What is "Optimize by Drive Time"?
Optimize by drive time automatically reorders a technician's scheduled jobs for the day to minimize total driving time. Instead of manually shuffling appointments to reduce travel, Housecall Pro calculates the most efficient order based on real job locations and live road traffic conditions.
This is a day-of planning tool. It doesn't reschedule jobs to different days or change which tech a job is assigned to — it only reorders the jobs within a single tech's day to reduce the miles driven between stops.
Route optimization is currently in alpha testing and is only available to a limited group of Pros.
How to Open Route Optimization
To open Route Optimization:
Go to the Schedule (calendar) view.
At the top of the calendar, click Optimize by drive time.
The route optimization view opens, showing:
A left panel with a list of your techs who have jobs scheduled that day.
A right panel with a map showing all job locations.
📌 Note: You need permission to add and edit jobs to use this feature.
Step 1: Choose a Tech to Optimize
The left panel lists every employee who has at least one job scheduled on the selected date, along with their current estimated total travel time.
Use the date picker at the top (or click Today) to select the day you want to optimize.
Click the edit (pencil) icon next to the tech whose route you want to optimize.
You'll be taken into that tech's detail view, which shows:
Their starting location
All their scheduled jobs in the current time order
Their ending location
Current estimated total travel time
Step 2: Set Starting and Ending Locations
Route optimization needs to know where each tech starts and ends their day. By default, these are set to your company's headquarters address (from your organization settings).
To change a location for a specific tech:
Click the edit (pencil) icon next to either the starting or ending location.
A dialog opens. Enter:
Location name — a label for this spot (e.g., "Home," "Warehouse")
Address — search and select the address using the address field
Click Save.
Step 3: Lock Jobs (Optional)
If there are jobs that must stay at their current time — for example, a customer requested a specific arrival window that can't shift — you can lock those jobs before optimizing.
Click the lock icon on any job in the list to lock it in place.
Locked jobs won't be reordered when you run the optimization.
All other jobs will be rearranged around the locked ones.
Step 4: Run the Optimization
Once you've confirmed the starting location, ending location, and any locked jobs:
Click Optimize by drive time at the bottom of the panel.
The system calculates the most efficient order using real road distances and live traffic conditions.
While processing, you'll see "Optimizing by drive time..."
When complete, the job list updates to show the new suggested order, and the map redraws to reflect the optimized route.
After optimization, you'll see:
The reordered job list with updated travel times between stops
Total travel time for the optimized route
Time saved compared to the original order (e.g., "Saved 23 min")
An updated estimated end time for the tech's day
🛠️ Pro Tip: You can run the optimization multiple times. If you lock additional jobs and re-optimize, it will recalculate around those locked stops.
📌 Note: If a job does not have a service address with coordinates, it won't be factored into drive-time ordering. Instead, it will be treated as a time block and slotted into the schedule without affecting the map route. Make sure jobs have complete addresses for the best results.
Step 5: Save the Optimized Route
When you're happy with the suggested order, you have two save options:
Save & notify customers — saves the new job order and sends updated appointment notifications to affected customers
Save & don't notify customers — saves the new order silently with no customer-facing communication
Click the main Save & notify customers button, or click the dropdown arrow to select Save & don't notify customers.
What Happens to "Anytime" Jobs?
Jobs that have no specific time window — marked as Anytime — are treated as fully flexible. The optimizer can place them at any point in the day that minimizes overall drive time, within your business hours.
What if a Job Can't Be Fit into the Optimized Schedule?
In some cases, a job may be skipped by the optimizer — for example, if its required time window conflicts with other locked jobs or falls outside business hours. If this happens:
You'll see a warning notification listing the jobs that couldn't be scheduled (up to 3 are shown by name).
Those jobs will remain on the tech's calendar at their original times.
Review and adjust the affected jobs manually, or try unlocking some jobs and re-optimizing.
Need help or have questions?
We're here for you! Chat with Support using the Blue Chat Bubble in your Housecall Pro account, or give us a call at (858) 842-5746.