No-show rate is the percentage of scheduled field service appointments where the technician arrives but cannot do the work because the customer is not there or the site is not accessible, without the appointment having been cancelled in advance.
How no-show rate is measured
No-show rate = Appointments where the customer was absent or the site inaccessible ÷ Total appointments arrived at × 100
Cost per no-show = Drive labor + Vehicle cost + Lost job margin
Say your team reaches 800 appointments in a month and 24 are no-shows. The rate is 24 ÷ 800 = 3%. If each no-show costs 40 minutes of round-trip drive at $45 an hour loaded labor ($30), $15 of vehicle cost and a slot that could have held a $150-margin job, that is $195 each, or $4,680 a month. The truck roll cost calculator runs this with your own costs.
Count no-shows separately from same-day cancellations. A cancellation an hour before arrival is a scheduling problem; a locked gate at arrival is a no-show.
Why it matters
A no-show is one of the most expensive outcomes of a field visit: the full cost of a truck roll with no revenue. It also wrecks the rest of the day. The gap it leaves rarely matches a job you can move into it, especially once the drive to that job is counted.
The causes are mostly predictable:
- Wide windows. A customer told "8 to 12" steps out at 11:40. A tighter arrival window gives them less time to leave.
- Long lead times. A visit booked three weeks ago is easier to forget.
- No confirmation. Customers who were never reminded are more likely to be out.
- Access details. Gate codes, tenants and pets that nobody recorded.
Reminders and confirmations are a customer communication practice, covered in the customer communication guide. CrewLink does not send texts or notifications. What it does affect is window width: it computes travel from where the truck will actually be before a slot is offered, which supports a tighter promise. See travel-time scheduling.
A common mistake
Recording no-shows as cancellations, or not recording them at all. Then the cost disappears into the day and nobody sees which job types, areas or booking channels cause most of them.
Related terms
- Rescheduling rate tracks appointments moved before the visit.
- Trip charge is a fee some companies apply to no-shows.
- Idle time is what a no-show often turns into.
Common questions
Should you charge customers for no-shows?
Some companies charge a fee if the policy was stated at booking. Decide based on your market and apply it consistently.
What is a normal no-show rate?
It varies by trade and customer type. Track your own rate monthly and watch for changes after you adjust windows or reminders.
How do you reduce no-shows?
Confirm the day before, keep windows as narrow as you can reliably keep, and record access details at booking.