Software for Multi-Trade Contractor Shops

Most field service software is built for shops that do one thing. The dispatch board, the templates, the invoice formats — all assume your work fits a single trade. Run a multi-trade shop through that and the software starts pushing you to pick: are you HVAC or are you plumbing? You're both, and the customer is one customer regardless of which trade is at their house this week.

The right tool for a multi-trade shop treats trade as a tag on the job, not the foundation of the system. One customer list, one calendar, one invoice flow — with the flexibility to handle different rates, different templates, and different crews per trade.

Common multi-trade shop setups

• HVAC + plumbing. Common in regions where one shop covers everything mechanical. Same maintenance customer base, different equipment.
• Electrical + general contracting. The GC who self-performs electrical, often the owner.
• Cleaning + carpet/tile/upholstery. Same customer, different service line.
• Pest control + lawn care. Recurring customers across both.
• Property maintenance generalists. One owner, multiple crew with different specialties — light HVAC, plumbing, drywall, paint, electrical fix-ups.

What multi-trade shops actually need

• Trade tagging on jobs. Filter the calendar by trade; see "all HVAC jobs this week" or "all electrical."
• Skill matching. A plumbing call doesn't go to the HVAC tech. Tag crews with their qualifications and the schedule respects it.
• Per-trade pricing and labor rates. Your HVAC hourly rate isn't the same as your electrical rate.
• Single customer database. The Smith family is one customer whether you're there for the heater or the leaking sink. History should follow the address, not the trade.
• One invoice flow. A combined invoice for two trades on one visit, or separate invoices for separate visits — whatever fits.
• Recurring services across trades. Spring HVAC tune-up + annual plumbing inspection on the same calendar.

What NOT to do

• Don't run separate software per trade. The customer overlap and the manual reconciliation will eat you alive.
• Don't use single-trade software with workarounds. "We just put electrical jobs in the same system as HVAC and rename the templates" works until it doesn't.
• Don't over-customize. If your software has trade tags, use them. If it doesn't, pick different software — don't try to bend a single-trade tool into a multi-trade workflow.

CrewConductor for multi-trade shops

CrewConductor was designed multi-trade from day one — every job has a trade tag, every crew has skills, every customer has cross-trade history. Real-world examples:

• Texas Air Solution (one of our first customers) runs HVAC, plumbing, and electrical from a single account — one calendar, one customer list, separate per-trade rates.
• Filter the dispatch board by trade to see only HVAC jobs, or all jobs, or "everything assigned to Mike."
• Tag a customer for both trades; their history shows every visit regardless of trade.
• Recurring service tracks per-trade cadence — biannual HVAC, annual plumbing, both on the same customer.

Start a free 14-day trial — set up your trades, crew, and skills in the first 15 minutes.