Planning the day’s route: how to fit in more jobs without rushing

The time a plumbing business loses isn’t lost on the jobs — it’s lost between them. Pointless journeys, waiting outside locked doors, trips back to the merchant for one part: easily two hours a day, which is a whole billable job.

A route isn’t a list of addresses; it’s a plan for the day that can survive the unexpected.

Group by area, not by the order customers called

The natural instinct is to serve customers in the order they rang. The result is the south side, then the far north, then back south, then east — and an hour and a half in the van. Group your scheduled jobs by area and by day: the northern suburbs on Tuesday and Thursday, the southern ones on Monday and Wednesday. Customers almost always accept a day’s difference when you give them a specific appointment.

Leave room for emergencies — because they’ll come

A route packed from 8 to 5 falls apart at the first leak. Keep a free two-hour slot every day, ideally early in the afternoon. If you don’t need it, fill it with quotes or a maintenance visit in the area. If you do, the emergency doesn’t cancel anything.

Realistic arrival windows

“I’ll pop round in the morning” is the main cause of complaints. Give a two-hour window (“10:00–12:00”) and include travel time in the duration of each job. If a boiler replacement takes three hours, don’t put two of them in one morning.

A practical rule: estimate the time you think it’ll take and add 25%. Tradespeople’s estimates are almost always optimistic, because they remember the job without the snags.

One call in the morning saves a wasted visit

A locked door is the most expensive form of waste: you pay for the journey and charge nothing. A short confirmation message or call in the morning drastically reduces wasted trips — and gives you the chance to rearrange the day if someone cancels.

Load the day’s materials the evening before

If you know the route the day before, you also know what parts you need. Picking up supplies in the morning costs you the worst hour of the day; picking them up the previous afternoon costs a quarter of an hour.

The route on your phone, not on paper

A paper schedule doesn’t update when the day changes. When the route lives on each tradesperson’s phone, changes reach everyone immediately, the address opens in maps with one tap and the job sheet is filled in where the job finishes. That’s how PlumbPro works: one screen with the day, the addresses and the status of every job.

Five numbers worth tracking

• Jobs completed per day and per tradesperson.
• Percentage of wasted trips (locked door, cancelled on arrival).
• Average time per job type — for more realistic appointments.
• How many emergencies come in each week, so you know how much buffer you need.
• Jobs postponed because a part was missing.

Conclusion

A good route doesn’t make you rush more — it saves you the journeys you never needed to make. Grouping by area, a free two-hour slot for emergencies, two-hour arrival windows and a confirmation in the morning: four habits that give you back one billable job a day.