Crew scheduling is the process of assigning teams of two or more workers, usually sharing a truck, to jobs and time slots so that each crew's day is full, reachable and matched to the skills each job needs.
How crew scheduling is measured
Crew time is paid per person, so every number multiplies by crew size.
Crew drive cost = Drive hours × Crew size × Loaded hourly labor cost
Crew utilization = On-site crew hours ÷ Paid crew hours
Say a three-person installation crew drives 2 hours a day at a loaded cost of $40 per person-hour. That is 2 × 3 × $40 = $240 a day in drive labor. Over 240 working days it is $57,600 for one crew. Cut the drive to 1.25 hours and the same arithmetic gives $36,000. Run the numbers on your own crews with the windshield time cost calculator.
Why it matters
Crews are common in roofing, solar, landscaping, flooring and other install-heavy trades. They change the scheduling problem in three ways.
- Drive time is multiplied. A detour that costs one technician 30 minutes costs a four-person crew two labor hours.
- Jobs are longer and less divisible. A crew often works one or two jobs a day, so a late start can push a job to the next day.
- Crew makeup matters. A job might need a lead installer plus helpers, and the crew has to be available together.
Because each mistake costs more, crew schedules benefit most from knowing the drive before committing. Windshield time is the same idea for one technician; for a crew, multiply it by headcount.
CrewLink schedules crews around the drive rather than the calendar. It computes travel from where the crew will actually be, the previous job, before a slot is offered. That is described on the travel-time scheduling page.
A common mistake
Booking crew jobs by date only. A crew finishing a roof at 2:00 p.m. has a real location and a real drive to the next site. Scheduling the next job as "Tuesday afternoon" without that drive is how crews arrive with an hour of daylight left. Treat drive time as part of the job.
Related terms
- Resource scheduling adds equipment and vehicles to the crew assignment.
- Shift scheduling sets when crew members are on the clock.
- Subcontractor scheduling covers crews you do not employ directly.
Common questions
What is the difference between crew scheduling and technician scheduling?
Technician scheduling usually places one person per job. Crew scheduling places a group that must be available and travel together.
How many jobs should a crew do per day?
It depends on job length and drive. Calculate it from your own average job hours plus drive per job, divided into the working day.
Should crews start from the shop or from home?
Either can work. What matters is computing the first drive from wherever the crew actually starts.