Compare
Field service software vs. paper and spreadsheets
Paper tickets, a whiteboard and a spreadsheet cost nothing and everyone already knows how to use them. They start to break when there is more than one truck, more than one person answering the phone, or more than a handful of repeat customers.
Side by side
| What you need | Paper and spreadsheets | TradePath HQ |
|---|---|---|
| Seeing who is where today | A whiteboard in the office, updated by phone calls. | A dispatch board with a lane per worker, and a map of the day’s stops. |
| Catching double-bookings | Someone has to notice. | Double-bookings and time off are flagged before you save. |
| Getting job details to the crew | Paper tickets, texts and phone calls. | Address, gate code, notes and checklist on each visit, on the worker’s phone. |
| Recurring work | Re-written every week or month. | Repeating jobs keep visits on the schedule; service plans bill on their own. |
| Quotes and invoices | Typed up separately, emailed or handed over, tracked in a spreadsheet. | Quotes approved online become jobs; once you connect Stripe, invoices can be paid by card from a link. |
| Hours worked | Timecards added up at the end of the week. | Hours come from when a worker starts and finishes a visit, reviewed and approved weekly. |
| Cost | Close to free. | A monthly subscription, with public pricing and a free trial with no card. |
Stay with paper and spreadsheets if…
- You work alone, or with one helper who rides with you.
- Most of your work is one-off, and customers pay on the spot.
- You rarely reschedule.
It’s time to switch if…
- More than one person is scheduling or answering the phone.
- You have a crew working at different addresses on the same day.
- Recurring customers are being missed or billed late.
- Invoices go out days after the work because the paperwork has to come back to the office first.
Questions
Common questions
Can I bring my customer list across from a spreadsheet?
Yes. Import customers from a CSV file, match its columns to TradePath HQ’s fields, and review likely duplicates before anything is added.
Do my crew need training?
The crew app shows each worker their own visits with one clear next step per visit, in the phone’s browser. Most of what they do is press that button.
Get your next workday under control.
Bring the schedule, crew, customer follow-through, and billing into one clearer view.
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