simPRO can run a big operation — but as a specialist trade you need more than a back office: the work coming in, unlimited users without per-seat licences, and a system that’s live in days, not weeks. That’s SwarmCatcher — the whole life of a job on your own private server, without the four-figure onboarding.
As you grow you need all three of these working together. Most job software gives you the middle one. SwarmCatcher gives you all three, in one system on your own server — without the enterprise price tag.
Local town landing pages built from your real completed jobs, town-by-town rank tracking, and enquiries that land straight in your pipeline — photos attached. This is the layer that brings the work in.
Estimate, schedule, crew app, photos and native invoicing — the operational core, with unlimited users included and no per-seat licence.
RAMS packs signed on a phone or tablet, compliance registers, renewal reminders and a full audit trail — built in, not billed as extra configured modules.
Less about what you’re leaving, more about what you gain. Here’s what a specialist trade picks up on day one.
The jobs have to arrive before anything else. You need local pages built from your real work, rank tracking town by town, and every enquiry landing straight in your estimating pipeline with photos attached — the demand side a back-office ERP leaves entirely to you.
You already know what simPRO costs you — a licence for every field user on top of the office system, and a hefty one-off to get started. SwarmCatcher is one flat price, unlimited users, and no four-figure onboarding — the same capability without the enterprise price tag.
You want to be up and running in days, not a four-to-twelve-week project — and to rehearse the whole workflow in a sandbox that holds back outbound emails and messages before a single one reaches a customer.
An honest side-by-side. Every simPRO figure below is from simPRO’s own UK government-marketplace pricing — see the note under the table.
| Capability | simPRO | SwarmCatcher |
|---|---|---|
| Getting found (demand generation) | ✗ None. simPRO is an internal ERP; you bring the work to it. | ✓ Local SEO landing pages built from your real jobs, town-by-town rank tracking, and integrated intake. |
| Office system | ✗ An annual licence for the core system. | ✓ Included in one flat price. |
| Field-user licences | ✗ A paid licence for every field user, billed yearly. | ✓ Unlimited users included — no per-seat licence. |
| Onboarding / setup | ✗ A hefty one-off setup fee, plus paid module configuration. | ✓ No four-figure onboarding. Set up in parallel, in days. |
| Time to go live | ✗ Typically 4–12 weeks. | ✓ Days, alongside your existing tools. |
| Estimating | ✓ Comprehensive, built for large contractors. | ✓ Precision estimating with zone, parking and access adjustments, tuned to specialist field trades. |
| Compliance & safety | ✓ Available, often via configured (chargeable) modules. | ✓ RAMS packs signed on a phone or tablet, compliance registers, renewal reminders and a full audit trail — built in. |
| Safe testing | ✗ Changes act on live customers. | ✓ Sandbox and rehearsal mode hold back outbound emails and messages. |
| Where your data lives | ✗ simPRO-hosted cloud. | ✓ Your own private server, fully isolated. |
simPRO is a capable system built for large, multi-branch contractors, and priced accordingly — per-seat licensing on top of the core system, plus a substantial one-off onboarding. You’ll know your own numbers better than anyone; this page is aimed at specialist field-trade businesses weighing that against a lighter, demand-generating alternative.
This one’s the simplest of the three: you don’t wait to break even — you save from day one.
You already know your simPRO bill — the office system, a licence for every seat, and the one-off setup fee. Set it beside a single flat SwarmCatcher price with unlimited users and no onboarding charge, and for a specialist trade you’re almost certainly saving from day one — while getting the demand generation and built-in compliance simPRO leaves out.
Because you’re already saving, every enquiry the local pages bring in is on top. Win one extra job a month — around £400 — and it would cover the running cost by itself; here it’s straight profit.
Every job you complete feeds the local pages that win the next one — more real-job proof, stronger rankings, more enquiries. It’s a self-feeding cycle: the longer it runs, the harder it works.
You don’t rip anything out on day one. Your private instance is built alongside simPRO, and you switch over only once it’s proven.
We stand up your own private instance while simPRO keeps running. Nothing is disrupted.
Clients, jobs and history are imported so you carry on where you left off.
Go live when your pages and pipeline are proven — in days, on your timeline, not a 12-week project plan.
A full data-export guarantee, so your business is never locked in — with us or anyone else.
simPRO is an enterprise ERP: you pay per seat on top of the core system, plus a substantial one-off onboarding fee — you already know what that adds up to for your business. SwarmCatcher is one flat price with unlimited users and no four-figure onboarding.
simPRO is built for large, multi-branch contractors, and if that is you it may fit. For specialist field-trade businesses that also need to win the work and stay compliant without a four-figure setup and weeks of implementation, SwarmCatcher covers the whole span in one system.
simPRO implementations typically run four to twelve weeks. SwarmCatcher runs your onboarding in parallel over days, alongside your existing tools, so nothing stops while you move.
Yes. SwarmCatcher gives you a full data-export guarantee, so your business is never locked in.
Click through the live demo and see the working pipeline — estimate, schedule, crew app, photos, invoicing and compliance in one place, live in days. The local-SEO engine that wins you the work is built around your own business, from your real completed jobs.
If you want a system that does all this, and more — talk to us and tell us what’s stopping you. No hard sell, no obligation — just a straight conversation.