How to switch from Joist to Trusso

Joist is a documents app, so there's less to move than from a full field-service platform — but also less export tooling: Joist's built-in export produces monthly CSVs of invoices and estimates aimed at accounting, without line items, and there's no one-click full-history export.

This guide covers getting what you can out of Joist, building a client list Trusso can import, and setting up the parts of the business Joist never handled — jobs, scheduling, crew and lead capture.

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Why contractors outgrow Joist

Joist does estimates and invoices for a single user, and does them cheaply. But that's where it stops: no lead capture, no job tracking, no crew scheduling, no clock-in — so the rest of the business lives in texts, phone contacts and spreadsheets.

Trusso replaces that whole stack from $29/month: leads from Angi, Thumbtack, Yelp and Google imported and answered automatically, AI-drafted estimates, jobs with photos, crew scheduling and a real customer list.

Step 1 — Export what you can from Joist

Joist's export is built for tax and accounting rather than migration, so set expectations accordingly and pull everything while your subscription is active:

1
Open the Invoices section and click the grey Export button at the top right — a CSV downloads for the selected month. Repeat per month you want to keep.
2
Do the same in the Estimates section for your estimate history.
3
Combine the monthly files in a spreadsheet app — note that Joist's export doesn't include line items, so keep PDF copies of any documents where the line-item detail matters.
4
Build your client list: Joist has no dedicated client export, but the invoice CSVs carry client names — combine them with phone contacts or emails into a simple spreadsheet with name, phone, email and address columns.

For anything the CSVs don't cover, save PDFs of important estimates and invoices directly from Joist before cancelling.

Step 2 — Import your clients into Trusso

Save your client spreadsheet as a CSV with a header row, and Trusso's importer maps it in one screen:

1
Start a free 14-day Trusso trial — no card required — and open the web dashboard.
2
Go to Customers → Import CSV and choose your client file. The first row should contain column names (Name, Email, Phone, Address is plenty).
3
Map each column to a customer field with the dropdowns — set anything extra to "Don't import".
4
Preview the import. Trusso flags possible duplicates by email or phone and skips rows with no name.
5
Hit Import. Even a hand-built list from years of Joist invoices lands in seconds.

Imported customers are never opted into SMS automatically — text-message consent stays off until you confirm it per customer, so you stay compliant from day one.

What moves over automatically

Client names. From your assembled list — business names are tagged as business customers automatically.
Contact details. Email addresses and phone numbers, with mobile and landline recognized separately.
Addresses. Street, city, state and ZIP map to the customer's service address.
Anything else you tracked. Tags and notes columns import too, if your spreadsheet has them.

What to handle manually

Open estimates. Re-create them in Trusso — with AI estimates this is minutes each, and they become trackable jobs instead of standalone documents.
Invoice and estimate history. Keep the monthly CSVs and saved PDFs as your archive for taxes. Joist's export omits line items, so the PDFs are the detailed record.
Your rates. Set up Trusso's price book with the items you quote — from here on, estimates draw from it instead of being retyped.
Everything Joist didn't do. Jobs, scheduling, crew logins and lead capture are new capabilities to switch on, not data to migrate.

Go-live checklist

Spot-check the imported client list against your phone contacts and recent invoices.
Set up your price book and service rates.
Re-create open estimates as Trusso estimates.
Connect payments (Stripe or Square — Venmo and Zelle also supported) and send yourself a test invoice.
Set up lead capture: connect the Angi, Thumbtack, Yelp or Google sources you buy leads from so new leads import and get answered automatically.
Invite your crew from Settings — every Trusso plan covers your whole team with no per-user fees.
Keep your old exports in a safe folder as your historical archive, then cancel the old subscription once everything checks out.

What switching saves: Trusso vs Joist

Joist's Basics plan is $12/month ($8.34/month billed annually) with 5 documents a month, Pro is $17/month, and Elite is $32/month — all single-user, documents-focused (verified September 2026).

Trusso starts at $29/month with unlimited estimates, invoices, jobs and customers, plus the things Joist doesn't attempt: automatic lead import, AI estimates, job tracking with photos, crew scheduling and clock-in, and a full CRM.

	Trusso	Joist
Starting price	$29/mo (owner + 2 crew)	$12/mo ($8.34/mo billed annually)
Estimates & invoices	Unlimited on every plan	5 documents/mo on Basics; unlimited from Pro ($17/mo)
Crew logins	2–unlimited depending on plan	Single user
Lead capture & AI estimates	Included on every plan	Not offered
Jobs, scheduling & clock-in	Included on every plan	Not offered

Common questions

Joist doesn't export my client list — how do I get it into Trusso?

Build a simple spreadsheet — name, phone, email, address — from Joist's invoice CSVs, your phone contacts and email. Save it as CSV with a header row and Trusso's importer maps it in one screen. Even a rough list beats starting from zero, and duplicates are caught automatically.

Will I lose my invoice history?

No — export the monthly invoice and estimate CSVs and save PDFs of documents where line-item detail matters (Joist's CSV export doesn't include line items). That's your archive; new work lives in Trusso.

Is Trusso worth the jump from $12–32/month?

If you only send documents, Joist is cheaper and you should stay. The jump pays for itself when you also chase leads, schedule work or run a crew — Trusso replaces several tools and the manual work between them from $29/month.

How long does the switch take?

Usually an evening: export the CSVs, assemble the client list, import, set up your price book. The 14-day free trial needs no card, so you can do it all before paying anything.

Ready to move off Joist?

14-day free trial, no card required. Import your customers in minutes, run both systems side by side, and cancel the old one only when you're sure.

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All product names are trademarks of their respective owners; Trusso is not affiliated with Joist. Export steps reflect each vendor's published help documentation and pricing reflects published or commonly reported rates as of September 2026 — check the vendor's site for current details.