Duration Rules
Some jobs take longer than others, and the difference often depends on details the customer can tell you up front. Duration rules let you automatically adjust appointment length based on answers to booking questions — so a small repair gets 1 hour and a large one gets 2, without any manual scheduling.
How duration rules work
A duration rule has two parts:
- A condition — Based on a customer's answer to a booking question (e.g., "If roof size is over 3,000 sqft").
- An adjustment — Additional minutes added to the base duration (e.g., "add 60 minutes").
When a customer's answers match a condition, Driive adds the extra time to the base duration. Multiple rules can stack if multiple conditions are met.
Example
Appointment type: Roof Inspection Base duration: 60 minutes
| Condition | Additional minutes |
|---|---|
| Roof size > 3,000 sqft | +60 minutes |
| Roof type is "Flat/TPO" | +30 minutes |
| Multiple stories: "Yes" | +30 minutes |
A customer with a 4,000 sqft, two-story, flat roof would trigger all three rules: 60 + 60 + 30 + 30 = 180 minutes (3 hours).
A customer with a 1,500 sqft, single-story, asphalt shingle roof triggers no rules: 60 minutes base duration.
Where to configure duration rules
Duration rules live on the booking questions themselves:
- Navigate to Setup > Appointment Types and open the type you want to configure.
- On the Scheduling tab, make sure the appointment uses a variable duration range — duration rules only apply to variable-duration types.
- Open the Questions tab and expand the question the rule should be based on.
- In the question's duration rules section, click Add Rule.
Creating a duration rule
- On the question, click Add Rule.
- Set the condition — Choose the answer value(s) that trigger the rule:
- For single select / multi select questions: Select the answer option(s) that trigger the rule.
- For number questions: Set a comparison (e.g., greater than, less than, equals) and a value.
- Set the additional minutes — Enter the number of minutes to add when the condition is met.
- Save your changes.
How duration rules interact with scheduling
In the guided booking flow, customers answer questions before they pick a time. That means Driive already knows the final duration by the time it offers time slots — the available slots reflect the adjusted duration, so a 3-hour job is never squeezed into a 90-minute gap.
Important: The adjusted duration must still fall within the minimum-maximum duration range you set in Scheduling Settings. If a duration rule would push the appointment beyond the maximum, the duration is capped at the maximum.
Multiple rules and stacking
When multiple rules are triggered by a customer's answers, the additional minutes stack (add together). This lets you build nuanced duration calculations:
- Rule 1: Large property → +45 minutes
- Rule 2: Urgent timeline → +0 minutes (no extra time needed)
- Rule 3: Multiple service areas → +30 minutes
If rules 1 and 3 are both triggered, the total added time is 75 minutes.
Tips for effective duration rules
- Start with your most common variables. What's the single factor that most affects how long this job takes? Build your first rule around that.
- Use number questions for continuous ranges. "Square footage" and "number of rooms" work well with greater-than/less-than conditions.
- Test your rules. Walk through a few realistic customer profiles mentally. Do the resulting durations match how long those jobs actually take?
- Keep the maximum duration realistic. If all your rules could stack to 6 hours but no job actually takes that long, tighten your rules or adjust the maximum duration in Scheduling Settings.
- Review periodically. As your team gets faster or your service process changes, revisit your rules to make sure durations still match reality.
Next steps
- Booking Questions — Set up the questions that feed into duration rules.
- Scheduling Settings — Configure the base duration range and buffer times.
- Lead Scoring and Qualification — Use the same booking question answers for automatic lead qualification.