An HVAC Contractor Time Tracking App for Install Crews and Service Techs

An HVAC company lives by the season. Furnace calls in the fall, air conditioning in the first heat wave, heat pump installs most of the year, and a slow stretch in between when the extra installers go home. JobSnap is an HVAC contractor time tracking app that clocks every tech and installer on their phone, splits their hours by job, and keeps the photos of each installed unit where the office can find them.

How an HVAC day runs

A residential install crew is usually two people and one house a day: pull the old furnace or air handler, set the outdoor unit, run the line set, start up. When the old ductwork is undersized or the panel has no room for the new breaker, a one-day install turns into two, and the extra day needs an explanation. Service techs work alone, four to six maintenance visits a day in the shoulder season and back-to-back no-heat calls in January. Commercial work means rooftop units, a rented lift, and sometimes a sheet metal crew on a new building for weeks. Hours and proof go missing in predictable places:

Short visits lumped together. Five maintenance calls become "8 hours, various", and nobody knows which customers cost more than the contract pays.
The rating plate. Warranty registration and some programs ask for the model and serial number of the installed unit. The photo is on an installer's phone, if it was taken.
The surprise on install day. The extra work is real, but by the time the invoice goes out nobody wrote down why it took longer.
Seasonal staff. Installers hired for the peak and laid off after, then rehired the next year, with their records scattered.

How HVAC crews use JobSnap

One clock per tech, hours per address. Shifts can start on their own when a tech reaches a customer's house, and each visit lands on its own job on the timesheet. Five visits stay five visits.
Install crews on the whiteboard. One column per crew with its installers and its jobs for the week. Approve time off in the app before peak season, so nobody is booked on an install while they are away. See crew scheduling.
Photos of every unit. Before photos of the old furnace, the new unit in place, the rating plate, the line set route marked up with arrows. The camera picks the nearest job, and the gallery search finds "heat pump" without anyone tagging it. See the jobsite camera.
A daily report on install days. The crew answers what got done, what caused delays or extra work, and what is needed tomorrow. The report records the day's weather, which matters for rooftop and outdoor unit work. See photos and daily logs.
Replacement quotes at the kitchen table. Save your standard installs in the cost library with a unit price, send the PDF with your logo, and turn the accepted estimate into an invoice. See estimates and invoices.
Lift hours on commercial jobs. Equipment tracking puts a rented lift's hours on the job it is sitting on.

Service and install on one timesheet

A tech's three no-heat calls and an install crew's two-day furnace swap land on the same timesheet, each job with its own hours and photos. The rating plate and line set photos filed under each job are there when you fill in the refrigerant records your province and your certification require. Many HVAC shops share sites with plumbers and split their weeks between service and install work the same way.

What it costs

$5 CAD per active employee per month, $20 minimum, every feature included. Picture a company with four service techs and three install crews of two in peak season: ten people, $50 a month. When the season slows and two installers are laid off, pause them instead of deleting them and the bill drops to $40, with their history kept for next year. The first 30 days are free, no credit card.

Questions HVAC contractors ask

Does it track my techs' vans all day?

No. JobSnap uses the phone's location only to start, stop and verify shifts during work hours, and techs see their own punches.

Can I set a boundary around a large commercial building?

Yes. Each job can have a radius or a custom boundary, and a punch from outside it is flagged for review instead of blocked.

Does overtime in the January rush show up separately?

Regular and overtime hours are separated on the timesheet and in the export to QuickBooks. Overtime rules vary by province, so check yours.