A missed appointment feels like a single lost job. One slot that didn't work out. But in practice, the cost runs deeper than the revenue you didn't collect. There's the truck that rolled to the wrong address, the technician who sat idle for forty-five minutes, the dispatcher who spent a quarter hour rebooking, and the customer who quietly decided to call someone else next time.
When you add it up across a week, a month, a year, the numbers are hard to ignore. And the majority of missed appointments are preventable.
The visible costs
Start with the obvious: the job itself. If a residential plumbing call averages $250 in revenue and your team misses three appointments per week, that's $750 per week walking out the door. Over a full year, the math looks like this:
$39,000
in lost revenue per year
Based on 3 missed appointments per week at $250 average revenue per call. Your actual number depends on your trade, ticket size, and team size — but even at half this rate, the losses add up.
That $39,000 is only the direct revenue loss — the money you would have collected if the appointment had happened. It doesn't account for the cascade of secondary costs that follow every missed slot.
The hidden costs
Direct revenue loss is easy to spot because it shows up on your books. The costs below don't, which makes them more dangerous. They drain margin without appearing on a single line item.
Wasted drive time
Your technician was routed to the site, burned fuel, and spent 20-30 minutes in transit before discovering the customer isn't there. At $30/hour loaded labor cost, three empty truck rolls per week cost roughly $4,700 per year.
Opportunity cost
The time slot that went to a no-show could have been filled by a paying customer. During peak season, that's revenue you can't recover because the capacity is gone.
Dispatcher rescheduling labor
Rebooking a missed appointment takes 10-15 minutes of dispatcher time: calling the customer, finding a new slot, updating the schedule, notifying the technician. At 3 per week, that's roughly 2.5 hours of administrative labor weekly.
Customer trust erosion
Customers who experience a no-show on either side — they missed you, or you missed them — are significantly less likely to rebook. Each lost relationship represents months or years of future service calls that never happen.
| Cost type | Estimated annual impact |
|---|---|
| Direct revenue loss | ~$39,000 |
| Wasted drive time & fuel | ~$4,700 |
| Dispatcher rescheduling labor | ~$3,900 |
| Opportunity cost (lost slots) | Varies |
| Customer churn from no-shows | Varies |
| Conservative total | $47,000+ |
Illustrative estimates based on a 3-technician team with 3 missed appointments per week. Actual figures vary by trade, region, and ticket size.
Why appointments get missed
Most missed appointments aren't caused by careless customers or unreliable technicians. They're caused by gaps in the system connecting them. When you break down the root causes, a pattern emerges:
- No reminder sent. The customer booked two weeks ago and forgot. Without an automated SMS or email reminder the day before, the appointment slips their mind.
- Scheduling errors. A wrong time or date was entered manually, or two technicians were double-booked for the same window. Without conflict detection, these mistakes go unnoticed until someone shows up.
- Customer conflicts with no way to reschedule. Something came up on the customer's end, but they don't have an easy way to let you know. So they just don't answer the door.
- Technician scheduling issues. The technician's previous job ran long, but dispatch doesn't have real-time visibility. The customer waits, gets frustrated, and leaves before the technician arrives.
- Lack of appointment visibility. The customer can't see their upcoming appointments in one place, so they don't know exactly when to expect your team.
The common thread is disconnection. The customer doesn't have a clear channel to communicate changes. The dispatcher doesn't have visibility into what's already scheduled. The technician doesn't know the customer can't make it until they're already on site. Each of these gaps is solvable.
Reducing missed appointments systematically
The solution isn't any single feature. It's a set of connected systems that close the gaps between your office, your field team, and your customers. Here's what that looks like in practice:
Automated SMS and email reminders
Send appointment reminders automatically before each visit. Customers who receive a reminder the day before are far more likely to be home and prepared.
Learn about NotificationsCustomer self-service rescheduling
Give customers a way to request a reschedule with up to three preferred dates instead of simply not showing up. Your team reviews and approves without the back-and-forth phone calls.
Learn about Reschedule RequestsVisual scheduling with conflict detection
A drag-and-drop calendar that flags overlapping appointments before they happen. Color-coded technicians, month/week/day views, and an unscheduled sidebar keep everything organized.
Learn about SchedulingStatus tracking for real-time visibility
Know where every technician is in real time. If someone is running behind, dispatch can proactively reach out to the next customer before they give up waiting.
Learn about DispatchCustomer portal with appointment visibility
Customers can log into their portal to see upcoming appointments, past service history, and outstanding invoices. When they know exactly when you're coming, they're more likely to be ready.
Learn about Customer PortalMissed appointments are a systems problem
It's tempting to treat missed appointments as an unavoidable part of field service. Customers forget. Schedules change. Things come up. All of that is true — but the rate at which it happens is directly tied to how well your tools support communication, visibility, and flexibility.
When customers can see their appointments, receive reminders, and reschedule on their own terms, they show up more often. When dispatchers can see conflicts before they happen and technicians can track their routes in real time, fewer slots go to waste.
The $39,000 in direct revenue loss — and the additional thousands in hidden overhead — isn't a cost of doing business. It's a cost of disconnected systems. And it's fixable.
Related Pillar features