How to dispatch techs efficiently

Skill first, distance second

The fastest truck to send is the one that can finish the job. Sending the nearest tech to a job he cannot close costs you a second trip, a second drive and usually an annoyed customer. So the first filter is always: who can actually do this?

Write down a simple skill grid for your crew. It does not need to be fancy. A row per tech, a column per job type, and a mark for "can run it alone", "can run it with help" or "not yet".

Only once you know who qualifies do you look at the map. Among the techs who can do the job, send the one with the shortest drive and the right parts on the truck.

Build tomorrow's board the afternoon before

Most dispatch chaos starts at 7:30 in the morning when the board is still half empty. Set a fixed time, say 3:00 pm, when the dispatcher builds the next day. That gives you time to call customers, confirm windows and catch parts problems while the supply house is still open.

A simple routine for the afternoon build:

1. Place the fixed jobs first: installs, inspections, anything with a promised time.
2. Group the rest by area so each tech works one side of town, not both.
3. Check each job's notes for parts and make sure the assigned truck has them.
4. Leave one open slot per tech, usually late morning, for emergencies.
5. Send arrival windows to every customer on the board.

Worked example (made-up numbers): Harbor Line Plumbing runs four techs. When the dispatcher assigned jobs in the order they were booked, the techs crossed town several times a day. After grouping by area the afternoon before, each tech's route stayed on one side of the freeway. If that saves each tech 45 minutes of driving, that is three hours a day across the crew, roughly one extra service call's worth of time. Your numbers will differ; the point is to measure them.

This is basic route optimization. You can do it by hand on a map for a small crew. Past six or seven trucks, software that suggests routes saves real time, as long as a person still approves the plan.

One person owns the board

If three people can drag jobs around, nobody is responsible when a customer gets skipped. Pick one dispatcher per day. Others can book into open slots, but only the dispatcher moves a job that is already assigned.

Put the rules in writing so the backup dispatcher makes the same calls:

• Emergencies (no water, no heat in winter, active leak, no power) jump the line. Everything else waits for an open slot.
• A job only moves if the customer is told, by phone or text, before the tech is late.
• Techs call the dispatcher, not each other, when a job runs long.
• Any job running 30 minutes past its estimate gets a check-in from the office.

Hold room for emergencies

A board booked to 100 percent breaks the first time a pipe bursts. Decide how much of each day stays open. Many shops hold one slot per tech in the busy season and release it to normal bookings by early afternoon if nothing comes in.

To see how many calls your crew can really handle, plug your techs, hours, drive time and average job length into the tech capacity calculator. If the answer is lower than the calls you are booking, no dispatch trick will fix it; you need another tech or longer windows. The scheduling side of this is covered in how to schedule service calls.

Tell the customer every move

Efficient dispatch is not only about the truck. A customer who knows the tech is running 40 minutes late is usually fine. A customer who finds out by waiting is the one who cancels or leaves a bad review.

A script the office can use when a job slides:

"Hi Ava, this is Taylor from Harbor Line Plumbing. Sam is finishing up a job that ran long. He is now looking at about 2:30 instead of 1:30. Does that still work, or would you like the first slot tomorrow morning?"

Give a real time, give a choice, and do it before the original window ends.

Common dispatch mistakes

• Dispatching by who answers the phone. The tech who picks up is not always the right one.
• No notes from the call. If the tech arrives not knowing what the customer said, he spends the first ten minutes re-asking.
• Ignoring parts. The right tech with the wrong truck is still a second trip.
• Stacking all installs on one day. Spread long jobs so one overrun does not wreck the whole board.
• Moving jobs silently. Every change needs a customer message.

The numbers that show you dispatch techs efficiently

Track these weekly, per tech:

• Drive time as a share of the paid day.
• Jobs completed per day, not jobs assigned.
• First-time fix rate: the share of jobs finished on the first visit. If this is low, look at skill matching and truck stock before you look at routes. See how to improve first-time fix rate.
• Late arrivals: how often a tech arrives after the window.

Fix the worst number first. A shop with low first-time fix gains more from better skill matching than from shaving minutes off routes.

How SWITCHBOARD handles dispatch

In SWITCHBOARD the dispatch board shows day, week, month, map and list views. Drag a job to a tech and the customer is told. "Who's free" ranks the nearest tech by time and skills, and "Plan the day" rebuilds tomorrow's routes to cut driving, but nothing moves until you press Apply. Techs see what the customer said on the call before they arrive. You can try the board yourself in the sandbox, no sign-up.