HVAC dispatcher cheat sheet — the 12 decisions that make or break a summer no-cool day

# HVAC dispatcher cheat sheet Peak cooling season. Phones ringing. Three no-cool calls in the last 20 minutes. Your best tech just texted "flat tire, home 2 hours." This is where great HVAC operations get built or destroyed. Twelve decisions your dispatcher makes in the next 60 minutes. ## 1. Triage by criticality, not order-received Elderly customer at 92°F ambient → move to top of queue. Vacation rental owner "check-in at 5pm" → also top. Homeowner "it'll wait til tomorrow" → bump to morning slot. ## 2. Cluster by geography Two calls in the same subdivision go to one tech. Never send two trucks 90 miles round-trip for two calls 4 blocks apart. ## 3. Match skill to symptom "Blower running, no cold air" → any tech. "Restaurant walk-in cooler down" → your commercial-certified tech only. "Ductless mini-split short cycling" → your ductless-trained tech. ## 4. Reserve one truck for commercial contract obligations If you have PMA contracts guaranteeing 24-hour service, don't burn all your capacity on residential emergencies. One truck stays flexible for contract callbacks. ## 5. Pre-load parts on the truck Common no-cool parts on any dispatch: 5μF and 45μF capacitors, TXV, contactor, dual-run capacitor, freon (R-410A, R-32), condensate pump. If a tech has to come back for a $12 part, you just lost 90 minutes. ## 6. Set customer expectations in writing "Tech en route, ETA 2:45pm. If we're delayed we'll text you." Beats "we'll come today sometime" every single time. Cuts inbound "where's my tech" calls by 60%. ## 7. Use "On My Way" SMS automation When the tech taps "En route" in the mobile app, an SMS fires automatically to the customer with ETA. Zero dispatcher effort. ## 8. Overbook the schedule by 15% Not 30% (you'll burn out the crew). But 15% assumes 1-2 cancellations per day and keeps techs busy. Empty slots are your worst enemy. ## 9. Watch the "in progress" column in real time If a job has been "in progress" for 90+ minutes and the tech hasn't updated notes, call them. Something's going sideways. ## 10. Log why every callback happens Callback = tech came back to fix what should've been done first visit. Every callback has a root cause: missing part, missing skill, bad diagnosis. Track them per tech per month. ## 11. Protect Friday afternoons No new discretionary work booked after 2pm Friday unless it's an emergency. Techs need Friday afternoon to close out paperwork, restock, and go home. Otherwise Monday is chaos. ## 12. Have a "clean-up hour" every day 15 minutes at 5pm: dispatcher reviews all completed jobs, confirms photos + notes + parts used are logged, and closes them for invoicing. Otherwise Fridays become an invoicing marathon. ## What this looks like in Service Pro Suite - Dispatch board with drag-drop reassignment - Skill tags per tech (Universal EPA, commercial, ductless) - Route optimization that respects skill matching - Real-time job status with automated "On My Way" SMS - Parts inventory per truck with low-stock alerts - Callback rate report by tech Great dispatchers don't have magic. They have discipline + tooling.