PetGroomBossPro Blog — Scheduling & Routes

Adding a Second Grooming Van: What Changes on the Schedule

Adding a second van is one of the biggest steps a mobile grooming business takes. There is the van itself, the build-out, the hire. And there is the schedule: a book that was built for one van now has to feed two, without losing the clients who have been in the same Tuesday slot for years. Here is what changes on the schedule, and in what order.

Same Schedule, One More Van

The one-van routine is described in The One-Van Owner's Grooming Schedule: Grooming, Routing and the Office From One Phone. The good news is that none of it has to be rebuilt.

In PetGroomBossPro, the second van goes on the same schedule as the first. Every job already has a van; now there are two to choose from. The Scheduled list filters by van, each groomer's phone shows their own van's day, and the office map shows both vans by GPS.

Step One: Set Up the Van and the Groomer

Add the new van as a team and add the new groomer as an employee with their own personal PIN, assigned to that van. If a bather will ride with them, add the bather to the same van. The new groomer installs the groomer app from the browser on their own iPhone or Android phone — no app store — and signs in with the company login and their PIN.

Have the new groomer click around the live demo first if they have not used the app before. It is a fully-stocked sample mobile grooming company, so they can see a day of cards, pets and checklists before their first real route.

Step Two: Decide How to Split the Book

Before moving anyone, decide on the split. The common choices:

• By area. The new van takes one side of your service area.
• By work type. The new van takes cats and puppies, or bath and brush and nail trims, or the giant breeds.
• By new versus existing. Existing clients stay with the original groomer; new clients go to the new van.

The third option is the gentlest on long-time clients who are attached to their groomer, and lets the new van build its book from the No Day tab. More on running two vans day to day is in Two Vans, One Schedule: Dispatching Two Mobile Grooming Vans.

Step Three: Move Repeat Clients Carefully

If the plan involves moving some existing clients to the new van, do it on the Recurring Clients list, where you can change the van, day, time or price for a client's upcoming visits in one step. Every visit still ahead moves together.

Tell those clients first. A short text from the office goes a long way: “Starting next month, our new groomer will be taking care of you on our second van. Same day and time.” The pets, cut notes, add-ons and van notes are all on the visit already, so the new groomer sees exactly what the old one would have.

Step Four: Route Two Days Instead of One

The nightly routine gets a little longer, not more complicated. Confirm tomorrow on Pending Jobs as before; each visit keeps its planned van. Place new requests on whichever van will be nearby. Then filter to each van and route it. A saved view per van makes this quick.

The Pending Jobs map now shows both vans' planned visits, which helps with new requests: you can see at a glance which van's day a new pin fits best.

What Changes for the Owner

For many owners the second van is also the moment they groom less and run the business more. The office side gets busier: two vans to route, two sets of skips to handle, two groomers' questions. Van GPS on the office map, skips with notes and two-way texting all help you run the second van without riding along.

Office user roles matter too. If a family member or office helper starts answering phones, they can have their own login with the access they need.

It helps to plan a few quieter days for the new van at first. A new groomer learning your clients, your area and the app will move more slowly than someone who has run the route for years. Book the new van's first weeks a little lighter, use the skips and notes to see how the days are going, and add more stops as the groomer settles in.

What Changes on the Plan

Plans are Start at $59/month, Pro at $89/month and Crew at $199/month, and scheduling is on every plan. A second van often means more customer texts, and plans include 500, 1,000 or 2,000 texts sent and received each month on Start, Pro or Crew. Compare the plans on the pricing page when you are ready. For how the schedule handles one van or several, see the mobile grooming scheduling software page.