How much does a field service app cost to build?

What do off the shelf platforms cost at 20, 100 and 300 technicians?

The answer depends on what the platform counts. ServiceM8 counts jobs, AroFlo counts users, and simPRO quotes each business, so the cheapest option changes with team size. The table uses list prices at the time of writing (November 2026) and assumes each technician completes 3 jobs a working day, about 65 jobs a month. It is illustrative arithmetic, not a quote.

Technicians	Jobs a month	ServiceM8 (incl GST)	AroFlo at the $80 starting rate (before volume discounts)	simPRO
20	1,300	Premium Plus, $349 a month	Up to $1,600 a month	By quote
100	6,500	$349 + 5,000 extra jobs × 20 cents = $1,349 a month	Up to $8,000 a month	By quote
300	19,500	$349 + 18,000 × 20 cents = $3,949 a month	Up to $24,000 a month	By quote

ServiceM8 lists its plans in AUD including GST, with unlimited users on paid plans and 20 cents per job above 1,500 a month on Premium Plus. AroFlo says it starts at $80 AUD per user a month with a minimum of three users, on a sliding scale where the per user rate falls as you add licences, so treat its column as a ceiling. simPRO says its pricing is tailored to team size and requirements.

Over three years at 100 technicians, ServiceM8’s list arithmetic is about $48,600 including GST. Nothing custom comes close to that. The comparison only gets interesting against per user platforms at scale, or when no platform fits the work.

Why do larger contractors go custom?

Larger contractors go custom when the work is asset and contract driven rather than job driven. The common triggers:

• Asset registers. Thousands of serviced assets per client, each with a history, a schedule and defects to track.
• Compliance schedules. Inspection frequencies set by standards or contracts, with certificates the client must be able to retrieve.
• SLAs. Response and resolution timers by priority and contract, with escalation and reporting.
• Client portals. Facility managers who want to log requests and download reports without phoning.
• Integration. An ERP, a client’s maintenance system or building management data feeding jobs automatically.

Industry examples are on our HVAC, fire protection and trades pages.

What drives the cost of a custom field service system?

Five components carry most of the cost: offline mobile, scheduling, assets, forms and integrations.

Component	Simpler	Expensive
Mobile app	Online only web app for phones	Native or cross platform app working fully offline, with photo and signature sync
Scheduling and dispatch	Drag and drop board	Skills, territories, travel time, SLA priority and automatic suggestions
Assets	Job address and notes	Asset register per site, service history, QR tags, defect workflow
Forms	A few fixed checklists	Configurable forms per asset type, conditional questions, generated certificates
Integrations	Invoice push to Xero	Two way sync with an ERP, a client’s system and supplier pricing

Offline is the one most often underestimated. Storing jobs, forms and photos on the device, resolving conflicts and syncing reliably is a project of its own, explained in our offline first apps guide.

What do typical builds cost?

Indicative Australian ranges fall into three bands. They are market ranges, not our prices.

Build	Typical scope	Indicative range (AUD, ex GST)
Technician app on a platform’s API	Custom job screens, forms or workflows on top of ServiceM8, simPRO or AroFlo	$25,000 to $70,000
Custom dispatch and offline technician app	Scheduling board, offline app, configurable forms, Xero sync	$90,000 to $200,000
Enterprise field service platform	Asset registers, SLAs, client portal, IoT inputs, ERP integration	$250,000 to $600,000+

The middle band overlaps Expeed’s published $40,000 to $150,000 for mid complexity systems such as job management platforms; offline mobile work is why it reaches higher. Effort converts at an assumed blended agency rate of $1,100 to $1,500 a day, against Re:Sourced’s July 2026 figure of $800 to $1,100 a day for senior software contractors in Sydney.

A worked example: 100 technicians over three years

A hypothetical maintenance contractor with 100 technicians would spend about $279,000 over three years on a custom dispatch and offline app under these assumptions. It is not a quote.

1. Build: discovery and design 12 days; scheduling board 20; offline technician app 35; configurable forms and certificates 15; asset register 12; Xero sync 8; client notifications 4; testing 10; deployment and project management 4. Total 120 days at an assumed $1,300 a day: $156,000.
2. Running a year: hosting at an assumed $800 a month ($9,600); maintenance at 20% of build ($31,200), reflecting the extra upkeep mobile apps need; Apple developer membership US$99, about $143. Total about $40,943.
3. Three year total: $156,000 + (3 × $40,943) = about $278,800 ex GST.

Against AroFlo’s starting rate for 100 users, about $288,000 over three years before volume discounts, the custom build is in the same range. Against ServiceM8 it is far more expensive. So the build only makes sense if the asset, compliance and SLA work cannot be done on a platform.

When should you extend your platform instead?

Extend when the platform runs scheduling and invoicing well, and the gap is one workflow or one audience. Common extensions through the platform’s API:

• a custom inspection app for one asset type, writing results back to the job;
• a client portal showing jobs, certificates and invoices;
• automated job creation from a client’s maintenance system;
• dashboards across jobs, technicians and contracts.

Each of these is usually inside the $25,000 to $70,000 band. If extensions keep multiplying, that is the signal to price a replacement.

What are the ongoing costs?

Mobile apps cost more to keep running than web apps, because operating systems and devices keep changing. Budget for:

• Developer accounts. Apple lists the Developer Program at US$99 a year and the Enterprise Program at US$299; Google Play charges a one time US$25 registration fee.
• Private distribution. Apple’s custom app distribution lets an app built for your organisation appear in Apple Business Manager instead of the public store.
• Devices. Phones or tablets for each technician, cases, chargers and replacements, plus device management.
• Maintenance. Our software maintenance cost guide puts mobile apps toward the top of the usual 15 to 25% a year.
• Support. Someone technicians can call when a sync fails on site.

Which answers change the quote the most?

Five questions move a field service estimate more than any feature list. Have answers ready before you ask anyone for a price:

• How offline is the work? A few dead spots is a small job. Full days without signal in plant rooms or regional sites is a large one.
• How many job and asset types are there? Each type usually brings its own form, schedule and certificate.
• Who schedules? A dispatcher dragging jobs on a board is far simpler than automatic allocation by skill, territory and SLA.
• What must the client see? Emailed reports are cheap; a portal with live job status, history and downloads is not.
• Which systems must stay? Every system the new app has to read from or write to adds integration and testing work.

Clear answers here also make quotes from different suppliers comparable, because each one is pricing the same thing.

How do you spread the cost with a phased roadmap?

Release in phases so each one pays for itself before the next starts.

1. Phase 1, the technician app. Replace paper forms and photos with an app that writes to your current platform. Our guide to digitising paper forms covers this step.
2. Phase 2, assets and compliance. Add the asset register, schedules and certificates.
3. Phase 3, dispatch. Move scheduling off the platform only if it limits you.
4. Phase 4, client portal and integrations. Give clients self service and connect their systems.

Many contractors stop after phase 2, and that is a good outcome.

How AWLabs approaches field service projects

We start from your current platform and the jobs your technicians do, in a 15 minute Development Consult. Often the answer is a technician app or portal on your existing system. If a larger build is justified, a paid Discovery Audit maps your work types, assets, forms, coverage and integrations, and the fee is credited in full against the build. You then receive a fixed price Schedule of Work with three options, The Minimum, The Recommended and The Complete. Senior engineers lead every build. See our web and mobile app development service, app development cost guide and construction and trades page.