Set technician hours, schedules and time off

Overview#

Settings › People › Technicians (the page is titled Technician hours) is where you say when each technician works and when they are off. These hours drive capacity: the dispatch board's capacity strip, online booking and partner availability all come straight from them. A technician with no hours that day has no capacity, so no online customer can book them.

Every technician uses the Company default unless you give them their own weekly schedule. Time off removes hours on specific dates.

Before you start#

• You need the dispatch-settings permission to open this page: Owner, Admin or Dispatcher.

• Only Owners and Admins see and can change the Company default card.

• Only active team members with the Technician role appear here. Invite technicians in Settings › People › Employees & Role Permissions first.

• All times are in your company's time zone, shown in the page description.

Steps#

Set the company default#

1. Open Settings › People › Technicians.

2. In Company default, tick the Workdays (Monday first).

3. Enter Hours as start-end in 24-hour time, for example 8-17 or 7:30-16.

4. Click Save default. Every technician with Use ticked follows these hours. Out of the box the default is Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm.

Give a technician their own weekly schedule#

1. In Weekly schedules, find the technician's row.

2. Untick Use in the Default column.

3. Type hours into each day (Mon to Sun) as start-end in 24-hour time, for example 7-15:30. Leave a day blank (it shows "Off") for a day off.

4. Click Save at the end of the row.

5. To put someone back on the company default, tick Use again and click Save.

Add time off#

1. In Time off, at the bottom of the card, pick the Technician.

2. Set From and Until (date and time). They default to today, 8:00 to 17:00.

3. Add a Reason if you like (optional), for example "Vacation".

4. Click Add time off. The entry appears in the list of upcoming time off.

Remove time off#

1. Find the entry in the Time off table.

2. Click Remove and confirm. The hours become bookable again.

Settings that change this#

• Settings › Communications › Web Appointments: arrival windows, drive time between jobs and online booking rules. Hours here decide who is working; those rules decide which windows are offered.

• Settings › Dispatch Board › Board & Skills: technician skills. A job type that needs a skill only counts technicians who have it.

• Schedule › Non-Job Events: meetings, training and vehicle service block people like time off, without being entered here.

Tips#

• Set the company default first. Most teams only need a few personal schedules (a four-day tech, a Saturday crew).

• Enter time off as soon as it is approved. Online booking checks it live, so a customer can't book a technician who will be away.

• Time off can be up to three months in one entry. Split longer leave into several entries.

• Past time off drops off the list automatically. The table only shows time off that hasn't ended.

• Hours here are availability, not pay. Paid time comes from the field app clock and job statuses (see "Clock in and out and track time").

Troubleshooting#

• The page sends you to the dashboard. Your role doesn't have the dispatch-settings permission. Ask an Owner or Admin.

• There is no Company default card. Only Owners and Admins can change it. Dispatchers can still edit personal schedules and time off.

• "No technicians yet." Nobody active has the Technician role. Invite technicians, or change a team member's role.

• "Enter one span per day, like 8-17". A day has more than one span (for example 8-12, 13-17). Enter one start-end per day. A split shift isn't supported yet.

• An error about a time it can't read, or a window that must end after it starts. Use 24-hour times like 8-17 or 7:30-16, with the end after the start.

• "Enter time off in blocks of up to three months." Split the time off into shorter entries.

• The capacity strip shows "No one working" on a weekday. Nobody has hours that day: check the default workdays and each technician's schedule, and look for time off or all-day events.

FAQ#

Do office staff need hours here? No. Only people with the Technician role count toward capacity and appear on this page.

Does a technician's schedule stop the office from booking them outside their hours? No. It removes those hours from capacity and online booking. A dispatcher can still place an appointment by hand.

Can technicians set their own hours or request time off in the app? Not yet. The office enters schedules and time off on this page.

Are there on-call shifts or a printable roster? Not yet. Schedules are weekly working hours plus time off.

Coming from ServiceTitan#

• Same: working hours per technician plus time off feed capacity and online booking, like ServiceTitan's technician shifts.

• Different: TradesWork uses one weekly pattern per technician (or the company default) instead of individual dated shifts. There is no on-call shift type, bulk delete or PDF roster yet.

• Where it lived: ServiceTitan Schedule › Technician Shifts, plus time off on the technician's profile.