Plumbing dispatching is the job of deciding which technician goes where, in what order, and re-deciding it when the day changes. A small shop does it on a whiteboard and a group chat until the first week it costs a job. Done properly it is one board for the day, jobs dragged onto trucks by skill and location, the change pushed to the technician's phone without a call, and the emergency slotted into the gap it fits. This page is how that works; the dispatch software guide on this site is what to look for in a product, and the price book template prices the tasks the board holds.
The board is the whole day, by truck
Each truck is a column, each job is a card with its address, its task from the price book and its window. The dispatcher sees the gaps and the overlaps at once, which a calendar per technician never shows. Drive time between cards is the figure a board makes visible and a list hides.
The card is the job, not a note
A dispatch card carries the customer and property record, the equipment on site, the history of what was done there and the estimate if one exists. A card with the address alone sends the technician in blind, and blind is a second visit. The customer record guide on this site is what that record has to hold.
The change goes to the phone, not the phone call
When the dispatcher drags a card, the technician's phone shows the new order and the office stops ringing. The morning call to every truck is the tax a shop pays for dispatching from a whiteboard, and it is the first thing software removes.
The emergency and the gap
A burst pipe at ten in the morning goes to the truck whose next card is nearest and whose skill fits, and the card it displaces moves with a message to that customer. Doing that in a minute rather than a quarter of an hour is the difference between winning the emergency and losing it to whoever answered faster.
Questions people ask about plumbing dispatching
Can a two-truck shop dispatch on paper?
Until the first day both trucks are out and the emergency call comes in. The board pays for itself on that day.
What does dispatching software cost?
From the vendors' own pricing pages on the day they were read: Tradify lists its Lite plan at $47 USD per user per month, Pro at $51 and Plus at $61; Jobber's Core plan is $49 per month for one user with additional users at $29 per month each; Housecall Pro's Basic plan is $59 per month billed annually or $79 billed monthly. RoughInDesk Pro is $47 per month for the whole crew.
What does the free tool do?
The price book template on this site prices the tasks the dispatch cards carry, without an account. The board itself is the paid product.