ServiceTitan pricebook and job types cleanup: a step-by-step plan

To clean up a ServiceTitan pricebook, review first, then hide or deactivate instead of deleting, then fix categories, business units and codes in that order. Job types need the same care because online booking, durations and technician forms all hang off them. Do the work in small steps and check mobile after each one.

ServiceTitan has no help article titled "pricebook cleanup," so this plan is built from ServiceTitan's own pricebook and business unit guides, listed as we go.

Why clean up a ServiceTitan pricebook at all?

Three problems show up again and again. Technicians cannot find an item on mobile, so they add a one-off. Online bookings land with the wrong job type or business unit. Reports blur together because the same work is filed under several names. All three trace to category, business unit and job type settings, which is where the cleanup goes.

What should I do before I change anything?

Look first. ServiceTitan's optimization guide advises waiting "until you have at least 30 to 60 days of post go-live job data before making large changes," and says to "use Price Insights as a sanity check, not a target." It also says to change one variable at a time so you can tell which change moved margins (Pricebook optimization guide).

Before you start:

1. Export your current pricebook and job types so you can compare later. ServiceTitan's business unit guide says to "export any data from our Reporting for your records" before deactivating anything (Business unit best practices).
2. List the items technicians and CSRs actually use. Anything unused for a long stretch is a candidate to hide.
3. Ask your ServiceTitan CSM before extensive changes to a live account. That same guide recommends it.

Should I delete or deactivate pricebook items?

Hide or deactivate. ServiceTitan says to "hide test rules and deprecated categories from the ServiceTitan Field Mobile App rather than deleting them" (Pricebook optimization guide). On categories specifically, deactivating "removes the item from the mobile app along with any subcategories," and "deactivating doesn't delete anything, so historical records are preserved" (Pricebook categories).

Deactivating a parent category also takes its subcategories off mobile, so check the children before you do it.

How do I fix pricebook categories?

Services and equipment must have a category to show in the field app: "Services and equipment are not visible in ServiceTitan Mobile unless they're assigned to a category or subcategory" (Pricebook categories).

1. Design the category tree on paper first. ServiceTitan's setup guide says to set up categories before importing and to plan the structure so items land in the right place (Pricebook setup guide).
2. Use bulk editing to assign categories and subcategories after the structure exists (Pricebook setup guide).
3. Hide office-only categories, such as deferred revenue tasks or manager discounts, so technicians do not add unconfigured items.
4. Remember that new categories are inactive by default (Pricebook optimization guide). Switch them on when ready.

Why can't my technicians see a category?

Business units. One or more business units can be assigned to a category, and technicians only see items in categories that match their business unit or the job's business unit (Pricebook categories). If a technician's unit does not match, the category disappears from their device. Removing the category's business unit is one fix ServiceTitan lists (Mobile categories help).

How do I clean up pricing and codes?

• Codes. Each service item needs a unique code. QuickBooks limits item codes to 31 characters, so keep pricebook codes at 31 or fewer, and do not use colons in item names (Pricebook setup guide).
• Materials. Link every material used to deliver a service. ServiceTitan notes that "without linked materials, Dynamic Pricing has no costs to mark up."
• Rules. Each category can have only one Dynamic Pricing rule at a time. For different markets, add business unit overrides to that rule instead of making a second one (Pricebook optimization guide).
• Overrides. Adjust the rule, not individual services, and watch margin reports rather than overriding individual material costs.

For a large cleanup, ServiceTitan's setup guide points to the Pricebook Excel template as the best option for first imports or mass changes. It says to set up your categories before importing.

How do I clean up job types?

Start with the link between job types and business units. ServiceTitan says assigning business units to job types "ensures that your CSRs don't select the wrong BU when booking a job," and you can add multiple business units to any job type (Business unit best practices). We did not find a ServiceTitan page on merging or retiring job types, so ask your CSM about that part.

Then check what depends on job types:

• Online booking. If you use Scheduling Pro, job type mapping affects job duration, business unit assignment and the forms technicians see, and when several custom job types map to one standard type you designate a primary (setup guide).
• Durations. Every job type needs a default duration. A zero or blank one "causes massive overbooking" (Book jobs and schedule appointments).
• Unknown. Web bookings from leads default to an Unknown job type. Plan a daily reclassify routine.

Our web scheduler and booking guide covers the booking side in more depth.

What should I check after each change?

Cleanup goes wrong when a change looks fine in settings and breaks something in the field. After each step, run the same short check:

1. Open ServiceTitan Mobile as a technician in each business unit and look for the categories they use most.
2. Add a service and a material to a test job and confirm the price looks right.
3. If you use online booking, make a test booking and read the job type, business unit and duration it lands with.
4. Compare a report against the export you took before you started.

ServiceTitan's own advice supports going slowly: change one variable at a time so you can tell which change caused which result (Pricebook optimization guide).

What mistakes should I avoid?

• Deleting instead of hiding. ServiceTitan recommends hiding deprecated categories rather than deleting them.
• Big changes on thin data. Wait for 30 to 60 days of job data after go-live.
• Forgetting new categories start inactive. An item in a new category will not show until you activate it.
• Overriding prices item by item. Adjust the Dynamic Pricing rule instead.
• Long or colon-filled codes. Keep codes at 31 characters or fewer and avoid colons in names.
• Blank job type durations. They feed overbooking in online scheduling.

What order should I work in?

1. Export and snapshot everything.
2. Fix business units, then job type to business unit links.
3. Set job type durations and check the mapping.
4. Build or fix the category tree, then bulk assign items.
5. Clean codes and names.
6. Hide or deactivate what is left over, one group at a time.
7. After each step, open mobile as a technician and book a test job.

How do I keep it clean afterward?

Give one person ownership of the pricebook and job type list. Review new items monthly. And watch for bookings where the job type the CSR picked does not match what the customer described. Data Cleanse is in our catalog for that check, and you can browse all of our tools.

Where can The Graphite Lab help?

We are ServiceTitan coaches and can walk through a cleanup with your team, in the order above, so mobile and booking keep working the whole way through.