HVAC Route Optimization: The Complete Guide to Reducing Drive Time
Most HVAC shops lose 2-3 hours per technician per day to inefficient routing. Geographic clustering can cut that in half. Here is how it works.
The Hidden Cost of Bad Routing
Every HVAC shop knows the feeling. Your technician finishes a job in the north part of town, and the next appointment is 45 minutes south. Meanwhile, another tech drives past that northern neighborhood on their way to a job your first tech could have handled.
This happens dozens of times per day in most HVAC operations. The result: technicians spend 40-50% of their day behind the wheel instead of billing.
What Geographic Clustering Actually Means
Traditional dispatch works on a first-come-first-served basis. Jobs get assigned as they come in, usually to whoever is available soonest. This creates chaotic routes where technicians zigzag across your service area.
Geographic clustering flips this approach. Instead of optimizing for individual job assignment, it optimizes for route efficiency across your entire schedule.
Here is the difference:
Traditional dispatch:The Math Behind Clustering
The algorithm uses DBSCAN (Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise). Unlike simpler approaches, DBSCAN finds natural groupings without you telling it how many clusters to create.
It considers:
1. Geographic proximity - Jobs within X miles of each other 2. Time windows - Customer availability constraints 3. Job duration - Estimated time on site 4. Technician skills - Who can handle what type of work 5. Equipment needs - What is on each truck
The output is a daily schedule where each technician works a focused zone. One tech handles the north side. Another covers downtown. Drive time between jobs drops from 25-30 minutes to 8-12 minutes.
Real Numbers from Real Shops
Shops using geographic clustering typically see:
For a 5-tech shop with $150/hour billable rate, recovering 2 hours per tech per day means $1,500 in additional daily capacity. That is $390,000 per year.
Why Most HVAC Software Gets This Wrong
Most field service software treats routing as an afterthought. They give you a calendar and let you drag jobs around manually. Some have "optimization" buttons that reorder today's stops, but that misses the point.
The real leverage is in booking, not reordering. By the time you are optimizing today's route, the damage is done. The jobs are already scattered across your service area.
Effective route optimization happens at the moment of booking. When a customer picks a time slot, they should unknowingly be picking an efficient slot. The algorithm surfaces "recommended times" that cluster well with existing appointments.
Getting Started with Route Optimization
You do not need special software to start improving routing. Here are steps any shop can take:
1. Map your service area into zones - Divide your territory into 4-6 geographic zones 2. Assign zone days - Monday is north side, Tuesday is downtown, etc. 3. Train dispatchers to think zones - When booking, ask "which zone fits best?" before "which tech is free?" 4. Track windshield time - Measure before and after to see improvement
For shops ready for automated clustering, Plenum handles this automatically. Every booking gets scored for route efficiency. Customers see recommended times. Dispatchers see efficiency impact of their choices.
Common Questions
Does clustering work with emergency calls? Yes. When a priority call comes in, the algorithm rescores the day. It finds the nearest available tech and adjusts other appointments to minimize disruption.
What about customer preferences? Customer availability always wins. Clustering suggests optimal times within their available windows. If a customer can only do Tuesday at 2pm, that is the slot regardless of efficiency.
How long until we see results? Week one. The algorithm works immediately with your existing schedule. Results compound as more historical data trains the system.
The Bottom Line
HVAC shops leave money on the table every day through inefficient routing. Geographic clustering is not a nice-to-have feature. It is a competitive advantage that compounds over time.
Start by measuring your current windshield time. Track it for a week. Then implement zone-based dispatching, even manually. You will see improvement within days.
For automated clustering that handles the math for you, that is what Plenum was built for.