A plan for Lawless Home Improvement

What you told me, and what changes.

You’re the closer. Estimates get accepted within 20 minutes when you’re the one in the room. So every hour I can pull you out of the inbox and off the desktop is an hour back in front of a customer.

It was like a $10,000 job and I didn’t even see it.

Every email that looks like a job request gets an instant reply, goes into Housecall Pro as a new customer, and texts both you and the business phone. Old addresses from the last six years included.Lead Catcher
I screenshot it, send it to her phone, and then she has to put it into Housecall Pro.

Those are the three steps the Lead Catcher does for you. Your wife sees the lead the same second you do, already in the system.Lead Catcher
The issue is, it has to be on a desktop.

Claude on your phone, iPad or laptop connects straight to Housecall Pro, then CompanyCam, QuickBooks and Gmail. Talk to it from the truck. No more “babe, don’t touch the computer.”Claude Connector
She just needs to be in the loop as much as possible.

One shared dashboard for you and your wife: today’s jobs, new leads, open estimates, and the emails still waiting on an answer.Command Center
The guys need to know what they’re getting into, and what to have on the truck.

Every morning at 6, each guy gets his marching orders by email: where he’s headed, the materials, the photos. No pricing.Command Center

Housecall Pro stays. So does CompanyCam.

You said it best: “In a perfect world, if we could come up with something to connect the two.” You, your wife and the guys already know these apps, and customers love the on-the-way texts. So nothing here replaces them. Everything I build plugs into them.

What you keep, exactly as it is

Housecall Pro
CompanyCam walkthroughs
On-the-way texts
Customer notifications
QuickBooks
Payroll and the expense card
Claude

The plan, in order.

One project, built in two steps. First the part that brings money in, then the part that changes how you work every day. The Command Center comes with the monthly from the start.

First
Lead Catcher

Every inbox, old addresses included. An instant reply, the customer created in Housecall Pro, a text to your phone and the business phone, and an 8pm text with the emails you still need to answer.

Part of the $2,500 project
Second
Claude Connector

The big one. Claude on your phone, iPad or laptop talks to Housecall Pro, then CompanyCam, QuickBooks and Gmail. Ask it anything, from anywhere, and it does the work in the apps you already use.

Part of the $2,500 project
From day one
Command Center and daily texts

A shared dashboard for you and your wife, the 8pm wrap-up, and the 6am crew emails. Plus fixes, changes and access to me.

Included in $250 a month

Priority one: the Lead Catcher.

Step oneOf the $2,500 project

Cash is tight right now, and this is the build that makes money instead of saving time. Catching one job like the one you missed pays for it. And nine times out of ten, the job goes to whoever answers first.

Every inbox, one place
All the addresses you’ve used over six years forward into one. People who still email the old one stop falling through.
Instant reply
“We got your email and you’re in our system. We’ll reach out to schedule.” Your words, approved once, sent right away.
Into Housecall Pro
Claude pulls the name, address, phone and job out of the email and creates the customer. Nobody retypes anything.
Both phones buzz
A text to your phone and to the business phone your wife answers. Who, what, and which address it came to.

What the alert saysThe moment it lands

New lead: the customer’s name and town, and what they’re asking for, in one line.

Which address it came to, that the auto-reply went out, and that they’re now in Housecall Pro.

Goes to you and the business phone.

The 8pm textEvery night

Emails that still need you today:
A customer asking about their scheduled day
A supplier waiting on an answer
A new lead with no estimate booked yet

If you’d rather not get more texts, it can be an email instead.

The one thing that decides a lot: Housecall Pro access

Creating the customer in Housecall Pro on its own needs the MAX plan, which you guessed right. On the plan you have now, the Lead Catcher still sends the reply and both texts, and the new customer arrives as a ready-to-paste card for your wife. Less magic, still a long way past screenshots. The full MAX breakdown is below.

If your website leads already come through Housecall Pro’s own Lead Form, that part already works. What it doesn’t cover is your Gmail inboxes, which is where the $10K jobs have been hiding. That’s the part I build.

And the filter is strict. Vendors, newsletters and spam never get a “we got your email” reply. Only real job requests do.

Priority two: the Claude Connector.

Step twoOf the $2,500 project

This is the centerpiece. Today Claude only talks to Housecall Pro from your desktop, and only if nobody touches it. One day it shut off for two hours and your assistant went with it. The connector lives on a server instead, so Claude on your phone, iPad or the web can reach your apps from anywhere. You stick with Claude, which I agree with. Pick one and get good at it.

The custom buildHousecall ProFind a customer, pull a job and its notes, see the schedule, create a lead, draft an estimate for your review, add a job note. The writing side turns on with MAX
Ready-madeCompanyCamTheir official Claude connector (in beta). Photos and walkthrough notes
Ready-madeQuickBooksIntuit’s official Claude connector. Invoices, estimates, reports
Ready-madeGmailClaude’s own Gmail connection. What’s waiting on you

Good news from my homework: CompanyCam and QuickBooks already have official Claude connectors. No build needed, so I switch those on for you during setup, and that’s part of the price. What I build is the Housecall Pro piece, because Housecall Pro doesn’t have one.

Things you can say to it

“Pull up this customer.”

Name, address, phone, past jobs and notes, straight from Housecall Pro. You never open the app.
“Let’s put this estimate together.”

Claude builds the draft in Housecall Pro from your price book and your $180 hourly rate, then stops. Like you said: “I want you to review it first.” You look it over and send it yourself.
Needs MAX
“TV mount, brick fireplace. Quote it.”

The small-job quotes you already do in Claude. Now they land as a real draft estimate on the customer, not a chat you have to copy over.
Needs MAX
“Pull the photos and walkthrough notes from the bathroom job.”

Everything you snapped and talked through in CompanyCam, right there in the conversation. Handy when you’re writing the estimate from the truck that night.
“Add a note to her job: she wants the curbless option.”

Housecall Pro already has notes. You said you just don’t use them. Now you can, by talking. Your wife can too, after a call.
Needs MAX
“What’s on the schedule Thursday, and who’s on it?”

The day’s jobs and crew, straight from Housecall Pro.
“What have we invoiced this month, and what’s still unpaid?”

Pulled from QuickBooks. Useful in a tight cash month, when you want to know who to call.
“Go through my email and see if I missed anything.”

The thing you already ask Claude to do at the desk. Now from your phone, any time.

The honest part

Three things on this page need Housecall Pro’s MAX plan: building the estimate, adding the note, and quoting straight onto a customer. They’re marked.
Everything else works on the plan you have today. The next section lays out what MAX costs, what it adds, and why I wouldn’t rush it.
You mentioned Housecall Pro has a voice mode in beta. If they ship their own Claude connection first, you shouldn’t pay me to build one. I’ll check before we start.

Do you need MAX? Here’s what I found.

Before I asked you to spend a dollar with anyone else, I wanted to know whether you had to. So I read Housecall Pro’s pricing page and help center, and went through the code of the open-source connector other contractors already use to hook Housecall Pro up to Claude. Here’s the straight answer, including the parts that don’t make me any money.

Why it comes up at all

Every Housecall Pro plan lets you use Housecall Pro. Only MAX lets other software work inside it. That door is called the API, and Housecall Pro opens it on MAX and nowhere else. It’s a pricing decision on their side, not a limit on what I can build.

So the real question isn’t whether this works without MAX. It’s whether Claude can only read your business, or can also do the typing in Housecall Pro for you.

What it costs, paid to Housecall Pro

Plan	Billed monthly	Billed yearly
EssentialsMost likely what you have	$189/mo	$149/mo
MAX	$329/mo	$299/mo
The difference	+$140/mo$1,680 a year	+$150/mo$1,800 a year

Check before you change anything

You mentioned paying about $300 a month. That’s almost exactly MAX billed yearly, so you may already have it. If API Key Management shows up under My Apps, you do, and none of this costs you a thing.
MAX brings a few things that have nothing to do with me: 8 users instead of 5, which matters as the crew grows, and Housecall Pro’s sales proposal tool.
None of that money comes to Handled.

How Claude sees Housecall Pro without MAX

Housecall Pro already shares your information with three apps on the plan you have. Claude reads it from there.

Google Calendar

Housecall Pro can copy every job onto a Google Calendar. That’s where Claude, the Command Center and the 6am emails read the schedule from.

CompanyCam

Every job and estimate in Housecall Pro opens a CompanyCam project with the customer and address. CompanyCam’s own Claude connector reads it, photos included.

QuickBooks

Customers and invoices already sync over. Intuit’s Claude connector reads them, which covers who’s paid and who hasn’t.

What you get, plan by plan

	On the plan you have	On MAX
Instant reply to a new lead	Yes	Yes
Texts to both phones	Yes	Yes
New lead into Housecall Pro	A ready-to-paste card for your wife	Created for you. Nobody types
“Pull up this customer”	Yes, from CompanyCam and QuickBooks	The full Housecall Pro record, notes and history included
“What’s on Thursday?”	Yes, from the calendar	Yes, straight from Housecall Pro
Photos and walkthrough notes	Yes	Yes
“Put this estimate together”	Claude writes it, you type it in	A draft waiting in Housecall Pro for your review
“Add a note to her job”	No	Yes
Command Center	Schedule, leads, photos and email	Adds open estimates and where every lead stands
6am crew emails	Job, address and photos	Adds the materials list for each job

And your Claude plan? It doesn’t need to change

Connectors work on every Claude plan, the phone app included, so Pro at $20 a month covers everything on this page. The one thing to watch is usage. A conversation that pulls up a customer, the schedule and a few photos uses more than a plain chat. If you start running into Claude’s limits most days, Max starts at $100 a month for five times the room. Same approach as Housecall Pro: wait and see if you actually need it.

The Lead Catcher, the 8pm text and the 6am emails don’t touch your subscription at all. They run on my server, and the $250 a month covers that cost.

Shortcuts I looked at and ruled out

Zapier. Housecall Pro lists it as MAX-only too, and it only gets two triggers and one action. It wouldn’t save you the upgrade.
Software that clicks through the Housecall Pro website for you. It likely breaks their terms, it breaks every time they change a screen, and it puts your account at risk. Not worth it for your business.

Sources, checked October 2026: Housecall Pro pricing, API overview, Google Calendar sync, CompanyCam integration, Zapier integration, CompanyCam’s Claude connector, Claude connectors by plan, Claude pricing, and the open-source Housecall Pro connector.

The Command Center.

IncludedWith the $250 a month

The dashboard I showed you on my phone, built for a household that runs a business. You and your wife see the same thing, so she’s in the loop without you forwarding anything.

One screen for both of you

Today’s jobs, new leads, open estimates, and emails that have been sitting too long. Works on a phone, an iPad or a laptop.

The 8pm text

Every night, the emails you still need to answer. It comes with the Lead Catcher and shows up here too.

6am marching orders

Each guy gets his day by email: the job, the address, materials and photos. No pricing. They’ll each need a company email address, which you said you’d set up.

What the $250 a month covers

The Command Center and the daily texts and emails
Access to me. Something breaks or you want a change, you text me. No support line, and no phone call to cancel.
Talk-through calls on new projects. Normally $250 each, free for clients on the monthly.
The same $250 no matter how many things I build for you

What it costs.

Fixed prices, the same ones I gave you over coffee: $500, $1,500 or $2,500 depending on size, and $250 a month. This is one $2,500 project.

To Handled

One time	Price
Lead Catcher and Claude ConnectorOne project, Lead Catcher first. CompanyCam and QuickBooks switched on. The Housecall Pro side is built in, and turns on whenever you move to MAX at no extra cost	$2,500
Monthly	Price
Command Center, daily texts, fixes, changes and calls	$250

Paid to others

Housecall Pro and CompanyCam stay as they are. About $500 a month together, your number.
Housecall Pro MAX, only if and when you choose it. From Essentials that’s $140 to $150 more a month. Details above.
A small texting cost for the alerts to two phones. I’ll confirm it.
Your Claude subscription, which you already pay for. Pro is enough to start. If your wife wants her own, that’s another $20 a month.

To start: $2,500 for the project, plus $250 a month.
Your first year: $2,500 plus $3,000 in monthly ($250 times 12) comes to $5,500. If you also move to MAX, add $1,680 to $1,800 paid to Housecall Pro, for about $7,200 to $7,300 all in.

What I’m not doing

Replacing Housecall Pro or CompanyCam. They stay, and so do the on-the-way texts.
Sending anything to a customer without a person saying yes. The one exception is the “we got your email” auto-reply, and you approve its wording once before it goes live.
Asking you to upgrade Housecall Pro before it has earned it.

One more idea, on the house.

The membership idea we got going on. No build attached, just free advice. A yearly plan is money in before the work, which is exactly what a tight cash month wants. And Lowe’s is already selling a $99 version, so the idea isn’t crazy.

Peace of mind for Mom and Dad

A home maintenance plan adult kids buy for their parents, sold as a Christmas gift. Twice a year you walk a 75-point checklist with the iPad: smoke detectors, air filters, under the sinks, outdoor lights, the Roku. Send a CompanyCam report afterward, with a heads-up on what’s coming due.

It also opens the door to the aging-in-place work you already love: curbless showers, blocking for grab bars. The assisted living speaker and the insurance agents in BNI are natural referral partners.

The college version

Spartanburg is a college town. Sell parents of freshmen an on-call handyman for their kid’s first apartment, at a lower price point. Like your client whose son just moved into his first place and “doesn’t know how to do anything.” Apartment maintenance is slow. You aren’t.

The short version.

That was a lot. Here’s all of it in plain terms.

What I build, one project for $2,500

Lead Catcher. It watches every business inbox. When a real job request comes in, the customer gets a reply right away, and you and the office phone both get a text. The lead goes into Housecall Pro, or onto a card for your wife until you’re on MAX. At 8pm you get a text listing the emails still waiting on you.
Claude Connector. Claude on your phone can look up customers, the schedule, photos, invoices and email, from anywhere. On MAX it can also draft estimates and add job notes in Housecall Pro for you to review.

What comes with the $250 a month

Command Center. One screen you and your wife both see: today’s jobs, new leads and the emails still sitting.
6am crew emails. Each guy gets his job, the address and the photos. No pricing.
Me. Fixes, changes and new ideas, by text. Talk-through calls on new projects are free.

What stays the same

Housecall Pro, CompanyCam, QuickBooks and Claude. Nobody learns a new app.
Nothing goes to a customer without a yes from you, except the “we got your email” reply you approve once.

What it costs you

To Handled: $2,500 once, then $250 a month. $5,500 for the first year.
To anyone else, today: nothing new. Your Housecall Pro plan and your Claude plan both work as they are.
Later, only if you want it: Housecall Pro MAX, about $140 to $150 more a month, so Claude can do the typing in Housecall Pro. My advice is to try it for a month first.

To get started.

Nothing to decide today. When you’re ready, here’s what I’d need.

Which Housecall Pro plan you’re on, and whether you pay monthly or yearly. Account, then Billing.
Whether you’re an Admin in Housecall Pro. Only an Admin can turn on the API.
Which Claude plan you’re on (Pro or Max), and whether your wife needs access too.
Where your email leads come from: your website, Angi or Thumbtack, or people emailing you directly. Plus every address the business has used.
Whether your business email is @gmail.com or on your own domain through Google Workspace. It changes how I build the 8pm text.
Whether Housecall Pro’s Google Calendar sync is on, and whether it shows which guy is on which job.
Whether the office number can receive texts, and the number for your phone.
30 minutes with your wife. She runs the back office, so she’ll know things neither of us thought of.

Happy to walk you and your wife through this together. Text or email whenever.

Text (864) 431-5727 Email me

Keegan Handled · Greenville, SC Text me: (864) 431-5727