HelmDMS is the all-in-one boat shop software your team will actually use. POS, service, scheduling, live supplier search, ExoInvoice AI receiving, SMS, and QuickBooks — in one place. Made in the USA for the independent marine dealer.
We built HelmDMS because the existing options don't fit how a real shop works. See if any of this looks like your Tuesday.
Front desk gets the call, has to walk back to the shop, ask the tech, walk back, call the customer. Six times a day.
Your DMS rings up the sale. Then someone keys the amount into the terminal — and prays they didn't fat-finger the decimal.
Someone in the office maintains a parallel spreadsheet because the DMS doesn't track what you actually need to track.
"Got it in stock? What's it cost? When can you ship?" Repeat. Twice. Then forget which one was cheapest.
"Bob Smith" exists three times in the database. Nobody can find Bob's history when he calls in.
Your DMS doesn't text customers, so you bolt on Kenect (or similar) and pay through the nose for what should be standard.
"There's gotta be a better way."
There is — book a demoPurpose-built for marine — not adapted from auto, not stripped from enterprise software.
Stripe Terminal sends totals to the card reader automatically. Barcode scan, customer pull-up, signature on the pad — done.
Concern / Cause / Correction, status board, multi-day jobs, tech assignment, parts and labor lines, PDF diagnostics. Customers get a text when it's ready.
"Next available" button. Drag-and-drop on iPad. Card on file at booking. Auto no-show fees per your policy. SMS reminders 24h and 2h out.
Search every connected distributor — Seawide, Donovan, Wintron, and more — in one shot. Compare price and stock side-by-side. Submit the PO directly from HelmDMS.
See how it worksOne canonical part — multiple vendors. Sort by usage so dead stock sinks to the bottom. Scan supplier invoices to add inventory. Phone-camera barcode scanning.
Lead → quote → deposit → financing → delivery. Trade-in valuations, deposit collection, document generation, website inventory sync.
Phone rings — customer record opens automatically. Full purchase history, every boat they own, every service ticket. No more "let me look you up."
Appointment reminders, "your boat is ready" texts, two-way messaging. Even natural-sounding automated voice calls — no third-party Kenect bill.
Sales receipts, invoices, customers, vendors, items — pushed automatically. Your bookkeeper stops yelling at you.
IP-based clock-in (no MFA friction at the shop). Tie tech hours to specific work orders. Export timesheets for payroll.
Sales by period, margin by category, parts movement, technician productivity, deal pipeline. The numbers you actually run the shop on.
HelmDMS is the first marine DMS to integrate with ExoInvoice — the AI-powered invoice processor. First 25 parses are on us. Drop in a supplier PDF and HelmDMS matches every line item to your catalog and queues it for one-click confirm. Receiving goes from 90 minutes to 60 seconds.
See how it worksStop calling around. Search every connected distributor in one shot, see who has it cheapest, who has it fastest, and order — all without leaving HelmDMS.
Type a part number, OEM, or description. HelmDMS queries every connected supplier simultaneously.
See pricing, stock levels, and lead times side-by-side. Pick on price, stock, or speed — your call.
PO submitted to the supplier from HelmDMS. Track shipment, receive into inventory, done.
Launching with Seawide Marine, Donovan Marine, Wintron Electronics, CDI, and growing.
HelmDMS is the first marine DMS to integrate with ExoInvoice, the AI-powered invoice processor. Your first 25 parses are on us — drop in a supplier PDF and HelmDMS turns it into confirmed stock in under 60 seconds. The 90-minute receiving session is over.
Scan it, upload the PDF, or forward the supplier email to a dedicated address. HelmDMS hands it off to ExoInvoice automatically.
AI parses vendor, parts, quantities, per-batch prices, and supplier SKUs. Mis-hyphenations and abbreviation variants are handled.
Auto-match against your catalog. Inline-create unmatched parts. Review side-by-side with the original PDF. One click posts to inventory with full lot tracking.
First marine DMS to ship the ExoInvoice integration. First 25 parses included; after that, paste your own ExoInvoice API key into Settings → Integrations to keep going.
Honest, side-by-side comparisons against the systems boat dealers actually use.
The system most independents are leaving. Here's why.
See the comparisonBig-name powersports DMS. Big-name pricing.
See the comparisonLegacy marine DMS. We respect it. We also out-feature it.
See the comparisonMarine-specific. Old-school. Time for something new?
See the comparisonRunning your shop on QB + sticky notes? Read this.
See the comparisonPricing, features, contracts, support — laid out plain.
HelmDMS started because a marine dealer told me, "I've talked to 53 vendors. None of them get it." So I sat at the front desk for a day. I watched the manual credit-card-typing, the walk-backs to the service bay, the parallel Excel sheet, the sticky-note-stack on the monitor.
Then I built the software the shop actually needed. Not the software a corporate roadmap told me to ship. That's HelmDMS.
— Blake Hughes, founder of Hughes Technology
About Hughes TechnologyWhole counter, whole shop, whole back office — same price.
Month-to-month. If we don't earn the next month, we don't keep it.
Boats, hulls, marine suppliers, marine workflows — not auto adapted.
Email or call. We answer. Not a ticket queue in another time zone.
No "starter tier" upsells. No per-seat fees. No surprises on month two.
per location
First 25 dealers lock in this rate for life
$200 refundable deposit until kickoff. We do the migration. 30-day money-back guarantee once live.
Need a deeper look? See full pricing details →
Most shops are running real transactions in HelmDMS within 2–3 weeks. We pull your customers, parts, vendors, and open work orders from your current system and import them. You don't touch a CSV.
Yes. HelmDMS is web-based and works on any modern browser, iPad, or phone. The service techs in the bay use it on iPads. The counter uses it on touch monitors. Same software, no separate app.
Most shops have multiple internet sources (cable + LTE failover) and an outage is rare. We've got a roadmap item for offline POS mode if it becomes a real problem for you. Your call decides what we build next.
Stripe is the default and what we recommend — rates are usually better than what marine dealers are getting on Ecrypt/Fiserv, and the Terminal integration is plug-and-play. If you want to keep your current processor, we can talk.
You do. Always. We export your data on request — no hostage situations, no fees, no "we'll get to it next quarter." It's your business.
Pricing goes up. Founding dealers stay locked in at $499/mo for the life of their account. The next tier will likely be $699–$849/mo as more features land.
Book a demo, or reserve your founding-dealer slot now. $200 refundable deposit, locks in $499/mo for life.
Not ready? Drop your email and we'll reach out personally.
Got it. We'll reach out within one business day.
Or call us: (859) 555-0123 · hello@helmdms.com