Switching Field Service Software: What Transfers, What Doesn't, and What It Really Costs
TL;DR: Fear of losing history is the main reason contractors stay on software they dislike. It is a reasonable fear and a manageable one.
What transfers reliably: customers, properties, invoices, estimates and job records. What almost never transfers: automations and workflows, attachments and photos, internal notes threaded to activity, custom report definitions, and call or SMS history. Budget to rebuild those, not to move them.
Check your contract before you check the new product. ServiceTitan's published Terms state that early termination costs a fee equal to all remaining payments — so the right move there is usually to switch at renewal, not mid-term.
Check the exit before the entrance
Before evaluating a single replacement, find out what leaving costs. This is the step most people do last and should do first.
ServiceTitan. Its published Terms of Use state that terminating before the end of the term means owing "a termination fee equal to all the remaining payments," which the agreement explicitly describes as not a penalty. All fees paid are non-refundable and non-recoupable. If you are eight months into a two-year term, leaving does not save sixteen months of subscription — it accelerates it. There is also a Minimum Subscription Level in most Order Forms, and a paid seat cannot be unassigned mid-term without written approval.
Jobber. Offers month-to-month with no commitment, and discounted one-year and annual-prepaid options. Annual prepaid is described as non-refundable if cancelled early, so check which you signed.
Housecall Pro. States it does not require long-term contracts, which makes this the easiest exit in the category. Worth acknowledging — it is a genuinely customer-friendly position.
The practical rule: if you are mid-term on a commitment with a remaining-payments clause, run the term out and switch at renewal. Start the evaluation three months before renewal so you are not negotiating under time pressure, which is exactly when auto-renewal catches people.
What transfers and what does not
Being honest about this upfront prevents the mid-migration discovery that derails projects.
| Data | Transfers? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Customers and contacts | Reliably | Standard CSV export and import. The cleanest part of any migration. |
| Properties and service addresses | Usually | Watch multi-property customers — the relationship between a customer and several addresses is where structures differ. |
| Invoices and payment history | Usually | Often imports as flat records rather than live objects. Fine for history, not for reconciliation. |
| Estimates and quotes | Usually | Line items may flatten. Open quotes are worth re-creating manually. |
| Job and work order history | Partially | Core fields move; job-specific custom fields frequently do not. |
| Price book | Partially | Items move; option groups, markup logic and flat-rate structures usually need rebuilding. |
| Attachments and photos | Rarely | Almost never included in a CSV export. Ask specifically. This is the most-missed item. |
| Automations and workflows | Never | Every platform models these differently. Budget to rebuild. |
| Custom reports | Never | Rebuild against the new schema. |
| Call recordings and SMS history | Rarely | Often tied to the telephony provider rather than the CRM. Ask before you cancel. |
| Internal notes and activity threads | Partially | Notes may export as text without their timeline context. |
| Recurring jobs and maintenance plans | Partially | The plan often moves; the schedule generating future visits usually does not. |
Vendor by vendor
Leaving ServiceTitan
Ask specifically what export formats are available and for which objects, in writing, before you give notice. Because the termination terms are strict, sequence matters: confirm your export is complete before any notice period starts, not after. Pay particular attention to attachments, job photos and call recordings, which are the items most likely to be unavailable in a standard export.
Leaving Jobber
Jobber publishes help documentation on exporting your data, and clients, quotes, jobs and invoices export as CSV. Rebuild budget should go to: automated reminder sequences, any quote templates with visuals or upsells, and the client hub configuration.
Leaving Housecall Pro
No long-term contract makes the timing flexible, which is a real advantage. The rebuild items are typically Campaigns sequences, Pipeline stages if you used that add-on, and any price book option structures. If you used the Voice add-on, ask where call recordings live and whether they leave with you.
Coming to Gravun
For HubSpot specifically we connect with a sign-in and bring across contacts, companies, deals, notes, tasks, calls, meetings, owners, pipelines and custom properties without CSV exports. From field service platforms, migration is CSV-based like everyone else's — we are not going to claim a magic importer that does not exist. Setup is typically under a day once data is in.
The real cost of switching
The subscription difference is usually the smallest line. The honest budget:
| Cost | Typical reality |
|---|---|
| Contract overlap | One to two months running both. Unavoidable if you want to verify before cancelling. |
| Termination exposure | Zero to all remaining payments, depending entirely on what you signed. |
| Data cleanup | Consistently underestimated. Migration surfaces every duplicate and malformed record you have accumulated. |
| Rebuilding automations | Real time, but see below — you will rebuild fewer than you think. |
| Retraining | A few hours per person for a comparable tool. Substantially more if you are moving up in complexity. |
| Productivity dip | Two to four weeks of slightly slower work. Plan the cutover for your slow season, not your busy one. |
| New implementation | Ranges from under a day to ServiceTitan's published 12–16 weeks. Ask before you commit. |
The thing almost everyone discovers. When you sit down to list the automations you need to rebuild, you will find that a significant share of the ones in your old system were never firing, were superseded years ago, or send to a segment that no longer exists. Migration is the audit nobody schedules. Rebuild your three highest-value workflows first, run for a month, and add more only when you miss them — most businesses never get past six.
A parallel-run sequence
- Week 0 — contract check. Find your term end date, termination terms and any auto-renewal notice period. This determines everything that follows.
- Week 1 — export and inspect. Pull a full export from the old system. Open it. Count records against what the old system reports. Specifically confirm whether attachments and photos are included.
- Week 2 — import and reconcile. Load into the new platform. Reconcile counts on both sides before anything else. A mismatch found now is an afternoon; found in month three it is a forensic exercise.
- Weeks 3–4 — parallel run. All new work goes into the new system. The old one becomes read-only reference. Do not dual-enter; that is how the two diverge.
- Week 4 — rebuild the top three automations. Not all of them. Three.
- Week 5 — verify the money. Run a full invoicing and payment cycle in the new system before cancelling anything. This is the step that catches configuration errors while you can still fix them.
- Week 6 — final export and archive. Take one more complete export from the old system and store it somewhere you control. Do this before cancelling, always.
- Cancel at term end, honouring any notice period.
Mistakes that cost people data
- Cancelling before verifying. Access usually ends at cancellation, and sometimes immediately. Export first, verify, then cancel.
- Assuming photos are in the export. They usually are not, and job photos are often the records with the most downstream value in a dispute.
- Missing the auto-renewal notice window. A 30-day notice requirement missed by a week can cost another full term.
- Migrating during your busy season. Move in the shoulder season. Every time.
- Dual-entering during the parallel run. Pick one system as the source of truth from day one.
- Trying to rebuild everything. Rebuild what you use, not what exists.
- Not keeping the final archive. Store a complete export somewhere you control, indefinitely. You will want it for a warranty question in three years.
FAQ
Can I export my data from ServiceTitan?
Ask ServiceTitan directly which objects are exportable and in what formats, and get it in writing before starting any notice period. Pay particular attention to attachments, job photos and call recordings, which are the items most commonly unavailable in standard exports. Because ServiceTitan's termination terms are strict, confirm your export is complete before giving notice rather than after.
What does it cost to leave ServiceTitan early?
According to ServiceTitan's published Terms of Use, early termination means owing a fee equal to all remaining payments on the term, which the agreement states is not a penalty. All fees paid are non-refundable. For most customers mid-term, running out the term and switching at renewal costs less than leaving early.
What data does not transfer when switching field service software?
Automations and workflows never transfer, because every platform models them differently. Custom report definitions do not transfer. Attachments and photos are rarely included in exports. Call recordings and SMS history are often tied to a telephony provider rather than the CRM. Budget to rebuild these rather than move them.
How long does it take to switch field service software?
Plan for four to six weeks including a parallel run, which is mostly verification rather than technical work. The new platform's own implementation timeline varies enormously, from under a day for simpler tools to ServiceTitan's published 12 to 16 weeks. Schedule the cutover in your slow season.
Should I run both systems at the same time?
Yes, for about two weeks, but with one rule: all new work goes into the new system and the old one becomes read-only reference. Dual-entering into both is the most common way the two versions diverge and the migration loses credibility with your team.
Sources
- ServiceTitan Terms of Use — termination fee, non-refundable fees, Minimum Subscription Level
- Jobber — commitment options and annual prepaid terms
- Housecall Pro — no long-term contract requirement
- ServiceTitan onboarding and implementation
- Gravun — HubSpot migration and CSV import
Competitor pricing and feature availability change without notice. Every figure above reflects published information verified in September 2026 and should be confirmed directly with each vendor before a purchase decision.
Switching is mostly verification, not technical work. Gravun imports by CSV, connects to HubSpot with a sign-in, and sets up in under a day. Start a 14-day free trial and run it in parallel before you cancel anything.