Route Builder shows one day of inspections for your office on a map and a timeline, one lane per inspector. You can see who is driving where, place orders that do not have an inspector yet, move or re-time stops, and then write the finished plan to your calendar in one step.
Nothing you do on the board changes an order until you click Apply. Until then you are working on a plan, and ISN saves that plan for you as you go.
Who can use Route Builder
To open Route Builder, your user needs both of these:
Owner Access or Office Administrator
Company Calendar Access
To apply a plan to the calendar, lock an inspector's day, draw driving routes or keep a saved draft, you also need Edit Inspections ("User can EDIT Scheduled Orders that are not Complete"). Users with Owner Access can apply without it.
Without the first two, Route Builder is not in your menu, and opening its link takes you back to the dashboard. If you can open the page but cannot apply, you will see You do not have permission to write routes to the calendar.
There is no office setting to turn on. If you have the access above, the page is there.
Open Route Builder
In the main menu, open Inspections.
Click Route Builder. It is just below Map Upcoming Inspections.
Route Builder opens on today's date.
The day you are looking at, and the office if you work in more than one, are part of the page address. You can bookmark a day or send the link to someone who has the same access.
A quick tour of the page
From top to bottom:
Page header: the Map / Timeline / Settings switch, an Undo change button (it only shows up once you have changed something), and Planned Days.
Day bar: the date, the office, what kind of day it is, how much of the day is placed, conflicts, drive time, and the Review & Apply button.
The board: the inspector list (the "rail") on the left, then the map or the timeline, then a side panel on the right with two tabs, Unassigned orders and Route details.
Choose a day
Use the ‹ and › arrows beside the date to move one day back or forward, or click the date to open a calendar.
In the calendar, a green dot under a date means a route has been applied to that day. A blue dot means a draft is saved for that day. Hover over a date to see Route applied, Draft saved or Route applied; a draft of changes is saved.
Pick a date. The board loads that day straight away. You do not need a separate "open" step.
You can open today and any later date. You can only open past dates that have an applied route or a saved draft. The arrows skip past dates that have neither.
A badge next to the date tells you what kind of day you are on:
Planning · Tomorrow or Planning for a future day
Same-day for today. The timeline also shows a red line at the current time.
Past day for any earlier date
If you can work in more than one office, an office drop-down appears beside the date. Switching office clears the board and loads that office's day.
What the day bar tells you
N to place (or All placed): orders on this day that have no inspector yet. Click it to jump to them in the Unassigned orders panel.
N suggested: auto-assign suggestions you have not accepted or rejected yet. Click it to jump to them.
N conflicts (or No conflicts): click it to see the list. See "Conflicts" below.
N orders · N inspectors · Xh Ym driving: the day's totals.
A green progress bar shows how many of the day's orders are placed.
Which orders and inspectors appear
Orders: every order in this office whose inspection date is this day, unless it is canceled or hidden. Orders that already have an inspector are in that inspector's lane. Orders with no inspector are listed under Unassigned orders.
Orders with no inspection date, or dated on another day, do not appear. To plan one, give it a date on the order first.
Inspectors: the office's active inspectors, each with a color. The same color is used for their row, their pins and route line on the map, and their timeline blocks.
The inspector list
Each inspector has a header row with:
A caret to show or hide their stops (Show [name]'s orders / Collapse [name]'s orders).
Their color dot and name. Click the name to select them. Their day is then shown across the top of the map, and their route is drawn thicker.
A crossed-out eye if their route is hidden from the map (tooltip: Hidden from the map), and a padlock if their day is locked.
Their number of stops. If they have a daily limit and you are respecting capacity, this shows as stops/limit, for example 5/4. It turns red when they are over.
Their total drive time and the start and end of their day.
A ⋮ menu. See below.
The inspector ⋮ menu
Focus route: shows only this inspector's route on the map. While it is on, the item reads Show all routes.
Hide from map / Show on map: takes just this inspector's route off the map, or puts it back.
Apply route day / Unlock route day: applies this inspector's changes and locks their day. See "Lock an inspector's day" below. For a past day the item is greyed out with A past day cannot be locked.
Show available orders: narrows the Unassigned orders panel to the orders this inspector is qualified for. See "Auto-assign" below.
While any routes are hidden or focused, a dark pill at the top of the map reads, for example, 2 routes hidden · Show all or Only Dana's route · Show all. Click it to show every route again.
Each stop in the list
Under an inspector, each stop shows its number in the day, its address, its time window, and the drive to get there. You may also see:
Service badges. A red badge means this inspector is not qualified for that service. Hover to see [Service]: [Inspector] is not qualified for this service.
Missing details (orange): the order form was never completed. Missing inspector: the order has no inspector. Click either badge to see exactly what is missing. See "Order details that are missing" below.
Suggested (blue outline): auto-assign placed this stop, and you have not accepted it yet.
Moved from 9:00 AM (dotted orange): your plan changes this stop's time. The tooltip reminds you that the client and buyer need to know the new time.
Click a stop row to highlight it on the map and the timeline. The icons on the right of the row:
Move or re-time (person-swap icon): opens the Move dialog. On a locked day the tooltip reads Day locked and the icon is greyed out.
Open order: opens the order in a new browser tab.
⋮ More actions, which shows only the items that apply:
Show on map: in Timeline view only. Switches to the map and centers on this stop.
Accept suggestion / Reject suggestion: for auto-assign suggestions.
Return to unassigned: takes a stop you placed in this plan back off the inspector. Orders that already had an inspector when the day opened cannot be returned to unassigned here. Move them to another inspector instead.
Why: explains an auto-assign suggestion. See "Why this stop" below.
Map view
Each stop is a pin in its inspector's color, numbered in the order of their day. Click a pin to highlight the stop and select its inspector.
Orders still to place are white pins with a dashed grey border, labelled with the order number. Click one to open the Assign dialog.
Routes are drawn along real roads. A route shows only its pins until its roads have been fetched. See "Drive times and driving routes" below. The map never draws straight lines between stops.
Top left: map style. Standard is a full street map. Routes is a plain white map where the routes stand out.
Top right: Zoom in, Zoom out, Zoom to fit (fits the map to the routes you are showing) and Reset north and tilt.
If home bases are turned on in Settings, a house icon shows where each route starts and ends. Click it to select that inspector. If several inspectors share a home base, clicking it opens a Starts here list to choose from.
Across the top of the Map view, a strip shows the selected inspector's day as a timeline. While you drag an order, the strip switches to the inspector you are dragging over, so you can see where the order would land. You can turn the strip off in Settings.
Timeline view
Choose Timeline in the page header to see every inspector's day side by side, one lane each. The hours run from at least 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM. They stretch earlier or later if anyone's availability or stops do.
A shaded band behind the hours shows the selected inspector's availability.
Solid blocks are booked stops. Hollow blocks are not booked yet: either the order is missing details, or it is an auto-assign suggestion. Suggestions also have an ✕ to reject them.
A dotted block is a stop whose time your plan changes.
Hover over a block to see the order number, address and times.
Collapsing an inspector in the list moves their blocks up onto their name row.
Place orders that have no inspector
Open the Unassigned orders tab in the right-hand panel. The heading reads UNASSIGNED ORDERS · N, and under THIS DAY you will find every order on this day that has no inspector. If there are none, you will see Every order on this day has an inspector.
Each order shows its address, order number and how long it takes. It also shows its best fit, the inspector who is already driving nearby and has time for it, in a green box marked Suggested. For example:
Already driving nearby with room at 1:05 PM, between #21 and #22. Adds only 12m drive.
Open day: nothing booked yet, free from 9:00 AM.
If nothing fits: No free gap on this day fits it with its drive
A drive time marked ≈ is estimated from distance. Use Get drive time to make it exact.
There are four ways to place an order.
1. Add at the best fit (one click)
Click the green + on the order (tooltip: Add to [Inspector] at [time] -- the best fit).
The order is placed in that gap straight away.
2. Use the Assign dialog
Click the order's address, or the Assign to an inspector… icon. You can also click its grey pin on the map.
Under Best fits, click one of the suggested inspectors and times. Each shows the extra drive it adds and where it falls in their day, for example "after #21".
Or pick someone yourself from Inspector. The list is split into Qualified and Not qualified for this order's services. Inspectors with a locked day show (day locked) and cannot be chosen.
Check Arrive at. It defaults to the inspector's best gap, or their next free time.
Read the line under the time. It tells you what you would run into, for example 10:00 AM–12:00 PM overlaps #4213 (11:00 AM–1:00 PM). or Outside availability (8:00 AM–4:00 PM). If there is not enough time to drive between stops, it says so: Leaves no time to drive from #4213: it needs 25m, 10m more than there is.
Click Assign.
3. Drag and drop
Grab the order by the grip on its left edge.
Drop it on an inspector's name in the list to place it in their best gap. Or drop it on their timeline (or the strip above the map) to place it at that exact time. Times snap to 15 minutes.
While you drag, a label follows your pointer with the order number, the time it would land at, and the inspector. Its color tells you what would happen:
Blue: the time is free.
Yellow: it overlaps a stop that is not booked yet, or there is not enough time to drive in or out. The label says, for example, 25m drive from #4213 does not fit.
Red: it overlaps a booked appointment.
Shaded windows on the timeline show where the order fits with its drives (hover: Fits here with its drives), and a dotted outline shows exactly where it would drop. You cannot drop onto a locked day.
4. Auto-assign
See "Auto-assign and suggestions" below.
Move or re-time a stop
Drag a stop by its grip onto another inspector's name to change the inspector and keep the time. Drag it along a timeline to change the time, or onto another lane to change both.
Click Move or re-time on the stop to open the Move dialog. It works like the Assign dialog: Best fits, Move to (the current inspector is marked (current)) and Arrive at, which starts at the stop's current time.
Keyboard: click a block on the timeline, then press the left or right arrow key to move it 15 minutes earlier or later.
Every change is shown on the board straight away and counted toward Review & Apply. To take back your last change, click Undo change in the page header, or press Ctrl+Z (⌘+Z on a Mac). This only undoes changes on the board. It does not undo something already applied to the calendar.
Stops on a locked day cannot be dragged or moved.
Auto-assign and suggestions
Auto-assign plans the day's unassigned orders around everything already on the board. It looks at each inspector's availability for that weekday, the zip codes they cover, the services they are qualified for, existing bookings, drive times and, if you choose to respect it, their daily limit. It never changes a stop that is already on a lane.
In the Unassigned orders panel, click Auto-assign this day.
The answers appear on the board as Suggested stops (hollow on the timeline). They also appear in the panel under SUGGESTIONS · N, grouped by inspector.
For each one, click ✓ (Accept) or ✕ (Reject), or use Accept all / Reject all. You can also accept or reject from a stop's ⋮ menu, or reject with the ✕ on its timeline block.
An accepted suggestion becomes an ordinary stop in your plan.
A rejected order goes back to unassigned, and auto-assign leaves it out the next time you run it.
Suggestions are never applied until you accept them. While any are waiting, Review & Apply tells you so.
Auto-assign does not suggest anything onto a locked day.
Auto-assign picks its own times, even when Keep each order's booked time is on in Settings.
Orders auto-assign could not place are listed under COULD NOT PLACE · N with the main reason. Click Why not for the full explanation. If there is nothing to place, you will see Nothing to place: every order on this day already has an inspector.
Auto-assign for one inspector
Open the inspector's ⋮ menu and choose Show available orders.
The panel heading changes to UNASSIGNED · AVAILABLE TO [NAME] · N and lists only the orders they are qualified for, each at its best gap on their day.
Click Add (the +) on individual orders, or Auto-assign N to [name] to plan them all onto that inspector. If their day is locked, the button reads [name]'s day is locked.
Click All orders to go back to the full list.
Why this stop (and why not the others)
For an auto-assign suggestion, or an order auto-assign could not place, choose Why from the stop's ⋮ menu, the ? on an unassigned order (Why it was not assigned), or Why not. The window shows:
Why it was suggested where it was, for example Suggested for Marcus Ruiz, arriving 2:15 PM — 18m after #4213 departs, 12m of it driving. If the order is not suggested, it says Assigned to [name]. or Not assigned.
Where the order came from: Booked via Online Scheduler, Order Form, or a partner such as Porch, Keller Williams, InspectionBooking.ai, AgentHub or AI Assistant.
Why not the others: each other inspector by name, with the reason they could not take it.
What each reason means:
No availability on this weekday: the inspector has no available hours that day of the week. It may add "this inspection needs 2h 30m".
Their available hours are shorter than this inspection needs: the inspector's whole available window is too short, for example "available 9:00 AM–11:00 AM (2h 0m), needs 2h 30m". Extending their hours would fix it.
Already booked for the whole time this needs: their window is long enough, but there is no free stretch inside it, for example "no free 2h 30m between 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM". Extending their hours would not help.
Does not cover this zip code: the property's zip is not in the inspector's service area.
This zip is closed on this weekday: the inspector covers the zip, but not on this day of the week.
Not qualified for a required service
Daily capacity is full: they have reached their daily limit. This only applies when you respect capacity.
The address has no usable geocode: the address could not be found on the map.
Cannot reach an already-scheduled stop in time from here
If the window says No other inspector was considered for this stop., no other inspector was checked for that order.
Order details that are missing
Click a Missing details or Missing inspector badge to see what that order lacks, followed by what it does have (date, inspector, services, duration, address, client, and who created it). There is also a link to open the order. Each possible gap is explained:
Order form not completed: nobody has clicked Complete on this order, so ISN treats it as unfinished whatever else is filled in. Open the order, check it over, and complete it.
No date: set one on the order, or place it on a day here and apply.
No inspector: assign one on the order, or drag the order onto an inspector's lane here.
No services: there is nothing to plan and no duration to plan with.
No duration: services are set, but the inspection works out to 0 minutes. Check the services' durations and the property details.
No address: the order cannot be mapped, routed or auto-assigned.
Address not geocoded: it can be scheduled by hand but not placed on the map or auto-assigned. Re-check the address on the order.
No client: no client is attached to the order.
If nothing is missing: Nothing is missing — this order has everything the route builder needs.
Applying a plan sets the inspector and time on these orders. It does not complete the order form. Open the order and complete it as usual.
Conflicts
Conflicts never stop you from editing, and you can apply a plan that has them. You just have to confirm them first. Click N conflicts in the day bar to open Conflicts on this plan, grouped by inspector. Click a conflict to go to that stop with the Move dialog open. Conflicts with a booked appointment are shown in red.
Overlaps by 30m (or Overlapping stops): two stops on one inspector overlap in time.
Outside availability by 45m (or Outside the inspector's availability): the stop runs outside the inspector's available hours.
20m short of the drive time needed between these stops (or Not enough time to drive between these stops): the gap between two stops is shorter than the drive.
Runs 30m past midnight (or Runs past midnight)
6 stops on a 5-stop day: the inspector is over their daily limit. This only shows when you respect capacity.
Route details
Open the Route details tab in the right-hand panel to see figures for the selected inspector:
Total time spent: time on site plus driving
Idle: gaps in the day
Return drive: the drive back at the end of the day
Availability: their available hours that day
Home base: where their day starts and ends. This is the inspector's own address when the office's mileage starting point is the inspector, and the office otherwise.
Stops (only when over their limit, in red, for example "6 of 5") and Day (only when the day runs outside their availability, in red)
If no inspector is selected you will see Select an inspector to see their route. When there is nothing left to place and no suggestions waiting, the panel shows only Route details.
Drive times and driving routes
When a day opens, Route Builder uses the drive times it already knows. To fill in the rest:
Click Get drive time in the day bar (tooltip: Fetch drive times and draw the routes on the map).
On a busy day this runs in rounds and shows its progress, for example Getting drive time… 40%. When it finishes, it draws each inspector's route along real roads (Getting driving routes… 60%).
When every drive time is known, the button is greyed out (Every drive time on this day is known.). It becomes available again once you move orders around.
To redraw every inspector's roads without fetching drive times, click the small arrow next to the button (More drive time options) and choose Get all driving routes.
Driving routes are drawn for today and the next 13 days only. On other days you will see No driving routes for this day.
If the map service does not answer, you will see Some drive times are still unknown ("Try Get drive time again in a few minutes") or Some driving routes were not drawn ("Try again in a minute").
Each route runs from the inspector's home base and back.
There is no daily limit on how many times you can fetch drive times or routes.
Lock an inspector's day
Locking says "this inspector's day is final". It freezes their day on the board and draws their roads.
Open the inspector's ⋮ menu and choose Apply route day.
If your plan changes any of their stops, including stops moved onto or off their day, those changes are applied to the calendar first, and then the day is locked. If they have no changes, the day is simply locked.
Under their name you will see Locked, followed by one of:
· Roads drawn
· N legs not drawn, with a Draw roads button to try again
· Roads are drawn within 14 days of the day for days further out
· Changed since locked, if someone changed one of their orders elsewhere after it was locked
While a day is locked, its stops cannot be dragged, moved or returned to unassigned. Nothing can be dropped onto it, and auto-assign skips it. If your plan still has changes involving a locked day, Apply writes everything else and holds those back with N changes held on locked days. They stay on the board and apply once the day is unlocked.
To unlock, choose Unlock route day from the same menu. Unlocking never applies anything.
If applying the inspector's changes fails, the day is not locked, and you will see [Name]'s day was not applied, so it was not locked.
Review and apply your plan
Click Review & Apply (N) in the day bar. N is the number of orders your plan changes. The button is greyed out when there is nothing to apply. Hover over it to see why: Nothing to apply: no order has changed since this day was opened. or Nothing to apply yet: accept or reject the N suggestions first.
The Review & Apply panel slides in over the board. Under Review changes it shows:
A summary such as Apply writes 4 orders. Nothing else on the day is touched.
Three before-and-after figures: Unassigned, Conflicts and Drive time.
A table of every order that will change, with its Change (Newly scheduled, Inspector changed, Time moved or Inspector and time changed), where it is Now, and where it will be After apply.
If suggestions are still waiting: N suggestions are not included.
If the plan has conflicts, they are listed with a Show on timeline button for each. Review them, then tick Apply despite these conflicts. If you change the plan afterwards, you will need to tick it again.
Click Apply N Changes, or Back to Board to keep editing.
When it finishes, a green banner reads Routes applied to [date] — N orders written to the calendar. The board shows the day as applied. The banner also has Undo and Plan Next Day buttons.
What Apply changes on each order
Apply only touches the orders listed in the review. Orders you did not change are left alone. For each listed order it sets:
the inspector (the primary inspector)
the inspection date and start time
the duration, which is the length of the stop on the board
Saving those changes works the same way as editing the order by hand. Calendar entries, including synced Google calendars, are updated. Scheduled email and text reminders are recalculated for the new time. Any integrations you have connected (for example Zapier or webhooks) are told the order was rescheduled or reassigned.
When you apply a plan you built yourself, Route Builder does not send a "your inspection has been rescheduled" message. That is why moved stops carry the reminder that the client and buyer need to know the new time. The exception is a plan an AI assistant submitted and you approved. See "Does Route Builder tell my clients about the new time?" below.
Apply does not cancel, complete or un-assign anything. It also does not complete the order form on orders that are missing details.
When Apply refuses
If nothing can be written, you will see a notice titled Nothing was applied, or an error message. Common reasons:
Conflicts not yet confirmed: tick Apply despite these conflicts.
Nothing has changed since this day was opened.
Every change here is on a locked day (N orders). Unlock the day to apply them.
An order has been canceled, hidden or completed since you opened the day, for example Order #1234 is already complete and cannot be rescheduled here; nothing was applied.
An apply for this day is already running. Wait for it to finish, then reload the day to see what it wrote.
In every one of these cases, no order is changed. It is all or nothing.
If your connection drops while applying, you will see The apply is still running. Do not apply again. The page watches for the result and shows The apply finished once the orders are written. If nothing shows up within five minutes, you will see The apply has not shown up yet. Reload the page before trying again.
Undo an apply
For 15 minutes after applying, the green banner shows Undo available for Xm Ys and an Undo button. Undo puts every order from that apply back to the inspector, date, time and duration it had before.
If anyone changed one of those orders after you applied, undo does nothing and tells you which order: Order #1234 changed since these routes were applied, so nothing was undone.
After 15 minutes the button disappears (That undo window has expired.). After that, correct the orders on the orders themselves.
Undo also disappears if you switch offices.
Drafts and Planned Days
Your plan is saved as a draft automatically, a couple of seconds after each change, so you will not lose it if the page reloads. A day you have not changed is not saved. Suggestions you have not accepted are not saved either.
If you come back to today or a future day that has an unapplied draft, a blue notice reads Unsaved changes for [date] and says who was editing it and when. Click Restore to load the draft, or Discard to throw it away. If orders were canceled, moved or added since the draft was saved, a notice lists them.
Drafts are shared by the office. If two people plan the same day, the latest save wins. A draft is cleared once that day is applied.
Click Planned Days in the page header to open:
Existing Routes: one row per day with an applied route, and one per saved draft, showing Day, When (and who), Orders, Inspectors and Status. The statuses are Applied, Undone, Pending (a draft) and Pending - outdated (a draft whose orders have changed since; hover to see how). Use the arrow icon to open the day or draft, and the trash icon (Discard this draft) to delete a draft. An applied day opens as it stands now, so anything rescheduled since shows in its new place.
Inspection details for day: counts of the orders, inspectors with availability, service qualifications, existing bookings, map points and inspectors with a daily limit that Route Builder is working from. A reminder notes that availability, service areas and capacity are read live, so out-of-date settings give out-of-date routes.
Settings
Choose Settings in the page header. These choices apply only to you and are remembered in this browser, except capacity, which is part of the day's link.
MAP
Show unassigned orders on the map (on by default): grey pins for orders still to place.
Show the timeline above the Map view (on by default): the selected inspector's day across the top.
Show each inspector's home base on their route (off by default): a house where each route starts and ends.
TIMES
Keep each order's booked time (off by default): orders can move to another inspector but not to another time. Dragging on a timeline keeps the time, the arrow keys do nothing, the Assign and Move dialogs show Arrives at [time], its booked time instead of a time picker, and best fits only show inspectors with room at that time. Auto-assign still chooses its own times.
DRIVE TIMES AND ROUTES
Inspectors without drive times or routes: for a "holding" user some offices keep for orders nobody has taken yet, such as a "Leads" user. Their orders stay on the board, but no drive times are fetched for them, no road is drawn, and nothing is suggested onto them. Their routes are also hidden from the map.
Inspector capacity
Respect capacity (default): auto-assign and best fits stop at each inspector's daily inspection limit, and a day over it is flagged as a conflict.
Ignore capacity: limits are not checked.
FAQ and troubleshooting
I don't see Route Builder in the Inspections menu.
You need Owner Access or Office Administrator, plus Company Calendar Access. Ask your account owner to check your privileges.
An order I expected isn't on the board.
Only orders dated on the selected day are shown, and canceled or hidden orders are left out. An order with no date will not appear until you give it one on the order.
The Review & Apply button is greyed out.
Nothing has changed since the day was opened, or the only changes are suggestions you have not accepted yet. Hover over the button to see which.
I can't drag or move an inspector's stops.
Their day is locked. Choose Unlock route day from their ⋮ menu.
Why are some routes just pins with no line?
Roads have not been fetched for that route yet. Click Get drive time, or choose Get all driving routes from the arrow next to it. Roads are only drawn for today and the next 13 days.
Does Route Builder tell my clients about the new time?
It depends on who built the plan.
A plan you build and apply yourself: no. Scheduled reminders follow the new time, but Route Builder does not send a rescheduling notice. Let the client and buyer know when you move a booked appointment.
A plan an AI assistant submitted and you approved: yes. When you apply it, ISN sends a reschedule notice for each approved order whose date or time changed, about 16 minutes later, using your saved reschedule email and text choices. If you undo first, nothing is sent. If none of your reschedule choices are switched on, no notice is sent, and the message after you apply says so. For how AI plans work, see "Use an AI assistant with Route Builder".
I applied by mistake.
Click Undo on the green banner within 15 minutes. After that, or if an order was changed in the meantime, correct the orders on the orders themselves.
Can I return an order to unassigned?
Only orders you placed in this plan. An order that already had an inspector when you opened the day can be moved to someone else, but its inspector cannot be removed here.
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If you have any questions about this information, please let us know! You can reach us by chat, email at help@inspectionsupport.com, or phone at (800) 700-8112.