7 questions to ask before signing a multi-year service software contract

Most enterprise field service platforms — ServiceTitan, FieldEdge, Service Fusion at the higher tiers — still sell on multi-year contracts. The pitch usually frames it as "discount in exchange for commitment," but the operator-side math is more complicated than the discount alone suggests.

Before signing, ask these seven questions and write down the answers. If the salesperson can't answer any of them clearly, that's the answer.

1. What's the all-in cost over the contract term?

Not the monthly rate. Not the per-user rate. The total dollars that will leave your bank account between today and the end of the contract, including:

• Software fees (per user, per month, summed)
• One-time implementation fees
• Per-seat add-ons
• Payment processing markup (multiplied by your annual transaction volume)
• Phone/SMS pass-through fees
• Premium support if it's separate
• Any "module" you're being told you'll need

A salesperson quoting "$300 a month per seat" for a 15-seat shop is selling you a $54,000 minimum over 12 months, before add-ons. The total at the end of a 3-year term is closer to $200,000 once add-ons compound. Get that number on paper.

2. What happens at renewal?

Specifically: is there an automatic price increase? What's the cap, if any? Is the renewal also multi-year, or does it convert to month-to-month?

Many enterprise contracts auto-renew at a higher rate unless you give 90+ days notice. Some auto-renew for another full multi-year term — meaning if you forget to cancel, you've just signed up for another 3 years.

3. What's the early-termination clause?

If your business changes — sold, downsized, merged, new owner — what's the cost to exit?

The honest answers range from "no penalty, prorated refund" to "pay out the remaining contract in full as a lump sum." Get this in writing. Not the salesperson's verbal "we wouldn't actually enforce that."

4. What's the implementation timeline, in calendar days, with named deliverables?

"Three months" is not a timeline. "On day 14, your customer database is migrated and verified; on day 28, your service menu is loaded; on day 45, your first crew is trained" is a timeline. If you can't get this from the salesperson, you'll be running two systems in parallel for an indefinite period — which is its own cost.

5. Who owns my data?

You should own your customer records, job history, photos, and financial data unconditionally. If the answer is anything other than "you do, exportable to CSV at any time, including after termination," the contract has a data lock-in clause and you should ask to remove it.

6. What's the support SLA — and what happens when it's breached?

"Email response within 24 business hours" means you might wait until Tuesday to hear back from a Friday afternoon outage. Get the SLA in writing, and ask what the financial consequence is if it's missed. Many enterprise contracts have SLAs with no remedy — meaning the SLA is marketing, not a contract term.

7. Can we run a 90-day pilot at month-to-month rates first?

The single best filter. A vendor confident in their product will let you try it before signing a multi-year contract. A vendor who won't is selling you something that doesn't survive contact with your actual operations.

What ServiceGrid does

ServiceGrid is month-to-month. No contract. No setup fees. 14-day free trial, no card required, and you can cancel from Settings → Billing in two clicks. CSV export of every record you've ever entered.

That's not because we're more virtuous than the enterprise vendors. It's because we're betting that operators who keep using ServiceGrid will keep paying us, and operators who don't won't — and we'd rather know that quickly. If you've been quoted a multi-year contract somewhere else, those seven questions are how to verify it stacks up.

If you want a side-by-side, see the comparison page.