No-show cost calculator: what a customer-not-home trip costs
Enter your technician's loaded hourly rate, the drive, the minutes lost at the door, your vehicle cost and how often it happens. The calculator shows the cost per wasted trip, per month and per year, and the formula behind every number. It runs in your browser and saves nothing.
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Technician app for iPhone and iPad. On Android, technicians use ArrivePing in the phone's web browser.How do you calculate the cost of a no-show?
Multiply the technician's loaded hourly rate by the time lost, meaning the drive plus the minutes at the door, then add the vehicle cost for the distance driven. With a $35 loaded rate, 40 minutes of driving, 10 minutes at the door and 20 miles at 76 cents a mile, one wasted trip costs about $44. Multiply by your monthly count, then by 12, for the yearly figure.
Last updated
What do customer-not-home trips cost your team?
The example numbers are filled in; replace them with yours. Every result updates as you type.
Each customer-not-home trip costs about
$44.37
- Technician time
- $29.17
- Vehicle
- $15.20
- Per month (8 trips)
- $354.93
- Per year
- $4,259
- Technician hours lost per year
- 80
The formula, with your numbers
Loaded rate × (drive minutes + minutes at the door) ÷ 60 + vehicle cost per mile × distance
$35.00 × (40 + 10) ÷ 60 + $0.76 × 20 mi = $44.37 per wasted trip
Per month = per trip × trips per month. Per year = per month × 12.
What goes into the formula?
Cost per wasted trip = loaded hourly rate × (drive minutes + minutes at the door) ÷ 60 + vehicle cost per mile (or km) × distance driven. Per month = cost per trip × wasted trips a month. Per year = per month × 12.
- Loaded hourly rate: what an hour of a technician costs you, including payroll taxes, benefits, insurance and overhead, not just the wage.
- Drive minutes: the time spent driving to the empty house and on to the next job or back, which is time that earns nothing.
- Minutes at the door: knocking, calling the customer and the office, and waiting before giving up.
- Vehicle cost: fuel, wear, insurance and depreciation per mile or km, times the distance driven for that trip.
- Wasted trips per month: your own count across the whole team.
Where do the example numbers come from?
$35 an hour is the loaded technician rate ArrivePing uses as a standard assumption in its own examples. 76 cents a mile is the IRS business standard mileage rate from July 1, 2026, up from 72.5 cents, as reported by the Journal of Accountancy (IRS Announcement 2026-11). The trip (40 minutes, 10 minutes at the door, 20 miles) and 8 trips a month are round illustrative numbers, not industry averages. Use your own.
With those inputs, one wasted trip costs $44.37: $29.17 of technician time and $15.20 of vehicle cost. 8 a month is $354.93, or $4,259 and 80 technician hours a year.
The calculator leaves out the margin on the job you could have done instead and the office time spent rebooking. If you track those, add them to the result.
How do you reduce customer-not-home trips?
Most wasted trips start with a customer who didn't know when to expect you. Five habits help:
- Confirm the appointment and the arrival window the day before.
- Text when the technician actually leaves, with a live ETA, so the customer can say "I'm not home" before the truck rolls. Try the on-my-way text generator.
- Give the customer a one-tap way to reach the technician directly.
- When the day slips, send a running-late update with a new time instead of letting the window lapse.
- Put access notes, such as a gate code or "use the side door", on the work order so the technician isn't stuck outside.
How does ArrivePing help the customer be home?
When the technician taps Start Driving, the customer gets a text with a live tracking link and can text or call the technician from that page, so a "running 10 minutes late, side door is open" reply reaches the technician before the truck does. If the job slips past its promised time and nobody acts, ArrivePing sends a running-late text with the new time.
See on-my-way text software, automatic dispatch and pricing: from US$49 a month, with a 30-day free trial.
Sources
Checked November 1, 2026.
- Journal of Accountancy: IRS raises standard mileage rates for remainder of 2026: 76 cents a mile from July 1, 2026 (IRS Announcement 2026-11)
No-show costs: FAQs
What does a no-show cost a field service business?
It depends on your rate, your drive times and how often it happens; the calculator shows your number. With the example inputs, a $35 loaded hourly rate, 40 minutes of driving, 10 minutes at the door and 20 miles at 76 cents a mile, each wasted trip costs $44.37, and 8 a month add up to $4,259 a year.
What is a loaded hourly rate?
What an hour of a technician costs you, not just their wage: pay plus payroll taxes, benefits, insurance and overhead. If you don't know yours yet, $35 an hour is the planning figure ArrivePing uses in its own examples; replace it with your own.
What vehicle cost per mile should I use?
Your own cost if you track it. If not, the IRS business standard mileage rate is a common stand-in: 76 cents a mile from July 1, 2026, up from 72.5 cents, according to the Journal of Accountancy's report on IRS Announcement 2026-11. Switch to kilometres and the calculator converts the rate for you.
Does the calculator save my numbers?
No. It runs entirely in your browser; nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere, and there is no form to submit.
How does ArrivePing reduce customer-not-home trips?
The customer gets a text with a live tracking link when the technician starts driving, can text or call the technician in one tap, and gets a running-late update with a new time if the job slips. That gives them the chance to say they're not home before the truck arrives. Plans start at US$49 a month.
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