This is a worked example built from patterns we see across field service companies, not a description of one client. If you run a dispatcher and a dozen technicians off an Excel sheet, you'll recognise every minute of it.
A customer calls: the boiler's down, they need someone today. The office writes it on a sticky note. The dispatcher opens the spreadsheet — colour-coded cells, comments tucked into corners, hidden rows from two weeks ago nobody deleted. Finding a free technician nearby takes 7–9 minutes, because the sheet hasn't been updated since the morning run.
Technician one doesn't pick up. Technician four is still on another job and accepts, but that means he'll be late for his next appointment. Nobody tells the next customer. That customer calls back at 10:50, annoyed, and cancels. Lost visit fee: somewhere between €150 and €200 depending on the job type — again, an example figure, not yours.
In the evening, someone retypes technicians' paper notes back into the spreadsheet so invoices can go out. That's 20–30 minutes per technician, and it's exactly where billing errors creep in — illegible handwriting, a note left in a jacket pocket.
| Step | What happens | Time or cost lost |
|---|---|---|
| Finding a free technician | Dispatcher scrolls the sheet, reads cell comments | 7–9 min per urgent call |
| Calls to technicians who don't answer | Schedule doesn't reflect real location | 10–15 min more |
| No update after the previous job | Next customer isn't warned about delay | roughly €150–200 per cancelled visit |
| Retyping hours from paper into Excel | Manual entry in the evening, billing errors | 20–30 min per technician, plus wrong invoices |
The dispatcher sees a live board — where each technician is, what they're doing, when they're expected to finish. The system suggests the nearest free technician automatically, instead of colour-hunting. When technician four runs late, the next customer gets a message the moment the delay is visible — not because someone remembered, but because the system already knows.
The technician marks "arrived" and "done" from his phone. Hours and materials used flow straight into a draft invoice — no paper notes, no evening retyping. An urgent call now takes the dispatcher 2–3 minutes instead of 20.
This is a guide for a first version with an agreed scope. Accounting integrations, years of Excel history to migrate, and sign-offs on your side all stretch it — we say that up front, not after the invoice.
The source code lives in a repository that's yours, with documentation and every admin credential. Your data is yours, exportable any time. Maps, messaging APIs, accounting links, or AI models we use stay under their own licences and subscriptions — we say this explicitly so there's no surprise cost later.
A market guide, not our fixed price: a custom scheduling-and-invoicing system for a dozen field technicians typically lands between €8,000 and €30,000 for a first working version, depending on technician count, integrations, and whether you migrate years of history. Ongoing care usually runs 8–15% of the build cost per year — again, a guide figure. The real number comes only after the free 48-hour scope assessment.
If you run two or three technicians and a handful of jobs a week, Excel plus a phone works fine — it won't hold you back until it does. If an off-the-shelf field service app already covers 90% of what you need at a lower price, take it. A custom system earns its keep once you start counting the hours lost searching for a technician, and the cancelled jobs that come from that search.
If this Tuesday sounds like yours — describe your case in one sentence to our live agent at pentimento.pro and watch it get sketched, or upload your brief for a free 48-hour assessment.
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