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Partial answer conflict: Best way to organize seasonal job types?

Connor Burke

hey y'all so basically we're an HVAC shop and i'm trying to figure out the best way to set up our job types for like seasonal work? you know how it is — in summer we're doing AC installs and service calls nonstop, then fall hits and it's all furnace tune-ups and heat pump swaps. right now we just have generic "HVAC Service" and "HVAC Install" but my dispatcher is going crazy trying to sort what's what when the seasons change. i was thinking maybe

1) split by season like "Summer AC Service" / "Winter Heating Service"

2) keep it generic but use tags or something?

3) just make job types for the actual equipment like "AC Repair" / "Furnace Install"

anyone got something that actually works? don't wanna redo this in 3 months when we realize it was dumb lol

  • 0

    Go with option 3, no question. Equipment-specific job types are the way to run a seasonal shop.

    Here's why: your reporting becomes actually useful. When you run your end-of-season numbers, you want to see "how many AC coils did we replace" not "how many summer jobs did we do." Your parts ordering gets cleaner too — you're tying consumption to equipment type, not a seasonal label that means nothing to your suppliers.

    Pro tip: Create a naming convention now and stick to it. We use [Equipment]-[Work Type]-[Location Context]. So "AC-Repair-Residential", "Furnace-Install-Commercial", etc. It seems like overkill until you're sorting 300 jobs a week and need to filter fast.

    Also — and this is the part most people miss — set up your dispatch board filters by equipment type so your summer techs (who maybe don't do furnaces) aren't seeing noise they don't need. Your dispatcher will thank you.

  • 0 in reply to Gwen Albright

    I'll push back on this a little. Gwen's not wrong about equipment-specific types, but there's a maintenance vs. repair split that matters more than the equipment label.

    We tried the equipment-first approach and ended up with 40+ job types that were basically the same work with different equipment names. What actually worked for us: broad categories (Preventive Maintenance, Repair, Install, Emergency) with the equipment captured in a custom field or just the job description.

    The real win is your recurring work order templates. If you have "AC Maintenance" as a type, you can template the whole seasonal checklist. Same for "Heating Maintenance." Those equipment-specific types don't help you there — you still need the PM/Repair split anyway.

    Pro tip: Whatever you choose, train your dispatchers on how to use the Description field consistently. That's where the real sorting happens when you're in the weeds.

  • 0

    in my experience the job type barely matters. it's all about how your dispatcher books it and whether the tech shows up with the right stuff in the van.

    we use like 6 types total. Service, Install, Maintenance, Callback, Warranty, Emergency. that's it. everything else is notes and parts lists.

    add more types and you're just making more work for people to pick the wrong one.

  • 0 in reply to Art Kowalczyk

    ok so i'm hearing totally different things here lol — gwen says go detailed, josh says broad categories with custom fields, art says keep it simple

    tbh art's approach sounds like what we have now and yeah people pick wrong or just use "Service" for everything. but josh's point about templates is making me think

    do the custom fields actually filter on the dispatch board? like can i see only "PM" jobs or only "AC" jobs if i use fields instead of types?

  • 0 in reply to Gwen Albright

    Fair point on the PM/Repair split — we actually do both. Our job types are equipment-first, but we also have the work type in there. So "AC-PM-Residential" and "AC-Repair-Residential" both exist.

    Is it more types? Yeah. But our dispatchers don't have to guess what the job actually is from a generic label. The custom field approach works until someone forgets to fill it, which is... often.

  • 0

    Connor! Great question — and you're getting solid advice from both angles here, which I know can feel conflicting. Let me clarify what FieldPulse can actually do with custom fields so you can make an informed choice.

    Custom fields can filter on the dispatch board, but with a caveat: they appear in the filter panel as dropdown options, not as quick color-coded columns like job types do. So yes, you can isolate "PM" jobs, but it takes an extra click compared to having a dedicated job type.

    Here is what I typically recommend for seasonal HVAC shops:

    1. Use job types for your core workflow categories — PM, Repair, Install, Emergency. These drive your templates and your dispatch board colors.

    2. Use a custom field for Equipment Type (AC, Furnace, Heat Pump, etc.). This gives you reporting granularity without ballooning your job type list.

    3. Train your team to fill both consistently — the combo is where the power lives.

    If you want the full breakdown on setting this up, see this article on using work order templates and creating custom checklist templates for seasonal workflows.

    Happy to help if you want to talk through your specific setup — feel free to DM me.