JunkBossPro Blog — Scheduling & Dispatch

Putting On-Site Estimate Visits on the Junk Removal Schedule

Some junk jobs can be priced over the phone. A mattress is a mattress. Others can't. A basement cleanout, a hoarder house, a shed teardown or a storage unit packed to the ceiling all need somebody to walk through and look. Those visits take time, and if they don't live on the schedule, they eat into the day without anyone noticing.

Estimates Are Stops Too

The haul-to stop and the crew's Go button are covered in Haul-To Stops and the Go Button: Getting the Crew From the Driveway to the Dump. Estimate visits are simpler: there is nothing to haul. But they still involve driving to an address and spending time there, which means they belong on the route.

In JunkBossPro, an on-site estimate visit is just a job on the schedule. It sits on the Waiting List until you book it, shows on the dispatch board once it has a day, and gets routed with everything else.

Who Does the Visit?

Most small junk companies have one of two setups:

• The owner does estimates. Visits go on the owner's day, often in between riding along or running a truck.
• The crew lead does estimates on the route. A visit sits between two jobs in the same neighborhood, and the truck stops for twenty minutes.

Either way, assign the visit to the person or truck that will actually be there. That way it shows up on their phone in route order with navigation to the address, and the office knows where everybody is supposed to be.

Cluster Visits on the Map

Estimate visits sit on the Waiting List map with everything else. Look at where they are. Three walk-throughs on the north side can share one afternoon. A visit two streets from tomorrow's garage cleanout can happen while the crew is loading.

Clustering matters more for estimates than for pickups, because estimate visits don't pay on their own. Every mile you drive for a walk-through is a mile you hope turns into a job. Keep those miles short. More on reading the map in The Waiting List Map: Seeing Every Unbooked Junk Request Before You Plan Tomorrow.

Give It Real Time

An estimate visit is never “five minutes.” There is the walk-through, the questions, the customer pointing at things that stay, and the talk about price. Put it on the schedule with a realistic slot and route the rest of the day around it. A big estate walk-through with family present can easily run longer than a small pickup, so treat it that way when you plan what comes after.

Write what you know in the notes before you go:

• “Estate cleanout, three bedrooms plus garage, family meeting us there.”
• “Storage unit 214, gate code in access notes, customer won't be present.”
• “Shed teardown, back yard, dog.”

The person doing the visit reads that on the card before walking up to the door. If the customer sent a description by text, copy the useful parts into the notes too, so the walk-through starts from what you already know.

Tell the Customer You're Coming

The same customer alerts that work for pickups work for estimate visits. Customers who opt in get a reminder the night before and a text when the crew or owner arrives. For a walk-through where the customer needs to be home to open the house, that one text often decides whether the visit happens at all.

From the Visit to the Estimate

After the walk-through, build the estimate from your service list: a 3/4 truck load, a full load, an estate cleanout, a hot tub, whatever you set up. The customer can approve it online. When they do, the approved estimate becomes the scheduled job, ready to put on a truck and a day. That handoff is covered in the next guide.

If you note load size and items during the visit, put them on the job too. Whoever routes the cleanout day will need them.

Track the Ones That Don't Book

Not every visit turns into work. Estimate follow-up emails help you nudge customers who haven't approved yet, so a good quote doesn't just sit there. If the customer says no, close it out so it doesn't clutter the map.

Estimates Belong on the Board

When estimate visits are on the schedule, you can see how much of the owner's week goes to quoting, and you can plan it like any other part of the route. For the rest of the scheduling tools, visit the JunkBossPro junk removal scheduling software page.