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How to migrate from Simpro to TradesWork: an honest switching plan

How to migrate from Simpro to TradesWork: which shops shouldn't, what imports, what stays behind, card re-collection, a six-week timeline and costs.

Updated October 15, 2026 · 11 min read

The steps at a glance

  1. 1

    Confirm the fit

    If projects, takeoffs, kits, commercial multi-site maintenance or multiple companies are a real share of your work, stay on Simpro. TradesWork fits residential service shops.

  2. 2

    Check your Simpro agreement

    Find your billing term, end date and notice period, and plan your cutover a few weeks before the end date.

  3. 3

    Export from Simpro

    Use Utilities, Export for customers, contacts, sites, catalogue, pre-builds, assets and contract service levels, and Reports, View Reports for Sales Invoices, Aged Receivables and job reports as CSV.

  4. 4

    Start the phone port in week one

    In TradesWork go to Settings, Phones, Numbers, Routing and Texting, then Bring your numbers. Keep the old service until the port shows done.

  5. 5

    Import customers and catalogue into a sandbox

    In TradesWork open the import page, press Another system or a spreadsheet, drop the Customer Details file and the catalogue, match the columns, check the preview and import into a sandbox company first.

  6. 6

    Set up sites, equipment, memberships and kits by hand

    Add extra sites, add equipment from the asset export, recreate homeowner maintenance as memberships, and rebuild the pre-builds you quote most as price book items.

  7. 7

    Run both, then cut over

    Put one crew on TradesWork, then the office. Finish open projects and collect receivables in Simpro, re-collect stored cards, then end Simpro at your agreement's end date.

A Simpro to TradesWork move is quick on the data side: your customers and your catalogue import in minutes. What takes time is everything Simpro does that TradesWork doesn't, which is why the first step is deciding whether you should switch at all.

Simpro's base plan covers project management, quoting and estimating, inventory and purchasing, asset maintenance and testing, and multi-company support, with add-ons such as Takeoffs and Maintenance Planner.1 TradesWork is built for residential HVAC, plumbing and electrical service shops of 3 to 50 techs. The shops for whom this switch makes sense are residential service businesses that bought Simpro for its depth and use a fraction of it.

This guide is written by TradesWork, so read it with that in mind. Simpro facts come from the Simpro Help Guide for Simpro Premium and its pricing page, checked October 15, 2026.

Who this switch is for

Switch if

  • Almost all your work is residential service and replacements
  • You sell homeowner maintenance memberships
  • You want published prices and a simpler tech app
  • You use few of Simpro's add-ons and project tools

Stay on Simpro if

  • Projects, tenders or progress billing are a real share of revenue
  • Commercial customers have many sites and asset testing
  • You quote from pre-builds and use takeoffs
  • You run several companies or need Xero or MYOB

A useful test: look at last year's invoices by type of work. If commercial and project work is more than a small slice, stay where you are.

The whole move on one page

  1. Week -2

    Decide and export

    Check fit and your agreement's end date. Run every Simpro export and history report. Ask Simpro in writing about job detail and attachments. Start a TradesWork trial and request your phone port.

  2. Week -1

    Sandbox import

    Import customers and catalogue into a sandbox company, fix leftover rows, check prices. Rebuild your top kits and create membership plans.

  3. Week 1

    One crew live

    Import into your real company. Add extra sites and key equipment. One crew runs new service work in TradesWork. Connect QuickBooks Online with a cut-over date.

  4. Week 2

    Office and cards

    The office books new service work in TradesWork. Send card links. Simpro is used only to finish projects and collect receivables.

  5. Week 3

    Everyone

    Remaining crews move. Re-drop a fresh customer export to pick up changes.

  6. Week 4 onward

    Close out Simpro

    Port shows done. Re-run customers, Aged Receivables and Job WIP. When the last project is paid, end Simpro at your agreement's end date.

What moves, what stays, what you rebuild

From SimproIn TradesWork
  • Customers: Customer Details (.csv)ImportsCustomers and service locationsName, phone, email and address matched in the column review. The address becomes the first service location.
  • Catalogue (.csv)ImportsPrice bookName and price required. Part number as code, description, category and cost carry over when matched.
  • Customer ContactsKeep as archiveContacts you add by handThe customer's main phone and email come with Customer Details.
  • SitesKeep as archiveExtra locations you add by handOne customer row brings one service location.
  • Assets (.zip)Keep as archiveEquipment you addStart with your most-serviced homes.
  • Customer Contracts, Pre-BuildsKeep as archiveMemberships and price book items you set upRebuild the kits you quote most as single services.
  • Sales Invoices, Aged Receivables, job reportsKeep as archiveYour archiveCollect open balances in Simpro.
  • Saved cardsKeep as archiveRe-collected by secure linkCard data stays with the payment processor.
Import facts from the TradesWork spreadsheet importer. Simpro exports per the Simpro Help Guide.

Our Simpro export guide shows every click path. In short, from Utilities › Export, choosing CSV each time:2

  • Customers: Customer Details, all customer types, active and archived, with tags and custom fields under More Options.3 Leave banking details off.
  • Sites, active and archived.4 Assets, as a ZIP with one file per asset type.5
  • Catalogue, all pricing tiers with default tier pricing,6 and Pre-Builds.7
  • History: Reports, View Reports, then Sales Invoices, Aged Receivables, Job Activity and Job WIP, each downloaded as CSV.8
  1. 1Utilities
  2. 2Export
  3. 3Catalogue
  4. 4Export all pricing tiers
Illustration of the steps in Simpro Help Guide: How to Export Catalogue. Not Simpro Premium's actual screen; menus can differ by plan and version.

Bring it into TradesWork

Open Settings › Integrations and go to the import page. You need the Owner or Admin role. Simpro isn't one of the named sources, so you use Another system or a spreadsheet, which takes a customer list and a price list. Here's the whole flow on real screens.

1. Choose Another system or a spreadsheet

The source buttons sit across the top of the import page; press Another system or a spreadsheet. Drop CSV, Excel or a ZIP, up to 50 MB per drop. TradesWork never logs in to Simpro.

app.tradeswork.app · TradesWork importer with another system or a spreadsheet selected
TradesWork importer with another system or a spreadsheet selected
Real TradesWork screen, sample export files.

What makes the Simpro files go in cleanly:

  • Active customers only. Years of archived customers and leads clutter a new system. Filter your file to active customers before you drop it, and keep the full export as your archive.
  • The right price column. A catalogue with several pricing tiers has several price columns. Match the one you charge homeowners, map cost to Cost, then check a dozen items by hand.
  • Commercial customers. A row with a company name and no person name comes in as a commercial customer, with one service location. If many of your customers need several, that's a sign of work TradesWork isn't built for.
  • Prices. "$1,249.00" is fine. Text isn't an amount and lands on the leftovers list.
A catalogue as a TradesWork price book: price, member price, cost and margin per item. · Real product screenshot, demo company data.
Price book with services, prices and margins

What you set up by hand

  • Sites. For customers with more than one address, add the extra locations using the Sites export as your list.
  • Equipment. Use the asset ZIP to add units at your most-serviced homes. Techs add the rest as they visit.
  • Memberships. Use Customer Contracts as the list for homeowner maintenance. Create plan types, enroll each member with their next visit date, and set the first TradesWork billing date after their last Simpro charge.
  • Kits. Take your 10 or 20 most-quoted pre-builds and rebuild each as one price book service at the price you sell it. TradesWork's good, better and best options build from those.
  • Forms, SMS templates and automations you used through Simpro add-ons.

The side-by-side run, and re-importing newer exports

Don't move open projects. Finish, invoice and collect them in Simpro; their quotes, variations and progress invoices belong in one place. Start new service work in TradesWork: one crew first, then the office, then everyone.

During the run, re-export Customer Details and drop it again. Customers are matched by an ID column if your file has one, or by name and address, so a re-drop updates what's there instead of duplicating it. Use the same CLI prefix setting every time you export, so IDs stay identical.3 Re-drops add and update; they never delete.

Payments, phones and QuickBooks

Cards. Card details sit with the payment processor, so stored cards don't come across. Keep charging each customer in Simpro until they save a card through the TradesWork link you send.

Phones. Numbers move by porting. In TradesWork go to Settings › Phones › Numbers, Routing and Texting and choose Bring your numbers. Ports take one to two weeks. Keep the old service until the port shows done.

Accounting. TradesWork connects to QuickBooks Online. Connect the same company and set a cut-over date: only invoices and payments created in TradesWork after it post, and imported customers post nothing. Simpro says its reports won't match your accounting package,8 so your accounting file stays the source of truth for history. If you're on Xero or MYOB, TradesWork doesn't connect to them today.

Give notice on time

Simpro offers monthly or annual billing and quotes prices on request.1 Your agreement decides when you can stop paying, so find the end date and notice period in week -2, and send notice in writing before you need to.

What switching really costs

CostExampleYour number
TradesWork subscription10 × $99 = $990 a month billed annually, or 10 × $114 = $1,140 month-to-month; office seats free
Simpro during the overlapYour current invoice per month, until projects close and your agreement ends
Simpro add-ons you dropDigital Forms, SMS, SimTrac GPS and others are priced separately1
Office time1 to 3 days: sites, equipment, kits and memberships (example)
Tech training2 hours per tech (example)
Card re-collectionOffice time over several weeks

If your overlap is long because of open projects and an annual term, the switch costs more in year one. It pays off only if memberships, residential selling and a simpler app earn more than Simpro's depth was giving you.

Simpro to TradesWork checklist

  • Fit confirmed and agreement end date and notice period found
  • Every export and history report saved outside Simpro
  • Written answer from Simpro on job detail, attachments and data after the agreement ends
  • Phone port requested in week one
  • Sandbox import checked; price tier and active customers right
  • Extra sites, key equipment and top kits set up
  • Memberships set up from Customer Contracts
  • Fresh customer export re-dropped during the run
  • Card links sent; QuickBooks cut-over set
  • All open projects invoiced and paid; final Aged Receivables clear; notice sent
Free download · ExcelField Service Software ScorecardWeight what matters to your shop, score up to five systems, and see year-one cost side by side.

Next steps

Read TradesWork vs Simpro for the side-by-side, including where Simpro is the better fit. If you also use or are considering ServiceTitan, our ServiceTitan migration plan shows how a dedicated importer handles history.

Footnotes

  1. Simpro, Pricing & Comparisons and FAQs, checked October 15, 2026. https://www.simprogroup.com/pricing ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  2. Simpro Help Guide, "How to Export Simpro Premium Data." https://helpguide.simprogroup.com/articles/#!help-guide/export-simpro-data ↩

  3. Simpro Help Guide, "How to Export Customer Contact Details." https://helpguide.simprogroup.com/Content/Service-and-Enterprise/Export-Customers.htm ↩ ↩2

  4. Simpro Help Guide, "How to Export Sites." https://helpguide.simprogroup.com/Content/Service-and-Enterprise/Export-Sites.htm ↩

  5. Simpro Help Guide, "How to Export Assets." https://helpguide.simprogroup.com/articles/#!help-guide/export-assets ↩

  6. Simpro Help Guide, "How to Export Catalogue." https://helpguide.simprogroup.com/Content/Service-and-Enterprise/Export-Catalogue.htm ↩

  7. Simpro Help Guide, "How to Export Pre-Builds." https://helpguide.simprogroup.com/Content/Service-and-Enterprise/Export-Prebuilds.htm ↩

  8. Simpro Help Guide, "Reports." https://helpguide.simprogroup.com/articles/#!help-guide/reports ↩ ↩2

Free download

Field Service Software Scorecard

Weight what matters to your shop, score up to five systems, and see year-one cost side by side.

Get it free
  • 30 criteria across booking, dispatch, field app, selling, money and reporting
  • Your own weights, totals calculated for you
  • Year-one cost worksheet: licenses, add-ons, setup, payments
  • Demo question list to ask every vendor

Frequently asked questions

Through its spreadsheet importer, not a dedicated Simpro importer. Simpro's Customer Details export and catalogue export come across after you match the columns on screen, with a preview before anything is saved. Extra sites, assets, pre-builds as kits, and job and invoice history don't import.

Keep going

GuideHow to export your data from Simpro (step by step)ComparisonTradesWork vs Simpro (2026): residential service vs projects and commercialGuideHow to migrate from ServiceTitan to TradesWork: the complete switching planAlternativesServiceTitan alternatives: 7 options for 2026, compared honestlyIndustry hubElectrical contractor software & resourcesIndustry hubHVAC business software & resources for contractorsTradesWorkTradesWork pricing

Sources

Last reviewed October 15, 2026. Third-party sources are marked; some are written by competing vendors.

  1. 1.Simpro pricing and FAQs
  2. 2.Simpro Help Guide: export Simpro Premium data
  3. 3.Simpro Help Guide: export customers
  4. 4.Simpro Help Guide: export sites
  5. 5.Simpro Help Guide: export catalogue
  6. 6.Simpro Help Guide: export pre-builds
  7. 7.Simpro Help Guide: export assets
  8. 8.Simpro Help Guide: reports

Ready to run a tighter shop?

Try the TradesWork AI plan free for 14 days. Bring your customers and price book, or start fresh with a price book made for your trade.

Start your free trial
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  • Cancel any time
Three workers in coveralls unloading equipment from a van