From ServiceTitan to Podium: How Spicewood Plumbing Found a Better Fit

Spicewood Plumbing has served customers west of Austin for more than 25 years. When the company came under new management in 2023, Spicewood began rethinking its operations, including the systems employees used to manage customers, calls, and field work. As General Manager, Laura Butler was at the center of that transition, looking for better ways to support both office and field employees.

Podium first entered the picture as a way to make customer communication more flexible. Instead of carrying separate personal and business phones or staying tied to a desk, Laura could answer calls from wherever she was and come back to a complete record of the conversation later. Over time, Spicewood expanded its use of Podium and eventually decided to move its field service operations away from ServiceTitan as well.

The Challenge

As Spicewood modernized its operations, the limitations of ServiceTitan became more apparent. Its complexity, cost, and disconnect between the office and field added friction to everyday work.

The platform felt built for a much larger company

Laura found ServiceTitan difficult to scale to the needs of a small-to-midsize plumbing company. Getting additional functionality could mean adding more products and costs to a platform that already felt hard to navigate.

“[ServiceTitan is] built for a giant company... And there’s no way to really scale it down to a mid- to small-sized company.”

Office and field teams didn’t have the same view

One of Laura’s biggest frustrations was helping technicians troubleshoot issues in the field. Because the technician experience differed from the one she used, Laura couldn’t easily walk someone through a problem.

“I have never, on my desktop or my phone, been able to see what the technicians see on their mobile app.” 

Operational issues could put customer appointments at risk

Spicewood also experienced jobs disappearing from ServiceTitan’s dispatch board, which meant a booked customer could be missing when technicians started running calls the next day. 

“We were booking jobs, and then they would leave. They would just vanish off the dispatch board.”

Costs increased as the team added functionality

According to Laura, Spicewood’s ServiceTitan bill grew from roughly $1,800 per month to around $3,400 per month as the company added functionality. As the team questioned whether ServiceTitan was the right fit, the rising cost added another reason to consider a change.

“We started out at, like, $1,800 a month, and I think the last bill that we paid them was, like, $3,400 a month.”

The Solution

Spicewood Plumbing was already using Podium Phones when the team decided to move its field service operations from ServiceTitan to Podium. The move brought customer communication and field service together in one platform and gave Spicewood new ways to use AI to handle more customer demand, book jobs, and reduce manual work.

A dramatically simpler onboarding experience

Spicewood’s previous ServiceTitan implementation took about six months from the start of the process to go-live. With Podium, Laura described onboarding as “a piece of cake.” Instead of spending hours in front of a computer, Laura knew what each onboarding call would cover and exactly what she needed to prepare ahead of time.

“It’s just been very professionally handled. It’s been super, super easy. Everybody works together, everybody talks to each other. And when you guys tell us you’re gonna do something, you do it.”

The same mobile view in the office and the field

With Podium, Laura can open the mobile app and see the same experience her technicians see. That makes it easier to answer questions, review jobs, and help employees in the field without trying to reconcile two different views of the same information.

“My mobile app on the phone [is] exactly the same as you. I can flip over in two seconds.”

More flexibility to manage the business from anywhere

Podium gives Laura the flexibility to keep up with the business without staying tied to her desk. Calls, texts, and customer information are captured in one place, so she can answer a customer while picking up kids, driving home, or making dinner and return to the recorded conversation later.

“I didn’t have to sit at my desk, and I didn’t have to stop what I was doing, because everything was transcribed. Every text message is recorded.”

More options for building the team

Because customer conversations are recorded and accessible from anywhere, one of Spicewood’s dispatchers can work from home while raising seven children. Laura says Podium gave the company the flexibility to hire an employee it otherwise couldn’t have accommodated.

“She’s an excellent employee, who I would never have hired... if we didn’t have Podium.”

More leads and messages handled every day

AI is helping Spicewood handle significantly more customer activity without putting more manual work on the team. With Podium, Spicewood is now handling 123% more leads per day and 55% more messages per day.

AI Operator also acts as what Laura calls a “second set of hands.” She can ask questions about revenue, invoices, or technician hours, create tasks, and assign customer conversations to other team members without manually pulling the information herself.

“The intelligence of the Podium software works as a second set of hands.”

Nearly 1 in 4 jobs booked through AI

AI isn't just helping Spicewood manage more conversations. It's helping turn those conversations into booked work. Today, nearly one in four Spicewood jobs is booked through AI, and 25% of the company's collected revenue is attributed to AI-booked jobs.

Spicewood designed its AI Employee, Lucy, to make that experience feel natural and transparent for customers. The team cloned Laura's voice and created a greeting that clearly identifies Lucy as a virtual assistant and explains how she can help.

“Because [the AI] is my voice, it doesn’t sound robotic.” 

Support that feels personal

The support experience has been another standout for Laura. When Spicewood has needed help, the Podium team has been quick to respond and follow through, giving Laura confidence that the team won’t be left waiting when questions come up.

“You guys [at Podium] are super, super responsive.”

The Day-to-Day Impact of Moving From ServiceTitan to Podium: