Dispatching Garage Door Calls: The Scheduled List, Vans and Route Order
Dispatch is where a garage door company wins or loses the day. Put the wrong van on a spring call across town, or stack three installs on one tech, and the whole schedule slides. The dispatch board in GarageDoorBossPro is built to make those decisions fast and keep the techs in step with them.
Where the Day Starts
Most of the day's scheduled work comes off the Waiting List, which is explained in The Waiting List: How Garage Door Software Brings Yearly Tune-Ups Back on Time. Approved estimates and same-day repair calls join it on the board.
By the time the office opens the dispatch board, the work for the day has three sources: tune-ups and maintenance visits picked from the Waiting List, install jobs that started as approved estimates, and the repair calls that came in by phone, the customer app or the website.
The Scheduled List by Day and Van
The Scheduled List, or dispatch board, shows jobs by day. Filter by van to see one tech's day, or look at every van together. Each job shows the customer, the address and the work, so the office can tell a quick sensor adjustment from an all-day door install at a glance.
Moving a job from one van to another, or from today to tomorrow, takes a moment. The tech's phone updates to match, so nobody is working from yesterday's plan.
Route Order
Once the jobs are on the right vans, they need an order. GarageDoorBossPro gives you two ways:
- Auto-route. Closest First starts near the shop and works outward. Furthest First drives to the far end and works back toward the shop, which is handy when the tech wants to finish the day close to home base.
- Set route order by hand. When a customer can only be home at a certain time, or an install needs to be first so it gets a full morning, drag the job into place.
Most offices auto-route first and then nudge a job or two. The tech app shows the day in the same order, with navigation from each card.
Saved Views and Route Sheets
Saved views let the office keep the board the way it likes to see it, such as one view for the repair van, one for installs and one for the whole fleet. Instead of setting filters every morning, pick the view.
Printed route sheets are there for anyone who wants paper in the van, for a tech who is still getting used to the app, or as a backup. The sheet matches the route order on the board.
A Typical Garage Door Split
A common setup for a company with two vans looks like this:
- Van 1, repairs: broken springs, cables, off-track doors, openers that quit, sensors and keypads. This van keeps room in its day for emergency calls.
- Van 2, installs and tune-ups: opener installs, new doors, panel replacements and the tune-ups from the Waiting List.
With three or more vans, the split might add a commercial van for property manager and dock work. The board handles all of it the same way: jobs by day, filtered by van. More on this split is in Garage Door Software for Two to Five Vans: Splitting Repairs, Installs and Tune-Ups.
Crew GPS and the Customer
Tech locations show on the office map, so when a new call comes in, the office can see which van is actually closest instead of guessing. That is the fastest way to decide where an emergency spring call fits.
On the customer side, the route order drives the automatic texts. When a tech heads to a job, the homeowner can get an on-the-way text, and an arrived text when the tech gets there. Homeowners using the customer app see their place on the live route map, like “You're stop 6 of 9 — the tech is 2 stops away.”
When the Day Changes
It always does. A homeowner cancels, an install runs long, or a tech can't get in and taps Skip with a note. The office sees the skip and the reason, moves the job to another day, and reorders the rest of the route if needed. The phones update with every change.
Because everything is on one board, the office never has to call around to find out who is where. The board and the crew GPS already show it.
Dispatch Without a Dispatcher
In a one or two van company, the owner usually dispatches between jobs. The board is designed for that too. Auto-route the day in the morning, drop a new call into the right van from a phone at lunch, and let the techs follow their lists.
Dispatch is where the house records, the Waiting List and the tech app all meet. To see the full picture, visit the GarageDoorBossPro garage door software page.
Put Every Van's Day in Order
GarageDoorBossPro shows jobs by day and van, auto-routes from the shop, and keeps every tech's phone in step with the board.
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