Guide
Capacity Planning: How Many Jobs Can You Really Run Per Day?
Figure out your real daily capacity so you stop overbooking: track actual job times for two weeks (by job type), subtract drive time and breaks from work hours, divide by average job time, then add 15–30 minutes buffer between jobs and book 1–2 fewer jobs than that number. Review weekly and adjust. When you're ready for software, look for capacity planning that shows open slots and warns when the day is overbooked.
For teams booking too many jobs and running behind schedule because the day looked full on paper but wasn't realistic.
Next: Track actual times for two weeks and calculate your number; book to that number for one week and see if you finish on time.
The situation
You book jobs, but the day gets too full and you run behind. You're not sure how many jobs you can actually complete per day.
You need a realistic capacity number to avoid overbooking. Without it, you're guessing and either underbooking (lost revenue) or overbooking (late techs, angry customers).
What usually causes it
- No clear capacity number, so you book jobs until the day looks full on the board.
- Not accounting for drive time, setup, and cleanup so the math is wrong from the start.
- Booking jobs too close together with no buffer time so one delay cascades.
- Not tracking actual job completion times so you're using guesswork, not data.
Quick fixes you can try this week
- Track actual job times for 2 weeks: how long does each job type take from arrival to done?
- Calculate daily capacity: (work hours minus drive time minus breaks) divided by average job time.
- Add buffer time: block 15-30 minutes between jobs for drive time and unexpected delays.
- Start conservative: book 1-2 fewer jobs than your calculated capacity so you have slack.
- Review weekly: adjust capacity based on actual completion rates so the number stays real.
If you're ready: what to look for
- Capacity planning tools that show available time slots so you see when the day is full.
- Job time tracking that records actual completion times so the system learns your real averages.
- Scheduling buffers that block time between jobs so you're not stacking back-to-back.
- Capacity alerts that warn when the day is overbooked so you catch it before dispatch.
Mistakes to avoid
- Booking jobs too close together with no buffer so one overrun kills the rest of the day.
- Not accounting for drive time and setup so your capacity number is too high.
- Using ideal job times instead of actual times so you're optimistic, not realistic.
- Not reviewing capacity weekly so the number gets stale as routes or job mix change.
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