Crew Scheduling Best Practices

Effective scheduling maximizes revenue and minimizes windshield time.


Daily capacity planning:

  • A 3-person crew can complete 3-5 jobs per day depending on complexity
  • Target 6-7 billable hours out of an 8-hour day (allowing for travel, setup, breaks, safety briefings)
  • Build 15-30 minutes per job site for pre-job safety briefing and setup

  • The anchor job method:

  • Schedule the largest/highest-revenue job first as your "anchor"
  • Fill smaller jobs around it, clustered geographically
  • Keep windshield time under 20% of the workday

  • Emergency capacity:

  • Reserve 15-20% of crew capacity for emergency calls (they pay 2-3x standard rates)
  • During storm season, increase reserve to 30-50%
  • Designate one crew as the emergency response team on rotation

  • Seasonal adjustments:

  • Summer: 10-12 hours of daylight allows longer schedules
  • Winter: Tighter scheduling, but dormant pruning work fills the gap
  • Offer 10-20% winter discounts to maintain year-round crew employment
  • Still need help? Ask StumpIQ AI — click the chat bubble or press Cmd+J