Assigning a realistic Expected Length to every service lets the portal warn you when a sitter’s day is too tight or a single visit is running long.
Where the timing rules live
Expected Length (per service)
Service Settings › Base Services › open a service › Length & Behavior › Expected Length
Drive Time Buffer (minutes, global)
Business Settings › Pet Sitters & Journals › Drive Time Buffer
Add the time the sitter actually spends in the home to Expected Length; the portal adds the buffer when it checks for overlap.
How overbooking is found
The portal scans the next two weeks of visits for each sitter:
If Visit Time Display Mode is Time Block + Specific Time, it checks minute-by-minute overlap.
If the mode is Time Block only, it sums the total minutes assigned inside each block.
A visit is flagged when (Expected Length + Drive Time Buffer) no longer fits. You’ll see a
on the visit and receive an in-portal notification.
Turn off alerts – Business Settings › Pet Sitters & Journals › Notify When Sitters Are Overbooked → Disable
(To suppress them for just one service, un-tick Notify When Overbooked inside that Base Service’s Length & Behavior.)
Visits that over-run their length
Inside each Base Service’s Length & Behavior section you can:
Notify management when time is up
Notify the sitter
Auto-Complete the visit one hour past the limit (back-dated to +15 min)
The first “Expected Length Exceeded” alert fires after a five-minute grace period. The global default toggle sits just below the overbooking setting in Pet Sitters & Journals.
Related conflict – sitter time off
A visit that overlaps approved time off triggers an Availability Conflict banner instead of an overbooking notice. Details: Availability / Time Off.
At a glance
Clients never see overbooking icons or length-exceeded emails.
No Key Needed for this Service hides key reminders even if a visit overruns.
Changing Expected Length or Drive Time Buffer updates future visits immediately; existing visits adopt the new rules when edited or recalculated.