What software runs a multi-location home service franchise?

What does a franchise need that a single shop does not?

A one-shop owner needs to quote, schedule, invoice and get paid. A franchise needs all of that, times every location, plus a few things the head office cares about.

• Roll-up reporting: one view of jobs, payments and reviews across every location, without asking each owner for a spreadsheet.
• Royalty calculation: the franchisor's cut worked out from real invoices, not from numbers the franchisee reports at month end.
• Lead routing: a call or web request from a territory goes to the right location.
• A standard price book and templates: the same service names and prices (or price ranges) everywhere, so the brand looks the same.
• Roles and permissions: a franchisee sees their own data. The head office sees all of it.
• Fast onboarding: a new owner with no tech skills has to be running in days.

If a tool cannot do the first two, it is a normal shop tool, and you will end up chasing numbers by hand.

Which tools do franchises actually use?

Here is what each vendor says on its own pages, as of November 2026.

Tool	What it is	Franchise pricing	Franchise features named
Jobber	Quotes, scheduling, invoicing and payments for service trades	Custom. Sales team quotes it	Dashboards across locations, royalty calculation, lead routing, open API
Housecall Pro	All-in-one field service tool with payments, marketing and a mobile app	Special offers for franchises, contact sales	Check with sales for the franchise feature list
Workiz	Field service tool with an integrated phone system	Plan prices are by request	Franchise management and open API on Ultimate, the plan labeled for franchises
GorillaDesk	Service software for pest control, lawn and pool routes	$49 to $149 a month per route, unlimited users	Multi-branch support on the Growth plan
Method	A customer database (CRM) that syncs with QuickBooks	$35 to $97 per user a month	Lists franchise operations as an industry it serves

Jobber

Jobber is the one with the most franchise detail on its site. Its franchise program page says it gives head office dashboards that track jobs, payments, royalties and reviews from one login, lets you set custom services, pricing and templates for every location, and automates lead routing and royalty calculations. It says 1,500+ franchise locations trust it. Public plans start at $29 a month for one user on annual billing (as of November 2026), but franchise pricing is a custom quote. Jobber's franchise page says franchisors get a dedicated account manager and new locations get onboarding and unlimited support.

Housecall Pro

Housecall Pro lists Basic at $59, Essentials at $149 for 5 users and MAX at $299 for 8 users, all per month on annual billing (as of November 2026). Its own FAQ says it has special offers for franchises and multi-location businesses and tells you to contact its sales team. MAX is the plan that includes open API access, which matters if you want your own reports on top.

Workiz

Workiz does not show prices on its pricing page, only a request button. Its plan table lists multi-location management and roles and permissions as features, so check which plan includes them. Franchise management, an open API and service plans come with Ultimate, which Workiz labels as the plan for multi-location larger teams and franchises.

GorillaDesk

GorillaDesk charges per route (one technician who works alone is one route), not per user, so every office and field user is free. Its Growth plan, at $149 a month for the first route, lists multi-branch support, which it describes as one hub across the branches you manage. It fits recurring-route trades better than a broad home service brand.

Method

Method is a CRM that keeps its data in sync with QuickBooks, a widely used accounting program. If your franchise already lives in QuickBooks, it can give you a shared customer database. Ask Method directly how it would handle royalties, because royalty math is not a headline feature on its pricing page.

What does franchise software cost?

Treat public prices as a floor, not a quote. Franchise deals are negotiated, and they often depend on how many locations you sign up.

Here is an example with made-up numbers. Say a franchise has 12 locations with 6 people each. If each location bought Housecall Pro's MAX plan at the public $299 a month on annual billing, that is 12 x $299 = $3,588 a month, or about $43,000 a year, before card fees and add-ons. A franchise deal should come in below that, so use it as the number to beat. The same math on a per-user tool grows with every hire, and on a per-route tool like GorillaDesk it grows with every technician who works alone.

Ask who pays. In many franchises the franchisee pays for the software as a mandatory fee, and the franchisor negotiates a group rate. That keeps data in one place, which is the whole point.

Where do ready-made tools fall short for franchises?

These gaps come up often.

• Royalty rules that are not simple. A flat percent of revenue is easy. A tiered percent, a minimum fee, different rates by service line or a marketing fund contribution is where tools stop fitting.
• Shared leads across territories. A customer calls the national number from a town on a territory border. Who gets it? Rules like that are specific to your agreement.
• Franchisees who already use something else. Converted or acquired locations often run their own tools. You need one view of all of them.
• Reports the head office actually wants. Close rate by location, repeat customers, time from lead to quote. A built-in report rarely matches. My guide to a KPI dashboard shows how to set one up.

That is when a small custom layer on top of the main tool makes sense: a reporting and royalty layer that reads each location's data and gives head office one clean screen. It is the same idea as a custom back-office system, only smaller. For the single-shop version of this choice, see my guide to field service management software.

What should I ask each vendor?

1. How is a royalty calculated, and can I change the rule? Can I see it on a sample invoice?
2. Can a franchisee export their own data if they leave the brand, and can I keep the history?
3. What can the API do, and can head office pull jobs and payments for all locations through one connection?
4. Who owns the customer list, the franchisor or the franchisee?
5. What does onboarding cost for a new location, and how long does it take?
6. What happens to price if I double my locations?

Your franchise lawyer should check the data ownership answers. For the training side of a rollout, see my note on Trainual for franchises, a tool for writing down and teaching your procedures.

How I'd approach this

I would start by writing down your royalty rule and your lead routing rule in plain words, on one page. If you cannot do that, no software will save you, and a vendor demo will just be a nice distraction.

Then I would shortlist two tools. For most young franchises with under 20 locations, Jobber or Housecall Pro is the sensible first pick, because both have a sales path for franchises and both are widely used by trades. If your concept is a recurring-route trade, add GorillaDesk. Ask for a pilot with two locations before you roll it out to everyone.

Only think about custom after the pilot. If the main tool does 90 percent of the job and the missing 10 percent is a report or a royalty rule, build that small layer and keep the rest ready-made. That is cheaper and safer than building a whole system, and you keep the option to switch tools later. Read my guide on business process automation if the missing piece is a repeated manual task.