Housecall Pro Flat Rate Template vs a Real Price Book
Short version: Housecall Pro's free flat rate pricing template is a real spreadsheet and it costs nothing except your email - and consent to marketing calls. It prices one job at a time. If that solves your problem, download it and skip this page. If your actual problem is building a whole price book on a rate you can defend, that is a different tool, and this page compares the two honestly.
What the Housecall Pro template actually is
It is a three-tab spreadsheet: an input tab for company details, service costs, overhead and markup targets; a build-pricing tab where you enter a job's materials and quantities and it calculates a flat rate for that job; and a final-report tab that formats the result to share. For pricing a single job cleanly, it works, and it is genuinely free to download.
Two things to know before you type in your email. First, the download is lead generation for Housecall Pro's field-service software - the form takes consent to marketing calls and texts, and the template's fourth step is a pitch to start the free trial. That is a fair trade, but it is the trade. Second, overhead enters the template as a percentage you supply. If you do not already know your overhead recovery number - and most one-van shops do not - the template formats a guess.
To be clear about the company behind it: Housecall Pro the software is a legitimate, well-liked field-service platform - scheduling, invoicing, payments, dispatch. If you want FSM software, it belongs on your shortlist. This page is only about the free template.
What a price book does that a per-job template cannot
A flat-rate price book is the opposite workflow: instead of building each price when the job appears, you price the 50-100 jobs you actually do once, from your real numbers, and then quote from the truck in thirty seconds. Our Flat-Rate Price Book Builder ($39, one time, Excel and Google Sheets) starts one step earlier than any template: it computes your true hourly cost from your overhead lines, target salary and real billable hours, then generates a 75-task electrical price book in Easy, Normal and Hard grades, with a quick-quote tab. Change an input and every price recalculates.
Side by side
| Housecall Pro flat rate template | Flat Rate Math Price Book Builder | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free (email + marketing-contact consent) | $39 one time; free rate calculator with no signup wall |
| Workflow | Price one job at a time as jobs come up | Generate a 75-task book once; quote from it |
| Your hourly rate | You supply it; overhead is a percentage you guess | Computed from your overhead lines, salary target and billable hours |
| Task library | None - you enter each job's materials and quantities | 75 residential electrical tasks with editable hours and materials |
| Grades | Single price per job | Easy / Normal / Hard per task |
| Follow-up | Software trial pitch, marketing calls and texts | Nobody calls you; 30-day refund |
| Guide | Instructions on the download page | 13-page plain-English guide, including how to defend the price |
Choose the Housecall Pro template if
- You price a handful of one-off jobs and just want clean per-job math with a shareable output.
- You are already evaluating Housecall Pro's software - the template is a reasonable preview of how they think.
- Free matters more than finished, and you already know your overhead recovery number.
Choose Flat Rate Math if
- You quote the same kinds of jobs weekly and are tired of rebuilding the math every time.
- You suspect your rate itself is wrong - the engine computes it before it prices anything.
- You want the book on your own drive with no trial, no calls, and no subscription attached.
Common questions
Is the Housecall Pro template a scam?
No. It is a working spreadsheet and honest lead generation from a real software company. Just go in knowing it prices one job at a time and the price of "free" is your contact information.
Can I use both?
Sure - some shops use a per-job sheet for odd custom work and a price book for the repeatable 80 percent. If you buy ours and it does not fit, the refund window is 30 days, no questions.
What if I am not an electrician?
The book's 75 tasks are electrical, but the rate engine works for any trade - start with the free Trade Hourly Rate Finder and tell us your trade; the most-requested trade gets its book next.
Other comparisons
Weighing bigger tools? See how we compare against ServiceTitan Pricebook Pro for one-man shops, and against TurboBid if you are considering desktop estimating software.
Start with the free number
Before any template or book, get the rate right: the electrician hourly rate calculator is free, has no signup wall, and computes the shop rate your overhead actually requires. Every price you ever quote sits on top of that number.