Jobber vs Workhand for residential trades (honest comparison)

I've had contractors ask me about Jobber vs Workhand probably 20 times in the past month. Makes sense. Both are residential trade software, both run on mobile, both handle estimates and invoices. But they're built for different worlds. Jobber is built for recurring service work. Workhand is built for project construction. If you're picking the wrong one for your trade, you'll feel it in the dispatch board and the way your jobs flow. Here's the breakdown.

Who Jobber is built for (and why it shows)

Jobber came up through lawn care, house cleaning, and HVAC maintenance. Service businesses that run on recurring schedules, multi-stop route optimization, and subscription billing. The whole product reflects that DNA.

The dispatch board in Jobber is optimized for sending techs to 6 houses in a day. The recurring job scheduler makes it easy to set up weekly mows or monthly filter changes. The quoting flow assumes you're pricing a one-time service visit, not a 12-week pool build with change orders and material escalation.

If you're a residential HVAC shop doing maintenance contracts and emergency service calls, Jobber fits. If you're a lawn care outfit with 40 weekly accounts, Jobber fits. If you're building decks or remodeling kitchens, it doesn't.

The pricing reflects the service model too. Jobber charges per user and scales up as you add technicians. Fine when every tech is doing the same kind of work. Less fine when you've got a foreman, two laborers, and three subs on one job for eight weeks.

Who Workhand is built for (construction crews)

I built Workhand after five years running pool construction crews in Tampa Bay. We weren't doing service calls. We were building projects. 8 to 16 week timelines, multiple subs, change orders, materials that showed up late, customers who wanted to see progress photos every Friday.

The whole app is organized around the job, not the day. Each project gets its own workspace with estimates, invoices, cost tracking, profit visibility, per-job team chat, design files, daily logs, and a punch list. Your crew and your subs all work inside that job thread. Customer gets a portal to see progress and approve selections.

• Job management and scheduling built for multi-week projects, not multi-stop routes - Estimates with line items, change orders, and e-signature (not one-time service quotes) - Subcontractor roster with insurance tracking, expiration alerts at 30/14/7 days, and 1099 reporting for tax season - Cost tracking and profit per job, so you know if you're making money before the invoice goes out - QuickBooks Online sync (bidirectional) so your books stay clean without double entry - One-tap Spanish/English translation in the per-job chat, because half my subs spoke Spanish and texting through Google Translate was killing me

If you're a pool builder, remodeler, GC, or any trade where the job lasts weeks and involves multiple people, Workhand fits. If you're doing one-off service calls all day, it's overkill.

The dispatch and schedule view difference

This is where the use case split becomes obvious. Jobber's dispatch board is designed to pack a tech's day with stops. You're looking at a calendar grid with time slots and you're dragging service appointments into those slots. Route optimization, travel time between stops, that kind of thing.

Workhand's schedule is a timeline of jobs. You're looking at which crew is on which project this week, when the electrician sub needs to show up, when the concrete pour is scheduled. It's not about optimizing a route. It's about coordinating a build.

Both tools do scheduling. But if you open Jobber as a remodeler and try to schedule a 10-week kitchen gut, you'll feel the friction. If you open Workhand as a lawn care company and try to route 30 weekly mows, same thing.

Payments, invoicing, and how money flows

Jobber integrates with a bunch of payment processors and handles recurring billing pretty well. You can set up auto-charge for subscription services, send invoice reminders, track outstanding balances. Standard stuff for service businesses.

Workhand uses Stripe Connect at 2.9% + 30 cents with zero markup. We don't add a point on top. Customers can pay invoices by card, invoice emails include read receipts so you know when they opened it, and every invoice ties back to the job so you can see cost vs revenue in one place. We built profit visibility per job because that's how construction accounting works. You don't care about this month's total revenue. You care if the Martinez pool made money or lost money.

One thing Workhand does not do: pay your subs through the app. No ACH to subcontractors, no scheduled sub payments, no net-30 automation. We track what you owe them in the job cost ledger and give you a yearly total for 1099 reporting, but you're still cutting checks or using your bank. Some contractors want that automation. We haven't built it yet.

Where each tool wins on features

Jobber has deeper reporting for service metrics. Client lifetime value, technician utilization, callback rates. If you're managing a fleet of techs doing repeat service work, those numbers matter. Jobber also has better route optimization and multi-stop scheduling. If your day is 8 stops across town, that's real value.

Workhand has better tools for project construction. Certificate of insurance tracking with expiration alerts, because if your sub's GL policy lapses mid-job you need to know. Customer selections sheet for finish picks. Design file storage. Daily logs. Punch lists. A customer-facing portal so the homeowner can see progress without you screaming updates over text. We also have AI-powered estimate suggestions and a leads pipeline with CRM-style stages.

For QuickBooks users, both tools sync. Workhand's sync is bidirectional, so invoices and expenses flow both ways. Jobber's sync works too. If you're already deep in QuickBooks, either one will talk to it. I wrote more about when to switch from QuickBooks to construction software if you're on the fence about keeping QuickBooks at all.

Pricing and what you actually pay

Jobber pricing starts around $69/month and scales with users. If you've got 5 techs, you're paying for 5 seats. Makes sense for a service shop where everyone's doing similar work. Gets expensive if you're paying per-seat for a laborer who just needs to see the job schedule and upload photos.

Workhand pricing is at workhand.app/pricing and it's simpler. One price for the whole crew. You're not paying per seat for every guy on the job. You can add your foreman, your laborers, your subs, and they all get access to the jobs they're assigned to with role permissions (Owner, Admin, Employee, Sales, Sub).

Neither tool nickels and dimes you on payment processing. Jobber integrates with processors at their standard rates. Workhand is 2.9% + 30 cents through Stripe with zero markup. Both are reasonable.

Frequently asked questions

Is Jobber good for contractors or just service businesses?

Jobber works for service-based contractors like HVAC maintenance, handyman services, or trades doing mostly one-day jobs. If you're building projects that last weeks with multiple subs and change orders, it's not the right fit.

Can Workhand handle recurring service work like Jobber does?

Workhand is built for project work, not recurring service routes. You can schedule repeat clients, but you won't get the multi-stop route optimization or recurring billing automation that Jobber has.

Does Workhand work for general contractors managing subs?

Yes. Workhand has a subcontractor roster, insurance tracking with expiration alerts, per-job chat with subs, and 1099 reporting at year-end. It's built for exactly that workflow.

Which one integrates with QuickBooks?

Both do. Workhand has bidirectional QuickBooks Online sync. Jobber syncs with QuickBooks too.

Can I use Workhand if my crew speaks Spanish?

Yes. Workhand has one-tap Spanish/English translation built into the per-job chat. The UI itself is English-only, but all the chat messages translate with one tap.

Does Jobber track subcontractor insurance certificates?

Jobber has some vendor management features, but it's not built for construction sub insurance tracking the way Workhand is. Workhand tracks COI docs and sends expiration alerts at 30, 14, and 7 days.

Which tool is cheaper for a small crew?

Workhand charges one price for the whole crew, not per seat. Jobber charges per user. For a 3-5 person crew, Workhand is usually cheaper.

Can either tool do AIA billing or lien waivers?

Neither one does AIA progress billing. Workhand does not generate lien waivers inside the app, though we host a free Florida lien waiver generator at workhand.app/tools/florida-lien-waiver-generator for anyone to use.