HVAC Scheduling Tips to Reduce Windshield Time

The Hidden Cost of Drive Time

Let's do some quick math. If your technician earns $30/hour (burdened cost) and spends 2 hours per day driving between jobs:

Daily drive time cost: 2 hours x $30 = $60/day

Weekly: $60 x 5 days = $300/week

Monthly: $300 x 4 weeks = $1,200/month

Yearly: $1,200 x 12 = $14,400 PER TECH

A 5-technician team could be losing over $70,000 per year to inefficient routing. Even reducing drive time by 30% saves over $21,000 annually.

7 Strategies to Cut Windshield Time

1. Create Service Territories

Divide your service area into geographic zones and assign technicians to specific territories. This prevents cross-town drives and builds local expertise.

How to implement: Draw zones on a map based on zip codes or neighborhoods. Assign techs to territories near their homes when possible. Create primary and secondary territories for overflow.

2. Cluster Calls Geographically

When scheduling, group nearby appointments together. If you have 3 calls in the same neighborhood, schedule them back-to-back rather than scattered throughout the day.

Pro tip: Use scheduling software that shows job locations on a map. This visual makes clustering easy and obvious.

3. Build in Realistic Travel Time

Underestimating travel time leads to cascading delays. Account for actual drive time plus 10-15 minutes buffer for traffic, parking, and finding the unit.

Scheduling formula: Job duration + travel time to next job + 15 minute buffer = time block

4. Offer Flexible Time Windows

Instead of exact appointment times, offer morning/afternoon windows. This flexibility lets you optimize routes without disappointing customers.

Best practice: "8am-12pm" or "1pm-5pm" windows with a call 30 minutes before arrival. Text the customer when the tech is on the way.

5. Prioritize Maintenance Routes

Maintenance agreements are goldmines for efficient routing. Group maintenance calls by area and schedule them on dedicated days.

Example: "North zone maintenance Tuesdays, South zone Thursdays." Techs can knock out 6-8 maintenance calls with minimal driving.

6. Cross-Train for Flexibility

When technicians can handle multiple job types, dispatching becomes more flexible. A tech who can do both AC repairs and furnace tune-ups can take whatever's closest.

Investment payoff: Cross-training costs upfront but saves money every single day through better routing options.

7. Use GPS and Real-Time Dispatch

Modern dispatch software shows where your techs are in real-time. When a priority call comes in, route it to the closest available tech instead of blindly following the schedule.

Emergency handling: GPS dispatch turns emergencies from schedule-busters into opportunities - the closest tech responds fastest AND with minimal travel time.

Sample Daily Schedule: Before & After

Before: Unoptimized

8:00 - Job in North Zone

45 min drive

10:00 - Job in South Zone

50 min drive

12:30 - Job in East Zone

35 min drive

3:00 - Job in North Zone

40 min drive home

Total drive time: 2 hrs 50 min

Jobs completed: 4

After: Optimized

8:00 - Job 1 in North Zone

10 min drive

9:30 - Job 2 in North Zone

15 min drive

11:30 - Job 3 in North Zone

20 min to East

2:00 - Job 4 in East Zone

10 min drive

3:30 - Job 5 in East Zone

25 min drive home

Total drive time: 1 hr 20 min

Jobs completed: 5

By clustering jobs geographically, this tech saved 90 minutes of drive time AND completed one more job.

Metrics to Track

Measure these KPIs to ensure your scheduling improvements are working:

Drive time per job: Average minutes traveled between jobs. Target: under 20 minutes.
Jobs per tech per day: Should increase as routing improves. Benchmark: 5-7 for service calls.
Utilization rate: Billable hours / total work hours. Target: 70-80%.
On-time arrival rate: Percentage of appointments within the promised window. Target: 90%+.
Fuel costs: Track monthly fuel spending. Should decrease with better routing.

Quick Wins to Implement Today

1Map your service area and identify natural territory boundaries (highways, rivers, etc.)

2Review tomorrow's schedule and rearrange calls to minimize cross-town drives

3Switch to time windows instead of exact times for non-emergency calls

4Start tracking drive time so you have a baseline to improve against

Scheduling Software Makes It Easy

JobWright's scheduling features include map-based views, GPS tracking, and drag-and-drop dispatch. You can see all your techs and jobs on a map, making route optimization visual and intuitive. Plus, automatic ETAs keep customers informed without extra calls.