Most installers don't choose a CRM. They inherit one: the tool a former office manager liked, the free tier someone signed up for, or the spreadsheet that grew a tab for every year. This service runs a proper selection, vendor-neutral and based on how your company actually works, and then sets up the winner so the rest of the stack has something solid to plug into.
What the service is
Answer first: a structured selection followed by migration and integration.
We document your workflow from first call to final invoice, turn it into weighted requirements, shortlist a small number of tools, run real-job trials, and score the results. Then we migrate your customer and job data, configure pipelines, and connect your proposal tool, rebate tracker and call tracking.
The scorecard
Answer first: requirements weighted by how much money each one touches.
A typical heat-pump installer scorecard includes:
| Requirement | Why it matters | Typical weight |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-option proposals with e-signature | Heat-pump sales are multi-tier | High |
| Custom pipeline stages and fields | Rebate tracking needs program fields | High |
| Mobile app technicians will use | Photos and serials captured on site | High |
| Automation triggers on status change | Follow-up without manual effort | Medium |
| Accounting integration | Avoids double entry of invoices | Medium |
| Call tracking integration | Ties jobs to marketing sources | Medium |
| Data export in open formats | You can leave if you need to | Must-have |
| French interface and templates | Needed for Quebec and many NB customers | Depends on region |
Weights change by company. A shop that subcontracts installs needs different features from one with six crews.
Who it is for
Answer first: installers with no single system of record, or with two that don't talk.
It fits companies where customer history lives in someone's inbox, where technicians text photos to the owner's personal phone, or where the same customer exists three times under different spellings.
What's included
- Workflow mapping with your office and one or two technicians.
- Weighted requirements and a shortlist with reasons.
- Trial plan using real jobs, not vendor demo data.
- Scored comparison and a written recommendation.
- Data clean-up, de-duplication and migration.
- Pipeline, field and permission setup.
- Integration with proposals, tracking and accounting.
- Staff training and a 30-day check-in.
Privacy and data ownership
Answer first: your customers' data is your responsibility, so the setup has to support that.
Canada's federal private-sector privacy law, PIPEDA, covers personal information used in commercial activity in most provinces, while Alberta, BC and Quebec have their own similar laws. We set up user permissions, avoid storing what you don't need, and make sure exports work. For legal interpretation, ask a privacy lawyer.
Timeline and measurement
Answer first: about two to three months end to end, measured by adoption first and outcomes second.
The first measure is whether your team uses it: share of jobs created in the system, share of site visits with photos attached. Once adoption is solid, we track proposal speed, close rate and source attribution through lead tracking.
A note on switching costs
Answer first: count the hidden costs before deciding to move.
Moving systems costs more than the new subscription. Count staff hours for training, a few weeks of slower work while people adjust, data clean-up, and any integrations that need rebuilding. If those costs outweigh what the current tool is losing you, configuring the current tool is the better choice, and we'll say so.
Mistakes to avoid
- Choosing from demos. Demos show ideal data. Trial with your messiest real job.
- Buying for features you won't use. Weight requirements before you see a single product.
- Skipping technician input. If the mobile app frustrates them, the data never arrives.
- Migrating dirty data. Clean first; it's cheaper than cleaning later.
- Accounts in an agency's name. Always own your own.
For ongoing training after setup, HVACCRM.ca focuses specifically on CRM onboarding. You can see our plan options on the pricing page.
Frequently asked questions
Which CRM do you recommend?
It depends on your workflow, team size and the tools you already use, which is why we don't publish a ranking. We score shortlisted tools against your requirements and explain the trade-offs in writing so you make the call.
Who owns the account and the data?
You do. Accounts are opened in your company's name and billed to you. We work as invited users, and if we stop working together, you keep everything and remove our access.
How long does a migration take?
Selection usually takes three to four weeks. Migration and setup take another four to eight, depending on how many years of customer data you have and how messy it is.
Can a CRM handle both service calls and heat-pump sales?
Many field-service platforms do both, but the sales side is often thinner. That's one of the main things we test during trials, because heat-pump sales need longer pipelines than service calls.