Home services: which automation platform actually fits — Zapier or Make?
For plumbers, electricians, HVAC, and cleaning: Zapier vs Make on Jobber/Housecall Pro integration, dispatch, review requests, and per-lead cost.
What home services keep telling us
- Leads from Google LSA, Angi, and Facebook land in five different inboxes.
- Dispatchers retype the same address into Jobber, QuickBooks, and the calendar.
- Review requests get missed the moment the tech leaves the driveway.
- Recurring HVAC maintenance customers slip through the cracks between seasons.
- Zapier tasks blow up during storm weeks when call volume 5x's.
- No cheap way to send booking confirmations and reminders that customers actually read.
TL;DR
- Pick Zapier if you have under 500 leads/mo, one dispatcher, and the workflows are 1–2 steps (lead in → Jobber). Zapier's editor is faster.
- Pick Make if you're routing 1000+ leads/mo, need branching by service line, or you're building automated review + rebooking sequences. Make is 5–10x cheaper at that volume.
- Pick either for a single 'new lead → Slack alert' zap. The difference shows the moment you add follow-ups.
Feature-by-feature
| Feature | Zapier | Make |
|---|---|---|
| Jobber integration | Native | Native |
| Housecall Pro integration | Native | Native |
| ServiceTitan | Native | Via HTTP |
| Cost at 2000 leads/mo, 4-step workflow | $150+/mo | ~$30/mo |
| Google LSA / Angi lead capture | Email parser (paid add-on) | Email parser + custom regex |
| SMS review requests (Twilio) | Native | Native |
| Branching by service type (HVAC vs plumbing) | Paths add-on (extra cost) | Native routers |
| Storm-week spike handling | Task overages bill hourly | Higher per-tier op ceiling |
| Seasonal rebooking (6-month follow-up) | Delay step, works | Delay + queue, works |
| Dispatcher training time | 1 hour | 3–4 hours |
FAQs
What's the highest-ROI workflow for a home services company?
Automated review requests fired 30 min after job completion, with SMS + email fallback. Firms we've built this for see review count 3–5x within 60 days, which directly lifts Google Maps ranking and LSA leads.
Which tool talks to Jobber best?
Both connect natively via API. Make gives you finer control over field mapping and error handling. Zapier is faster to set up for a first sync.
Can either handle 24/7 emergency calls?
Yes. Both can route inbound calls (via CallRail or a Twilio number) to the on-call tech's phone with automated ticketing. Make is better for the routing logic; Zapier is fine for the trigger.
What if my dispatcher hates tech?
Build the workflow so nothing changes on their screen — leads flow into Jobber/HCP the way they already are. The automation runs invisibly. Every home services build we ship starts here.
Related comparisons
Same questions, adjacent trade-offs. These usually come up next.
Automation for home services operators
We ship review-request, dispatch, and rebooking automations in 2–3 weeks — with your existing FSM (Jobber, HCP, ServiceTitan).
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