A practical comparison of CRM and business software options for heat pump installation companies. Covers generic CRMs, HVAC field service tools, and purpose-built clean tech platforms.
Joe Gravestock
Heat pump installation is a different business from traditional HVAC repair, yet most software on the market was built for the latter. If you're running a heat pump company and evaluating CRM options, you've probably noticed the gap.
Most heat pump installers use one of four approaches: spreadsheets, generic CRMs like Salesforce or HubSpot, HVAC field service tools like Jobber or ServiceTitan, or purpose-built clean tech platforms like Payaca. There is currently no widely adopted CRM built specifically for heat pump installers apart from Payaca. The majority of businesses in this space are either working with tools designed for HVAC repair and maintenance, or adapting generic platforms that don't understand heat pump workflows, compliance requirements, or design tool integrations.
This guide compares the realistic options, what matters when choosing, and how the right system changes as your business scales.
This is the core issue. Most HVAC software was built around a reactive service model: a customer calls with a broken air conditioner, a technician is dispatched, the repair is completed, and the invoice is sent. The entire workflow is designed for short-cycle, high-volume service calls.
Heat pump installation is fundamentally different. It's a project-based business with longer sales cycles, complex quoting (often involving multiple technology options on a single proposal), design calculations, compliance documentation, and multi-stage payment collection. The workflow looks more like construction project management than field service dispatch.
Here's where specific tools fall short:
HVAC tools excel at dispatching a technician to a two-hour service call. Heat pump installations involve site surveys, design phases, procurement, multi-day installation work, commissioning, and post-installation sign-off. A dispatch board isn't the same as a project pipeline.
A heat pump proposal often includes multiple system options, associated materials, labour, and potentially complementary technologies like solar PV or battery storage. HVAC quoting tools are typically designed for flat-rate repair pricing or simple equipment replacement quotes.
In the UK, MCS certification requires specific documentation at every stage. In the US, permit requirements and incentive applications vary by jurisdiction. Generic HVAC tools have no framework for managing these regulatory requirements as part of the job workflow.
Heat pump installers use specialist design software (Heatpunk, Spruce in the UK; various load calculation tools in the US) to size systems correctly. These outputs need to flow into quotes and project documentation. Most HVAC platforms have no concept of this integration.
Here's an honest breakdown of what heat pump businesses are using today, with the trade-offs of each approach.
Best for: Solo operators or very small teams doing fewer than 10 installations per month.
Many heat pump businesses start here. A combination of Excel or Google Sheets for tracking jobs, email for customer communication, and paper or PDF forms for compliance documentation.
What works: It's free, flexible, and familiar. At low volumes, a well-organised spreadsheet can track everything you need.
Where it breaks down: When you have more than one or two people who need visibility into job status. When you can't quickly answer "how many jobs are at the design stage?" or "which installations are waiting on compliance sign-off?" When you start losing track of follow-ups and customer communications. The ceiling is typically around 15-20 active projects before things start falling through the cracks.
Best for: Businesses with dedicated operations staff and budget for significant customisation.
These platforms are powerful and flexible. In theory, you can build almost anything. In practice, making them work for heat pump installation requires substantial effort.
What works: Strong contact management, marketing automation, reporting, and integrations with other business tools. Large ecosystems of consultants and add-ons.
Where it breaks down: You'll spend months customising fields, workflows, and templates to match your installation process. None of these platforms understand MCS documentation, heat loss calculations, or multi-stage installation workflows out of the box. The team often resists adoption because the tool doesn't match how they actually work. One of the most common triggers we hear from businesses looking for a new system is that they tried Salesforce or HubSpot, invested significant time in setup, and the team still wasn't using it.
| Consideration | Salesforce | HubSpot |
|---|---|---|
| Setup time | 3-6 months typical | 1-3 months typical |
| Annual cost (mid-tier) | High (enterprise pricing) | Moderate (scales with contacts) |
| Industry customisation | Requires consultant | Requires significant configuration |
| Mobile field access | Available but complex | Limited for field teams |
| Compliance support | None built-in | None built-in |
Best for: Businesses that do both repair/maintenance work and installations, where the majority of revenue comes from service calls.
These are well-built platforms for what they do. If your primary business is HVAC service and repair, they're strong choices. The issue arises when heat pump installation becomes a significant part of your revenue.
What works: Excellent scheduling and dispatch, customer communication, invoicing, and technician mobile apps. ServiceTitan in particular has deep functionality for residential service businesses.
Where it breaks down: The entire data model is built around service tickets, not installation projects. Quoting is designed for repair pricing, not multi-option proposals with design specifications. There's no concept of design tool integration, MCS compliance workflows, or the multi-week project lifecycle of a heat pump installation. You end up forcing installation projects into a service ticket framework, which creates workarounds and data gaps.
The repair vs. installation distinction
This is worth understanding clearly. HVAC field service software optimises for high volume, short duration, reactive work. Heat pump installation is low volume (relative to repair calls), long duration, and proactive. These are different business models that need different operational tools. If your business does both, you may need to accept that one tool won't serve both workflows equally well.
Best for: Traditional gas heating and plumbing businesses.
These platforms understand the UK heating market but are rooted in gas boiler servicing and installation. They handle Gas Safe documentation, landlord safety certificates, and boiler service workflows well.
Where it breaks down: As the industry transitions from gas to heat pumps, these tools haven't kept pace. They lack support for renewable technology workflows, design tool integrations, and the specific compliance requirements of MCS-certified heat pump installations. If your business is transitioning from gas to renewables, you'll outgrow these tools as heat pump work becomes a larger share of your revenue.
Best for: Businesses where heat pump installation (and potentially other clean technologies like solar or battery storage) is the primary focus.
Payaca is built specifically for the clean energy installation market. The platform handles the full lifecycle from lead through to project completion, with workflows designed around how installation businesses actually operate.
What it does well: Project pipeline management with configurable stages, multi-option proposals that can combine heat pumps with solar and battery storage, integration with design tools like Heatpunk and Spruce, and compliance documentation configured through custom fields and templates to support MCS requirements. Grant and incentive tracking can be managed through custom fields on projects.
Trade-offs: It's a newer platform compared to established tools like ServiceTitan. The feature set is deep for installation workflows but less suited to high-volume reactive service work. If the majority of your business is repair and maintenance, it may not be the right fit.
Rather than comparing feature lists, focus on whether a platform matches how your business operates.
Can you see, at a glance, where every active installation stands? From initial enquiry through survey, design, quoting, acceptance, installation scheduling, compliance, and completion. This is different from a service ticket dashboard.
Heat pump proposals are complex. Customers often want to compare system options (different heat pump models, with or without solar, different cylinder sizes). Your quoting tool should handle multi-option proposals with accurate pricing, not force you to create separate quotes for each option.
Compliance shouldn't be a separate process you manage outside your CRM. Whether it's MCS documentation in the UK or permit tracking in the US, the system should support compliance workflows as a natural part of job progression.
If your team uses Heatpunk, Spruce, or other design software, the outputs should flow into your project and quoting process. Manually re-entering design data into a separate system introduces errors and wastes time.
Engineers and installers need mobile access to job details, site photos, forms, and customer information. This needs to work reliably, including in areas with limited connectivity.
Heat pump installations typically involve staged payments: deposit, mid-point, and completion. Your system should support automated payment requests at each project stage, not just single invoices after the work is done.
The heat pump market operates differently in each country, and your software needs to reflect that.
The UK heat pump market is shaped by MCS certification, which is mandatory for customers to access government incentives like the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS). This creates specific software requirements:
The US market has no single national certification equivalent to MCS. Requirements vary significantly by state and even by local jurisdiction (Authority Having Jurisdiction, or AHJ). Software needs include:
Multi-technology businesses
Many heat pump installers also offer solar PV, battery storage, or EV charger installation. If that describes your business, prioritise a platform that handles multiple technologies on a single proposal and project. Managing separate systems for each technology creates significant operational overhead as you scale.
The answer depends on where you are in your growth trajectory, not on hitting a specific company size.
You're doing 10-30 installations per month. Your spreadsheet tracking is becoming unreliable. You can't easily answer questions like "what's our conversion rate from survey to accepted quote?" or "how many projects are waiting on compliance documentation?" You're losing visibility as volume increases.
At this stage, you need a system that gives you operational visibility without requiring months of setup. Purpose-built platforms that understand your workflow can typically be implemented in days rather than months.
You invested in Salesforce, HubSpot, or a field service platform. You spent time configuring it. But it doesn't match how your team works, adoption is low, and you're still using spreadsheets alongside it for the things the CRM can't handle. This is one of the most common scenarios we see across the industry.
The key learning from a failed implementation is understanding what you actually need. You now know that generic tools require too much customisation, and field service tools are built for the wrong workflow. Use that knowledge to evaluate industry-specific options.
You're growing to 50+ installations per month, adding team members, and possibly expanding to multiple locations. At this stage, consistent processes become essential. Every team member needs to follow the same workflow, and management needs real-time visibility across the operation.
This is where a unified platform pays for itself through consistency and reduced errors, not just through time savings.
| Capability | Spreadsheets | Generic CRM | HVAC Field Service | Gas/Heating Tools | Clean Tech Platform |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Project pipeline | Manual tracking | Customisable | Service ticket-based | Basic | Purpose-built |
| Multi-option quoting | Not feasible | Requires setup | Limited | Basic | Native |
| Design tool integration | None | None | None | None | Heatpunk, Spruce, EasyPV |
| MCS compliance (UK) | Manual | Manual | None | Partial | Configurable templates |
| Permit tracking (US) | Manual | Customisable | Basic | None | Custom fields |
| Mobile field access | Limited | Varies | Strong | Moderate | Native app |
| Multi-technology support | Manual | Customisable | Limited | None | Native |
| Setup time | Immediate | 1-6 months | 2-4 weeks | 1-2 weeks | Days |
| Ongoing fit for heat pumps | Degrades with scale | Requires maintenance | Poor | Limited | Strong |
Choosing a CRM is a significant decision that affects your entire team's daily work. A few principles to guide the process:
Trial with real data. Don't evaluate software with demo data. Load your actual projects, quotes, and customer information. See if it handles your real workflow, not a hypothetical one.
Involve your team. The people using the system daily should have input. A tool that management loves but field teams won't use is worse than no tool at all.
Consider total cost. The subscription fee is one part. Factor in setup time, customisation costs, training, and the ongoing cost of workarounds if the tool doesn't quite fit.
Think about next year. If you're growing, choose a platform that handles where you'll be in 12 months, not just where you are today.
The heat pump market is expanding, and the businesses that build scalable operational systems now will be best positioned to capture that growth. Whether you choose a generic platform, a field service tool, or a purpose-built solution, the worst option is staying on spreadsheets past the point where they're holding you back.
Related reading: Heat pump lead generation strategies | Why generic CRMs hurt renewables businesses | Heat pump installer solutions
See how Payaca helps clean tech installers save time and grow their business.
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