Software we can build for construction and field-service businesses
Estimates in spreadsheets, the schedule on a whiteboard, job photos in someone’s camera roll, and the office calling the crew to find out where things stand. We build systems that connect the job from the first call to the final invoice.
Where the work gets stuck in construction and field-service businesses.
- Estimates rebuilt from scratch
Pricing lives in a spreadsheet only one person fully understands, so each quote is rebuilt rather than assembled from your own costs and past jobs.
- Scheduling by whiteboard and group text
Crew assignments change daily, and the current version is whichever message someone saw last.
- The office does not know what the field knows
Measurements, notes and photos stay on phones until someone remembers to send them, so the office calls to ask.
- Change orders that never reach the invoice
Extra work agreed on site is approved verbally, then forgotten when it is time to bill.
- Customers calling for status
“When is the crew coming?” and “Is it finished?” get answered by phone, one call at a time.
- Job costing after the fact, if at all
Whether a job made money is worked out weeks later from receipts and timesheets — too late to change anything on it.
One job, from first call to final report
This is the path most jobs take. In a lot of businesses, each arrow is a phone call, a re-typed spreadsheet row or a forwarded email.
- Lead Call, web form or referral
- Estimate Built from your price book
- Approval Signed by the customer
- Scheduling Dates held on the calendar
- Crew assignment Who, where, with what
- Field notes & photos Captured on site
- Customer updates At the stages you choose
- Completion Checklist and sign-off
- Invoice Including change orders
- Reporting Estimated versus actual
How a connected system would tie these together
- The lead becomes the job record. Nothing is typed in again from the estimate onwards.
- An approved estimate can create the job, hold the dates and notify the crew lead without anyone forwarding anything.
- Crews see their assignments, job details and checklists on a phone, and the notes and photos they add land on the job straight away.
- Customers get updates at the stages you choose — or a link where they can check for themselves.
- Completion sends the invoice to your accounting system with the approved change orders already on it.
- Estimated and actual hours and materials are compared per job while the job is still running, not weeks afterwards.
Systems we could build.
Starting points, not a product list. Most projects begin with one of these and grow from what the first phase teaches.
- Job and operations platform
The single record for every job — customer, scope, schedule, crew, documents, photos and status — that the office and the field both work from.
- Field crew app
Today’s jobs, addresses, checklists, photos and customer signatures on a phone, with screens designed for use on site rather than at a desk.
- Estimating tool
Your price book, assemblies and margins, producing consistent branded quotes in minutes instead of a fresh spreadsheet each time.
- Customer status portal
Where customers see their schedule, approve change orders, view photos and pay — without calling the office.
- Job-costing dashboard
Margin by job, crew and job type, updated as time and materials are logged.
What it would connect to.
A custom system should connect to what you already rely on, not replace it. Typical candidates:
- QuickBooks Online or XeroCustomers, invoices and payments, so finished work is billed without re-keying.
- Google Workspace or Microsoft 365Calendars, email and shared documents.
- Stripe or your payment processorDeposits and online payment against an invoice.
- An existing field-service or project platformIf part of the work already lives in a tool such as Jobber, ServiceTitan or Procore, the custom system can work alongside it rather than compete with it.
- Mapping and SMSDirections for crews and text updates for customers.
Vendor names are examples of systems you may already use, not partnerships. What can be connected depends on each vendor’s API and terms, which we confirm before anything is quoted.
What custom software should not replace.
Custom software should fill the gaps between your systems, not rebuild the ones that already work.
- Your accounting system. Invoices and payments should flow into QuickBooks or Xero, not move out of them.
- Payroll and HR platforms.
- A field-service platform you are happy with for most of the job — connecting it is usually cheaper than replacing it.
- Specialist takeoff and bid software for complex commercial estimating.
A workflow consultation, then a specification.
The first conversation is about 30 minutes and costs nothing: you show us how the work runs today, and we tell you whether custom software is worth exploring. Only a strong fit goes on to a paid specification.
- 01 Workflow consultation Free · about 30 minutes
Show us the workflow or the problem. We ask questions and tell you whether custom software is worth exploring — or whether something simpler would do.
- 02 Discovery & specification Paid engagement
Where there is a strong fit, we map the workflow properly and write it up as a specification: what the system does, for whom, how it connects, what it costs and when. You keep it whether or not we build it.
- 03 Fixed-scope build Quoted against the spec
The build is quoted and scheduled against the specification, so the figure you approve is the figure you pay. Anything new is quoted separately rather than absorbed quietly into the timeline.
- 04 Launch & care Optional monthly plan
Launch, then hosting, updates, security patches, store submissions and changes as your business moves. Whoever built it maintains it, and you can stop the plan whenever it stops being worth paying for.
Common questions.
Will our crews actually use it?
Only if it is quicker than what they do now. Field screens are designed around the few things a crew needs on site — the job, the checklist, the camera — and tried with the people who will use them before launch.
We already use a field-service platform. Do we need to replace it?
Often not. If it handles most of the job, the better project is usually connecting it to the rest of your systems, or building the one piece it does badly.
Can it work where there is no signal?
Offline capture can be designed in, so notes and photos are saved on the phone and sync when a connection returns. It adds complexity, so it is scoped during discovery rather than assumed.
Show us how a job moves through your business.
Bring the estimate spreadsheet, the schedule or the group text. In about 30 minutes we’ll tell you whether a connected system is worth exploring.
You’ll hear directly from PiTech, typically the same business day.