Configurable Service Duration per Customer or per Job for Distribution and Field Services

What this means for distribution businesses

A furniture retailer knows that delivering a sofa to a third-floor flat takes three times longer than a ground-floor drop. Tiered service durations let you set different times based on property type, item count, or customer tier. Wholesale food distributors serving restaurants need different dwell times for a quick keg swap versus a full weekly restock. Ecommerce fulfilment operations can assign per-item durations so a single-parcel drop gets 2 minutes while a 10-box order gets 8. For building materials operators, separating crane-assisted unloading time from paperwork time gives the optimizer a realistic picture of each stop.

What this means for field service businesses

A boiler inspection takes 45 minutes but a full installation takes 3 hours, and the optimizer needs to know the difference. Configure per-job-type service durations so your HVAC technicians are never double-booked. Electrical contractors can set rule-based durations where a simple socket replacement gets 30 minutes but a consumer unit upgrade gets half a day. Pest control operators managing mixed schedules of quick bait-station checks and thorough property surveys need distinct durations for each. For solar installation teams, separating scaffold setup time from panel mounting time means the optimizer accounts for both phases accurately.

How it works

• Three-tier priority: task-level durations override customer-level, which override the global default
• Tiered durations by quantity range (e.g. 15 min for 0-100kg, 20 min for 101-200kg, 30 min for 201+kg)
• Separate setup time from service time — setup is charged once per location, service multiplies per task
• Apply a scaling factor (e.g. 1.2x) across all durations to adjust for seasonal or environmental conditions
• Enable Estimated Time of Completion so the optimizer ensures drivers finish within the window, not just arrive