A security installer's calendar has rocks and sand in it. The rocks are installs: a new alarm system, a camera package, access control for a small office. They take hours, sometimes two techs, and once a tech is on one, they're there until it's done. The sand is service: a sensor that won't arm, a camera that dropped offline, a keypad replacement, a battery swap. Short visits, often urgent to the customer, and scattered across your whole service area.
How you place the rocks decides how much room is left for the sand, and how much of that room the drive eats.
Installs are anchors
Treat each install as an anchor for the tech's day. It has a fixed location for a long stretch, a start time the customer has arranged their day around, and a duration that's mostly known from the system design: number of zones or devices, wired or wireless, cameras and where they mount, panel location, whether there's an attic or crawlspace run.
Three things to get right about installs:
- Size them from the scope, not a default. A four-camera package and a twelve-camera package are not the same block. Use your own past installs to build times per device type, and add wiring complexity for older buildings or finished spaces.
- Decide crew size up front. If a job needs two techs, both of their days are anchored by it. The second tech's morning drive matters just as much as the first's.
- Start installs early. An install that starts at 8:00 and ends at 1:00 leaves an afternoon for service. One that starts at 10:30 often leaves nothing useful on either side.
Service calls fill the gaps, if the gaps are reachable
The space around an install is only useful for service calls nearby. A tech finishing an install at 1:00 on the north side can do two or three service calls on the north side that afternoon. If the only open service request is 45 minutes south, a large part of that afternoon becomes driving.
That's why the booking question for a service call is never just "who's free at 2:00." It's "who will be finishing something near this address around 2:00, and does the drive fit."
A worked example: an afternoon after an install
Illustrative numbers only. A tech's install runs 8:00 to 1:00. Three service requests come in for the afternoon. The tech's shift ends at 5:00.
Same tech, same afternoon. Placed near the install, the afternoon holds three service calls. Placed by "who's free," it holds two and a lot of driving. The difference was decided when the service calls were booked.
Service windows and SLAs
Commercial accounts often have a promised response time for service. Residential customers usually just want a reasonable service window. Either way, the promise only holds if the tech you're relying on can reach the site after the job they're on. An install that runs long pushes every service call behind it, so commercial service with tight commitments is safer on techs who aren't anchored by an install that day.
Some companies split their teams: install techs and service techs. That makes each schedule simpler, but the service team then covers the whole territory, and their drive between calls becomes the main cost. Others mix both on every tech, which keeps service calls close to wherever the installs are, at the cost of more planning. There's no universal right answer. Run the drive arithmetic on your own territory for a few typical weeks and see which pattern costs less driving. Technician utilization rate is a good way to compare the two honestly.
Booking-time feasibility for security companies
For each booking, the check is:
- For an install: do the required techs have a clear block of the right length, and is their drive to the site realistic from wherever they start?
- For a service call: which tech will finish something nearby around the requested time, and does the drive from that job leave time to do this one and reach what comes after?
CrewLink does this check before the slot is offered. It builds live travel time into availability, computing travel from where the tech will actually be (the previous job) rather than the shop, and only offers slots a tech can physically reach. Drive time sits next to each job on the dispatch board, so the afternoon after an install shows its real shape. For the broader case, read route optimization solves the wrong half of the problem.
Low-voltage work often shares techs or customers with electrical contractors, and access control overlaps with locksmith work, so the same anchor-and-fill logic applies there.
What to take away
- Installs are anchors. Size them from the system scope and start them early.
- Service calls are only cheap when they're near where a tech already is.
- The best place for a service call is next to an install that ends nearby.
- Tight commercial response promises are safer on techs who aren't anchored by an install.
- Check feasibility from the install's realistic end time and address.
Common questions
How long should I schedule for an alarm or camera install?
Build it from the scope: number and type of devices, wired or wireless, cable runs, mounting locations, and the building's construction. Use times from your own past installs for each device type, and add a margin for older or finished buildings. Decide whether the job needs one tech or two before booking.
Should installers and service techs be separate teams?
It depends on your territory. Separate teams make schedules simpler but spread service techs across the whole area. Mixed teams keep service calls near installs. Compare total drive and utilization for a few typical weeks under both patterns using your own job history.
How do I fit service calls around installs?
Start installs early so the afternoon is usable. Then book service calls near where each install ends, checking the drive from the install site to the service address. Leave calls far from any install for techs who aren't anchored that day.
How many security service calls can a tech do per day?
If a service call takes S hours on site and the average drive between calls is D hours, the rough ceiling for an H-hour shift is H ÷ (S + D). On days with an install, subtract the install block first and run the same arithmetic on what's left.