# How Per-Van Inventory Tracking Prevents Missed HVAC Jobs

## Quick Summary
Your tech shows up and the part isn't on the truck. Now you're burning an hour on a parts run — or worse, rescheduling and losing the customer. Per-van inventory tracking with low-stock alerts keeps every truck stocked for the next call.

## The Problem
The parts run is the most expensive hour in HVAC service. Your tech is on site, the diagnosis is done, the homeowner is ready to approve the repair — and the capacitor, contactor, or TXV valve isn't on the van. Now your tech drives 30 minutes to the supply house, waits 15 minutes, and drives 30 minutes back. That's an hour of labor you can't bill, plus fuel, plus one fewer job that day.

The bigger cost is the reschedule. When the part isn't available same-day — maybe it's a specific blower motor or a proprietary board — you have to roll a truck back out tomorrow or next week. That second trip eats another 30-60 minutes of drive time, and there's a real chance the customer called someone else while they waited.

Most HVAC shops track inventory at the warehouse level, if they track it at all. The warehouse knows there are 14 capacitors on the shelf. But nobody knows that Van 3 used its last one yesterday and Van 7 has six. So when your dispatcher sends Van 3 to a capacitor job, the tech shows up empty-handed.

Without per-van visibility, your inventory is a black box with wheels. Parts walk off trucks, get used without being logged, or sit in a van for months while another tech can't find one. End-of-month inventory counts reveal the damage, but by then you've already missed the jobs.

## How to Fix It
Opsler tracks inventory across four location types: **warehouse, van, truck, and office**. Each location has its own stock count, so you know exactly what's on every vehicle and every shelf.

When a tech uses a part on a job, it's deducted from that van's inventory automatically. When stock hits a threshold, low-stock alerts fire at two severity levels — a warning when you're getting low, and an urgent alert when you're about to run out.

Restocking is a stock transfer: move 10 capacitors from the warehouse to Van 3, and both counts update instantly. Bulk transfers let you restock multiple vans during the morning warehouse run.

Your dispatcher can check a tech's van inventory before assigning a job. If Van 3 doesn't have the likely parts for an AC repair, send Van 5 instead — or have Van 3 swing by the warehouse first.

## The Numbers
For an 8-tech HVAC operation:
- **Parts runs per tech per month**: ~2 (industry average)
- **Cost per parts run** (lost labor + fuel + missed opportunity): ~$200
- **Monthly cost**: 8 techs × 2 runs × $200 = **$3,200/month**
- **Jobs lost to rescheduling**: ~2 per tech per month at **$400 average ticket**
- **Monthly reschedule cost**: 8 techs × 2 jobs × $400 = **$6,400/month**
- **Total annual exposure**: **$76,800/year** (conservative — parts runs plus lost jobs)

That drops to near zero when every van is stocked based on real data instead of guesswork.

## FAQ

### How do parts get deducted from van inventory?
When a tech adds parts to a job in the Opsler app, those items are automatically deducted from that van's inventory count. No separate logging step.

### What if a tech uses a part and forgets to log it?
End-of-day inventory reconciliation flags discrepancies. If Van 3 started with 5 capacitors and the jobs only account for 3 used, the system flags 2 unaccounted units for review.

### Can I see inventory value by location?
Yes. Opsler shows the dollar value of stock at each location — warehouse, each van, each office. Useful for insurance, tax reporting, and spotting overstocked vehicles.

### Does this work offline?
Fully. Techs log parts usage on the app even without signal. The inventory counts sync when they reconnect. Low-stock alerts fire once the data syncs.

### How do I handle warranty parts and returns?
Stock transfers work both directions. When a part comes back (warranty return, wrong part pulled), transfer it back to the warehouse or to another van. The audit trail tracks every movement.

Learn more: https://opsler.com/blog/hvac-van-inventory/