Flat Rate Pricebook Cleanup Checklist
This is the whole cleanup in one printable page — free, no email required, print it and work down the boxes. It works for any flat rate pricebook (it was written around ServiceTitan exports, where most of our work happens). Seven phases, in order. Skipping the order is how cleanups go wrong: dedupe before you recode, recode before you import, and never reprice in the same pass as cleaning.
Phase 1 — Export and back up
- Export the complete pricebook (Services and Materials) — never clean a partial export
- Save an untouched copy with today's date in the filename, somewhere you will not edit it
- Confirm the backup opens and has the row count you expect — that file is your undo button
Phase 2 — Duplicates
- Sort by code: no code appears twice
- Sort by name: same item under different names merged to one row
- Every removed duplicate written down (what, which row was kept, why) in a change list
Phase 3 — Codes
- Every row has a code — no blanks
- All codes unique across the whole file
- Codes follow one pattern (e.g. category prefix + short name slug)
- No leading/trailing spaces hiding in code cells
Phase 4 — Categories
- List of distinct category values reviewed: one spelling per category, no plural/abbreviation twins
- Every item sits in exactly one category
- Dead categories (people's names, "misc 2023," old promotions) emptied and removed
- Services and materials not mixed: parts are materials, work is services
Phase 5 — Money fields
- All costs and prices are plain numbers — no
$, no commas, no text - Every row has the same number of columns (a comma inside a value can shift a row)
- No blank prices on services, no blank costs on materials
Phase 6 — Cost vs. price audit
- List made of every row priced at or below cost
- List made of every row missing a price or a cost
- Each flagged row decided deliberately by the owner — flagged, never auto-guessed
- Discontinued/dead items reviewed: should they still be active and sellable?
Phase 7 — Import and verify
- ID column left blank for all new items (the platform generates IDs)
- Units of measure consistent: same unit abbreviation everywhere, cost unit = price unit per material
- First import is ONE category only, then 5–10 items spot-checked (name, code, category, cost, price)
- Remaining categories imported only after the first batch checks out
- Mobile check: search 3 services the way a tech would — findable in seconds?
- Original export + cleaned file + change list filed together as the audit trail
How long should this take?
For a 200–500 item book, doing all seven phases carefully by hand runs roughly 20–40 hours. Under 100 items, a focused afternoon. If your checklist stalls at Phase 2 — most do, duplicates are tedious — that is the normal point where shops decide the work is worth paying to skip.
FAQ
Can I do the phases out of order?
Phases 1 and 7 are fixed: backup first, import last. The middle phases can swap slightly, but dedupe before codes and categories — otherwise you will generate shiny new codes for rows you were about to delete.
Why shouldn't I fix prices during the cleanup?
Because afterwards you cannot tell whether a wrong invoice came from a data error or a pricing decision. Clean the structure, flag the price problems (Phase 6), then reprice as its own deliberate job.
Does this work for pricebooks other than ServiceTitan?
Yes — the phases are platform-neutral. The ServiceTitan-specific bits are the blank-ID practice on new items and the Services/Materials split; the rest (duplicates, codes, categories, money formatting, cost-vs-price audit) applies to any flat rate book.
Rather not spend the 20–40 hours?
That checklist is literally our process: our automated clean-up does Phases 2–6 and returns your book with a change report — duplicates removed and logged, missing codes generated, categories normalized, money fields cleaned, and rows priced at or below cost flagged for your decision, never changed silently. Founding price $99 per book (up to 1,000 items, Services and Materials), 48-hour turnaround, file-in/file-out with no ServiceTitan login. If our file will not import, we fix it free or refund you.
Get a free 25-row sample clean — send your messiest rows, see the report, then decide.
Pricebook Clean-Up is an independent service and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by ServiceTitan.