Insights

You bought great scheduling software. So why are your technicians still leaving?


Technician Scheduling

Most commercial HVAC service companies treat scheduling like a control system. It's the linchpin of daily operations - the way work gets assigned, prioritized, and tracked.

That’s why dispatching features are often the #1 thing buyers look for in field service software. Sophisticated scheduling tools feel like insurance: if we can control the calendar, we can control the chaos.

But what if that assumption is backwards?

Across North America, the technician labour shortage is top of mind for field service company owners as they compete for a limited pool of talent[1]. Turnover leads to high costs from lost revenue, hiring, onboarding, and productivity dips.

Meanwhile, customer satisfaction often suffers not because jobs are missed - but because they’re rushed, poorly communicated, or lack follow-through. And even though companies invest in better software, productivity and morale often remain stagnant.

If scheduling was solving the problem, wouldn’t those numbers be better by now?

A Different Way to Look at Scheduling

Manufacturing underwent a radical change in the late 20th century when lean principles showed that reducing handoffs and increasing worker autonomy could double productivity.[2] Instead of segmenting tasks across specialized workers, lean systems empower individuals to own entire processes - from start to finish - resulting in fewer delays, errors, and inefficiencies.

What does that have to do with HVAC service?

Everything.

Imagine if a technician were responsible not only for doing the work - but also for planning when it gets done. Instead of the office pushing appointments into a technician’s calendar, the technician pulls from the queue and sequences the work themselves, within deadlines.

That shift changes the nature of scheduling. It moves from being about control, to being about ownership.

“Won’t That Lead to Chaos?”

That’s a fair question. In our experience - across a multitude of service industries - the opposite happened.

Here’s what companies observed when they let technicians self-schedule:

  • Job timing improved. Urgent jobs still got done first. Scheduled appointments were honored. But technicians optimized routes and sequences based on field realities that the office rarely sees.
  • Technicians ditched the software calendar. Most preferred using tools they already trusted - like Google Calendar on their phones - to manage their schedules. It made coordination easier, not harder.
  • Morale, productivity, and hiring all improved. Job satisfaction rose sharply. Word spread that these companies treated techs like professionals. Resumes began arriving unsolicited. HR burdens decreased.
  • Revenue growth followed. In one case, pairing self-scheduling with real-time pricing and full job ownership led to a doubling of revenue in 12 months, without a staff count increase - confirmed by audited financials.

This isn’t theoretical. It’s happening now.

But Is It Right for Your Business?

Let’s be clear: not every company will thrive with full technician-controlled scheduling. Some industries have strict compliance or union constraints. Some jobs are fixed-date by nature.

But most HVAC service companies are bleeding money on inefficiencies they don’t even know they have. The real cost of centralized scheduling isn't just the time your dispatchers spend - it's the lack of autonomy technicians feel, the job hopping it creates, and the misalignment between office plans and field realities.

Today, we see three broad scheduling models in the industry:

  • Traditional scheduling: Office assigns everything. Still the most common.
  • Shared control: Office assigns work, but techs manage the timing.
  • Full self-scheduling: Office sets priorities and goals; techs plan and execute.

Companies using the latter two models are growing faster, retaining techs longer, and reporting higher customer satisfaction scores.[3]

Final Thought

“When we stopped telling techs what to do and started letting them take full ownership of their days, something shifted. They got better at prioritizing, better at communicating, and more proud of the work they did. That pride turned into better performance - and better business.”

So here’s the question:

Is your scheduling system helping your people succeed - or just helping you feel in control?

Because in this industry, control without ownership is expensive.

References:

  1. ServiceTitan: "Commercial Service Industry Insights and Trends for 2023," 2023
  2. Boston Consulting Group, "When Lean Meets Industry 4.0," 2017
  3. Internal aggregated performance data across Ucora’s commercial HVAC clients in Western Canada (2020–2024)

Let’s talk about a new way to look at scheduling.