TradeStack Fieldnotes / Buying worksheet
Questions worth asking before you choose.
Compare scheduling and dispatch tools with the same real-work questions, from the office schedule to a technician’s phone and the terms behind the quote.
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Vendor-neutral prompts only. This checklist includes no vendor rankings or product claims, and TradeStack AI has not verified any product capability, price, offer, or contract term.
Use the same prompts in every demo
Start with the work your crew needs to get done.
Ask for a walkthrough with your own job examples. Record the answer, who provided it, and the date. If something is unclear, mark it for follow-up instead of filling in the gap with an assumption.
Scheduling and dispatch
See how the schedule changes when the day does.
- Can I see each technician's day and week in one dispatch view?
- Can jobs be assigned by skill, license, service area, availability, and on-call rotation?
- How does the schedule handle emergency calls, cancellations, callbacks, and jobs that run long?
- Can I change an appointment window and notify both the customer and assigned technician?
- Can I see drive time and route order while honoring promised windows and parts pickup?
- How are recurring maintenance visits and multi-day jobs scheduled?
Mobile and field use
Test the work from a technician’s phone, not only from an office demo.
- Can a technician see today's jobs, addresses, customer notes, equipment history, and attachments on a phone?
- What can be viewed or recorded when cell service is poor, and how does it sync afterward?
- Can technicians record arrival, job notes, labor, parts, photos, signatures, and follow-up needs?
- Can a technician create or revise an estimate in the field and capture approval before extra work?
- How does a technician contact dispatch and receive schedule changes during a job?
- Can our crew test the app on the devices and operating systems we already use?
Business and crew fit
Match the workflow and the people who will use it.
- How would our mix of residential service, commercial work, installation, maintenance, and callbacks be handled?
- Can an owner manage scheduling without paying for seats or roles the business does not use?
- Can it represent our current technicians, crews, service areas, and branches as the team changes?
- What is needed to bring over customer records, equipment history, open jobs, and price lists?
- Which of our existing tools connect, and what information moves in each direction?
- Who trains the dispatcher and technicians, how long does training take, and what support is included?
Pricing transparency and total costs
Ask for a written cost for your actual team and intended use.
- What is the exact recurring price for the plan, team size, and billing term we would choose?
- Which capabilities or seats add cost, including dispatch, mobile access, and optional modules?
- What one-time costs apply for setup, onboarding, migration, hardware, and integrations?
- Are there per-user, per-location, per-job, usage, message, or transaction charges?
- Which taxes or surcharges apply, and when can recurring prices or usage charges change?
- How long is this written quote valid, and what amount would be billed after any stated introductory period?
Contract terms and data
Read the agreement, renewal rules, and exit path before committing.
- What are the initial term, renewal period, and cancellation notice deadline?
- Can fees apply for cancellation, early termination, downgrading, pausing, or reducing seats?
- If we leave, how do we export customer records, photos, attachments, and job history, and for how long?
- Where can we review the written terms for data use, privacy, security, backups, and breach notices?
- What support hours, response targets, service commitments, and outage remedies are written into the agreement?
- Will each demo promise, integration, price, and exception appear in the signed order or agreement?
Make the demo comparable
Bring the same job scenarios.
Ask each provider to walk through these situations from first dispatch to field follow-up.
- An urgent call arrives during a full day. Ask the provider to show how dispatch finds an available technician, adjusts the schedule, and communicates the change.
- A technician becomes unavailable. Follow how assigned work is reassigned and how affected customers and crew members are informed.
- A site visit needs a return appointment after parts are identified. Ask how job notes, estimate approval, parts, and the follow-up visit are recorded.
Keep the questions in front of you
Take the checklist to your next demo.
The PDF includes the question sets, repeatable job scenarios, and space to note the vendor, plan, quote date, answers, and follow-up items.