Best CRM for Contractors: What Actually Works in 2026

I’ll save you thirty hours of research and demo calls. Most CRM comparison articles are written by people who’ve never run a job in 40-degree heat or chased a builder for payment. This one’s different.

We work with contractors and trades businesses every day. Here’s what actually matters when you’re picking a CRM — and which tools deliver.

What Contractors Actually Need From a CRM

Before we compare anything, let’s get clear on the requirements that matter for trades businesses specifically:

• Mobile access that works on a job site — not a desktop app crammed onto a phone screen
• Job tracking built in — you don’t just track leads, you track work from quote to completion
• Quoting and invoicing — or at minimum, tight integration with your accounting software
• Simple enough that your team will actually use it — your sparky or plumber is not going to fill out 15 fields per customer
• Price that makes sense — you need this tool across your whole team, not just the office

With that lens, let’s look at the real options.

Jobber

Best for: Small to mid-sized trade businesses (1-30 employees) who want an all-in-one tool.

Jobber was built for home service businesses and it shows. Quoting, scheduling, invoicing, customer management — it’s all in one place. The mobile app is genuinely good. Your techs can see their schedule, check job notes, collect payment on site, and update job status from their phone.

Strengths: Easy to learn, excellent mobile app, built-in quoting and invoicing, client hub where customers can approve quotes and pay online.

Weaknesses: Reporting is basic. Once you grow past 30-40 people or your workflows get more complex, you’ll start hitting walls. Limited customisation — you work within Jobber’s structure, not yours.

Price: From $39/mo (1 user) to $249/mo (up to 15 users). Reasonable for what you get.

ServiceTitan

Best for: Larger contracting businesses ($5M+ revenue) in HVAC, plumbing, or electrical.

ServiceTitan is the heavyweight. Dispatching, pricebook management, membership programs, marketing ROI tracking — it does a lot. If you’re running a serious operation with 20+ techs, it has the depth to handle complex workflows.

Strengths: Extremely deep feature set, strong dispatch and scheduling, technician performance tracking, built-in financing options for customers.

Weaknesses: Expensive and complex. Implementation takes weeks, not hours. The learning curve is steep. It’s built for specific industries and if your business doesn’t fit neatly into HVAC/plumbing/electrical, you’ll be fighting the tool. Minimum contract and pricing that starts around $300+/mo and climbs fast.

Price: Custom pricing only. Expect $200-$400+ per technician per month depending on features. Annual contracts.

HubSpot CRM

Best for: Contractors who do a lot of inbound marketing and want a free starting point.

HubSpot’s free tier is genuinely useful. Contact management, deal pipelines, email tracking, meeting scheduling — it’s a solid CRM foundation at no cost. The marketing tools are where HubSpot really shines.

Strengths: Free to start, excellent marketing and email automation, great contact and deal management, massive integration ecosystem.

Weaknesses: It’s not built for trades. No job scheduling, no field service features, no quoting tools that understand line items and materials. Your office staff might love it, but it does nothing for your team in the field. Paid tiers get expensive fast ($90+/user/mo for Professional).

Price: Free tier available. Paid plans from $20/user/mo to $150+/user/mo.

Salesforce

Best for: Large enterprises with a dedicated admin or IT team.

Salesforce can do anything. That’s both its greatest strength and its biggest problem. With enough customisation (and budget), you can build a CRM that handles every aspect of your contracting business. But you’ll need a Salesforce consultant, ongoing admin work, and patience.

Strengths: Infinitely customisable, massive app marketplace, scales to any size, powerful reporting and automation.

Weaknesses: Expensive ($75-$300/user/mo), requires significant setup and ongoing administration, overwhelming for non-technical teams, terrible out-of-the-box experience for trades businesses. Your crew chief is not going to enjoy using Salesforce on a phone.

Price: $25/user/mo (Starter) to $300+/user/mo (Enterprise). Plus implementation costs of $10K-$100K+.

Pipedrive

Best for: Sales-focused contractors who care most about pipeline management.

Pipedrive is a clean, visual CRM built around deal pipelines. If your main challenge is tracking leads from first contact through to closed work, Pipedrive does this better than almost anything else at its price point.

Strengths: Dead simple to use, visual pipeline management, good mobile app, affordable, quick setup.

Weaknesses: No job management, no scheduling, no field service features. It tracks the sale, not the work. You’ll need separate tools for everything that happens after a deal closes.

Price: $14-$99/user/mo. Good value for what it does.

Custom-Built CRM

Best for: Businesses with workflows that don’t fit neatly into any off-the-shelf tool.

A custom CRM is built specifically around how your business actually operates. Your fields, your workflow stages, your integrations, your reporting. Nothing extra, nothing missing.

Strengths: Fits your exact workflow, integrates with your specific tools, no per-user licensing fees eating your margins, scales with your business without vendor lock-in.

Weaknesses: Higher upfront investment ($15K-$80K+ depending on scope), requires a development partner, takes weeks to build rather than hours to set up.

So Which One Should You Pick?

Here’s my honest take based on hundreds of conversations with contractors:

Under $1M revenue, small team: Start with Jobber or Pipedrive. They’re affordable, fast to set up, and good enough to get you organised. Don’t overthink it.

$1M-$5M revenue, growing team: Jobber if you want all-in-one simplicity. HubSpot if marketing is a priority. Pipedrive + separate job management if you want best-in-class sales tracking.

$5M+ revenue, complex operations: ServiceTitan if you’re in HVAC/plumbing/electrical and want a proven platform. Custom if your workflows don’t fit standard templates or you’re tired of paying per-user fees across a large team.

The Question That Actually Matters

The best CRM isn’t the one with the most features. It’s the one your team will actually use, every day, without being nagged. For some businesses that’s a $39/month Jobber account. For others it’s a purpose-built system that mirrors their exact workflow.

Start with what your team needs today. Pick the simplest tool that covers those needs. And when you outgrow it — you’ll know, because the workarounds will start multiplying — that’s when it’s worth having a deeper conversation about what comes next.