What ServiceTitan Gets Wrong About 10-Tech Shops

$50,000 Per Year for Software You Barely Use

Ten-tech HVAC shops pay $3,000-5,000/month for ServiceTitan. That's $36,000-60,000 annually. Most use 20% of the features.

This happens because ServiceTitan was built for 100-tech operations. Multi-location companies with full admin departments. You're a 10-tech shop. Different needs entirely.

The problems:

The Dedicated Admin Problem

ServiceTitan requires one person to run the software. Not use it. Run it.

The Certified Administrator program takes 25-30 hours. You pass 18 exams covering features you'll never need. Inventory management for warehouses you don't have. HR modules for departments that don't exist.

One admin described it: "Very involved. Definitely some things we might not use that I had to learn to pass the test."

Large companies assign 6-7 certified admins across departments. You have 10 techs total. That one person becomes your bottleneck for every software question.

Three Months to Go Live

Standard implementation: 12-16 weeks minimum. That's three months of:

• Running your old system
• Training staff on the new system
• Paying for both
• Dealing with transition chaos

One user put it simply: "They give you 3 months free because it takes minimum 3 months to figure out how to use it."

Compare this to competitors. Jobber takes days. Housecall Pro takes a week. Modern software shouldn't need a consulting engagement to turn on.

Support That's Never Urgent Enough

ServiceTitan support gets rated "TERRIBLE" in G2 reviews. Not slow. Terrible.

Here's why that matters. Your tech is in the field. System won't sync. Customer is waiting. You need help now.

ServiceTitan support treats it like a ticket. Not an emergency. Field service is different from office software. Everything is urgent.

14 review mentions cite poor support. 15 mention lack of urgency. When software is this complex, you need support constantly. Bad support makes expensive software unbearable.

The Mobile Sync Nightmare

Critical issue from ServiceTitan's own docs: Downloading the pricebook erases all unsynced changes. No recovery possible.

Direct quote from support: "Do NOT hit Download Pricebook if there are unsynced changes. It will ERASE all unsaved changes and these are not recoverable."

Think about that. Your tech works offline all morning. Five jobs completed. Goes to update pricing. Accidentally downloads pricebook. All work lost.

This is legacy architecture. Built before mobile-first was standard. Now you're stuck with workarounds.

Features You Don't Need, Complexity You Can't Avoid

ServiceTitan has deep inventory management. Perfect if you run a warehouse. Overkill if you stock trucks weekly.

ServiceTitan has complex HR modules. Great for 50+ employees. Useless at 10 techs.

ServiceTitan has enterprise reporting. Impressive dashboards. Takes hours to configure. Most small shops export to Excel anyway.

You're paying for 100 features. Using 20. That 80% isn't free. It's interface clutter. Training overhead. Slower workflows.

The Contract Lock

Month-to-month requires 30-day notice. Annual contracts lock you in 12+ months. Add-ons (Marketing Pro, Phones Pro) continue until explicitly cancelled.

Dispute resolution requires binding arbitration. No court. No class action. Contract terms change unilaterally with 30-day notice.

Small shops report feeling trapped. Paying for software they regret but can't easily leave.

What Actually Happens at 10 Techs

You pay $4,000/month. Your ops manager spends 10 hours/week being the "ServiceTitan person." Your techs use 5 core features. Support is slow. Implementation took 4 months.

Meanwhile, Jobber costs $109/month for 5 users. Housecall Pro costs $149/month. They solve 90% of your problems at 20% of the cost.

ServiceTitan isn't bad software. It's just built for a different customer. You're not that customer.

The Contrarian Take Nobody Wants to Say

Bigger isn't better. More features isn't better. ServiceTitan wins at enterprise scale because enterprise companies need that complexity.

But complexity at small scale is waste. You don't need 18 certification exams. You need software that works without a manual.

The best tool for 10 techs isn't the tool that can handle 100. It's the tool built for 10.

What 10-Tech Shops Actually Need

You need route optimization that works during booking. Not batch processing at day's end.

You need multi-option estimates that techs can create on phones. Not desktop software requiring training.

You need offline mode that actually works. Not sync conflicts and data loss warnings.

You need implementation measured in days. Not months.

You need pricing that doesn't punish growth. Hire 2 techs, software bill jumps $1,000/month. That's backwards.

Better Options Exist

For basic needs: Jobber or Housecall Pro work fine. Easy to learn. Quick to implement. Reasonable pricing.

For growing shops that need real optimization: Purpose-built software for 5-15 tech operations. Not enterprise scaled down. Not basic tools scaled up. Built for your size.

Plenum falls in that second category. Clean sheet design built specifically for trades. Intelligent clustering during booking. Multi-option estimates. Offline-first mobile. Complete operating system, not cobbled-together tools.

We built what we wished existed when running 10-tech shops.

The Bottom Line

ServiceTitan at 10 techs is like buying a semi-truck for grocery runs. Capable vehicle. Wrong use case.

Calculate what you actually pay annually. Include implementation costs. Training time. Support overhead. Features you don't use.

Now compare that to software built for your scale. The math changes fast.

You're not too small for good software. You're too small for enterprise software.

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Related Resources

• ServiceTitan Comparison - Full head-to-head feature breakdown
• ServiceTitan Alternatives - Options for growing shops
• ServiceTitan vs Housecall Pro - Which fits your size?
• HVAC Software Guide - Full platform comparison