# Residential Dispatch Times / Routes



## WarriorLandscapingCan (Sep 22, 2016)

Hey Gents!

I have 23 residential driveways for my employee's. (1 truck, 3 guys with snowblowers/shovels)
They are all within a 15 km radius of each-other any which way with 12 homes on the same street / street over.
3 Other homes are within 2 km. 2 or 3 are far from each-other (10 - 15 km)

I routed all 23 properties and the whole optimized route is about 50 minutes or so from start to finish and back to start.

I am assuming the whole run will take 6 - 8 hours with drive time, clear time, etc.

The difficult I am facing is route planning.

I have two options.

a) Go with the optimized route according to proximity / distance (routed by closest to each-other)
b) Go with removal time deadline. (Routed by who requires service earliest etc)

One home is 6:30 am, some are 9 am, about 10 are before 7 am, some are retired.

If I go with route A its less drive time, but we could risk missing peoples deadlines if we don't dispatch early enough. (I am thinking 3 am dispatch)

If I go without route B we could technically begin with a later dispatch, catch plows working, but face far more driving distance.

Any suggestions?

Thank you


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## m_ice (Aug 12, 2012)

We only do HOA residential but the only 2 things that dictate order are money and special medical needs (if someone in an HOA get dialysis we do theirs 1st).


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## jonniesmooth (Dec 5, 2008)

Where we start on the route depends on what time we start on the route. Make 2 route plans, 1 in order of closest drive time, 1 by priority.


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## andersman02 (May 5, 2012)

Are these people paying extra for priority? We don't do "I need to be done by.xx time" we do however route for efficiency and reverse the routes each time.


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## EWSplow (Dec 4, 2012)

WarriorLandscapingCan said:


> Hey Gents!
> 
> I have 23 residential driveways for my employee's. (1 truck, 3 guys with snowblowers/shovels)
> They are all within a 15 km radius of each-other any which way with 12 homes on the same street / street over.
> ...


We have mixed routes, commercial and residential.
We start by route distance and if we can we'll waver from the normal route by time they want them done. We have two sidewalk crews, going with routes not far from each other, so occasionally someone needs to do one not on their route.


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## BossPlow2010 (Sep 29, 2010)

I think you’re setting yourself up for failure by specifying a time of day properties to be clear. there used to be a guy on here that claimed he could have a path cleared for every driveway he did by 7 am. What happens when you don’t reach your trigger amount until 6:59 am?
Just something to think about, but I let my clients know I make no claims of time a property will be serviced by


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## EWSplow (Dec 4, 2012)

BossPlow2010 said:


> I think you're setting yourself up for failure by specifying a time of day properties to be clear. there used to be a guy on here that claimed he could have a path cleared for every driveway he did by 7 am. What happens when you don't reach your trigger amount until 6:59 am?
> Just something to think about, but I let my clients know I make no claims of time a property will be serviced by


This only works if it stops snowing 5 hours before the latest on your completion deadline.


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## WarriorLandscapingCan (Sep 22, 2016)

Hard to sell a residential snow contract to someone for the season if you cannot give them peace of mind knowing they're driveway won't be buried in snow before they leave for work. This is just good service.

We do our best and work with what we have.

Obviously paying attention to the weather and snow times brings more confidence to our dispatch time.

If 5 cm isn't expected until 7 am then we would notify the clients that we would be starting later in the day. If it's a larger storm of 10 - 20 cm we start earlier and bang it out!


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## theplowmeister (Nov 14, 2006)

BossPlow2010 said:


> I think you're setting yourself up for failure by specifying a time of day properties to be clear. there used to be a guy on here that claimed he could have a path cleared for every driveway he did by 7 am. What happens when you don't reach your trigger amount until 6:59 am?
> Just something to think about, but I let my clients know I make no claims of time a property will be serviced by


Yaa That is me. I dont understand your difficulty in understanding. Where did I say there driveway would be devoid of all snow @ 7:00 AM? I said *BY * 
so 6:30 is by 7:00AM is it not? My customers want to go to work. They can drive through 1 or 2 inches that accumulate between when I do the path and when they leave. Hell, most of the streets will have more snow than there driveway will.

I guess it doesn't matter if you get it or not, my customers do and love the service.


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## jonniesmooth (Dec 5, 2008)

andersman02 said:


> Are these people paying extra for priority? We don't do "I need to be done by.xx time" we do however route for efficiency and reverse the routes each time.


Yes


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## BossPlow2010 (Sep 29, 2010)

theplowmeister said:


> Yaa That is me. I dont understand your difficulty in understanding. Where did I say there driveway would be devoid of all snow @ 7:00 AM? I said *BY *
> so 6:30 is by 7:00AM is it not? My customers want to go to work. They can drive through 1 or 2 inches that accumulate between when I do the path and when they leave. Hell, most of the streets will have more snow than there driveway will.
> 
> I guess it doesn't matter if you get it or not, my customers do and love the service.


K


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## jonniesmooth (Dec 5, 2008)

WarriorLandscapingCan said:


> Hard to sell a residential snow contract to someone for the season if you cannot give them peace of mind knowing they're driveway won't be buried in snow before they leave for work. This is just good service.
> 
> We do our best and work with what we have.
> 
> ...


Not a hard sell, if you approach it right. 
Do you want to be a priority? Are you willing to pay for that?
Most people in my area fall into 2 categories, either
1 I have 4 wheel drive and can get out, I just hate shoveling
2 I'm old and retired and I hate shoveling, I'm in no hurry to get out.


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## jonniesmooth (Dec 5, 2008)

theplowmeister said:


> Yaa That is me. I dont understand your difficulty in understanding. Where did I say there driveway would be devoid of all snow @ 7:00 AM? I said *BY *
> so 6:30 is by 7:00AM is it not? My customers want to go to work. They can drive through 1 or 2 inches that accumulate between when I do the path and when they leave. Hell, most of the streets will have more snow than there driveway will.
> 
> I guess it doesn't matter if you get it or not, my customers do and love the service.


We call that " cheap and dirty mode" that's what we do during a storm


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## EWSplow (Dec 4, 2012)

WarriorLandscapingCan said:


> Hard to sell a residential snow contract to someone for the season if you cannot give them peace of mind knowing they're driveway won't be buried in snow before they leave for work. This is just good service.
> 
> We do our best and work with what we have.
> 
> ...


Have you thought about dividing your crew?
1 guy in the plow truck and 2 guys in another truck doing walks? I realize that there are only 23 properties, but if you add a few more, this might be more efficient. It all depends on the nature of the properties.


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## WarriorLandscapingCan (Sep 22, 2016)

Yeah I have,

Problem is I am up here an hour north doing our own sites (north crew) my other 3 guys are 1 hour south doing their route with 1 truck (south crew).

If I had more trucks it would work for sure. But with new employee's I want them all to be together so the crew leader calls the shots, fills out the log books, does everything correctly and so on.

I think I will go the optimized route and dispatch early enough to make it happen. If our first driveways get covered over 5 cm again then we re-do them at a later time. Once we get a few runs in I will have a much clearer idea and feedback from the crew.

I think the most important factor here is the amount of snow coming down, if it's a big storm then I am more critical of response time.


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## EWSplow (Dec 4, 2012)

My conditions are much different. 8 miles north to south and 1 mile east to west is pretty much my coverage area. This is a mix of multifamily, duplex and single family and commercial. 
I had 1 sidewalk sub who could knock out 20 by himself in about 6 hours if not more than 2".


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## cjames808 (Dec 18, 2015)

OP are you manning the Keurig or in the truck also? 

I’d take on more and do 2 trucks 2 guys work from far to near your base.

All of our accounts have a open up time. This is not a “total clear and salted” deadline but spells out when they open and to have some level of service done if over the trigger and timing allows. This is never an issue other than blizzards or storms that are heavy throughout their open up time.


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## Mudly (Feb 6, 2019)

I only plow when it snows. Doesnt matter what time it is


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## WarriorLandscapingCan (Sep 22, 2016)

cjames808 said:


> OP are you manning the Keurig or in the truck also?
> 
> I'd take on more and do 2 trucks 2 guys work from far to near your base.
> 
> All of our accounts have a open up time. This is not a "total clear and salted" deadline but spells out when they open and to have some level of service done if over the trigger and timing allows. This is never an issue other than blizzards or storms that are heavy throughout their open up time.


I am in my own truck with 2 other guys. We are not in the same city as the other crew with 23 homes. They do this independently. We service 3 small towns in my area only (me personally).

The crew with 23 houses is made up of my other 2 - 3 guys and they focus strictly in their city. (1 hour south of me) I do not go down and help them is what I am trying to say.


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## theplowmeister (Nov 14, 2006)

Driving to do 1 person, plowing them driving to another area doing a couple of people driving back to the first persons neighborhood because they dont need to be out till 1 hour later eats up a lot of time driving. I dont get paid for driving from customer to customer do you? especially if you have to drive 15 Km to get to them. during a storm thats what, 1 hour driving time round trip? that makes 1 hour 6 minutes (assuming it takes you 6 minutes to plow them) to plow them. If you charged %50 less how many people could you pick up within 3 Km? if its more than 3 you are making more money per hour!


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## cjames808 (Dec 18, 2015)

Holy scat. Is there no customers closer?

Figure a more reasonable service radius. Start dialing it in next season and the season after that. 

You and your customers will be more happier.


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## Freshwater (Feb 28, 2014)

Drives got done after all the snow fell. I guaranteed clear 5hrs after snow stopped. 
Is 23 in 6-8 hrs with 3 guys even profitable?
Your equipment is too slow to even think about guaranteeing any kind of a time done.
I'm glad I dont do drives anymore.


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