Compared, honestly
Software for excavation contractors
Most field service tools were written for house calls. Excavation is different: jobs run for days, machines and 811 tickets matter, and what went in the ground has to be provable later. Start with the criteria below, ask every vendor to show you each one, then look at the options. They are in alphabetical order, not ranked, and we make one of them.
Last checked 2026-10-24. Each price below shows the date it was read.
What to check before you choose
- 1811 and markout ticketsTicket number, mark-out date and expiration on the job, with a warning before it lapses.
- 2Machines and hoursHours, service intervals and who has each machine, tied to the job.
- 3Buried-work photosPhotos stamped with date and location, filed on the job where the office can find them years later.
- 4Multi-day jobsOne job record that carries hours, materials, photos, notes and change orders from first dig to invoice.
- 5Crew timeGPS clock-in against the job, overtime broken out, hours that feed payroll and job costing.
- 6Getting paidAn invoice with a pay link that goes out the week the work ends, with photos attached.
- 7Price you can readA published price at your headcount, a trial, and no multi-year contract you did not expect.
The options, in alphabetical order
Not a ranking. We make TrackOver, so weigh our entry accordingly. Everything about the other tools comes from their own public pages, linked on each card.
busybusy is a focused, well-executed time-tracking tool with GPS verification, equipment time, and solid payroll reports. Crews find it easy, and if labor hours are the only thing you need captured, it does that one job dependably.
Pick busybusy if
- Time tracking is genuinely your only field problem
- You want a free time and equipment tracker for the whole crew; its free plan has unlimited users
- You already run jobs, photos, and billing in systems you like
- You want a single-purpose tool and prefer stitching your own stack together
- 811 / markout tickets: Not named on the pages we checked. Ask them.
- Machines and hour meters: Equipment tracking with machine hours and GPS locations.
Price: Free $0, Pro $11.99/user/mo, Premium $17.99/user/mo Their pricing page (read 2026-09-30)
CompanyCam is excellent at what it set out to be: fast, reliable, well-organized job photos with a big ecosystem of integrations. Teams that live inside another system for scheduling and billing and only need best-in-class photos are well served there.
Pick CompanyCam if
- You already run scheduling and billing elsewhere and only want photo documentation
- You rely on their specific integrations with your existing stack
- Photos are genuinely the only field problem you need solved
- 811 / markout tickets: Not named on the pages we checked. Ask them.
- Machines and hour meters: Not named on the pages we checked. Ask them.
Price: Core $79/mo, Crew $149/mo, Scale $299/mo, Enterprise Custom Their pricing page (read 2026-09-30)
Housecall Pro is a polished home-services platform with strong consumer-style booking, dispatch for visit-based work, and easy payment collection. For businesses running many short residential service calls a day, it is a well-earned favorite.
Pick Housecall Pro if
- Your day is many short residential service visits: HVAC, plumbing repair, cleaning
- Online consumer booking and instant card payment drive your business
- Jobs rarely last more than a few hours or involve heavy documentation
- 811 / markout tickets: Not named on the pages we checked. Ask them.
- Machines and hour meters: Vehicle GPS tracking and dashcams are listed.
Price: Basic $79/mo, Essentials $189/mo, Max $329/mo Their pricing page (read 2026-10-24)
Jobber is a polished, mature generalist with years of refinement in quoting, scheduling, and payments across home-service industries. If your business looks like recurring residential visits with a truck and a toolbox, it is a very solid choice.
Pick Jobber if
- Your work is recurring home services: lawn, cleaning, pest, pool, HVAC-style visits
- You want the most mature generalist ecosystem and marketplace integrations
- Nothing about your work involves digging, machines, or site documentation
- 811 / markout tickets: Not named on the pages we checked. Ask them.
- Machines and hour meters: Not named on the pages we checked. Ask them.
- KMZ route files: Not named on the pages we checked. Ask them.
Price: Core $49/mo, Connect from $139/mo, Grow from $199/mo, Plus from $499/mo Their pricing page (read 2026-10-24)
Procore is the real thing at enterprise scale: RFIs, submittals, drawing management, and owner reporting across huge commercial projects, with an admin team to run it. Subcontractors working under GCs who mandate it will use it regardless, and at that scale it earns its place.
Pick Procore if
- You are working commercial projects where the GC mandates Procore anyway
- You need RFIs, submittals, and drawing management at project scale
- You have office staff whose job is administering the system
- 811 / markout tickets: Not named on the pages we checked. Ask them.
- Machines and hour meters: Not named on the pages we checked. Ask them.
Price: Procore does not publish prices. Its pricing page says it charges an upfront annual fee per product, based on your annual construction volume, with unlimited users. Their pricing page (read 2026-09-30)
ServiceTitan offers real depth: call booking, marketing attribution, memberships, and reporting built for large residential HVAC, plumbing, and electrical operations with office staff to run it. Big shops with dedicated admins get real leverage from that depth.
Pick ServiceTitan if
- You run a large home-service operation with a call center and office staff
- You need enterprise features like call recording, memberships, and deep sales reporting
- You have the time and budget for a real implementation and training program
- 811 / markout tickets: Not named on the pages we checked. Ask them.
- Machines and hour meters: Fleet Pro is listed among its separate Pro products.
- KMZ route files: Not named on the pages we checked. Ask them.
Price: ServiceTitan does not publish prices. Its pricing page lists three packages (Starter, Essentials and The Works), says pricing is per technician, and asks you to request a quote. Their pricing page (read 2026-10-24)
Jobs, crews, hours, stamped photos, equipment and invoices for excavation, site work, utilities, paving, snow and lawn crews. 811 ticket tracking, machine hours and route files are on the job record.
Pick TrackOver if your jobs involve machines, markout tickets or multi-day sites and you want a published price and a free plan to start.
Look elsewhere if your day is many short residential visits, or you need call answering or enterprise reporting.
Price: Free $0, Pro $25/user/mo, Premium $45/user/mo, Elite $69/user/mo; 3-seat minimum on paid plans; 7-day free trial on every paid plan. Our pricing page →
All product names are trademarks of their owners. TrackOver is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by any of them. This page is our own comparison based on publicly available information. Prices and features change; check anything critical with each vendor before you decide.
The fastest comparison is a real job
Start free, run one job through it, and let the crew vote. No card, a 7-day free trial on every paid plan, and your data exports if you leave.
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