Industry
Contractor and field service app development: estimates, invoices and job records by ODEL
If you run a crew and need scheduling, dispatch, quotes, invoices and payments, an existing tool such as Jobber, Housecall Pro or Joist usually beats a custom build. A custom app pays off when your estimates follow your own trade logic (rooms, measurements, materials), when it has to fit systems you already use, or when you are building a product for tradespeople. ODEL builds those apps: estimate builders, PDF invoices, client and job records, offline storage, CSV export, calendar and reminders. ODEL designed, built and publishes BidCraft, an iPhone app for contractors that builds estimates from rooms, labor and materials and turns them into invoices and PDFs. Projects start with a discovery call and a written scope, and the finished app ships under your developer account, or privately to your team, with the source code yours.
Who it is for
- Contractors and trade businesses whose estimates follow their own pricing rules
- Field service companies that want an internal app for crews, tied to the tools they already use
- Founders building an estimating, invoicing or job-record app for a specific trade
- Companies with an existing field app that needs updates, offline fixes or a new platform
When we are not the right fit
- A small crew that needs scheduling, dispatch, quotes and online payments: Jobber, Housecall Pro or Joist cover that without a build
- Large enterprises that need a full ERP or field service suite rolled out on a short fixed deadline with 24/7 on-site support
- Projects that need several developers on site with your IT department
What you get
- Estimate builder with rooms, measurements, labor, materials, quantities, taxes and discounts
- Reusable templates per job type
- Invoices with payment status and due dates
- PDF generation and sharing by mail, message or share sheet
- Client and job records with offline storage (SQLite) on the device
- CSV export for your accountant or spreadsheet
- Calendar entries and reminders for site visits and due dates
- Private distribution to your team through Apple Business Manager, or a public App Store release
How the project runs
- 01
Build or buy check
We look at Jobber, Housecall Pro and Joist against your workflow first. If one fits, we tell you.
- 02
Your pricing logic on paper
We write down how you actually price a job: units, rates, materials, markups, taxes, and how a quote becomes an invoice.
- 03
Clickable design
Estimate and invoice screens you can try with a real past job before code is written.
- 04
Build with real jobs
Milestone builds on your phone, tested with your own estimates, PDFs and exports.
- 05
Release
Public App Store and Google Play release, or private distribution to your company, under your accounts.
- 06
Maintain
OS updates, new templates and fields, and integrations added when you need them.
Technology
- Expo and React Native
- expo-sqlite for offline data
- expo-print for PDFs
- expo-calendar, mail and SMS composer
- StoreKit in-app purchases (expo-iap)
- i18next localization
- Node.js and PostgreSQL when data must sync across a team
Apps we built and run
Live products ODEL designed, built and publishes. They show the work better than any promise.
Questions about working with us
Should I build a custom contractor app or use Jobber, Housecall Pro or Joist?
Use an existing tool if you need standard scheduling, dispatch, quotes, invoices and payments for a crew: it costs less and works today. Build when your estimating logic is specific to your trade, when the app must fit your existing systems, or when you are making a product for other tradespeople.
How much does it cost to build this kind of app?
It depends on how many job types and pricing rules you have, whether data syncs across a team (backend) or stays on one phone, PDF and export formats, integrations with accounting or CRM tools, and iPhone only or both stores. ODEL quotes each project after a short discovery call, as a written scope with a fixed quote or a phased plan, and publishes no price list. For market context only: Clutch's 2026 pricing guide puts the most common app project budget at 10,000 to 49,999 USD (Clutch does not state its sample size), and a 2022 GoodFirms survey of 267 development firms put simple apps at 12,960 to 30,240 USD. Store costs come on top: Apple charges 99 USD a year and Google Play 25 USD once.
How long does it take to launch?
It depends on scope, how fast decisions get made and whether your store accounts are ready. The 2022 GoodFirms survey put simple apps at 3 to 7 weeks and complex ones at 8 to 14 weeks of development. Then add store time: Apple says it reviews 90% of submissions in under 48 hours, and new personal Google Play accounts must run a 14-day closed test with at least 12 testers before production. An offline single-user estimating app is much smaller than a multi-user field service system with a backend and integrations.
Can I give the app only to my employees, not the public?
Yes. Apple lets a developer distribute a custom app privately to specific organizations through Apple Business Manager, set in App Store Connect before approval. Android apps can go through a managed Google Play setup. ODEL plans this in the scope if the app is internal.
Does the app work without signal on a job site?
It can. BidCraft keeps its data in a local SQLite database on the phone, so estimates and invoices work offline. If your team needs shared data, the app syncs to a server when it is back online, which is part of the scope.
What did ODEL learn building BidCraft?
Tradespeople price in rooms, measurements and materials, not plain line items, so the estimate builder carries that structure. PDFs and CSV need care: BidCraft 1.1.0 improved CSV text encoding, made spreadsheet cells safer and made file sharing more reliable.
Related services
Tell us about your project
Tell us what you want to build. Your brief comes straight to the developer who would build it, and you get a written reply by email.
- No cost and no commitment for the first conversation
- A written scope and a fixed quote or a phased plan
- You own the app, the code and the store accounts