Buffer time: what it means
DefinitionBuffer time is a block of spare minutes added before or after a job to cover cleanup, loading, parking, paperwork and small delays. It keeps one overrunning visit from pushing every later visit late, and it is separate from the drive time between addresses.
How it works in a service business
Owners who skip buffers run late by afternoon, because small overruns add up. A buffer can be per service, such as fifteen minutes after a deep clean, or per day, such as a lunch break nobody may book over. The tradeoff is revenue: every buffer minute is time you cannot sell. Too little and customers wait; too much and the day has holes. A common mistake is using one flat buffer for every job when some services reliably run long and others do not. Look at your last month of finish times, find the services that overrun, and pad those specifically instead of padding everything the same.
Example
A carpet cleaner adds twenty minutes after every whole-house job for hose rewinding and a customer walkthrough, and no buffer after a single-room spot clean.
Where Apex touches this
In progress
Part of this is built. The rest is not. Status as of 2026-10-07; the badge shows the least-built feature involved.
- BK14Buffer time between jobs(In progress)
- SC28Drive-time between jobs shown(Built)
Apex Flow Scheduler is in early access. See how we label status.