The Field Service Software Buyer's Checklist: 25 Questions to Ask Before You Sign a Contract

Buying field service software is easy to get wrong. Most vendors demo well — clean dashboards, a friendly sales rep, a free trial. What's harder to see upfront is what happens six months in: the price after you add a third technician, whether you can actually get your customer list out if you switch, or whether "support" means a real phone call or a ticket that sits for three days.

This is a checklist, not a pitch. Print it, bring it to your next demo, and don't sign anything until you've got real answers — not "we can look into that" — to all 25.

Pricing & Contracts

1. Is the price per user, per month, or a flat rate regardless of team size?
2. What does it actually cost when you add your 3rd, 4th, or 5th technician?
3. Is there an annual contract, or can you pay and cancel month-to-month?
4. What's the cancellation process — notice period, prorated refund, or do you lose the rest of the month?
5. Are there extra charges for SMS reminders, payment processing, or features locked behind a "pro" tier you'll eventually need?

Features

6. Can you convert an estimate to an invoice in one step, or do you re-enter the same job twice?
7. Does it handle recurring jobs (weekly cleanings, quarterly HVAC checks) without manually rebooking each one?
8. Does the app work with no signal — in a basement, a rural job site, a metal building — and sync once you're back online?
9. Can customers pay online (card or ACH) from the invoice itself, or do you need a separate payment processor bolted on?
10. Does it track job history and equipment per customer, so a tech can see what was done last visit before walking in?

Data & Migration

11. If you leave, can you export all your customers, invoices, and job history in a usable format like CSV?
12. What's their process for importing your existing customer list from a spreadsheet or your old software?
13. Who owns your customer data, and does the vendor's terms allow them to sell or share it?
14. If you stop paying, is your data deleted immediately or is there a grace period to get it out?
15. What's their backup process, and have they had any public data-loss or downtime incidents?

Support

16. Is support phone, live chat, or email-ticket only?
17. What's the actual response time — minutes, hours, or "within 1-2 business days"?
18. Is support included at every plan tier, or is real help reserved for the most expensive one?
19. Are support hours limited to 9-to-5, or can you get help evenings and weekends when you're actually on a job?
20. Can you find independent reviews (not vendor testimonials) that specifically mention support responsiveness?

Mobile Experience

21. Was the app built mobile-first, or is it a desktop tool wrapped in an app shell that feels clunky on a phone?
22. Can a technician finish an entire job — photos, signature, invoice, payment — from their phone without touching a laptop?
23. How does it run on an older or budget Android phone, not just the newest iPhone the sales rep demoed on?
24. When a tech updates a job in the field, does the office see it change in real time, or does someone have to refresh and re-check?
25. Can you realistically use it one-handed, with gloves on, or standing on a ladder — or does it need a desk and two hands?

Before you sign

Write the vendor's answers down next to each question. If they dodge more than two or three, that's your answer too. Most software looks identical in a 15-minute demo — the differences show up in month four, when your team has grown, your data has piled up, and you need support on a Saturday.

For what it's worth, ServiQ answers most of these plainly: flat pricing with no per-user penalty for growing your crew, month-to-month with no annual lock-in, full data exports if you ever leave, and an app built mobile-first rather than shrunk down from a desktop tool — but run this same checklist past whoever you're evaluating, ServiQ included.