A cleaning, landscaping, pest control or repair business can have its own job app for the crew and the office, with a schedule, per-job checklists, before and after photos, customer sign-off and PDF invoices, by describing it to App Builder Agent. The AI agent writes the code, shows a phone preview in the browser, and you change it in plain English. There is no per-worker fee: a first version fits in the Free plan (500K AI tokens a month; free APK download), and unlimited builds and source export are $1.49 per 30 days on the Member plan at the time of writing. Payments stay on your existing invoice or payment link.
Field service software is priced per user per month, which is exactly the wrong shape for a business whose crew doubles in summer and halves in January. The alternative is a job app that belongs to you: the office schedules, the crew sees today's route with the customer's gate code and the checklist for that property, photos prove the work, the customer signs on the phone, and the invoice goes out before the van leaves the driveway. This guide is for an owner in the US, UK, Canada or the EU with two to twenty field workers. It covers what the app needs, the prompt to paste, what the first minutes look like, getting it onto the crew's phones, and what it costs.
What the app needs
Two roles share one hosted backend: workers in the field and the owner or dispatcher in the office. A customer role can be added later.
- Customers and properties. Name, phone, address with a map link, access notes (gate code, key safe, dog), the standard checklist for that property, and the agreed price or hourly rate.
- Jobs and the schedule. One-off and recurring jobs (weekly, fortnightly, monthly), assigned to a worker or a team, with a time window. The worker sees today and tomorrow in order; the office sees the week per worker.
- Checklists. Per job type (standard clean, deep clean, move-out; mow and edge; quarterly pest visit), ticked on site, with required items that block completion.
- Photos and notes. Before and after photos attached to the job, compressed on upload, with a note field for damage found or supplies running low.
- Time on site. Start and finish taps with the time and location recorded, so hourly jobs bill themselves.
- Customer sign-off. A signature on the worker's phone at the end, or a "job done" message with the photos sent to the customer.
- Invoices. A PDF built from the job (line items, tax, logo, payment details or link), sent by email or message, marked paid by the office. The invoice mechanics are the same as in a bill and invoice app for a small shop.
- Owner dashboard. Today's jobs by status (scheduled, en route, on site, done, invoiced, paid), unassigned jobs, hours per worker, revenue this month, CSV export.
The prompt to paste
Sign in to the AI app builder with a Google account, create a mobile app project and paste this with your own services and crew:
Give the real checklist for your most common job type. It is the screen the crew will use fifty times a week, and the agent will lay it out around the items you actually have rather than a generic list.
What you get in the first minutes
The agent writes the app in React Native, deploys the hosted backend (database, sign-in, file storage on the platform's servers) and shows the worker app in a phone-shaped preview beside the chat. Create a customer and a recurring Thursday job from the owner login, switch to the worker, start the job, tick the checklist, add two photos, sign, and confirm the owner sees it move to done and can produce the invoice.
Then refine by describing changes: "required checklist items should show in red until ticked", "the finish tap should warn if a required item is missing", "add a supplies request that goes to the owner", "recurring jobs should generate eight weeks ahead", "the invoice needs the customer's PO number field". Each small change lands in the preview in under a minute. Two things to ask for early: photo uploads should be compressed and queued so a slow connection does not block the crew, and job edits by the office should notify the assigned worker with what changed, not just "job updated".
Getting it onto phones
Crew phones get the APK: choose Download APK from the preview, send the link to each worker, and they install it after one confirmation on Android. The free download covers the first phone; the Member plan's unlimited builds cover the rollout, which matters when you push a fix every week. Installing an APK on Android covers the warning screen and the "app not installed" cases.
A crew app usually does not need Google Play at all, since you install it on company or staff phones directly. If you later add a customer app and want it in the store, ask for a signed store build: the builder generates and encrypts a signing key and produces a signed APK and AAB with your own package id and an auto-incrementing version code. As of 2026 a Play Console account is a one-time US$25 with identity verification, apps upload as AAB, and every app needs a privacy policy URL and a Data safety form; see publishing on Google Play from the US, UK or EU.
Workers on iPhones use the web version of the same project at a link on appbuilderagent.com, added to the home screen; a native iPhone app means exporting the source (Member plan and above) and building with Xcode or Expo EAS on a Mac, plus Apple's US$99 per year program. The office side works fine on a laptop in the browser.
What it costs
At the time of writing: the Free plan includes 500K AI tokens a month with all features and no card; a free APK download is included. A job app like the one above is typically a few hundred thousand tokens to build and refine. Member is $1.49 per 30 days for 5M tokens, unlimited builds and source export; Pro is $5.72 per 30 days for 10M tokens for owners who change the app often. The price is the same for a crew of two or twenty. Prices can change; check the site.
Field service SaaS in the US, UK and EU commonly lists per-user monthly plans, so a crew of ten is a recurring three- or four-figure yearly bill; a custom app from an agency runs roughly US$20,000 to $150,000 or more. How much it costs to build an app puts the routes side by side.
Notes for the US, UK, Canada and the EU
- Tax on invoices. US sales tax on services varies by state (cleaning is taxable in some states, not others); Canada adds GST/HST and provincial tax; the UK and EU add VAT if you are registered, with the VAT number on the invoice. Give the agent your rate and registration number and every invoice will carry them.
- Worker time and location. Recording start and finish times with location is normal for hourly billing, but in the EU and UK it is personal data about employees and needs a clear notice; some US states require notice too. Record location only at the start and finish taps, not continuously, unless you have a reason and have told the crew.
- Customer data. Addresses, gate codes and key safe numbers are sensitive. GDPR, UK GDPR and California's CCPA/CPRA apply; restrict access notes to the assigned worker on the day of the job, and offer customers an export and delete option. A privacy policy for your app covers the notice. General information, not legal advice.
- Payment habits. Interac e-transfer in Canada, bank transfer and Faster Payments in the UK, SEPA transfer in the EU, and cards or checks in the US. Put the right details or your payment link on the invoice; the app does not take payments itself.
Tip: Give the app to your most sceptical worker first. If the checklist and photo flow survive a week with them, it will survive everyone; their complaints, pasted into the chat, are the best change list you will get.
Browse the apps with login and a dashboard in the gallery to see how a finished worker and owner pair looks. A more office-centred layout is in an admin dashboard app for your business, a related trade is in a dog walking and pet sitting business app, and the general playbook is in an app for your small business without hiring a developer.
Frequently asked
Do my crew need accounts?
Yes, one login per worker so each job is assigned to a person and each photo and checklist is signed by whoever did it. The owner creates workers from the admin screen; workers sign in with Google or an email address.
Does it work when there is no signal in a basement or a rural yard?
Ask for it in the prompt. The worker app keeps today's jobs on the phone, lets the crew tick checklists and take photos offline, and syncs when the connection returns, with an offline banner so nobody is surprised.
Can it send invoices?
Yes. The app produces a PDF invoice from the completed job (line items, tax, your logo and bank or payment details) and shares it by email or message. It does not take card payments itself; include your payment link or bank details on the invoice.
Is there a per-user fee?
No. Field service SaaS commonly charges per worker per month; here the cost is the plan you are on, at the time of writing Free (500K AI tokens a month) to build it, or Member at $1.49 per 30 days for unlimited builds, whatever the crew size.
Can customers see their own jobs?
Yes, as a later addition. A customer login shows upcoming visits, completed jobs with photos and invoices, and a request-a-visit form. Start with the crew and owner screens and add the customer side once those are in daily use.
Build it now — free to start
Type the idea, sign in, and the agent builds it in your browser. Change anything by describing it.
Open the builder ›