Free ops one-pager for residential HVAC shops (~5–14 techs) · travels to plumbing / electrical / roofing with the same six moves
After-Hours Intake Checklist
Use this tonight. Print it, stick it by the board, or hand it to whoever covers overflow. No software required. This is the operating standard: fee before truck, book only what you can keep, escalate with a full packet, log bounce reasons for morning coaching.
Why this exists
Emergency homeowners aren’t shopping for the cheapest quote—they’re shopping for the shop that answers and can book honestly. After-hours and overflow are where conversion historically dies: the call gets answered (or doesn’t), the fee isn’t said, the slot isn’t real, the escalate handoff is incomplete, and the premium job walks—or a soft hold blows up at 7 a.m.
This checklist turns “someone left a voicemail” into “we have enough to book, refuse, or escalate.” It’s the same six moves whether a human CSR runs them tonight or a future ShopDispatch tool automates them later. The checklist is the product surface right now. AI is not the hero story.
Built first for residential HVAC shops roughly in the 5–14 tech band that lose nights to voicemail, owner-cell chaos, or message-takers. The moves still help plumbing, electrical, and roofing shops with the same failure modes.
Before the phone rings (set these once)
- After-hours fee is written down — exact amount or formula, and when it applies. Surprises kill closes.
- Who can authorize a book — name/role with booking authority after 6 p.m., weekends, and holidays.
- True capacity rules — skills, zones, and open slots that are real for tonight/this weekend (verify-or-say-no — not a fake hold).
- Escalate list — gas smell, active flooding, no heat with medical vulnerability, electrical fire risk, roof compromise with weather in. Who gets the handoff and how.
- Voicemail / overflow path is tested — call yourself after hours once. Confirm it rings where you think it does.
The six intake moves (qualify → book or escalate)
Use these in order on every after-hours or overflow call. Missing any one is how jobs burn.
1. Answer on overflow, nights, and weekends
- First ring (or first human path — or a future tool that follows this list) is covered when the office is closed—not only when the day is calm.
- Caller hears a shop, not a dead voicemail box with no next step.
2. Qualify fast
Capture, at minimum:
- Service address (and access notes: gate code, dogs, unit #)
- Job type / trade (HVAC / plumbing / electrical / roofing — and what failed)
- Urgency (no heat, active leak, no power, weather exposure, etc.)
- Callback number that works tonight
- Who will be on site and when they can meet the tech
3. Say the fee when after-hours or emergency dispatch applies
- State the after-hours / emergency fee before promising a truck.
- Confirm they still want the visit after hearing the fee.
- Note fee acknowledgment on the ticket so the tech isn’t the one breaking the news.
4. Book into real capacity
- Match skills + zone + open slot that actually exists.
- Give a window or ETA the shop can keep—not a hope.
- If nothing is open: say so, offer the next real option, or escalate—don’t fake a hold.
5. Escalate true emergencies and edge cases
- Use the escalate list from “Before the phone rings.”
- Hand off to a named human with a full packet: address, issue, fee status, and what the caller already agreed to.
- Caller knows someone is on it—and who.
6. Log the outcome
- Booked / not booked / escalated. If it didn’t book, write one reason before the next call:
- Never bookable: not a customer call · existing job or bill · outside our area · work we don’t do
- Bookable but lost: fee declined · wanted a price first · no slot that worked · calling back / thinking it over · needs spouse, owner, or landlord · getting other quotes
- Other: one line.
- Once a week, count the “bookable but lost” lines. That’s what you can fix.
- Free tools for this step: the printable Reason Card or the Night-Call Log template.
- Enough detail to coach tomorrow.
- Ticket lands where dispatch will see it in the morning without a scavenger hunt.
Free tools that go with this checklist
- Fee and no-slot scripts — word-for-word lines for moves 3 and 4.
- Unbooked Call Reason Card — printable PDF for move 6.
- Night-Call Log template — Excel / Google Sheets / CSV with a weekly summary.
- Weekly Call-Log Review — early access, a person reviews your log. All tools.
Missing-info traps that burn jobs
Quick scan after each call—if any box is empty, you’re gambling the premium:
| Gap | What usually happens |
|---|---|
| No address / bad access notes | Tech can’t find the job; ETA slips; homeowner re-calls the next shop |
| Urgency never clarified | You dispatch light for a flood—or over-dispatch for a non-emergency |
| Fee not stated up front | Close dies at the door; chargebacks and one-star reviews |
| Slot isn’t real capacity | “Someone will call you” = they call someone else |
| No escalate path | Edge cases sit in a queue while the house gets worse |
| No log | You can’t fix the pattern; same miss repeats next weekend |
10-minute shop drill (do this once this week)
- Call your own after-hours line. Time to first useful response.
- Run one fake no-heat / active-leak scenario against this checklist.
- Mark which of the six moves broke—especially fee-gate and capacity-truth as pass/fail.
- Fix the broken move before peak season does it for you.
Capacity-honest nights—not another always-books demo
Issue #1 is the playbook. This checklist is the operating standard you can run tonight: answer, qualify, say the fee, book real capacity (or say no), escalate with a packet, log what bounced.
We’re exploring a future ShopDispatch tool that enforces those same six moves for shops that won’t fake a hold. It isn’t live yet. No charge, no fake demo, no booking-% guarantee, no claim that we match ServiceTitan / Housecall Pro / Jobber feature lists. Interest only—leave a work email if you want early word. You keep the free checklist either way.