The best e-signature app for HVAC companies: repairs, replacements and maintenance plans

Where an HVAC company needs a signature

• Repair authorization: the diagnosis is done, the capacitor or igniter is priced, and the customer says yes before the part comes off the truck.
• Replacement proposals: good, better and best systems with different SEER2 ratings, rebates and monthly payments. The one they sign becomes the install order.
• Maintenance agreements: the spring and fall tune-up plan, signed once and renewed every year, ideally without a phone call to each member.
• Commercial service contracts: rooftop units on a preventive maintenance schedule, usually signed by a facilities manager who never sees the roof.
• Financing and rebate paperwork: lender applications and utility rebate forms, which normally go through the lender's or utility's own system.

The shortlist side by side

The five in detail

ServiceTitan: for shops with a dispatch board and a call center

ServiceTitan prices per technician and only by quote. Its help center says a tech can send an estimate by email or text so the customer reviews and signs it on their own device, and forms go out the same way; a signature on a PDF form is added on a blank page at the end. It needs a live connection: e-sign requests don't work offline. Mobile Estimates start on the Essentials plan, and Customizable Memberships come with The Works. For a company with a dozen trucks, having every signature inside the job record is worth the price.

Housecall Pro: estimates, booking and payments for growing shops

Housecall Pro's estimates page says customers can approve jobs and e-sign with a single click from their phone or email, and estimates can be built as good-better-best options. Basic is $59 a month billed annually ($79 monthly) for one user, Essentials $149 for up to 5 users, and Max $299 for up to 8, with $35 a month per extra user. Recurring maintenance agreements are listed on Max, and consumer financing on every plan. The page doesn't say whether customers can sign on the tech's phone at the door, so try that during the trial.

Jobber: simple quoting for small shops

Jobber covers quoting, scheduling and invoicing. Its quoting includes signature approvals, and the client hub lets customers approve quotes online. Core is $29 a month billed annually, or $49 with no commitment, for one user; extra users are $29 a month each, and Connect starts at $99 billed annually. Card payments run 2.9% plus 30 cents. Its pricing page doesn't describe maintenance agreements, so check how it would handle your seasonal plan before moving members over.

DocuSign: when commercial customers expect it

Facilities managers, school districts and property management firms often send and expect DocuSign. Standard is $30 per user a month on an annual plan billed monthly, with in-person signing, shared templates and 100 envelopes per user a year. Business Pro at $45 adds bulk send, handy for renewing a list of commercial PM contracts, and payment collection. Text message delivery is an add-on from $0.36 a message. It knows nothing about service calls, so it sits beside your dispatch software, not in place of it.

SignMaster: the signing piece, without the dispatch board

A tech opens the envelope on an iPhone or iPad, chooses Sign in person, and the homeowner signs in a locked full-screen mode; Android phones do the same in the browser. A radio field lets the customer pick good, better or best right on the proposal. Maintenance renewals go out through bulk send: one spreadsheet row per member, each with their own price and visit months filled in, up to 500 rows a send on Crew. It doesn't schedule, dispatch, price from a flat-rate book or take payments, so it fits shops whose estimating lives somewhere else, or that only need agreements signed.

How to choose

• Ten or more technicians and a dispatcher: ServiceTitan, so the signature lives inside the job.
• A small or mid-size shop that wants estimates, booking and payments in one app: Housecall Pro or Jobber. Housecall Pro's Max plan adds maintenance agreements.
• Commercial work where the customer insists on DocuSign: DocuSign Standard, or Business Pro for bulk renewals.
• Your dispatch software's signing is weak, or you want a cheap way to renew every member each spring: SignMaster.