WindowBossPro Blog — Routes & Scheduling

Closest First or Furthest First: Setting Window Cleaning Route Order From the Shop

Two vans can clean the same twelve houses and finish an hour apart. The difference is the order. A route that doubles back across a highway, or starts at the far edge of the service area at rush hour, burns time that should have gone into glass. Getting route order right is one of the cheapest ways to add a job to every day.

From Due Jobs to an Ordered Day

The previous article, The Waiting List: A Map of Every Window Cleaning Job That Came Due, covered how jobs come due and get assigned to a van and a day. Once a van's day has its jobs, the next question is what order to run them in.

In WindowBossPro, the Scheduled List and dispatch board show each van's day. You can auto-route it from the shop with one of two options, Closest First or Furthest First, and then set route order by hand wherever you want a stop moved. Whatever order you end up with is the order the tech sees on their phone.

Closest First

Closest First starts with the stop nearest the shop and works outward. The van is on glass within minutes of leaving, and the day ends at the far side of the route.

It suits days when you want work started fast. If customers are expecting you early, or a crew member is new and you want the first job close in case something was forgotten at the shop, Closest First makes sense. It also works well for storefront routes where the downtown core is near the shop and the outlying strip centers can wait until later in the morning.

The cost is the drive home. The last stop is the furthest away, so the van finishes the day with the longest commute back.

Furthest First

Furthest First drives to the far edge of the route first and works back toward the shop. The long drive happens in the morning, when the crew is fresh, and the day ends close to home.

Many residential crews like this. If a job runs long or the weather turns in the afternoon, the remaining stops are close to the shop, which makes it easier to finish them late or push them to tomorrow without another long drive. It also helps if techs pick up and drop off the van at the shop and want a short trip at the end of a tiring day on ladders.

The cost is the morning commute. If your far stops are on the other side of rush-hour traffic, Furthest First can mean sitting on the highway while the clock runs.

When to Set the Order by Hand

Auto-routing is a starting point. Local knowledge should win wherever it matters. Common reasons to move a stop:

• Storefronts before opening. A shop that wants its glass done before the doors open has to be early, no matter where it sits on the map. See Early-Morning Storefront Routes: Cleaning the Glass Before the Stores Open.
• Inside cleanings. Someone has to be home. If the customer said mornings, put them in the morning.
• Sun and heat. Some crews prefer to do south-facing glass or big picture windows before the afternoon sun bakes the solution onto the pane. That is a judgment call you make, and hand ordering lets you make it.
• Big jobs. A 45-window three-story with hard-water removal may be best done first while everyone is fresh.
• Dogs, gates and HOA hours. Access notes sometimes come with time rules.

A Simple Routine

Most dispatchers settle into the same habit. Assign the jobs to the van, run auto-route with whichever option suits the day, then scan the list top to bottom looking for anything with a time window or a reason to move. Usually that is one or two stops. Move them up or down, save, done.

It helps to keep the window details in view while you scan. The line under each address, such as “32 windows · 2-story · Inside & Outside · Screens,” reminds you which stops are the long ones. Putting two long jobs back to back right before lunch is a different day than spreading them out.

What the Tech Sees

The tech app shows the day's jobs in the order you set. Each card has a navigation button, the window details and the access notes. If you change the order during the day, for example to fit in a same-day add-on, the phone follows. Customers who chose “when I'm next” alerts get their text based on that order, so a good route order also means accurate customer texts.

Get the Order Right Once a Day

Route order is a few minutes of work that pays back all day. Pick Closest First or Furthest First, adjust for the stops that need it, and let the phone carry it out. For the rest of the routing and scheduling tools, see the WindowBossPro window cleaning route software page.