BuildOps alternatives for commercial HVAC service shops
BuildOps is built for commercial contractors who run service and construction projects together, from mid-market shops to enterprise. A shop that mostly maintains and repairs equipment on customer buildings can compare ServiceTrade, ServiceBox, ServiceTitan, FieldBoss, Jobber, Housecall Pro and BoltWright, then run the same trial in each.
We make BoltWright, one of the alternatives below, so weigh our take accordingly. What we say about every other vendor comes from their own public pages, checked October 16, 2026, and the sources are listed at the end.
BuildOps is a strong fit for a commercial contractor that runs construction projects and service in one company and wants both in one system. It prices by quote, counts office users as well as field users, and says most HVAC shops go live in 8 to 12 weeks. If your work is mostly maintenance and repairs, you want to see a price before a sales call, or your office is one or two people, compare ServiceTrade and ServiceBox, which are built for commercial service; ServiceTitan and FieldBoss, for larger or ERP-centred shops; Jobber and Housecall Pro, which publish their prices; and BoltWright, where the crew’s notes become reports the office reviews. Run the same maintenance visit and service call through two or three of them before deciding.
Who BuildOps suits
BuildOps says it is “trusted by 1,500+ commercial contractors across North America” and describes itself as “built from the ground up for contractors who run projects, service, and everything in between.” Its pricing page says it grows with contractors “from mid-market shops to enterprise operations.” Its about page sums it up as “100% Commercial. Only.”
For a commercial HVAC shop, its pages describe a lot that matters:
- Equipment. Full history, specs and service records on each unit from the phone, with nameplates read by the camera.
- The field app. BuildOps calls its app “offline-first” and says data “saves locally and syncs the moment signal returns.”
- Write-ups. Its Smart Recap feature turns a tech’s voice notes into customer-facing records of the work.
- Service and projects. Maintenance agreements, quotes and invoicing on the service side; submittals, RFIs, change orders, daily reports and job costing on the project side.
- Accounting. Integrations with Viewpoint Vista, Viewpoint Spectrum, Sage Intacct, NetSuite and QuickBooks.
If you run sizeable project work alongside service, keep BuildOps on your list. If it already runs your shop well, the cost of switching is real, and staying may be the right call.
When a service-first shop looks elsewhere
- You want to see the price first. BuildOps sends a custom proposal after a discovery call and a demo. ServiceTrade quotes too. ServiceBox, Jobber, Housecall Pro and BoltWright publish their prices, and FieldBoss publishes starting prices.
- Your office counts as seats. BuildOps says its pricing “is based on the number of field and office users on your account.” ServiceTrade says office users are always free, and BoltWright has no charge for office users, helpers or apprentices. Ask each vendor what one more dispatcher or bookkeeper adds to the bill.
- The office has to carry the switch. BuildOps includes implementation with every plan and says most HVAC shops are “fully live and running on BuildOps within 8-12 weeks.” Ask what those weeks ask of your own people if the office is one or two of them, and what any vendor needs from you before the first live job.
- You don’t run construction projects. BuildOps sells a service-only plan, so you don’t have to buy project tools. Still ask the demo to stay on maintenance visits, findings and repair quotes, since that is the work you’d live in every day.
The alternatives, from each vendor’s own pages
Each row says what the vendor says about itself, what it publishes about price, and the kind of shop that might put it on a shortlist.
Scroll sideways to see pricing and who each one might suit.
| Product | What its own pages say | Published pricing | Worth a demo if |
|---|---|---|---|
| ServiceTrade | “Built for commercial service teams, not residential contractors,” with 13 years of serving commercial service contractors, now 1,300+ of them, and a separate suite for fire protection. Equipment history, deficiency capture, online quotes and a QuickBooks integration are in its entry suite; the customer portal and AI features start at Premium. | Not published. Three suites (Select, Premium and Enterprise), priced mainly by the number of technicians. Office users are free. | Turning maintenance findings into quoted repairs is the main thing you want to improve. |
| ServiceBox | Canadian-built software for commercial HVAC service, maintenance and project teams. Keeps model, serial, prior repairs, readings and open recommendations on each unit, and creates recurring work orders from the maintenance agreement. Lists QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop and Sage 50 Canada, and an offline mode that keeps saved work accessible through weak connectivity. | Standard $210 and Premium $330 a month, each with the first six users included, billed in local currency for Canadian and U.S. customers. A $75 two-user Starter for qualifying shops. | You’re in Canada, or your books are in Sage 50 or QuickBooks Desktop. |
| ServiceTitan | Sells to residential and commercial contractors. Its commercial platform supports “large field teams, multiple trades, and multi-location operations,” with model and serial scanning, a Findings feature, a customer portal with equipment data and Field Assistant, an AI assistant for techs. | Not published. Three packages, each marked Request Pricing. | You run residential and commercial work, or several trades across locations. |
| FieldBoss | Built for HVAC and elevator contractors and delivered on Microsoft Dynamics 365. Lists full ERP financials (general ledger, receivables, payables and banking), recurring PM agreements and equipment service history. | Starting prices: mobile users from $90 and back-office users from $185 per user a month, plus implementation from $50,000 one time. The page doesn’t state a currency. | You want accounting and field service in one Microsoft-based system and can fund the implementation. |
| Jobber | Says “400,000+ home service pros trust Jobber.” Its HVAC page describes recurring maintenance jobs that are scheduled and invoiced automatically, and job costing for commercial projects. It doesn’t describe a record for each piece of equipment, so ask where unit history would live. | Published in U.S. dollars by plan and team size, with a 14-day free trial. | Commercial work is a small share of your jobs and you want a quick, low-cost start. |
| Housecall Pro | Says it is built for both residential and commercial HVAC contractors and scales “from a single truck to a team of 50 or more.” Its Essentials plan keeps service and equipment history on each property and sells recurring service agreements. Its Mobile FAQ says editing without a connection is not supported. | Published by plan, with a 14-day free trial. | You do a mix of residential and light commercial work. |
| BoltWright | Our own commercial HVAC service software, built in Calgary. Service requests, dispatch, sites and equipment history, maintenance agreements, quotes, invoices and job costing, with a Field app for techs. Notes, voice recordings and photos save on the phone without signal; live conversations with Bolt, the AI assistant, need a connection. The crew’s notes become a report organized by unit that the office reviews before sending. Built for service and maintenance; it has no construction project tools such as submittals or progress billing. | C$129 per working truck a month for the first ten, then C$99. No seat charge for office users, helpers or apprentices. Month to month, with migration and setup included. | Your work is maintenance and service on customer buildings, and the paperwork after the visit is what you most want off your plate. |
BoltWright is newer and much smaller than the other companies on this list. Ask every vendor, us included, who answers when something goes wrong and how quickly. Other systems often named alongside these include FieldEdge, Simpro, FieldPulse and Service Fusion. They aren’t covered here, and the same trial works for them.
One trial for every vendor
Bring the same two jobs to every demo: a maintenance visit across several rooftop units, and a service call that ends with a repair the customer still has to approve. Ask each vendor to walk through them on screen.
- Get the price for your actual shop in writing: technicians, office users, modules, implementation, data migration and what changes at renewal.
- From the phone, open a site with several units and find the right RTU’s last visit. Then switch on airplane mode, record a reading, a photo and a voice note, close and reopen the app, reconnect, and check the office sees each item on the right unit.
- Follow the repair from the finding to the quote, the customer’s approval and the return visit on the schedule.
- Read the report the property manager would get. Who reviews it, and what stops a wrong reading from going out?
- Open the maintenance agreement. Which visits are due next, and how is included maintenance kept apart from billable extras on the invoice?
- Name your accounting system and edition, and ask which way records sync.
- Ask how long it takes before your first real job runs in the new system, and what your office does in those weeks.
- Get a sample export of customers, sites, equipment and job history before you sign.
The ServiceTitan alternatives guide and the ServiceTrade alternatives guide use the same trial. If you’re in Canada, the Canadian software guide covers currency, sales tax and QuickBooks Canada.
If you’re already on BuildOps
Check your contract’s end date and notice terms first. Ask BuildOps for a sample export of the records you’d need to keep, especially equipment and job history, and ask the receiving vendor to import that sample while you watch. The switching checklist covers the rest of the move. If you come to BoltWright with time left on another system’s contract, we credit up to six months of the remaining term; the details are on the pricing page.
Sources
Each vendor page was opened and checked on October 16, 2026. Prices, plans and features change, so confirm them with the vendor before you decide.
- BuildOps: pricing, commercial HVAC, technician app, asset management, about
- ServiceTrade: commercial HVAC, pricing
- ServiceBox: HVAC software, pricing
- ServiceTitan: commercial service and replacement, pricing
- FieldBoss: HVAC, pricing
- Jobber: HVAC software, pricing
- Housecall Pro: HVAC software, pricing, Mobile FAQ
- BoltWright: how it works, pricing, working with no signal
Bring a maintenance visit and a service call.
We’ll run both through BoltWright in a walkthrough. Or open the demo first: it has a made-up shop’s data and needs no signup.
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