Getting started

Merv beta · about ten minutes, most of it optional

Thank you for trying Merv. This page covers the first few minutes — installing it, the one screen where people hesitate, and what is worth looking at first. Everything here is short on purpose.

1. Install it

1. Open the invitation link we emailed you and accept it. This has to happen on the Google account you use on your phone.
2. Follow the download link on that page — it opens Merv in the Play Store, where you install it like any other app.

Merv is not searchable in the Play Store during the beta, so the invite link is the only way in. If the store says the app is unavailable, the invitation was probably accepted on a different Google account than the one on the phone.

2. Create the company, or join it

Open the app and tap Create account. The next screen has two tabs, and picking the wrong one is the single easiest mistake to make:

• Create a company — for the first person from your shop only. You become the owner, and you get an invite code to share.
• Join a company — for everybody else. You need the invite code from whoever set the company up. This tab is selected by default, so the first person has to switch to the other one.

The owner finds the code any time under Company or Team in the menu (☰). It changes whenever somebody is removed from the team, so share the current one.

3. Confirm your email

We send a confirmation link as soon as you sign up. Tap it — it opens a Merv page in your browser — then go back to the app and sign in. If it has not arrived within a couple of minutes, check your spam folder.

4. Set up your shop

Home shows a Set up your shop card with four things on it: name your company, add your prices, invite your crew, create your first job. Tap any row to go straight there.

None of it is required. You can dismiss the card with the ✕ and start booking jobs immediately — a solo operator never invites a crew, and that is fine.

What is worth trying

If you only have twenty minutes, these are the parts we most want an opinion on.

• Build an estimate with AI Open a job, go to Estimate, tap Build with AI and answer the chips. It quotes from your price list, not from thin air.
• Photograph a supplier price sheet Price Catalog → Build with AI → the camera or document button. A flat-rate PDF or a photo of a price sheet becomes catalog rows you review before anything is saved.
• Photograph a nameplate On a job, open Equipment and add the unit. The nameplate photo is filed against that unit, so it is there next time somebody visits the site.
• Turn your paper checklist into a template Menu → Checklist Templates → Draft with AI, then photograph the paper list you already use. It transcribes yours; it does not invent a better one.
• Put the phone in airplane mode Then open a job, tick items, take photos. Merv keeps working and syncs when you have signal again. Basements are normal.

Telling us what you think

Rough edges are expected and we would rather hear about a small annoyance than a polite summary. "This screen confused me" is a useful report.

Not there yet

So you do not spend time reporting things we already know are missing:

• No iPhone version.
• No record of who has paid you. Merv sends invoices but does not track payment — we are asking shops whether it should.
• No push notifications, and no route or day-schedule planning.
• Customer texts are not automatic. "On my way" opens your own Messages app with the text written; you send it.
• An invoice is sent for the estimate amount. There is no way yet to adjust it if the final price came out different.

Cost, and your data

Merv is free during the beta, and it will stay free for you for a good while after it stops being free for everyone else. Shops that tell us what is wrong now are the reason it gets better, and we will recognise that when pricing arrives. If it becomes a paid product we will tell you well before that happens, not afterwards.

Your data is backed up. We take an automatic nightly copy of your business records — customers, jobs, estimates, invoices, checklists — and keep it for 90 days. A manager can also export the whole lot to email at any time from the Company screen. One honest gap: the photo files themselves are not in that backup yet, only their records. It is the next thing on that list.

Your customers' details and photos belong to your company, and we do not sell data to anyone. A manager can export everything from the Company screen at any time, and you can delete your account from Profile. The detail is in our Privacy Policy and on Delete your account.

Stuck on something this page does not answer? feedback@mervhvac.com