Housecall Pro vs Nexa The Real Comparison for Skylight Installers
Housecall Pro
$79/mo ($948/yr)
VS
Nexa
$279 once — own forever
or 3 payments of $99
Break even: 3.5 months at Housecall Pro's current price.
Does Housecall Pro Fit Skylight Installers? Our Read
What skylight installers need from their software, from sources outside Housecall Pro and outside Nexa:
Installers need to track which license class covers each job type. Skylight work often sits between roofing and general contracting. In Florida, the Construction Industry Licensing Board published a petition asking whether a roofing contractor is licensed to install a tubular skylight, under s. 489.105(3), F.S. A tool should store the license type and number per job and per state. The notice only poses the question and does not give the board's answer. (flrules.org)
Jobs on pre-1978 homes need lead-safe compliance records. EPA says firms paid for renovation work in pre-1978 housing and child-occupied facilities must be EPA-certified. The work must be performed or directed by a certified renovator, who completes a one-day course from an EPA-approved provider. Software should track firm certification, renovator credentials, and house age per job. (epa.gov)
Window-type work is covered by the same lead rule. Minnesota's health department says the RRP rule covers all activities done for compensation that disturb painted surfaces, including window replacement. So a pre-1978 skylight job can need lead-safe paperwork attached to the job record. (health.mn.gov)
Leak callbacks and warranty tracking matter in this trade. A practitioner interviewed by the Eichler Network says contractors avoid skylights "because they leak." They also warn that caulking a leaky skylight can block the weep holes. Roofers take on liability for skylights installed or replaced during a roofing job. Installers need to record each install, its flashing method, and later service calls to handle leak claims. (eichlernetwork.com)
Manufacturer installation warranties depend on correct installation, so the install record is evidence. VELUX's pro page describes a 10-year installation warranty on deck-mounted and curb-mounted skylights. It covers leaks "no matter who installs the skylight," provided the skylight and flashing are installed correctly. It applies only to products bought on or after January 1, 2010, and the end user must mitigate water damage. Installers should keep dated records of the product, model, and flashing used for each job. This source is a manufacturer, not a trade association. (pro.veluxusa.com)
Housecall Pro covers the general running of a service business well. That includes scheduling and dispatch, estimates, a price book, invoicing, online payments, job costing, GPS and "On My Way" texts, and live phone and chat support. The plan that does the core job is $79 a month. Nothing in the material I have shows it storing a license class and number per job and per state, or tracking firm certification, renovator credentials and house age for lead-safe work on pre-1978 homes. Nor does it show a per-job record of product, model, flashing method and later leak callbacks. Checklist automations and photo reports are listed only on higher plans, and they could help with install records, but I can't confirm they cover these compliance fields. For this trade, that compliance and warranty record is the core need. The sourced rules still leave open which license class covers a skylight job, so a tool can only store what the installer enters.
Nexa covers jobs with costing and profit per job, recurring jobs, crew assignment, estimates and proposals that convert to invoices, a client pay portal, time tracking, and bookkeeping. Notes and intake forms could hold some install details, but nothing listed gives structured fields for license type, lead-safe credentials or flashing method. It also has no SMS or calls, no GPS or dispatch board, no route optimization, and no sync with accounting software. It does not run payroll taxes or pay stubs. It is software you own and run yourself, with no hosted support desk or vendor onboarding. If you use automated emails, they send only while Nexa is open on one of your devices. Online card payments go only through your own Stripe account.
Over three years Housecall Pro at $79 a month comes to $2,844. Nexa is $279 once, or $458.64 with optional Cloud Sync at $4.99 a month for 36 months. Without sync it runs on one device. If you rely on dispatch, GPS, texting or hosted support, staying with Housecall Pro is the safer choice, and the lower Nexa cost doesn't change that. If you mostly need invoicing, job costing and bookkeeping on one device, Nexa costs far less. Either way, the license, lead-safe and warranty records are the part neither tool clearly handles. Keep those in a structured per-job record or a tool built for compliance documentation, and don't switch just to get them.
Our read for skylight installers: Neither tool clearly stores per-job license class, lead-safe credentials and house age, or install and flashing records, so a compliance-focused job-records tool is what this trade needs; keep Housecall Pro if you rely on dispatch, GPS or texting.
Read on each linked page in October 2026. Check them again before you decide; vendors change plans often.
Bottom Line
Housecall Pro costs skylight installers $948/year at today's list price. Nexa is $279 once for invoicing, scheduling, CRM, time tracking and accounting in one suite — so after 3.5 months it has cost less than Housecall Pro, and you own it after that. What it is not: hosted-for-you software with a support desk and a roadmap you can lobby. That is the trade, and the rest of this page is the detail behind it.
Can it pay for itself?
Nexa is $279 once, about $23 a month over its first year. Its Drain Guard reads your expenses (from a linked bank, an imported statement, or ones you type in), finds the charges that repeat, and adds them up by the month. Keep or Cut then walks you through them one at a time. Cancel $23 a month of charges you'd forgotten about and Nexa has paid for itself inside the first year, before you count the Housecall Pro bill you'd stop paying.
It depends on what you find and what you cancel, so we don't promise a number. In our demo data, Drain Guard finds 5 subscriptions adding up to $110.13 a month. That is sample data, not a customer's.
The verdict for skylight installers: Neither Housecall Pro nor Nexa is the main system for this work; start with software built for it. Nexa only makes sense beside it, at $279 once against $2,844 for Housecall Pro over three years.
Choose Nexa if:
You're done paying monthly forever
You're a solo operator or small team (1-5)
You need time tracker, invoicing and task manager in one tool
You're tired of price increases
You want to own your tools like you own your equipment
Choose Housecall Pro if:
You have a large team (10+) needing enterprise features
You're deeply invested in Housecall Pro's specific workflow
You need a feature Nexa doesn't have yet
Sound Familiar?
He's on a roof harness before he's anywhere near the edge, because skylight work is fall work and the whole day is spent on a slope. The first job is a vented skylight in a master bath on an asphalt shingle roof. He locates the spot between the rafters from inside, marks it, then cuts the opening up top, knowing he'll have to cut and header a rafter to make the unit fit, which means doing the framing right so the roof's structure isn't compromised. The cut is the easy, scary part; the flashing is the part that determines whether this thing leaks in five years. He builds the curb, lays ice-and-water shield around the opening, sets the unit, and works the flashing kit in the right order, step flashing up the sides, head flashing over the top, everything lapped so water sheds over and never under. Counter-flashing and sealant finish it, but he knows sealant is the backup, not the system; the lapped flashing is the system. The afternoon job is on a tile roof, a completely different flashing approach, lifting and cutting tile and weaving the flashing into the courses without cracking the surrounding pieces. The homeowner can't understand why a tile-roof skylight costs more than the shingle quote her neighbor got. He talks her through it, then logs the roof type, unit model, and flashing detail for the file before harnessing down.
A skylight is a hole cut in the roof, so the flashing is everything, and a curb flashed wrong leaks years later in a way that gets blamed on the skylight, not the install
Cutting the opening means working between rafters and sometimes cutting one, which is structural, so the framing and headers have to be right or the roof is compromised
Matching the new skylight to the existing roof type, asphalt, tile, metal, or low-slope, changes the entire flashing approach, and a tile roof or standing-seam install is a different job than a shingle one
Customers want the light without grasping that it's a roofing penetration on a slope, so they balk at the flashing, framing, and fall-protection labor that makes it not leak
Time tracking, invoicing, job tracking and the books are the pieces of that day. Some tools rent you each piece separately. A few — Nexa among them — bundle the lot into something you buy once. The sections below price both routes honestly.
None of that is a software problem you can buy your way out of in one click — it is why the tool you pick matters more than what it costs. Housecall Pro solves some of it. So does Nexa. The difference is what you are left holding in three years.
What Housecall Pro Actually Costs Skylight Installers
Today's list price is $79/month — $948 a year, from Housecall Pro's own pricing page. Every figure below is that price, multiplied. Nothing is projected.
Three years at today's price
Year 1$948
Year 2$948
Year 3$948
Three years of Housecall Pro$2,844
Nexa: $279 once (or 3 × $99). Over the same three years, that is $2,565 less.
If Housecall Pro raises its price, the three-year cost goes up; if it cuts it, the cost comes down. We don't guess which. Add-ons, extra seats and card-processing fees are not included, on either side.
Feature-by-Feature
Feature
Housecall Pro
Nexa
Invoicing
✓
✓
Scheduling
✓
✓
CRM
✓
✓
Time Tracking
—
✓
Full Accounting
—
✓ (SIMPL)
Task Management
—
✓
Works offline
—
✓
Price
$79/mo
$279 once or 3 × $99
3-Year Total
$2,844
$279
You own it?
No — stop paying, lose access
Yes — forever
✓ and ✗ for Housecall Pro come from its own published feature list. — means the feature isn't in that list, which is not the same as Housecall Pro lacking it: check with them. Three years is at today's price.
What "$279 Once" Does And Doesn't Buy
It buys the software, not a service contract. You install Nexa and it runs on your machine. There is no seat count, and nothing stops working if you stop paying, because there is nothing to stop paying.
Housecall Pro's monthly fee is not only rent. It pays for their hosting, their support desk, and their engineers shipping changes every week. If those matter to how you work, that is a real thing you would be giving up.
Cross-device sync is the one optional extra — $4.99/month if you want your data mirrored between machines. Skip it and Nexa still works; you just sync manually.
The honest risk of buying once: you are betting on us still being here to improve it. The honest risk of renting: the price is theirs to raise, and the graveyard section below is a record of tools that did exactly that.
What Housecall Pro Does Better
Straight from Housecall Pro's own feature set. If one of these is the reason you pay them, that reason does not disappear because Nexa is cheaper.
Online booking for home services
GPS tracking
Postcard marketing campaigns
Professional invoicing
Review collection
A smaller bill up front: plans start at $79/month, against $279 paid once for Nexa.
Housecall Pro is the better call if you need online booking for home services specifically, or if your team is large enough that per-seat pricing still beats buying software outright.
What Housecall Pro Is Built For
Housecall Pro describes itself as 'Tailored for teams of 1 to 100+' and aimed at home service pros across 50+ industries, including HVAC, plumbing, electrical, cleaning, lawn care and pest control. (housecallpro.com)
Three plans: Basic at $59/mo billed annually ($79 monthly) for 1 user, Essentials at $149/mo annual ($189 monthly) for 5 users, and Max at $299/mo annual ($329 monthly) for 8 users. Extra Max users cost $35/mo each. (housecallpro.com)
Every plan includes live phone and chat support, a free iOS and Android app in English and Spanish, offline viewing, AI team members, and card processing rates 'as low as 2.59%'. (housecallpro.com)
The free trial lasts 14 days with no credit card required, and the FAQ says it includes full access to the Max plan. The page says long-term contracts are not required. (housecallpro.com)
Essentials adds routes, flat-rate pricing, checklist automations, photo reports, employee GPS tracking, commissions and QuickBooks Online sync. Max adds a sales proposal tool, recurring service plans, route optimization, open API access, a dedicated onboarding specialist and escalated phone support. (housecallpro.com)
The feature set covers scheduling and dispatching, estimates, a price book, online booking, invoicing, online payments, financing, time tracking, payroll, job costing, vehicle GPS and 'On My Way' texts. It also has a CSR AI that answers calls and books jobs. (housecallpro.com)
Support and learning resources include a Help Center, a Pro Community, webinars, a Mastermind program and a Trade Academy. Housecall Pro lists 4.7 stars on Capterra from 2,700+ reviews, though that figure is its own claim. (housecallpro.com)
What people outside Housecall Pro and outside Nexa say:
SoftwareConnect rates Housecall Pro 4.5/5 from 10 reviews. Its editorial pros are full QuickBooks integration, a large library of training tutorials, and texting customers and employees from the app. A user review calls it an 'Amazing all in one platform for running a service provider company.' (softwareconnect.com)
SoftwareConnect's editorial cons are limited CRM functionality, some reported lag, and some users needing multiple programs. Users say scheduling is 'rigid' and multi-day jobs can't be extended. One reviewer says invoices don't produce usable internal reports and had to move away from the program. Another says it does not let them add many jobs or locations to one customer. (softwareconnect.com)
Read on each linked page in October 2026. Check them again before you decide; vendors change plans often.
Where business tools fit — for a skylight installer
Software doesn't do the actual work — it automates the business around it. And that part is the same for every skylight installer: find the work, manage it, bill for it, get paid. Each step has a tool — and the right single tool runs the whole loop, so the handoffs are automatic and you get back to the actual work. Tap a step to see what gets automated.
1
Find the work
Win the job
↓
A lead, a call, a referral — and a quote or estimate that turns it into a booked job.
CRM / contacts
Estimates & proposals
Booking / scheduling
then ↓
2
Manage the work
Do the job
↓
The part you actually get paid for — with the time, materials, add-ons, and tasks tracked as you go, not guessed at later.
Job / project tracking
Time tracking
Expenses, materials & add-ons
then ↓
3
Bill for it
Send the bill
↓
The work becomes the invoice — the hours, the add-ons, the materials, the deposit credited — totaled and sent, instead of re-typed at 9pm.
Invoicing
Deposits & credits
then ↓
4
Get paid
Collect payment
↓
Paid by card or link, the deposit credited, and what's overdue chased — without you doing it by hand.
Card / online payments
Automatic reminders
You can stitch four separate subscriptions across these four steps, or run one tool that does the whole flow so a booking becomes a job becomes an invoice becomes a payment without re-typing. Either way the goal is the same: less time on the business of the business, more on the actual work. (Nexa is built to be the one — but the honest options for each step are above and below.)
Watch a job become an invoice
This is the connection that makes the rest worth it. A skylight installer's job already holds the services, the hours, the add-ons, and the materials — so the invoice builds itself from the work instead of you re-typing it at 9pm. Toggle an add-on or nudge the hours and watch it recompute.
The job Vented skylight in a master bath, shingle roof
ServiceRoof cut-in and curb framing1 × $350$350
TimeLabor — tracked on the job
7 hrs× $95/hr$665
MaterialsVented skylight unit$780
MaterialsFlashing kit and ice-and-water shield$160
→
The invoice builds itself
Subtotal$2,405
Deposit credited−$600
Invoice total$1,805
You didn't write this invoice — the job did.
Calculate Your Full Stack
Housecall Pro plus whatever else you're paying for:
Email yourself this comparison?
Switching from Housecall Pro
1
Export your data — Go to Settings → export customers, job history, and invoices as CSV files.
2
Set up Nexa — 15-minute setup. Import your customer list by CSV; re-enter your core services.
3
Parallel run — Run both for 2 weeks. Transition dispatching and booking to Nexa.
4
Cancel Housecall Pro — Cancel subscription (check for early termination fees). Download all records.
✓ 30-day money-back guarantee. Zero risk.
What This Means for Skylight Installers
The median skylight installer earns $55,000/year. At $948/year, Housecall Pro is a recurring slice of that — paid again every year, whether the year was good or not. Owning the same jobs outright is $279 once, and the slice stops.
Nexa is $279 once. Invoicing, scheduling, CRM, time tracking, accounting — all connected, built for skylight installers. You own it like you own your Skylight units (fixed, vented, tubular) and flashing kits.
Is Nexa actually right for a skylight installer?
An honest fit check — because the wrong tool is worse than no tool.
Right for you if
You run solo or a small crew — like the 15,000 skylight installers in the US who do, and you wear every hat.
You're tired of paying every month for a monthly subscription stack and a pile of apps that don't talk to each other.
You want to invoice, schedule, and track from the field — not from a back office.
You'd rather own your software once, the way you own your Skylight units (fixed, vented, tubular) and flashing kits.
Look elsewhere if
You run a 20+ skylight installer fleet that needs enterprise dispatch and multi-crew routing — Nexa is built for 1–5, and a fleet platform will serve you better.
You need full payroll for a large team or deep, SKU-level inventory — that's not what Nexa is for.
You're genuinely happy paying monthly and don't mind stitching tools together. No tool fixes a workflow you already like.
The honest fit: if you're a solo or small skylight installers business that owns its tools and is sick of renting software, Nexa replaces your whole stack for $279 once. If you're scaling past a handful of crews, a fleet platform may fit better — and we'd rather tell you that now than sell you the wrong thing.
Skylight Installers by the numbers — by place
Tax, licensing & seasonality where you operate
1-13.3%income tax
CSLB (Contractors State License Board)licensing
Year-round construction in SoCal. Fire season (June-November) drives restoration demand. Drought impacts landscaping. Earthquake retrofitting is ongoing market.
DBPR (Dept of Business and Professional Regulation)licensing
Hurricane season June-November creates massive restoration demand. Snowbird season November-March boosts service volume 30-40%. Year-round construction. Pool service is year-round industry. Pest control peaks in summer humidity.
Harsh winters in upstate, moderate in NYC. Construction limited in winter upstate. NYC market is enormous but hypercompetitive. Brownstone/pre-war building maintenance is specialized trade. NYC licensing is notoriously complex.
Time tracking, invoicing, job tracking and the books are the pieces of that day. Some tools rent you each piece separately. A few — Nexa among them — bundle the lot into something you buy once. The sections below price both routes honestly.
What skylight installers actually deal with
A skylight is a hole cut in the roof, so the flashing is everything, and a curb flashed wrong leaks years later in a way that gets blamed on the skylight, not the install
Cutting the opening means working between rafters and sometimes cutting one, which is structural, so the framing and headers have to be right or the roof is compromised
Matching the new skylight to the existing roof type, asphalt, tile, metal, or low-slope, changes the entire flashing approach, and a tile roof or standing-seam install is a different job than a shingle one
Customers want the light without grasping that it's a roofing penetration on a slope, so they balk at the flashing, framing, and fall-protection labor that makes it not leak
A day in the life of a skylight installer
He's on a roof harness before he's anywhere near the edge, because skylight work is fall work and the whole day is spent on a slope. The first job is a vented skylight in a master bath on an asphalt shingle roof. He locates the spot between the rafters from inside, marks it, then cuts the opening up top, knowing he'll have to cut and header a rafter to make the unit fit, which means doing the framing right so the roof's structure isn't compromised. The cut is the easy, scary part; the flashing is the part that determines whether this thing leaks in five years. He builds the curb, lays ice-and-water shield around the opening, sets the unit, and works the flashing kit in the right order, step flashing up the sides, head flashing over the top, everything lapped so water sheds over and never under. Counter-flashing and sealant finish it, but he knows sealant is the backup, not the system; the lapped flashing is the system. The afternoon job is on a tile roof, a completely different flashing approach, lifting and cutting tile and weaving the flashing into the courses without cracking the surrounding pieces. The homeowner can't understand why a tile-roof skylight costs more than the shingle quote her neighbor got. He talks her through it, then logs the roof type, unit model, and flashing detail for the file before harnessing down.
The tools a working skylight installer actually owns
Skylight units (fixed, vented, tubular) and flashing kits
Roofing cutout saw and reciprocating saw
Ice-and-water shield and underlayment
Curb framing lumber and structural fasteners
Roof harness, anchors, and fall-arrest gear
Sealant, butyl tape, and counter-flashing tools
Local skylight installers on Nexa
Real skylight installers near you who run their business on Nexa — book directly, no platform fee.
Are you a skylight installer? Post your business and get found in your area — $2.99 one-time.
Or browse every skylight installer on Nexa →
The kit a working skylight installer owns
The tools of the trade — each a one-time buy that earns its keep for years.
Core kitEssential
Roofing cutout saw and reciprocating saw
$200–$700
Core kitEssential
Roof harness, anchors and fall-arrest gear
$200–$700
Core kitEssential
Skylight and flashing kit inventory
$600–$3,000
Core kitEssential
Impact driver and drill
$200–$450
Core kitEssential
Chalk line, square and levels
$50–$200
Core kitEssential
Extension ladders and roof jacks
$250–$900
Core kitEssential
Caulk guns and butyl tools
$40–$180
Core kitEssential
Tin snips and flashing brake
$40–$200
Core kitEssential
Tubular skylight hole-saw kit
$80–$400
The core kit, bought once$1,660–$6,730
Here's the bar that matters: you spent $1,660–$6,730 on tools that last for years, and never thought twice. So why should the software cost more than your whole kit — every single year? Hold it to the same standard as a good tool: $279, once.
How To Read This Page
We make Nexa. It is one of the two options compared here, so read this with that in mind. We have tried to make Housecall Pro's case the way we would want ours made — their strengths above are their own published feature list, not our summary of it.
The prices are Housecall Pro's published list prices, checked on the date shown in the sources below. Plans change; check theirs before you decide.
No customer quotes appear on this page because we do not have any from skylight installers we can verify. For user testimony, read the independent reviews — Housecall Pro on G2 and on Capterra — where the reviewers are not selling you anything.
Check the price yourself:Housecall Pro's own pricing page is the source for every figure above, read on the date shown in the sources section below.
We are not neutral about subscriptions, and that is the argument, not a hidden assumption: software you pay for once is cheaper over three years than software you rent, unless you need something only the rented one does.
How we put this guide together
We build a skylight installer's guide the same way every time, and we'd rather you trust it than take it on faith. Nexa is our product, so the test we hold ourselves to is simple: a tool only "wins" a job here when it genuinely does that job better for a skylight installer — and where something free, open-source, or buy-once does it better, we say so and link you to it. Where Nexa falls short (payroll is the honest example), we name the alternative outright.
Where the numbers come from
Vendor pricingJobber $588/yr, Housecall Pro $948/yr, QuickBooks $456/yr, Square — taken from each company's published plans, last verified September 2026. Pricing moves; each name above links straight to that vendor’s own pricing page so you can confirm it before you decide.
Income contextThe $55,000 median we cite for the typical skylight installer is occupational median annual pay from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics), compiled April 2026. We use it only to show software spend as a share of real income — your own numbers will differ.
Three-year mathMulti-year totals are today's list price multiplied by the number of years. No price rise is projected, so the figure can be checked against the vendor's own pricing page; if they raise it, the real cost is higher.
Found something out of date? Prices change and we don't catch every move the day it happens. This guide is published and maintained by the Nexa team; if a figure here is wrong, tell us and we'll fix it — getting it right matters more to us than the sale.
FAQ
Is Nexa really a Housecall Pro replacement?
For solo skylight installers and small teams, yes. invoicing, scheduling, CRM, time tracking, task management, and full accounting — all for $279 once. Housecall Pro may be better if you have a large team (10+) or need enterprise-specific features.
What does Housecall Pro do that Nexa doesn't?
Housecall Pro has features like Online booking for home services and GPS tracking that some businesses rely on. For most solo skylight installers, these aren't dealbreakers.
How fast does Nexa pay for itself?
At $79/month, Nexa pays for itself in 3.5 months. After that: $948 saved every year.
Can I pay in installments?
Yes. Nexa is $279 as a one-time payment, or 3 payments of $99 ($297 total). Either way it's a one-time purchase — no subscription, no recurring fees ever.