Emergency dispatch
Also known as: after-hours dispatch, urgent dispatch
Routing high-urgency service calls (broken pipe, no heat in winter, no AC in summer) outside the normal scheduled queue, typically to an on-call technician at premium rates.
Emergency dispatch is the workflow for handling service calls that can't wait. The criteria vary by trade — plumbing emergencies are leaks and sewage backups; HVAC emergencies are no-heat-in-winter and no-cool-in-summer; electrical emergencies are sparking, dead service, and burning smell. Each has its own definition and its own pricing tier.
The operational requirements: a phone path that surfaces emergency vs scheduled, an on-call rotation that assigns a tech, dispatch logic that bypasses the regular scheduled queue, and rate tiers (typically 1.5–2x standard rates) that compensate for the disruption. Emergency dispatch usually requires real telephony infrastructure — voicemail-to-text and missed-call routing won't capture the urgency. The economics work because emergency rates are premium and customers in crisis convert at high rates. The risk is burning out techs if emergency call volume isn't rotated fairly.
Related terms
On-call rotation
A schedule defining which technician handles after-hours and emergency service requests during specific shifts, rotated fairly across the team.
Dispatch
Assigning jobs to specific technicians or crews on specific days, with the right skills, parts, and routing in place.
Service-level agreement
A contractual promise about how fast you'll respond, how often you'll visit, or how quickly you'll resolve issues.