Contractors and trade businesses share a universal problem: the person selling the work is usually the same person doing the work. There is no dedicated sales team. There is no BDC rep. There is just you, your truck, and a phone that rings while you are holding a pipe wrench.
The CRM that works for a contractor is fundamentally different from the CRM that works for a B2B software company. It needs to be mobile-first, fast, and dead simple. Here is what to look for.
Must-Have Features for Contractors
SMS lead alerts: Non-negotiable. If you are on a job site and a lead comes in via your website, you need a text message, not an email notification. The 5-minute response window does not care that you are busy.
Tap-to-call from mobile: See the lead notification, tap the phone number, call them back. If your CRM requires you to log in on a desktop to find the contact info, it is not built for field work.
Industry-specific pipeline: Lead → Contacted → On-Site/Measured → Quoted → Scheduled → Completed. Not MQL → SQL → Opportunity → Closed-Won. Your pipeline should use your language.
Review automation: For contractors, Google reviews are the single best marketing investment. Automating review requests after every completed job builds your reputation without adding to your workload.
CRMs Built for the Trades
Long Drive Leads ($19-199/mo): Built for trades and contractors. Flat-rate pricing with no per-seat fees. SMS alerts, auto-response, pipeline management, review automation. Sets up in 5 minutes.
Jobber ($49+/user/mo): Strong on job scheduling and invoicing, weaker on lead capture and follow-up. Better as a scheduling tool alongside a lead-focused CRM. See our comparison.
ServiceTitan ($300+/mo): The enterprise option. Comprehensive but expensive and complex. Best for larger operations with 20+ employees and dedicated office staff. Full breakdown here.
What to Avoid
Avoid any CRM that charges per user (your cost should not increase every time you hire a helper), requires desktop access for core functions (you live on your phone), or takes more than a day to set up. If it has a "schedule an onboarding call" button on the pricing page, it is too complex for a 5-person contracting business.
The best CRM for contractors is the one you actually use every day — and that means it has to be as simple as checking a text message. Try Long Drive Leads free for 14 days.