Commercial HVAC dispatch software: change the plan without losing the work.
A reactive call pulls one tech off a two-tech PM visit. Here’s how to move that tech without losing track of the access window, the unfinished work or which plan the techs actually have.
Published · Updated
Two techs are halfway through a PM when another building calls. Moving a name on the schedule takes seconds. The hard part is deciding what the remaining tech can finish, what the customer is still owed, and whether everyone’s working from the same plan.
Good dispatch software lets you make that call with the work in front of you. Here’s a way to test it.
Techs A and B are booked at Building A from 08:00 to 12:00. At 09:30 the office decides to send A to a reactive call at Building B. This covers the scheduling and handoff, not how to diagnose the call.
Check what’s possible before you move anyone.
The service manager confirms B can finish the remaining filter work alone, and the right filters are already on site. The controls checks need A’s experience, so they’ll need a return visit. Building A’s access ends at noon.
For Building B, the dispatcher confirms access, which unit it is and what the problem is. A has the experience for it. Nobody knows yet what parts the repair needs, so A is booked to assess it, with no promise of a finished repair. The new plan allows for travel and a 10:15 arrival.
Sending A means giving up part of today’s PM, so the dispatcher sets up a return with Building A. It can sit without a date for now, as long as it’s on the board as work still owed.
Leave a handoff the next dispatcher can use.
Here’s where things stand at 09:45, after A has submitted the PM handoff and left.
Scroll sideways to compare the original booking with the revised handoff.
| Record | Before the call | At the handoff |
|---|---|---|
| Building A PM visit | A and B, 08:00–12:00. Filter work and controls checks planned. | B stays, planned until 11:30, to finish the filter work. Controls checks still owed. Access ends at noon. |
| Technician A | On the PM for the morning. | PM work recorded 08:00–09:45, with a note listing what’s done and what isn’t, unit by unit. Travel planned 09:45–10:15, then the Building B assessment until 12:00. |
| Technician B | On the same PM visit. | Still at Building A. B’s notes and hours stay B’s own. The visit isn’t complete yet. |
| Building A Return work | No return planned. | Controls-check return, not yet scheduled. The dispatcher finds a new access window and a qualified tech, then sends the assignment. |
The return instructions should name the units and checks left undone, since “Finish PM” leaves the next tech guessing. Keep the return on the original work record; the maintenance agreement guide covers the wider agreement book.
Know which plan the techs have.
In BoltWright, the office can draft changes to a visit that’s already been sent, and the techs keep the current plan in Field until the dispatcher sends the update. The dispatcher can send one visit’s change or the whole day’s reviewed drafts at once.
When the plan goes out, BoltWright checks for overlapping appointments, and the dispatcher can override an overlap with a reason. It doesn’t check access, travel time, qualifications or parts; those are still the dispatcher’s call.
A follow-up visit can go on the same work order and stay unscheduled while access is sorted out. Creating it doesn’t book anyone. Sending the plan doesn’t mean the tech has read it, and with no signal on a roof they may not have it yet, so call if the change is urgent.
Keep each tech’s work separate from the visit.
A leaving doesn’t finish B’s day or the PM. BoltWright records each tech’s work submission and notes separately from completing the visit, so A’s submission can stop A’s time entry while B’s keeps running.
At the handoff you should see A’s actual hours, B’s ongoing work and the controls checks still owed. The four-hour booking shouldn’t turn into four billable hours for each tech.
Try the interruption in a walkthrough.
Bring a redacted PM visit and a second service call. Save the changed plan and check what the techs still see. Send the change, check both techs’ assignments, then find the unscheduled return. Last, look at A’s submitted work next to B’s, which is still in progress.
For the rest of the buying decision, see the commercial HVAC software comparison.
Bring a day that didn’t go to plan.
Take the names out and we’ll run it through BoltWright, from dispatch and equipment history to field work, office review and invoicing, checking the assignments and the work still owed along the way.
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