Electrical dispatch software is the calendar plus three things a calendar does not know: where the trucks are, who on them holds which licence, and what is on the van. A service electrical shop with three or more trucks makes a dispatch decision several times a day, and every one of them is a guess without those three facts. The software's job is to put the board, the map and the crew on one screen and to push a change to the electrician's phone without a call.
The morning board is the day's money
The booked jobs go on a board with a time window, a property, an electrician and the material likely needed. A good dispatcher builds it so each truck's jobs are near each other and the licensed work is on a licensed electrician. Dispatch software shows that board as a map as well as a list, and moving a job between trucks is a drag on the screen that lands on the phone at once.
The emergency call is what dispatch is for
A tripped main or a dead panel at eleven in the morning is the call that decides whether dispatch works. The question is which truck is nearest, free soonest, licensed for the work and carrying the breaker, and it has to be answered with the customer on the line. Live truck positions, remaining jobs and stock per van turn that into a decision rather than a guess.
The licence is a dispatch fact, not an HR fact
Electrical work is licensed work. A job that needs a journeyman dropped on an apprentice's board is a reshuffle at best and an inspection failure at worst. Software that stores the licence against the person and refuses the wrong assignment prevents both, and it is the single feature that separates electrical dispatch software from a generic field service calendar.
What dispatch costs inside a job management plan
From the vendors' own pricing pages on the day they were read: Tradify's Lite plan is $47 USD per user per month, with Pro at $51 and Plus at $61; Jobber's Core plan is $49 a month including one user, with additional users at $29 a month each; Housecall Pro's Basic plan is $59 a month billed annually, or $79 billed monthly. Multiply the per-user line by everyone who needs a login, because that is what a plan actually costs a shop.
Questions people ask about electrical dispatch software
Is dispatch software different from scheduling software?
Scheduling is the calendar. Dispatch is the calendar plus the map, the trucks, the licences and the live changes. A one-truck shop needs a schedule; a service shop with several trucks needs dispatch.
Can the owner dispatch from the truck?
With software, yes: the board on a phone and job changes pushed to each electrician mean the owner runs dispatch between jobs. Without it the owner is on the phone in every driveway.
What is the first sign a shop needs it?
Electricians calling the office to ask what is next, and the office calling electricians to move jobs. When those calls are the whole morning, the board belongs on the phones.