What data should a landscaper export from Jobber before switching software?

Export the client list with names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses; the service history showing what was performed for each client; the active recurring schedules; the open unpaid invoices; and the service item list with default pricing. Save these CSV files somewhere accessible for the import process and as a historical reference.

What happens to open invoices in Jobber when a landscaping business switches software?

Open invoices stay in Jobber and get marked paid in Jobber as they are paid. New invoices go in the new software starting from the cutover date. This avoids duplicate billing risk and prevents confusion for clients who already have a Jobber invoice on their desk. The Jobber subscription gets canceled once the last open invoice closes.

How does parent-child property management billing transfer when switching from Jobber?

Jobber does not have a native parent-child structure, so property management relationships are usually stored as separate client records or notes. During the import, the parent-child relationships need to be rebuilt in the new software. AI client import features can parse messy source data and reconstruct the parent client plus all linked child properties in one pass.

Do recurring schedules migrate between landscaping software platforms?

Recurring schedules do not migrate cleanly because different platforms store the schedule logic differently. The practical approach is to use the exported Jobber service history as a reference and rebuild each recurring schedule manually in the new software. For 50 recurring clients this takes 1 to 2 hours and doubles as a useful audit of stale schedules.

How long does the full migration from Jobber to landscaping-specific software take?

For a typical small landscaping business with 50 to 100 clients, one PM account, and QuickBooks Online, the full migration takes one afternoon. Roughly 30 minutes to export from Jobber, 30 minutes to import (or 5 minutes with AI client import), 1 to 2 hours to rebuild recurring schedules, 15 minutes to reconnect QuickBooks, and 30 minutes to re-onboard crew members.

Can a Landscaping Business Switch From Jobber Without Losing Client Data?

Q: Can a landscaping business switch from Jobber without losing client data?

Yes. Export the client list, service history, and active schedules from Jobber as CSV files, then import into the new software. Open invoices stay in Jobber as the historical record while new invoicing happens in the new platform. The full migration usually takes a single afternoon for a small landscaping business.

Q: Can QuickBooks Online be reconnected after switching from Jobber to a new landscaping software?

Yes. Disconnect the Jobber QuickBooks integration before the cutover, then connect QuickBooks Online to the new software using the same QBO account. Historical QuickBooks data stays in QuickBooks regardless of which software was originally feeding it. The new software starts syncing new invoices and payments from the connection date forward.

A landscaping business can switch from Jobber to landscaping-specific software without losing client data by exporting the client list as a CSV, importing it into the new platform, and reconnecting QuickBooks Online. Invoice history stays in Jobber as the historical record, while new invoicing happens in the new software. Most landscapers complete the migration in a single afternoon, and the parent-child property management billing relationships can be rebuilt during the import process.

The hesitation to switch is almost always about data, not the new software. Landscapers worry their client list will get scrambled, their QuickBooks connection will break, or their open invoices will fall through the cracks. The actual migration is more boring than that, but worth walking through deliberately so nothing slips.

Why Landscapers Leave Jobber

Jobber is a solid generalist field service tool. It works for cleaning services, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and lawn care. The reason landscapers specifically tend to outgrow it comes down to three things:

Pricing scales aggressively with crew size, ending up well above $79/month flat alternatives
Per-visit invoicing creates problems for landscapers serving property management companies and HOAs
Built-in accounting is limited compared to landscaping-specific platforms with full expense tracking, employee payments, and profit reporting

For a solo operator with 30 residential clients and no commercial work, Jobber's pricing structure is fine. For a landscaper with 80+ clients including a property management account and a couple of HOAs, the tier upgrades and per-user fees stack up fast. The one-invoice-per-job model becomes the bottleneck on top of that.

For a deeper feature-by-feature look, the FieldPlexus vs Jobber comparison covers pricing, invoicing structure, and accounting in more detail.

What to Export From Jobber Before Switching

Jobber lets account owners export several data types as CSV files. Before starting the migration, pull these exports:

Client list with names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses
Service history showing what services were performed for each client
Active recurring schedules showing which clients are on weekly, biweekly, or monthly cadence
Open invoices that have not been paid yet
Service item list with default pricing

Save these files somewhere accessible (Google Drive or Dropbox works fine). They become the source data for the new software's import process, plus the historical reference if a client question comes up later.

Importing Into the New Software

Most landscaping-specific platforms accept CSV imports for client lists, which handles the bulk of the migration in one step. The fields usually map cleanly: name to name, address to address, phone to phone.

Where it gets trickier is parent-child relationships. If a Jobber account has a property management company with 20 properties listed as separate clients (because Jobber does not have a native parent-child structure), the import needs to reconstruct that relationship in the new software.

FieldPlexus handles this two ways. The standard CSV import works for clean lists where the parent-child relationships do not exist. The AI client import handles messier source data, including pasting in notes, text threads, or even an exported Jobber CSV with the parent-child relationships described in a separate column or note field. The AI parses the structure and creates the parent client plus all linked child properties in one pass.

What Happens to Open Invoices During the Switch

Open invoices are the piece that most landscapers worry about, and it is the easiest piece to handle. Open invoices in Jobber stay in Jobber. Mark them paid in Jobber when they get paid, then close out the account once everything is resolved.

Do not try to migrate open invoices into the new software. It creates duplicate billing risk and confuses clients who already have the Jobber invoice on their desk. The clean approach:

Stop creating new invoices in Jobber on a specific cutover date
Start creating new invoices in the new software from that date forward
Let existing Jobber invoices age out naturally as they get paid
Cancel the Jobber subscription once the last open invoice closes

For landscapers with a property management account, time the cutover to the first of a billing month. That way the PM company's accounting cycle aligns with the software switch instead of getting half a month from Jobber and half a month from the new software.

Reconnecting QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Online sync is the second migration question that comes up most often. The answer is that QBO connects to one field service software at a time. The process:

In Jobber, disconnect the QuickBooks integration before the cutover
In the new software, connect QuickBooks Online from the integrations or settings section
Authorize the OAuth connection with the same QBO account
Verify that tax rates, customer mapping, and chart of accounts settings sync correctly

Historical QuickBooks data stays in QuickBooks regardless of which software was originally feeding it. The new software starts syncing new invoices and payments from the connection date forward.

For the full step-by-step on what the QuickBooks connection actually does, the QuickBooks Online sync workflow guide covers it.

Rebuilding Recurring Schedules

Recurring schedules do not migrate cleanly between platforms. Different software handles "weekly on Tuesdays" or "biweekly starting May 1" differently in the database, and there is no clean CSV export-and-import path for the schedule logic.

The practical approach is to use the exported Jobber service history as a reference, then rebuild each client's recurring schedule in the new software once the client list is imported. For a landscaping business with 50 recurring clients, this is usually 1 to 2 hours of work. Set the start date, set the frequency, set the price, save. Done.

The advantage of doing it manually is that it forces a review of every recurring schedule. Most landscapers discover at least a few schedules that should have been updated months ago. A client who changed from weekly to biweekly, a property added to a PM account that never got scheduled, a seasonal client whose end date passed.

What Crew Members Need to Know During the Switch

If the landscaping business has crew members using the field app, the switch requires re-onboarding them. The workflow:

Send each crew member an invite to the new software's mobile app
Have them install it and log in before the cutover date
Walk them through the new app on a slow day or first thing on cutover morning
Cancel their old Jobber access once the migration is complete

Most field apps are similar enough that experienced crew members pick up the new one in 15 to 20 minutes. The main differences are usually around how jobs are marked complete and added to invoices and how job photos get uploaded.

Realistic Time Investment for the Migration

The full migration timeline for a typical small landscaping business (1–3 crew, 50–100 clients, one PM account, QuickBooks Online):

Export data from Jobber: 30 minutes
Import client list into new software: 30 minutes (or 5 minutes with AI client import)
Rebuild recurring schedules: 1–2 hours
Reconnect QuickBooks Online: 15 minutes
Reconfigure service catalog and default pricing: 30 minutes
Re-onboard crew members: 30 minutes

Total: a single afternoon. Most landscapers do the export and import on a Sunday, cutover Monday morning, and run the first week with both subscriptions active just to have a fallback if something unexpected comes up.

Should a Landscaper Actually Switch?

The switch is worth it when the math works. For a landscaping business paying $169/month for Jobber Connect Team (the tier any landscaper with a crew gets pushed into), the $79/month flat structure of FieldPlexus saves $1,080 per year. Jobber also charges an additional $29/month for each user beyond the plan's included count, so a crew of 6 on Connect Team costs $198/month before processing fees. Add another crew member and the FieldPlexus savings grow. Add an HOA account that needs parent-child billing and the structural fit becomes the bigger reason to switch.

For solo operators with under 30 residential clients and no commercial work, the switch is probably not urgent. Jobber's bottom-tier pricing at $39/month for Core works fine for that profile. For everyone else, the migration is a one-afternoon project that pays for itself within the first month.

FieldPlexus includes every feature in the 14-day free trial. Parent-child billing, full accounting, QuickBooks sync, crew management, and the AI client import that handles the Jobber export directly are all in the base plan. No tier upgrades and no per-user fees.