GarageDoorBossPro Blog — Scheduling & Dispatch

After-Hours Garage Door Emergency Calls: Getting the Night Call on the Schedule

Garage doors do not break on a schedule. A door that will not close at 9pm leaves a house open to the street. A commercial rolling door stuck open at closing time leaves a business unsecured overnight. Some garage door companies take these calls and some do not. For the ones that do, the night call should land in the same system as every other job, not on a sticky note that someone types in the next morning.

The Night Version of the Same-Day Call

Saved views that make the board quick to open, covered in Saved Views on the Garage Door Dispatch Board, help most when the person answering the phone is not at their desk. After-hours calls are where that matters.

The flow is the same as a daytime same-day call, just with fewer people awake. The person on call, often the owner, takes the call, adds or finds the client, creates a job on today's date for the on-call tech, and the job shows up on that tech's phone. Because the board runs in the browser, it works from a phone on the kitchen counter as well as from the office.

Price It From Your Own Service List

Most shops charge more for after-hours work, and how much is entirely their call. In GarageDoorBossPro, set up an after-hours emergency service in your service list next to your regular service call, and price it the way you already do. When the night call becomes a job, add that service along with whatever repair the tech does. The invoice shows it plainly, and nobody has to remember the after-hours rate at the end of the month.

Be clear on the phone about what the after-hours charge is before dispatching. Customers accept it far better when they hear it up front.

What to Ask on a Night Call

After hours, the questions are the same as during the day with one addition: is this really tonight, or can it be first thing tomorrow?

• Is the door stuck open or stuck closed? A door stuck open often needs tonight. A door stuck closed with no car needed until the afternoon might be first on tomorrow's repair van.
• Is a car trapped and needed tonight? Usually a yes for tonight.
• Which door, and how does the tech get in? On a house already in the system, the doors and bays saved on it help. Access notes go on the job.

And as always: springs and cables are for trained techs. The customer should not try to force the door or work on it while waiting. Tell them that plainly.

Tonight or First Thing Tomorrow

Not every after-hours call needs a van tonight. Many customers are happy to hear “you're the first stop tomorrow morning,” especially if the alternative is an after-hours charge. That job goes on tomorrow's repair van and gets moved to the top of the route by hand. The customer gets a night-before reminder if they have it turned on, and the on-the-way text when the tech leaves the shop.

Putting it on the board that night, rather than writing it down, means the morning starts with the job already in place. For more on moving a stop to the front of the route, see Setting Garage Door Route Order by Hand When the Day Needs a Tweak.

A commercial door stuck open at closing time is usually the exception. A business that cannot lock up will want someone tonight, and the property manager or owner will want to know when. Give them an honest time and let the on-the-way text confirm it.

Running the Night Job

The on-call tech works the job from the tech app the same way as any other: navigation to the address, the equipment and notes on the card, Start, the work, photos, Complete. The on-the-way and arrived texts go to the customer automatically, which matters more at night, when a homeowner is waiting by a dark garage and wants to know the van that just pulled in is the right one.

When the tech taps Complete, the invoice is created with the after-hours service on it, and a card on file can be charged right away. New customers can pay the invoice online. In the morning, the office sees the job on the board with the tech's notes and photos, and any equipment changes have already flowed back to the house.

Keeping On-Call Fair

If more than one tech takes turns on call, keep the rotation somewhere the office can see it, and assign night jobs to whoever is on that night. Because every night job is on the board under the tech who did it, it is easy to look back at who took which calls. The time clock in the tech app records the hours.

For how after-hours calls fit with the rest of scheduling and dispatch, go back to the garage door scheduling software page.