Let customers book the 10 pm way, without overbooking Tuesday.

The usual online booking problem isn't getting customers to use it. It's what happens on Tuesday morning when five web bookings are sitting in the same 8 to 10 window, two need a tech with a gas certification you only have one of, and the phone is ringing with a no-heat call you can't fit. Most booking widgets show times from a calendar. TradesWork shows times from capacity.

What the customer sees

The booking flow is five short steps: service, ZIP, day and window, details, confirm. On a phone it takes about as long as ordering takeout.

1. Service. A list of the job types you made bookable, in your words: "AC not cooling," not "Diagnostic, cooling, residential." Each can show a short description and a price, like $89, or From $149.
2. ZIP. Checked against your service-area list before anything else. Outside it, the customer sees that you don't book that area online yet, with your phone number.
3. Day and window. Seven days at a time, with a Later dates button. Full windows are shown struck through. The customer sees whether a window is open, never how many slots are left.
4. Details. Name, mobile and street address are required. Email, notes ("gate codes, pets") and one photo of the problem are optional.
5. Confirm. The done screen shows the service, day, arrival window and a reference number.

How "available" is decided

Here's the part that makes it safe to turn on. For each window, TradesWork asks: can a qualified technician arrive inside this window, given everything already on the board?

The window means arrival, not completion: the tech must arrive inside it, and the work can run past it. Capacity is how many more of these jobs still fit across the qualified technicians.

Then your online rules apply on top. A window can be closed because it has passed, it's inside your minimum notice, it's after your same-day cutoff, it's too far ahead, no qualified tech works then, it's full, or it has hit your online cap. The office booking screen uses the same engine but skips the lead-time rules, so your CSR can still squeeze in a same-day call.

The settings, with defaults

A good starting point for a 6 to 10 tech shop: 4 hours of notice, no same-day bookings after noon, 14 days ahead, and a cap of 2 online bookings per window. Loosen the cap after a month once you see how the phones and the website share the day.

Putting it on your website

1. 1

   Hosted page

   Your booking page has its own link. Use it on a button in Wix, Squarespace or WordPress, in your email signature, and as the appointment link on your Google Business Profile.

2. 2

   Book online button

   Paste one script tag. It adds a Book online button that opens the booking form in a pop-up. Change the button text with one attribute.

3. 3

   Inline form

   Use the same script in inline mode to embed the form on a page. It resizes itself as the customer moves through the steps.

Google lets businesses add a booking link to their Business Profile, which is where a lot of after-hours searches end.¹ Point it at your TradesWork booking page.

The form runs on TradesWork's own domain inside your page, so your website never sees the customer's details. A hidden spam trap and rate limits (10 submissions per network per hour, 5 per phone per day) keep junk off the board without a CAPTCHA.

What the office gets

Every online booking creates a job whose summary is the service the customer picked, with their notes and "Booked online by the customer" in the description, and one unassigned appointment in the chosen window. Any photo is attached to the job. Returning customers are matched by phone or email; a new street becomes a new location on their account.

The job sits on the dispatch board unassigned, so assigning the right tech stays a dispatcher's call. If the customer arrived from a referral link, the referrer gets the credit. If the customer is on credit hold, the booking is refused with a polite message to call.

All online bookings go to a campaign called Online booking on the website channel. Revenue by channel then shows jobs booked, completed, sold, invoiced and collected from the website, next to your phone, lead site and referral channels.

How it compares to ServiceTitan

ServiceTitan's Scheduling Pro offers online and text booking around the clock, real-time availability based on the dispatch board, the same job types, zones and capacity rules the office uses, and payment and membership capture at booking. Setup involves installing scheduler code on the contractor's website, and pricing isn't published.²

Who should wait

If you need customers to pay a deposit or buy a membership while booking, this won't do it yet. Commercial shops whose work needs a PO, a not-to-exceed amount or a specific technician should keep booking through the office. And if your job type durations and tech skills aren't set up, fix those first; online booking makes a messy setup visible fast.