connected in a service business and fixing one without seeing the whole just moves the problem somewhere else.

They've actually run a business themselves. I work with Cultivate Advisors and my advisor built and sold their own company before advising. The way a former business owner diagnoses operational problems in a service business is completely different from someone who's only ever consulted, because they're pattern-matching against decisions they've personally had to make with real money on the line.

Implementation is part of it. If they give you strategy and disappear while you execute alone that's a consultant. An ongoing advisory relationship means they're still there 6 months later asking why the thing you committed to didn't happen.

For those that own an HVAC business, what's fair to pay for coaching on sales, pricing, marketing? Coaches near by are charging crazy $$'s in my view. But maybe it's worth it?

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