Try these 15 tasks on the subscription plan you intend to buy. Include an ordinary clean, a skipped recurring visit, a cleaner substitution and an invoice correction. Record what works and what needs manual help.
Use this worksheet during your own product trials. Record the result for each task and the subscription tier you tested.
Set the evaluation up once
Use fictional customer identities, addresses suitable for the test environment and non-sensitive job notes. Do not enter live card information into unsupported test flows or copy real door codes into shared evaluation files.
Record the vendor, evaluation date, visible trial tier, intended paid tier, user allowance and billing mode. HCP currently advertises MAX trial access; that should not be mistaken for proof that the chosen lower-tier plan includes every demonstrated function. Housecall Pro pricing
Write three non-negotiable requirements. Each needs a user, an action and an expected result. “The office can move one visit without changing later dates” is testable. “The software is powerful” is not.
Use the same fictional customer set
Create a weekly maintenance customer, a biweekly customer, a first-time deep clean followed by maintenance, a two-person job and a customer with a one-time extra. Give them realistic duration and travel assumptions.
The values do not need to match a competitor's sample. They need to reflect your intended business rules so both products are tested fairly. Do not give one finalist a simple clean and the other an elaborate exception, then compare speed.
The 15 tests
| Test | Action | Evidence to record |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Real headcount | Add owner, staff and office roles accurately | Intended tier and bill with all required profiles |
| 2. Basic appointment | Create one accepted clean | Date, arrival window, duration, scope and assigned people |
| 3. Customer booking | Submit a supported online request or booking | What the customer is told is confirmed |
| 4. Availability | Attempt a conflicting or out-of-area booking | Correct rejection or clearly qualified request |
| 5. Recurrence | Create weekly and biweekly work | Correct next occurrences |
| 6. Single-visit move | Move one occurrence | Future series remains as intended |
| 7. Skipped visit | Cancel one clean but keep the customer | Schedule, reminders and billing match the agreement |
| 8. Staff substitution | Replace a cleaner on one appointment | Correct field visibility; later assignments unaffected |
| 9. One-time extra | Add a task to only the next clean | Scope, duration and invoice are correct |
| 10. Reminder | Send to an approved test recipient | Sender, time zone, final text and actual delivery |
| 11. Customer reply | Use the supported reply route | The responsible person receives it |
| 12. Invoice/payment | Use approved test facilities | Correct amount, status and authorized collection behavior |
| 13. Correction | Edit an invoice, partial-pay or refund as supported | Accurate balances and accounting handling |
| 14. Export | Obtain the relevant supported export | Required fields and access after cancellation understood |
| 15. Exit and price | Inspect intended paid offer | Commitment, renewal price, add-ons and cancellation process |
A test marked “not available on this tier” is valuable evidence. Do not turn it into a pass simply because another paid module could theoretically do it.
Record manual work as well as successful outcomes
A product can eventually reach the correct result while requiring several repeated corrections. Record the steps and who performs them. If the workflow happens many times a week, that burden may matter more than a minor subscription difference.
Also record whether the cleaner can complete their part using an appropriately restricted account. Owner-level access can conceal a permissions problem that appears only after rollout.
A trial is a small sample, so avoid turning one measured task into a universal claim that a platform always saves a specific amount of time. Keep the record tied to the scenario, account and date.
Accounting requires the current integration version
When QBO is essential, run the six-case accounting test with the relevant professional involved. Jobber's new integration has a staged rollout, and HCP documents special handling for changes after initial sync. A successful basic invoice transfer is not a complete integration evaluation. Jobber new QuickBooks Online sync Housecall Pro QuickBooks Online sync
Do not connect experimental records to the live ledger without a clear plan. Preserve the results and the exact configuration used.
Migration cannot always be simulated by a free bulk import
ZenMaid documents that appointment import requires a paying account. That should shape the test design: evaluate behavior with a few fictional records, then scope the live migration separately. ZenMaid data import
For any vendor, ask what happens to future schedules, historical invoices, attachments and payment methods. An export checkbox alone does not answer those four questions.
Record why you chose the plan
At the end, write: required tasks passed, failures or limitations, manual work accepted, intended monthly and first-year cost, and the reason to choose or reject. A product can be suitable despite an optional feature failing. It should not be called suitable when it fails a non-negotiable requirement.
Use the finder to choose a shortlist, then compare the same tasks in each intended plan before moving live bookings.
Download the trial-results worksheet. It contains test prompts and blank result fields—not fabricated test results.