Field Service Management
Field service management is how a business that sends technicians to customers' sites plans, carries out and gets paid for that work: taking in requests, scheduling and dispatching, completing work orders, invoicing and collecting payment, and measuring how the business is doing.
The parts of the job
Scheduling & Dispatch
Scheduling decides which technician does which job and when. Dispatch gets that technician to the job, and adjusts the plan as the day changes.
1 resource →Estimates
An estimate tells a customer what work is likely to cost before it starts; a quote is a firm price. A clear estimate sets expectations and turns into approved work.
4 resources →Work Orders
A work order is the record of a specific job assigned to a technician: what to do, where, for whom, and what was done.
1 resource →Invoicing & Payments
Invoicing bills the customer for completed work, and payments is how and when you collect it. Accurate invoices and easy payment shorten the time to cash.
3 resources →Service Agreements
A service agreement is a written contract for recurring or planned work. It sets scope, schedule, price and terms so maintenance revenue is predictable.
4 resources →Pricing & Profitability
Pricing sets what you charge. Profitability is whether those prices cover labor, materials and overhead and still leave a margin.
14 resources →Customer Management
Customer management is keeping the records, history and communication a service business needs to serve repeat customers well.
2 resources →Field Service KPIs
Field service KPIs are the handful of measurements, such as first-time fix rate, technician utilization and time to invoice, that show whether the business is running well.
1 resource →All resources on this topic
Billable Hourly Rate Calculator
Find the hourly rate you need to charge to cover your fully-loaded costs and hit your profit target. Enter four numbers and get your rate.
Field Service Invoice Template
A free, reusable invoice template for service businesses — copy the structure below or download the CSV, then adapt it to your trade and get paid faster.
How to Price Service Jobs Profitably
A practical framework for pricing field-service jobs so every quote covers your fully-loaded costs and leaves room for real profit.
How to Write a Professional Service Estimate
A clear, professional estimate wins more jobs and protects your margin. Here's a step-by-step way to scope, price, and present one that customers say yes to.
Scheduling and Dispatch Best Practices for Field Service
A practical guide to field-service scheduling and dispatch — the difference between the two, best practices for skills, geography, and capacity, a problems-to-fixes table, the metrics that matter, and common mistakes.
Work Order Management Guide for Field Service Teams
A practical guide to work order management for field service teams — what a work order is, what a good one contains, the full lifecycle from creation to invoice, and the mistakes that cost you billable time.
Customer Communication Best Practices for Service Businesses
A practical guide to customer communication for service businesses — the moments that matter from booking to follow-up, how to choose channels and tone, set expectations and deliver bad news, ask for reviews the right way, plus a touchpoint table, common mistakes, and an FAQ.
Estimate vs Quote vs Proposal
A plain-language guide to the difference between an estimate, a quote, and a proposal, and how to choose the right one for each job.
Field Service Estimate Template
A free, reusable estimate template for service businesses — copy the structure below or download the CSV, then adapt it to your trade.
Field Service KPIs and Metrics
A plain-language guide to the field service KPIs that actually matter — grouped into sales, operations, financial, and customer metrics — plus how to start tracking them without drowning in dashboards.
Field Service Pricing FAQ
Short, direct answers to the pricing questions service business owners ask most — from setting an hourly rate to charging for travel and diagnostics.
Flat-Rate Price Calculator
Build a flat-rate price for a repeatable service task from your billable rate, the time it takes and the parts it uses, and see what you earn per hour if it runs long.
Flat-Rate vs Time-and-Materials Pricing
Should you price jobs flat-rate or bill time and materials? A balanced look at how each works, where each wins, and how to choose.
How to Calculate Labor Burden
Labor burden is everything a worker costs you beyond their wage — here's how to add it all up and turn it into a true, fully-loaded cost per hour.
How to Estimate Electrical Work
A step-by-step method for estimating electrical work — site assessment, material takeoff, labor units, permits, contingency, and markup — with a worked example and common mistakes to avoid.
How to Get Customers to Pay Faster
A practical playbook for field-service owners and managers who want to shrink days-to-pay: invoice on completion, collect on site, offer multiple payment methods, set clear terms, and automate reminders.
How to Reduce Callbacks and Repeat Visits
A callback is a return trip to redo or finish work you already billed for — it quietly destroys margin and trust. Here's why callbacks happen and a step-by-step playbook to prevent them.
HVAC Pricing Guide for Contractors
A practical framework for pricing HVAC service calls, tune-ups, repairs, and installs from your fully-loaded rate, with guidance on flat-rate vs. T&M, good/better/best options, and seasonal pricing.
Job Costing for Service Businesses
A plain-English guide to job costing for field-service businesses — the cost components, estimated vs. actual costing, a worked example, and how job costing sharpens your pricing.
Job Profit Margin Calculator
Enter what you charged and what the job cost, and see gross profit, gross margin, and markup on cost in one place. Four numbers, instant answer.
Keeping a Customer's Card on File
Storing a customer's card makes collection easy and creates obligations most service businesses have never been told about. What the card networks expect, what to say at the counter, and why a card someone can't cancel turns into a chargeback.
Labor Burden Calculator
Estimate a technician's true labor burden and fully-loaded hourly cost with a fast, private in-browser calculator, plus plain-English guidance on the math and common mistakes.
Landscaping Maintenance Contract Template
A copy-and-adapt seasonal landscaping maintenance contract template, with section-by-section guidance, sample wording, route and seasonality tips, and common mistakes to avoid.
Markup vs Margin Calculator
Turn a cost and a target margin into a price, or convert a markup you know into the margin it produces, and a margin into the markup it needs.
Plumbing Pricing Guide
A plumbing-specific pricing guide covering flat-rate vs. time-and-materials, emergency and after-hours work, diagnostics, drain cleaning, fixture installs, repairs, repipes, and good/better/best options — built on your fully-loaded rate.
Service Agreement Template
A copy-and-adapt service agreement template for field-service businesses, with section-by-section guidance, sample wording, and common mistakes to avoid.
Service Agreement vs Maintenance Plan
"Service agreement" and "maintenance plan" are often used interchangeably. Here's the useful distinction — scope of commitment vs. scheduled upkeep — and how to decide which to offer.
Service Agreements and Maintenance Plans for Recurring Revenue
A practical guide to designing, pricing, and selling service agreements and maintenance plans that turn one-time jobs into predictable recurring revenue.
Technician True Cost Calculator
Turn a technician's wage into the true cost of one billable hour, by adding labor burden and spreading the cost over the hours you can actually charge.
Ready to put this into practice?
ServiceVisit brings customers, scheduling and dispatch, estimates, work orders, invoicing and payments into one workflow.