From the founder
I beat my competition and built a big company. Here's how you do it with yours.
In a hurry? Start with step one
I started with one truck and sold the business thirty trucks later. Everything that got me there is in Swivl now, and this page is the order I'd set it up in. Give it about half an hour.
First, get the basics running. Write an estimate, turn it into an invoice, get paid for it. That's the loop that puts money in your account, and it is levels one and two below. It also puts something that looks professional in front of somebody who has never hired you before and is holding two other quotes — which counts for more than most owners think. Step one needs nothing set up at all.
Then go one step further, because this is the part that built my company. Most owners stop at the invoice. Ask them how they price a job and you get one of two answers: what they reckon they can get, or what the other guy down the road charges. Neither of those is a strategy. Cost, plus a markup you set on purpose — that is a strategy, and it is the only kind there is.
That is what separates you from the small outfits you bid against. It is also what lets you go after the big shops' work, because you carry a real cost advantage over them and now you can prove to yourself that you have it.
In practice you bid from numbers instead of from memory, so you quote quicker and you can stand behind the price. You mark up labor, materials, equipment, vehicle and subcontractors separately, because they don't behave the same and one blanket number quietly eats your margin. And when a job comes in light, you see exactly where it went before you bid the next one like it.
All of that is free, and Max, our AI, does most of the collecting — labor off your crew's clock-ins, materials off a photo of a receipt. What Max can't do is guess what your people and your trucks cost you. You have to tell it that, once. Until you do, the numbers don't mean much.
One more thing, because it's how I think about all of this. We're a small company growing fast, and we're up against titanic competitors — the ones with giant marketing departments who outspend us everywhere you look and charge their customers accordingly. That's the same fight you're in. I've got the same chip on my shoulder about it, and I'm not watching yours from the sidelines. I want you to win, and Swivl is what I can put into your fight.
Let's go win some work.
— Rob
Level 1
Send yourself an estimate and see what your customer sees
Get to know the flow before a real customer does. Nothing to set up first.
0/3 · 10 min
Let Max write an estimate
5 minDescribe the job out loud. The materials list builds itself.
Three things to do while you are in there
It will ask for a customer name and address. Invent one and delete it later — nothing here needs setting up before you press the button.
Put your deposit on it. Deposits belong on the estimate, not on the invoice afterwards, and asking for one is how you stop funding somebody else's materials.
Check the logo at the top. If you have not got one, Settings → Company Profile → Edit will generate you one.
Turn it into an invoice
2 minConverted straight from the estimate. No retyping, and the deposit carries over.
Send it to yourself and look
3 minText and email it to your own phone. Your customer is not getting a bill — they are getting a portal, and a reason to call you again.
Verify your email before you send anything
Until you do, it goes out from an address that is not yours, and customers treat that the way you would.
Hit Edit on your profile to do it: Profile menu → My Profile → Edit.
Level 2
Get the money in the bank
In this order — Stripe checks for both.
0/3 · 12 min
Nothing says unprofessional faster than “can you Zelle me?” Venmo and CashApp are no different. Unprofessional is why a customer does not call you back, and you cannot build a business being unprofessional. Period. Getting set up to take credit cards is not a nice-to-have.
Get a website up
2 minYour own is fine. If you have not got one, Swivl builds it free in seconds.
Why a website comes before Stripe
Stripe verifies you are a real business before it will process a card, and it looks for a website and a physical address. So this is not us wanting you to have a website — it is Stripe.
Put your address and phone on it once it exists: Website Builder → Edit Website → Contact Info. Your address can be your home; it does not have to be a shopfront.
On the number: if you run the AI receptionist, put its number there. If you already have one people know, use that — and forward it to the receptionist rather than replacing it, so you can switch forwarding on when you are under a sink and off when you want to answer it yourself.
Start taking credit cards
8 minConnect Stripe. It goes through now, because the two things it checks for are in place.
Take a payment
2 minTap to pay on the doorstep, or send them their portal link by text or email.
What you are sending is not a pay link
It is a link to their portal. They pay there, they approve estimates there, every job you have done for them is kept there, and they can get hold of you without hunting for your number.
That is why it is worth more than getting paid once. A pay link ends when the money lands. A portal is somewhere they come back to.
Level 3
Unlock the advantage
This is the part that built my company.
0/3 · 13 min
Add your trucks and equipment
4 minTheir cost lands on the job when somebody picks that vehicle at clock-in.
Put a real hourly cost on each person
4 minAn hourly rate and a labor burden rate. Then labor costs itself out of clock-ins.
What a labor burden rate is, and why it matters
It is what employing somebody costs you on top of their wage: payroll taxes, workers' compensation, liability insurance, paid time off, any benefits. A technician on $30 an hour does not cost you $30 an hour.
Twenty to thirty-five percent on top of the wage is the usual range, but use your own figures. Bidding against the bare wage is how a busy year still ends flat.
Cost one real job end to end
5 minAdd materials by photographing the receipt. Then look at revenue against real cost.
Why every cost goes on a “Job”
A Job is the project, and it behaves like a folder rather than a stage in a pipeline. Photos, estimates, invoices, scheduled tasks, permits, notes and messages all live inside it.
One Job can hold several estimates and several invoices — a deposit invoice and a final invoice belong to the same Job, not to two. That is the only way the money adds up at the end.
Common questions
- What makes Swivl different from other invoicing apps?
- Sending estimates and invoices is table stakes — a dozen apps do it. What Swivl assumes is that the owner wants the layer underneath: estimated cost against actual cost, per job, with markups set separately for labor, materials, equipment, vehicle, subcontractors and everything else. That information is what lets you bid faster, bid more accurately, and see afterwards exactly where a job lost money.
- What should I do first in Swivl?
- Get the payment loop working before anything else: let Max write an estimate, convert it to an invoice, and send it. It needs no setup at all — it will ask for a customer name and address, and you can make one up and delete it later. On web that is Menu → Jobs → Estimates AI → Generate with Max; in the app it is Explore → Estimates → + → Create estimate using AI Max.
- Why can't I take a payment yet?
- Card payments run through Stripe, and Stripe verifies you are a real business before it turns on. It looks for a website and a physical address, so two things come first, in order: get a website from Menu → Website Builder (seconds, free) and put your address and phone on it, then connect Stripe from Menu → Payments. Your address can be your home.
- How do I set up job costing in Swivl?
- Three things, once. Add vehicles and equipment as assets under Menu → Inventory → Assets, so their cost lands on a job when someone picks that vehicle at clock-in. Give every person an hourly rate and a labor burden rate under Settings → Team & Access, so labor costs itself out of mobile clock-ins. Then add materials and any other cost straight to the job — on web via Job → Manage cost, in the app via Job → the three dots → Add cost.
- What is a labor burden rate?
- It is what employing somebody costs you on top of their wage: payroll taxes, workers' compensation, liability insurance, paid time off and any benefits. A technician on $30 an hour does not cost you $30 an hour. Twenty to thirty-five percent on top of the wage is the usual range, but use your own figures — bidding against the bare wage is how a busy year still ends flat.
- What is a Job in Swivl?
- A Job is the project, and it behaves like a folder rather than a stage in a pipeline. Photos, estimates, invoices, scheduled tasks, permits, notes and messages all live inside it, and one Job can hold several estimates and several invoices — a deposit invoice and a final invoice belong to the same Job. That is why every cost is assigned to a Job: it is the only way revenue and real cost line up at the end.
That is where I would start
Revenue you already know. Cost per job is the number almost nobody in this trade has, and it is the one that tells you what to charge and which work to stop bidding on. Take your time — nothing here expires.
Stuck? That call is free and comes with every plan, including the free one.