Written by Tahan · October 9, 2026
Switching field service software takes about a week of light work if you plan it. Export everything from your old system, not just customers. Clean the customer file. Import it into the new system and test it. Pick a cutover day, finish open invoices where they started, then cancel. Customer lists move easily between systems. Job history moves partly. Payment history, saved cards and automations usually don't move at all, so keep your exports as an archive.
Disclosure: this guide is published by Own Your Tools, one of the systems you could switch to. The Jobber and Housecall Pro steps come from their own help centers, checked October 9, 2026.
Before you start
Check your contract and billing date. Monthly plans can usually be canceled at the end of the cycle. Annual or committed plans may not refund the rest of the term, so know your end date before you plan the switch.
Pick a slow week. Don't cut over during your busiest stretch of the season.
Decide who does it. One person should own the export and import so nothing gets done twice.
Step 1: Export everything you might want later
Export more than you think you need. Once you cancel, getting data out of the old system gets harder or impossible. At minimum, pull your customers, your jobs, your quotes or estimates, your invoices and your price book. Save every file in one folder with today's date on it.
Exporting from Jobber
- Customers: go to Clients, open More Actions in the top right, and choose Export Clients. Pick CSV. Jobber emails you the file. Exports over 1,500 clients arrive split across multiple files. Only admin users can export clients, and Jobber notes client export is available on select plans, so check yours first.
- Jobs, quotes and invoices: open each one's report (recurring jobs, quotes, invoices) and export it as CSV. Clear any date filters first so you get everything.
- Price book: go to Settings, then Products & Services, and use Export to CSV near the bottom of the page. Jobber emails the file.
Exporting from Housecall Pro
Only admin users can export customers and jobs, so make sure you're logged in as one.
- Customers: on the Customers page, open the Actions menu and choose Export. Confirm your email address and Housecall Pro sends the file.
- Jobs: on the Jobs list, open the Actions menu and choose Export, then confirm your email.
- Estimates: export the estimates list the same way, from its Actions menu.
- Price book: go to Settings, then Price Book, and export the Services tab and the Materials tab separately.
Photos and attachments usually don't come out in these spreadsheets. If there are job photos you need to keep (warranty work, before-and-after shots, signed paperwork), download them before you cancel.
Step 2: Clean the customer file
Open the customer export in Excel or Google Sheets and spend an hour on it. It's the best hour of the whole switch.
- Delete duplicates and test entries.
- Check that phone numbers and emails sit in the right columns.
- Decide which address is the billing address and which is the service address, especially for customers with more than one property.
- Remove customers you'll never work for again, or keep them in a separate archive file.
A clean file imports cleanly. A messy one imports the mess.
Step 3: Import and test
Import the customer file into the new system. Most field service software accepts CSV or Excel files and lets you match your columns to its fields during the import.
Then test before you trust it. Open ten customers at random and compare them with the old system. Build a quote for a real customer and send it to yourself. Create a job, schedule it and invoice it. If something imported wrong, fix the file and import again rather than patching records one by one.
Step 4: Pick a cutover day
Choose a date when all new work goes into the new system. Up to that date, the old system stays in charge.
- New quotes and jobs go into the new system from cutover day.
- Open invoices get finished in the system that sent them. Moving an unpaid invoice midstream confuses customers and your books.
- Recurring work gets rebuilt in the new system before its next visit.
- Your crew gets the new app on their phones, with logins, a few days before cutover, not the morning of.
Running both systems for a week or two is normal. Running both for a season is how switches fail.
Step 5: Cancel the old system
Once the last open invoice is paid, export one final time, then cancel. Keep the export folder somewhere safe. It's your archive for tax questions, warranty calls and the customer who asks what you charged three years ago.
What usually doesn't move
| Data | Moves? |
|---|---|
| Customer names, addresses, phones, emails | Yes, by CSV or Excel |
| Price book | Usually, by CSV |
| Job, quote and invoice history | Partly. Many systems import customers only; keep the rest as an archive |
| Photos and attachments | Rarely through spreadsheets. Download what you need |
| Payment history and saved cards | No, if payments ran through the old platform |
| Automations, templates, reminders | No. Rebuild them |
That last point is why payment setup matters. For more on that, see Who Owns Your Merchant Account?
Switching into Own Your Tools
Own Your Tools imports customer lists from Excel or CSV files, with Jobber and Housecall Pro exports specifically supported, up to 5,000 rows per import. One tap on the import summary undoes that import if something looks wrong. Job and invoice history stays in your export folder as an archive. Customer payments go into your own Stripe account, so that part doesn't need to move again if you ever switch later.
The 30-day free trial needs no card, which means you can run Steps 2 and 3 on your real customer file before you spend anything. When you're ready, it's a one-time license instead of a monthly plan: $490 at the founding price, or $49 a month for 12 months and then it's yours, with an annual platform fee capped at $99 from year two.
FAQ
How do I export my customers from Jobber? Go to Clients, open More Actions, choose Export Clients and pick CSV. Jobber emails the file. Lists over 1,500 clients arrive in multiple files, and only admin users can export. Client export is available on select Jobber plans.
How do I export my data from Housecall Pro? Log in as an admin, then use Export in the Actions menu on the Customers page and on the Jobs list. Housecall Pro emails the files. Export estimates and your price book separately.
Can I move my job history to new software? Sometimes. Many systems import customer lists but not full job or invoice history. Keep your exports as an archive either way.
Will my saved customer cards transfer? Usually not, if payments ran through the old software's built-in payments. Customers will enter card details again in the new system.
How long does it take to switch field service software? For a small shop, about a week of light work: a day to export and clean, a day to import and test, and a few days of overlap around cutover.
Sources
- Jobber client export: Jobber Help Center, "Export Client Information," checked October 9, 2026.
- Jobber reports and price book export: Jobber Help Center, checked October 9, 2026.
- Housecall Pro export: Housecall Pro Help Center, "How to Import & Export Jobs and Customers," checked October 9, 2026.
- Own Your Tools: ownyourtools.work and Terms, October 2026.