I Switched from Jobber to thecontractor.app — Here's What Happened
After 2 years on Jobber Connect ($119/month), I switched to thecontractor.app. Here's my honest review — what's better, what's different, and how much I'm saving.
I used Jobber Connect for 2 years. $119/month. $2,856 total. Then I found something better for $12.99.
Why I Was on Jobber
I run a pressure washing business. Solo operator, occasional helper. When I started, Jobber was the name everyone recommended in the Facebook groups. So I signed up.
Jobber Core ($39/mo) wasn't enough — I needed online booking and automated follow-ups. So I was on Connect at $119/month.
It worked. Quotes went out, invoices got paid, schedule stayed organized. No complaints about Jobber as software. My complaint was the price.
The Breaking Point
$119/month × 12 = $1,428/year. For one person. Every quote I wrote manually. Every line item typed by hand. Every social media post — I had to figure that out on my own.
Then someone in a pressure washing Facebook group mentioned thecontractor.app. "$12.99/month, AI writes your quotes." I figured it was too good to be true.
The Switch
I signed up for the free plan on a Saturday morning. Here's what happened in the first hour:
Minute 1-5: Created my account, picked "Pressure Washing" as my trade. Pre-loaded line items appeared — driveway at $0.35/sq ft, house exterior at $0.30/sq ft, patio at $0.40/sq ft. Real rates I'd actually charge.
Minute 5-10: Typed "pressure wash a 2,000 sq ft driveway with oil stain treatment and 400 sq ft walkway" into the AI quoting tool. It generated a complete quote with scope of work, line items, quantities, and pricing. 60 seconds.
On Jobber, that quote would have taken me 10 minutes of manual entry.
Minute 10-20: Set up my public profile — business name, phone, services. It generated an online booking page automatically.
Minute 20-30: Opened the social media templates. Picked a "showcase your work" template, swapped in my before/after photos, and had an Instagram-ready post in 30 seconds.
What's Better
AI quote writing. This is the biggest difference. I describe the job, the AI writes a professional quote with scope of work and line items. On Jobber, I typed every single line item for every single quote for 2 years.
Trade-specific templates. The pressure washing line items were pre-loaded with real pricing. Driveway, walkway, house exterior, patio, deck, oil stain treatment, mobilization fee — all there at market rates.
Social media tools. 150+ templates. I pick one, customize it, post it. Marketing used to take me an hour a week. Now it takes 5 minutes.
The price. $12.99/month vs $119/month. I save $106/month. $1,272/year.
Free plan. I tested everything before paying a cent. Jobber gave me 14 days and then started charging.
What I Miss About Jobber
QuickBooks sync. Jobber synced with QuickBooks in real-time. thecontractor.app exports CSV, which is fine, but it's an extra step.
The Jobber community. Jobber has a large user community and support resources built up over many years. thecontractor.app is newer.
That's honestly it. Everything else is the same or better.
The Numbers
| Metric | Jobber (Before) | thecontractor.app (After) |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | $119 | $12.99 |
| Time per quote | 8-12 minutes | 60 seconds |
| Quotes per week | 8-10 | 15-20 (because it's faster) |
| Marketing time | 1 hour/week | 5 min/week |
| Close rate | ~35% | ~42% (faster quotes = higher close rate) |
My close rate went up because I started sending quotes within 5 minutes of the call instead of "I'll get that to you tonight." Speed wins jobs.
Would I Switch Back?
No. I save $1,272/year, write quotes 10x faster, and have marketing tools Jobber doesn't offer at any price. The only scenario where I'd go back to Jobber is if I grew to 10+ employees and needed enterprise-level job costing.
For solo contractors and small crews — thecontractor.app does more for less. That's not marketing. That's math.
Try it free at thecontractor.app. Send your first AI quote in 60 seconds.