What to do when a job runs long

The first ten minutes decide the rest of the day

Every job that runs long sets off a chain: the next customer waits, the one after that waits longer, and by 3 p.m. the office is taking angry calls. The fix is not to work faster. It is to notice early and decide early. The moment a tech can see a job will run 30 minutes or more past plan, they tell the office, and the office has three choices: push the next visit, move it to another tech, or move it to another day. Each is fine. Doing nothing is the only wrong answer.

Step 1: The tech calls it early

Set a simple rule: if a job will run more than 30 minutes over, the tech tells the office as soon as they know, not when they finish. Make it easy. A one-line text to dispatch or a button on their phone beats a phone call from under a sink.

What the tech should say:

• How much longer, as an honest estimate. Pad it a little.
• Why: the extra work they found, a part they need, or access trouble.
• Whether the customer has agreed to the extra work yet.
• Whether they need a part run or a second pair of hands.

Step 2: Tell the next customer before they notice

A customer who hears "we're running about an hour behind, is 11 to 12 still okay?" at 9:30 is usually fine. A customer who is still waiting at 10:45 with no word is not. Text first, then call if they do not reply within 15 minutes.

Text: "Harbor Line Plumbing: Ava, Sam's earlier job is taking longer than planned. He now expects to reach you between 11 and 12 instead of 10 to 11. Does that still work? Reply YES, or reply MOVE and we'll find another time."

Call: "Hi Ava, it's Taylor at Harbor Line Plumbing. Sam's on a job that turned out bigger than expected. I can still get him to you by noon, or I can send Jordan, who's free at 10:30, or we can book you first thing tomorrow. What works best?"

Give a new window, not a vague "running late". Always offer a choice. Some customers would rather have a different tech on time than their usual tech late.

Step 3: Re-route or hand the visit off

When you hand a visit to another tech, send everything with it: what the customer said on the call, photos, gate codes, the price quoted. The new tech should not have to ask the customer to start over. To find the right tech fast, look at who is closest with the time and skills, then check the rest of the day so you do not fix one problem by creating two. How to dispatch techs efficiently covers the dispatch side, and reducing drive time between jobs helps you rebuild the rest of the route.

Step 4: When the job grew, write a change order

Many jobs run long because the tech found more work: a corroded shutoff behind the one they came to replace, rotted subfloor under a toilet, a second bad breaker. That is new scope, and new scope needs the customer's OK and a new price before the tech starts it.

A change order on the spot should say what was found, what it adds, the added price and the added time, and get the customer's signature. Example script for the tech:

"When I pulled the toilet, the flange underneath is cracked and the subfloor is soft. If we set the new toilet on that, it'll leak again. Replacing the flange and patching the subfloor adds $340 and about an hour and a half. Do you want me to go ahead, or set the toilet back for now and come back for it?"

The figure above is an example. Without a signed change order, you are doing the work on hope, and the invoice becomes an argument. See how to handle change orders on the job for the full process.

Step 5: Learn from it

• Check the job lengths you book. If water heater swaps are booked at 2 hours and always take 3, book 3.
• Leave a buffer. An open 30 to 60 minutes mid-afternoon on each tech's day soaks up overruns.
• Ask better questions on the phone. Age of the house, access, what has been tried already. See how to walk a job before you quote for bigger work.
• Stock the truck for the common add-ons. A part run is the biggest single time-killer.

Mistakes to avoid

• Telling the next customer when the tech is already late. By then you have lost their trust.
• "Running late" with no new time. Always give a window.
• Starting extra work with a verbal OK only. Get it signed.
• Handing off a visit with no notes. The customer has to explain everything twice.
• Rushing the job to make up time. That is how you earn a callback.

How SWITCHBOARD handles a long job

With SWITCHBOARD Live Job, the tech taps "+ Time" and their next visits move, and a text to the next customer is drafted that only sends when the tech taps it. If the next visit would be 30 or more minutes late, it offers to give that visit to a free tech in one tap. Added scope from the Price Book rides to the final bill if it is small and under the shop's limits, or gets an on-the-spot signed change order if it is bigger, and off-book prices still need approval. The office can follow along and edit from the desk, and the tech app shows the new tech what the customer said on the call.