What is backflow testing software?
Backflow testing software is the job-management tool a backflow tester or plumbing company uses to run its testing work. It books annual backflow tests, sends the certified tester to the right property, records the test results on a backflow test form, produces the test report, and handles the repair quote, the invoice and the payment.
Clevra is backflow management software for the business side of it:
- Scheduling: annual tests, new installs, retests after repair and irrigation start-ups on one board
- Test reports: a backflow test form on the phone with readings, photos and signatures, turned into a PDF
- Repair quotes: rebuild kits, check valves, relief valves and replacements priced and signed online
- Invoices and payments: bill the test, collect by card, or record a check on site
- Customer reminders: book next year's test when you finish this one, and Clevra reminds the customer the day before
What is backflow testing?
Backflow testing, also called a backflow inspection or backflow prevention testing, checks that a backflow prevention assembly still stops dirty water from flowing back into the drinking water supply. A certified backflow tester connects a test kit to the assembly's test cocks and checks each check valve and relief valve against the pass or fail limits for that type of assembly.
The assemblies you test most often:
- Reduced pressure zone (RPZ or RP) assemblies on high-hazard connections, such as commercial kitchens, labs, car washes and boiler feeds
- Double check valve assemblies (DC or DCVA) on fire sprinkler systems and lower-hazard connections
- Pressure vacuum breakers (PVB) and spill-resistant vacuum breakers on lawn irrigation systems
Most water suppliers in the US and Canada require testable assemblies to be tested when they're installed, after a repair, and at least once a year, as part of their cross connection control program. The rules, the forms and the deadlines are set locally, so check with each water supplier you report to.
Annual backflow testing that books itself back in
Backflow work repeats. Every customer you test this year needs testing next year, and the water supplier will send them a reminder notice whether you're on the calendar or not.
In Clevra, you book next year's test as a job when you finish this one, on the date it's due. The day before, Clevra sends the customer a reminder by email, and by text on Pro and up for customers who opt in. When the water district's notice lands, your customer already has a date with you.
Spring irrigation start-ups and fall shutdowns? Put them on the same board as your annual tests. Drag them around when a failed RPZ needs a retest this week.
What Clevra isn't: a GPS truck tracker or an automatic route optimizer. You plan the day's order on the board, and your testers get turn-by-turn directions in their own maps app.
Backflow test reports, done before you leave the meter box
Clevra's work forms turn your paper backflow test form into a PDF backflow test report you finish on site. Your tester enters the readings on a phone, adds photos, signs it, and the report emails to your customer that day.
What a backflow test report usually covers:
- Property and owner: service address, owner or property manager, water supplier account number
- Assembly: type (RPZ, DC, PVB, SVB), make, model, size, serial number and location
- Test results: check valve readings in psid, relief valve opening point, pass or fail for each
- Test kit: kit serial number and the date it was last calibrated
- Tester: name, certification number and signature
- Repairs: parts replaced and the retest results, where done
- Photos: the assembly, the tag and the gauge readings
A site with several assemblies? Build the form with a section for each one. Need different reports for residential, commercial and fire line tests? Build one form for each. Work forms come with Pro and Business.
About water supplier reporting: Clevra doesn't file reports into a water district's online portal. Download the PDF and submit it the way each water supplier asks: by email, by upload or on their own form. Required fields differ by water supplier. Build your Clevra form to match the form you report on.
Keep every assembly's details with the customer
Put each assembly's type, size, serial number and location in the job notes ("RPZ, 1 in., behind the north wall of the mechanical room, key at the front desk"). Your tester sees them before the truck rolls. Every past test stays on the customer's record, so when the customer calls about last year's report, you have the answer in seconds.
Clevra doesn't keep a separate register of devices yet, so copy the assembly details forward when you book next year's test.
Residential, irrigation and fire sprinkler backflow testing
- Residential backflow testing: homeowners get a notice from the water supplier and search for a backflow tester near me. Let them request a date through your online request form, and drop it on the board.
- Irrigation backflow testing: sprinkler backflow testing comes in waves at spring start-up. Book the whole route on the board and reschedule in one drag when the weather turns.
- Commercial and fire line testing: property managers want the report, the invoice and next year's date in one email thread. Send the report and invoice to whoever pays, and track who manages which building in the CRM.
Property managers and irrigation contractors are your best source of repeat work. Set the referring company as each new customer's lead source, and the lead source report on Pro and up shows who sends you the most.
Quote the repair when the assembly fails
The relief valve won't open. The number 2 check is leaking. The customer needs a price before you can retest.
Open the customer in Clevra, start a quote and add the line items: rubber rebuild kit, check valve, relief valve, labour, retest. Send it for digital signature, and the customer signs online from their own phone.
Once they approve, the quote's line items carry over to the job, so nothing gets typed twice.
Invoice the test. Get paid before you pull out.
Test done. Tap "Generate Invoice" on the job and its line items carry over. Add the extras, like a second assembly or the water supplier's filing fee, then email it to the customer. On Pro and up, customers who opt in to texts also get a heads-up by SMS.
Customers pay by card from the link in the invoice. Paid by check on the spot? Your tester records it on the invoice. Turn on automatic overdue reminders on Pro and up, or send a reminder with one tap.
Tester certifications and time in the same app
Every backflow tester certification has a number, an issuing body and a renewal date, and water suppliers ask for it. Keep each tester's certificate and test kit calibration certificate on their profile, so you're not digging through email when a water district asks for proof.
Testers clock in and out from their phone, or you add time by hand. Approve timesheets, confirm the pay period and export it for payroll.
Track every lead. Know your pipeline.
A failed test often turns into a replacement, a new assembly or a whole cross connection survey for a building. Those quotes need follow-up.
Clevra's CRM gives you a real sales pipeline. Every lead moves through stages, from new request to won or lost, and you can rename the stages to match how you sell. You see which repair quotes are still open and which ones need a call.
Plumbing work beyond the test? See Clevra for plumbers. Test fire sprinkler backflows? See Clevra for fire protection companies. Scope sewer lines too? See Clevra for sewer camera inspection.
Backflow testing software for Canadian companies
Clevra works the same way for Canadian backflow testers as for US ones: annual tests, test reports, quotes, invoices and payments. Online card payments currently run in US dollars.
Canadian cities run their own cross connection control programs and test report forms, so build a Clevra form for each city you report to. In Quebec, where a backflow preventer is a dispositif antirefoulement, name your services and forms in French so they match what your customers and the city ask for.
Built for backflow tester budgets. No per-user fees. No setup fees.
Backflow testing software priced for one tester or a whole crew:
- Free, $0 forever: 1 seat. Solo certified backflow tester.
- Pro, $39/mo: up to 5 seats. Small testing or plumbing company.
- Business, $79/mo: up to 15 seats. Multi-crew plumbing, irrigation or fire protection company.
- Custom, talk to us: unlimited seats. Established backflow and cross connection operations.
Pro and Business prices are per month, billed annually. No per-user fees. No setup fees. Payments processed via Stripe at standard card rates.
Last updated: October 2026
