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Dispatch software for plumbers that catches the long drive before you book it

A customer wants a water heater swap Tuesday at 10. Before you give it to the van that's free, Navigrate estimates the drive from that plumber's last stop, and flags it if it's a long haul, so you can pick a better time or another tech.

From $19/mo · set up in minutes · 14-day free trial
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Every screen is from the real app and website: the long-drive flag, bookings up to 12 hours, and pricing.

If you run a plumbing shop with a few techs, the schedule can fall apart by mid-morning: an emergency drops in, jobs are scattered across town, and someone's driving back past a call they already passed. Navigrate is a simple dispatch board that checks the drive on every booking and flags the ones that would wreck the day.

Built for how plumbers actually run

Emergency calls wreck the plan

A burst pipe or no-water call drops in and the afternoon has to reshuffle. Reschedule or reassign jobs in a couple of clicks instead of redrawing the whiteboard.

Jobs scattered across the service area

Service calls, installs, and callbacks all over the map add up to hours of windshield time. The map shows each plumber's stops for the day, so the cross-town zigzags are easy to spot.

Catch the route-wrecker before you book it

The high-drive flag warns you when a job sits clear across town and would blow the schedule, so you can book it for a better time or a tech who's nearer.

How it works

Add your crew

Name, trade, home base, and coverage area for each tech. It takes a minute or two per tech.

Book the job

Client, address, time, and job type. As you book, Navigrate checks the drive from that tech's last stop.

Catch the long drive

If the drive runs past your limit, Navigrate flags it before anything's locked in, so you can pick a better time or a different tech.

Freeze-ups, thaws, and holiday-weekend floods are when dispatch breaks down, which is exactly when keeping each plumber in one part of town is worth real money.

Worked example: the emergency that lands across town

Made-up numbers to show the math, not a promise. Swap in your own.

Say you run 4 vans. On a normal day, 2 of them each take one call outside the area they were already working. Each adds 20 minutes of driving out and 20 back.

2 vans × 1 call × 20 min × 2 ways = 80 minutes of extra driving a day

80 min × 5 working days = 400 minutes a week, a bit under 7 hours

Your week will differ. One van, 15 minutes each way, 3 days a week: 1 × 15 × 2 × 3 = 90 minutes. Run it with your own drives, or use the drive-time cost calculator.

When you book that call, Navigrate estimates the drive from the plumber’s previous stop that day, or from their home base for a first job, using straight-line distance at about 45 km/h (28 mph). With the default 25-minute limit, a job more than roughly 19 km (12 miles) away in a straight line gets flagged. You make the call: book it anyway, move it to a time that van is already over there, or give it to another tech.

It’s a quick planning check, not a road route. Rush-hour traffic and river crossings take longer than the estimate, so you may want a lower limit. See our guide on how to cut drive time between jobs.

Getting your first week in

The 14-day trial covers up to 3 technicians, no card. Try it on a real week.

Set your limit and units

In Settings, set the drive-time limit from 10 to 90 minutes (it starts at 25), and pick km or miles.

Add each plumber

Under Technicians, add the tech or van, choose Plumbing, and set home base to your shop. Add a vehicle ID and the part of town they usually cover.

Enter next week’s calls

Book each job: client, address, date, start time, length from 30 minutes to 12 hours, a job type like “Water heater swap,” and notes like where the shut-off is.

Check each booking

Press Analyze Route to see the estimated minutes and distance from that plumber’s previous stop. If it’s flagged, change the time or the tech, or confirm it as is.

Look at each tech’s day

In Routes, pick a plumber and a date. Stops are numbered in start-time order and legs over your limit show in red. When an emergency drops in, open a job’s details to move it or change the tech.

Common questions

Can I book a full-day repipe?
Yes. A booking can run from 30 minutes to 12 hours, so a same-day service call and a full-day repipe both fit on the board.
How do I handle an emergency call that comes in mid-day?
Book it like any other job and watch the flag. If it's flagged for the van you had in mind, open another tech's day in Routes and give it to whoever is already nearer. Existing jobs move from their details screen.
Do recurring maintenance calls repeat automatically?
No. There's no repeating-job setting and no import yet, so each visit is its own booking entered by hand. Start with next week's schedule rather than trying to load your history.
Does it text the customer when the plumber is on the way?
No. You can mark a job en route or completed on your board, but Navigrate doesn't send texts or emails to customers.
Do my plumbers get their own logins?
Not yet. Navigrate is a dispatcher's board. It runs in a phone browser with no app to install, so you can open it from the truck, but technicians don't have separate accounts.
How does Navigrate estimate drive time?
From straight-line distance and a typical urban speed. It's a fast planning check to catch obviously long drives before you book, not turn-by-turn navigation. You set the limit in Settings.
How long does setup take?
Minutes. Add your technicians and start booking. There's no import yet, so you enter jobs as you book them. Start with next week's schedule.
I'm not techy. Is it hard to use?
That's the point of Navigrate: it's built to set up in minutes, with an in-app assistant if you get stuck. No week-long rollout.
What does it cost?
From $19/mo, with a 14-day free trial and no card. Every feature is on every plan; plans differ only by how many technicians you add. Annual billing saves about 30%.

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