Housecall Pro vs Nexa
The Real Comparison for Countertop 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.

Bottom Line

Housecall Pro costs countertop installers $948/year at today's list price. Nexa is $279 once for invoicing, scheduling, CRM, time tracking and accounting in one suite — so it pays for itself in 3.5 months 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.

The verdict for countertop installers: Housecall Pro is solid software, but at $79/month it costs $2,844 over 3 years. Nexa does most of what Housecall Pro does for $279 once. For solo countertop installers and small teams, Nexa is the better deal.

Choose Nexa if:

  • You're done paying monthly forever
  • You're a solo operator or small team (1-5)
  • You need time-tracker, Invoicing, task-manager in one purchase 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

What Housecall Pro Actually Costs Countertop 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

FeatureHousecall ProNexa
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 accessYes — 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

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.

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.

Where business tools fit — for a countertop installer

Software doesn't do the actual work — it automates the business around it. And that part is the same for every countertop 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. 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. 2

    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. 3

    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. 4

    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.)

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 and service categories.
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.

Sound Familiar?

A countertop job starts after the cabinets are in, with templating: I make an exact template of every run, noting where the sink, cooktop and faucet holes go, the overhangs, and every wall that isn't straight, because stone can't be trimmed on site the way wood can. The customer picks the slab, and I lay out the template on it so the seams fall in sensible places and the veining flows across them. Fabrication means cutting the pieces with saws and waterjets, shaping and polishing the edges, and cutting the sink and cooktop openings. Install day is heavy and precise work: carrying slabs that weigh hundreds of pounds, levelling them on the cabinets, joining seams with coloured epoxy so they nearly disappear, mounting the undermount sink, and sealing natural stone. Chips, cracks and cabinets that aren't level are the risks, so I check everything on the template visit. I also do laminate and solid-surface tops for lower budgets. I quote by the square foot with edges, cutouts and removal of old tops listed separately, and take a deposit when the slab is chosen.

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 This Means for Countertop Installers

The median countertop 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 countertop installers. You own it like you own your Templating laser or template stock (Plyboo, MDF).

Is Nexa actually right for a countertop 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 countertop installers in the US who do, and you wear every hat.
  • You're tired of paying every month for jobber 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 Templating laser or template stock (Plyboo, MDF).

Look elsewhere if

  • You run a 20+ countertop 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 countertop 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.

Countertop 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.

Register a business in California →

Noneincome tax
TDLR (Texas Dept of Licensing and Regulation)licensing

Extreme summer heat drives HVAC demand. Hurricane risk on Gulf Coast. Year-round construction. Rapid population growth in DFW, Austin, Houston, San Antonio creates sustained demand. Freeze events (like 2021) create emergency plumbing/HVAC surge.

Register a business in Texas →

Noneincome tax
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.

Register a business in Florida →

4-10.9%income tax
NYC DCA + NYS DOS + specialty boardslicensing

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.

Register a business in New York →

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 countertop installers actually deal with

A day in the life of a countertop installer

A countertop job starts after the cabinets are in, with templating: I make an exact template of every run, noting where the sink, cooktop and faucet holes go, the overhangs, and every wall that isn't straight, because stone can't be trimmed on site the way wood can. The customer picks the slab, and I lay out the template on it so the seams fall in sensible places and the veining flows across them. Fabrication means cutting the pieces with saws and waterjets, shaping and polishing the edges, and cutting the sink and cooktop openings. Install day is heavy and precise work: carrying slabs that weigh hundreds of pounds, levelling them on the cabinets, joining seams with coloured epoxy so they nearly disappear, mounting the undermount sink, and sealing natural stone. Chips, cracks and cabinets that aren't level are the risks, so I check everything on the template visit. I also do laminate and solid-surface tops for lower budgets. I quote by the square foot with edges, cutouts and removal of old tops listed separately, and take a deposit when the slab is chosen.

The tools a working countertop installer actually owns

Why countertop installers leave the big platforms

Local countertop installers on Nexa

Real countertop installers near you who run their business on Nexa — book directly, no platform fee. Are you a countertop installer? Post your business and get found in your area — $2.99 one-time. Or browse every countertop installer on Nexa →

The kit a working countertop installer owns

The tools of the trade — each a one-time buy that earns its keep for years.

Core kitEssential

Rail saw / wet saw

$1,500–$8,000
Core kitEssential

Variable-speed wet polisher

$150–$600
Core kitEssential

Seam setters

$300–$1,500
Core kitEssential

Suction cups and slab lifters

$100–$600
Core kitEssential

Router with stone bits

$200–$900
Core kitEssential

Digital templating system

$3,000–$15,000
Core kitEssential

HEPA dust extractor

$800–$3,500
Core kitEssential

Levels, shims and support brackets

$80–$350
Upgrade

A-frame transport rack

$500–$3,000
Upgrade

CNC saw jet

$80,000–$300,000
The core kit, bought once $6,130–$30,450

Here's the bar that matters: you spent $6,130–$30,450 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.

Is Nexa the right call for a countertop installer?

The honest version. Nexa was built to beat the rented stack on the jobs that matter most to a countertop installer — here's where it wins, where the integration wins it anyway, and the things it genuinely doesn't do, with who to use instead. (No tool is best at everything; a guide that pretends otherwise is just an ad.)

Compare the essential business tools for countertop installers

The usual subscriptions vs. Nexa, side by side. Drag the time slider — every year you keep renting, the gap widens. Nexa is $279, one time.

On the work a countertop installer actually lives in — job & project tracking, invoicing and books & accounting — Nexa holds its own against the usual rentals (Jobber →, FreshBooks →, QuickBooks →). Head-to-head on any single one it's competitive; what tips it is the thing none of them can copy: From the laser-scan template through the fabricator hand-off to the install and the seam-and-cutout invoice, the whole countertop lives in one record so the two-week lag never forces you to re-key the job. in one record, no re-typing between four apps. One tool, $279 once, against 3 subscriptions · ~$1,044/yr. Concretely: on job & project tracking, The kitchen you laser-template at 7am and install two weeks later is the same job record, so the sink and cooktop cutouts, the corner seam, and the fabrication lag all stay together instead of you reconciling a template against an install in a separate app.

Where it's not the answer: if you run real payroll for a team (use Gusto →), or run big email campaigns & automations (use ConvertKit →). Those tools are better at their one thing, and we'd rather point you to them than pretend.

Prefer to own a piece outright instead of renting? Free and open-source tools (GnuCash, Invoice Ninja and the like) each handle one job if you'll self-host them — a real option, listed because it's true.

These are affiliate links — if you sign up through one, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. We list them because they're the honest best pick for the job, Nexa included. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Competitor pricing verified 2026-06-12.

How To Read This Page

How we put this guide together

We build a countertop 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 countertop 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

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 countertop 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 countertop 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.

$2,844 Over 3 Years. Or $279 Once (or 3 × $99).

Own your tools. Stop renting your software.

Get Nexa — $279 Once
or 3 payments of $99
✓ 30-day money-back — save $500 or full refund

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