JB Warranties Blog

Best HVAC Apps for Contractors and Technicians

Written by Taylor Bohannan | Feb 26, 2024 5:07:14 PM

From supercharging technician productivity to simplifying daily financial management needs, countless HVAC apps are readily available to help business owners and contractors take their operations to the next level. With the mobile capabilities that accompany these various apps, HVAC professionals are provided complete, on-the-go control over their daily workflows as well as dozens of technician-focused tools that help increase job quality, speed, and customer satisfaction.

Yet, with thousands of options across various app stores, it can be difficult to determine which are the best HVAC apps for your business. JB Warranties is here to help. With an understanding of common pain points and operational needs of HVAC businesses, we’ve gathered a list of the top HVAC apps for business management, marketing management, and technician success around.

Top HVAC Business Management Apps

Long-term business growth is heavily reliant on the proper management of many operational components, including financial, customer, and work order management. Luckily, contractors can achieve sustainable business growth for years to come with the help of HVAC business management apps. Simplify multiple components with these three best HVAC apps for business management. 

1. Sera Tech 

Sera is a leading field service management software provider for home service businesses, including HVAC and plumbing. Through the Sera Tech app, both contractors and service technicians gain access to a comprehensive selection of tools, including GPS appointment navigation, job quote and invoice creation, technician dispatching and scheduling, and work order documentation capabilities. 

Following a 2022 partnership with JB Warranties, users can now also purchase a customer’s HVAC extended warranty directly from the Sera platform, helping save service technicians time all while boosting day-to-day upselling success. With customer details in the palm of your hand, Sera makes it easy for techs to nail down critical warranty details in the event of system troubles and repair needs. 

2. Jobber 

Jobber is a field service management software that offers a popular app currently being used by over 200,000 home service professionals. Jobber’s customer management capabilities ensure that all crucial details, whether it’s customer phone numbers or service history, are always one click away. Service techs can also communicate with customers directly from the app to provide estimated arrival times as well as checklists that demonstrate what is being completed via text. 

3. Inuit QuickBooks

When it comes to financial management, QuickBooks is the industry standard. As the accounting software leader, QuickBooks offers a comprehensive app that HVAC business owners can use to view, track, and manage their company finances all from a mobile device. The QuickBooks mobile app can also track and document expenses using its snapshot feature, which captures critical expense data for purchase receipts and automatically inputs them into business bookkeeping. 

In addition to robust financial management, the QuickBooks mobile app equips technicians with mobile payment processing capabilities. Each time a service order is completed, your HVAC service technicians can collect bank and credit card payments, issue digital receipts to customers via email, and safeguard customer’s sensitive payment information, all from a single mobile device. 

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HVAC Business Marketing Apps

In support of consistent business growth, HVAC professionals must harness the power of various marketing tools to help expand customer reach and drive in new prospects. Below are some of the best HVAC apps that can be used to develop and distribute marketing materials, manage your company’s overall reputation, and spread the word of your HVAC services near and far. 

1. Canva 

Trusted by some of the biggest companies around, Canva is an all-in-one design tool that can be used by home service professionals to develop a wide variety of marketing materials. Using Canva’s desktop or mobile application, HVAC contractors can develop and print physical marketing materials, including business cards, service offering pamphlets, and promotional door hangers.

Aside from physical marketing resources, Canva can be used to develop countless types of digital marketing materials, including company logos, social media images, and email marketing templates. Canva AI was also recently introduced, which can be used by not-so-design savvy HVAC professionals to help develop eye-popping and on-brand marketing materials in a matter of minutes. 

2. Mailchimp

With Canva integration capabilities, Mailchimp can be used to distribute, manage, and assess the performance of your email marketing campaigns. Email marketing plays a vital role in keeping customers connected with your business, and Mailchimp’s mobile app makes it easy to track campaign performance, manage, and communicate with email contacts. Mailchimp also offers design capabilities of its own to help quickly develop visually appealing email marketing.

3. NiceJob

Reputation management is an essential component of any home service business’s success, meaning that business reviews are critical. With positive online reviews acting as a form of marketing for your business, NiceJob can be used to track and monitor the individual details of your customer reviews across numerous review sites, including Google, Yelp, and Facebook. 

NiceJob’s mobile application helps encourage more frequent customer reviews with automated customer reminders. Following a work order, HVAC technicians can use the NiceJob app to capture a photo of their work with their mobile device. The photo will then be attached to an automated review request, which NiceJob will send with automated follow-up texts or emails to encourage customer reviews. 

HVAC Technician Service Apps

The beauty of the best HVAC apps is that they can enhance the productivity (and profitability) of a business even while technicians are hard at work. While out in the field, technicians can use mobile apps to support the quality and speed of their jobs. With customer satisfaction and safety relying so heavily on your technician's work, consider these best HVAC apps for technician efficiency. 

1. HVAC Buddy 

HVAC Buddy is a refrigerant charging and diagnostic app technicians can use while servicing equipment. When using this app, all HVAC technicians need to do is provide the type of refrigerant being used alongside current temperatures and pressures. Using this data, HVAC Buddy then calculates superheat, subcooling, and airflow targets. Then, the app emails a report to ensure an effective charge, as well as help diagnose various HVAC unit conditions such as improper airflow. 

2. Duct Calculator Elite

When tasked with a ductwork project, HVAC technicians can tap into the power of the Duct Calculator Elite app to simplify their calculation processes. This app allows techs to calculate duct size, velocity, flow rate, and pressure drop using just a few data inputs. Duct Calculator Elite offers three modes, including Duct Size by Airflow, Duct Size by Dimension, and Pressure Drop, as well as a variety of preference settings, including material types, to ensure accurate installations and optimal efficiency.  

3. HVAC Load Plus

HVAC Load Plus is a mobile load calculation app currently used by thousands of HVAC technicians and leading manufacturers around the globe, including Carrier and Mitsubishi Electric. With the help of HVAC Load Plus, professionals can perform heating and cooling loads for residential and commercial properties directly on the spot, without a ton of mental math involved.

Using inputs such as square footage, window type, and overhang dimensions, HVAC Load Plus users can develop comprehensive cooling and heating load reports that can then be presented to clients in support of sales success. Not to mention, contractors can also save these reports and adjust various inputs as needed to ensure peak performance following installation. 

Begin Downloading the Best HVAC Apps to Support Business Success

A simple search on the Apple and Android app stores can lead you down a rabbit hole of home service-based applications, all with a myriad of user reviews and opinions. Fortunately, by referring to the best HVAC apps discussed above, contractors and technicians can skip over the lengthy browsing process and begin downloading and optimizing their operations in a matter of minutes.

As you use these apps to enhance your business management, marketing success, and service quality, don’t forget to check out the JB Warranties Dealer Services Marketplace. Here you can connect with a variety of industry-trusted and contractor-approved business products and solutions that help mitigate company risks, grow revenue, and manage ongoing expenses for years to come.