Booking diary rules
How much buffer time should you leave between appointments?
Start with your own jobs, not a borrowed rule. Measure the time from the end of client work until the worker, room or vehicle is ready again. Use that gap to trial your appointment buffer time.
Ten minutes may be right for one service and wrong for the next. A mobile job can need travel. A fixed-site service may need notes, payment, cleaning or a room reset. The useful number is the one your diary can keep in real life.
Short answer: record ten normal jobs, sort the finish-to-ready gaps, and trial the second-highest gap rounded up to a five-minute step. That covers nine of the ten gaps you measured. It is a starting test, not a promise about every future job. Handle rare or hard-to-scope work with a longer manual block or a booking request.
Appointment buffer time is protected diary time around a booking. It can cover travel, clean-up, notes, payment, handover or preparation. It is not the time the client receives the service.
Separate buffer time from the other booking rules
A diary can look wrong even when its buffer is right. Service duration, booking lead time and start intervals answer different questions. Treating them as one setting creates gaps you cannot explain.
| Rule | Question it answers | Example use |
|---|---|---|
| Service duration | How long is the client booked for? | The visit, treatment, consult or job time. |
| Buffer time | When is the worker or resource ready again? | Travel, notes, payment, clean-up or setup. |
| Minimum lead time | How late can a client make a new booking? | Stops a same-minute booking before staff can prepare. |
| Start interval | Which clock times may a booking start? | On the hour, half-hour or another fixed pattern. |
| Manual block | What one-off time is unavailable? | A long drive, meeting, stock run or unusual reset. |
Google Calendar's appointment-schedule guide lists duration, availability, lead time, buffer time and calendar checks as separate controls. Square's current Australian guide also separates service-based time slots, start intervals, lead time, staff selection and daily limits. The lesson is simple: do not stretch one setting to solve five jobs.
Use a ten-job test to choose your first buffer
A practical first test needs enough real work to show normal variation without becoming a month-long project. Ten jobs is manageable. It is not a statistical guarantee, and it should not include the worst emergency you have ever seen.
- Choose one normal group. Use ten jobs with a similar service, place and staff setup. Do not mix a short consult with a cross-town installation.
- Write down the real finish. Mark when client work ends, not the time the diary hoped it would end.
- Mark ready time. Include the point when notes, payment, clean-up, pack-up or routine travel is done.
- Find each gap. Subtract the finish time from ready time.
- Sort the ten gaps. Put the shortest first and the longest last.
- Trial the second-highest gap. Round it up to the next five-minute step. This covers nine measured jobs while keeping the largest outlier visible.
- Run it for a week. Record late starts, unused gaps and any job that needed a manual block.
- Change one rule at a time. Adjust the buffer only after you know whether the problem was duration, travel, start intervals or the buffer itself.
Keep the worksheet small: date, service, worker, scheduled finish, real finish, ready time, finish-to-ready gap, and the reason for any outlier.
Do not write customer names in a timing worksheet unless you need them. The operational pattern matters, not the person's identity.
Use one routine buffer and one exception path
A routine buffer should fit repeatable work. It should not pretend every job is predictable. When the address, scope, staff, room or tool can change the day, use an exception path.
| Situation | Better diary rule | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed-site service with a stable reset | Routine buffer | The room, notes and handover follow a repeatable pattern. |
| Mobile jobs in a tight local area | Routine travel buffer plus address check | The gap can cover normal travel, while the address catches an outlier. |
| Unknown scope or cross-town travel | Booking request or manual review | A fixed gap cannot know the route or job size. |
| One long clean-up or staff meeting | Manual block | It is a one-off event, not a reason to widen every booking. |
| Several services with very different resets | Service-specific rules where supported | One business-wide number may waste time or under-protect the longer service. |
Microsoft's current Bookings documentation says a buffer can sit before, after or on both sides of a service. It also says clients need enough free time for the appointment and its buffer. That is the key test for any tool: does the availability check protect the whole operational window?
If a job still needs a person to judge it, do not force it through instant booking. Use the instant booking or booking request guide to choose an honest fallback.
Fixed-site and mobile businesses need different checks
For a fixed-site service
Start the timer when the client part ends. Stop it when the station, room, notes and payment are ready for the next person. If two staff share one room or tool, the resource must be ready too.
For example, a worker being free does not make a room free. Test both. If the room reset is longer than the worker's notes, the room sets the buffer.
For a mobile service
Separate pack-up from travel. Pack-up may be stable. Travel changes with the address, route and time of day. One fixed buffer can cover your normal service area, but it cannot know every road trip.
For example, review an unusual address or block the extra travel in the diary. Do not advertise a firm time just because the service itself has a known length. Your online booking form should collect the address or area before a mobile time is promised.
Do not hide a duration problem inside the buffer. If client work regularly runs longer than the service length, fix the service duration first. The buffer starts after the client work ends.
How Alice handles buffer time now
In the current Alice Booking Diary, go to Settings > When you're open > Buffer between jobs. The field is labelled for travel and clean-up time. It is one business-wide number in minutes.
Alice's current availability check protects that gap around real Alice bookings before it offers or confirms another time. Lunch, manual blocks and linked calendar events keep their exact start and end times. If an external event also needs travel or reset time, include that extra time in the external calendar block.
This is honest but limited. Alice does not currently show a different buffer for every service. If most work shares one routine gap, set that number. If one service is a clear outlier, use a longer manual block or keep that booking in Needs your OK until the diary can be checked.
The buffer is only one collision rule. Staff hours, service length, shared resources and every booking channel still matter. Run the double-booking checks for multi-staff teams before you trust the setup.
Run eight collision tests before relying on it
- Book two routine jobs. Check the second cannot start inside the protected gap.
- Try the same worker. Check the gap follows that person's bookings.
- Try another worker. Check a free worker can still be used when the business rules allow it.
- Test the end of the day. Check the job and buffer fit before closing time.
- Test lunch and time off. Check those exact blocks stay unavailable.
- Add a linked calendar event. Include its own travel time if the event needs it.
- Try a mobile outlier. Check it goes to review or gets a manual block instead of a guessed firm time.
- Change or cancel a booking. Check the old protected time becomes usable and the new one is protected.
Run the test on phone bookings, online forms and staff-made bookings. A perfect website rule does not help when another channel writes straight into a different diary.
Review appointment buffer time after the trial
Review the rule after one week. Check late starts, unused gaps and manual blocks. Those three signs tell you more than a full-looking diary.
If late starts follow one service, check its duration and reset work. If unused gaps appear all day, the buffer may be too wide. If only long mobile trips fail, keep the routine gap and review those addresses.
For example, do not widen every booking because one job crossed town. Give that trip its own block. Change one setting, run the same tests again, and keep a short note on what improved.
Review again when you add a service, change your area, share a room or tool, or bring on new staff. The old number may stop fitting when the work changes.
Frequently asked questions
Is ten minutes enough buffer between appointments?
It may be, but the number alone proves nothing. Measure real finish-to-ready gaps for similar jobs, then test the rule. Mobile travel and shared rooms often need a separate check.
Should buffer time go before or after an appointment?
Put preparation before and clean-up or travel after when your tool supports separate sides. A simple between-jobs rule can protect the gap around each booking, but you should test how the actual diary calculates it.
Is buffer time the same as service duration?
No. Service duration is the client booking. Buffer time is the protected operational gap around it. If client work runs over, change the duration rather than hiding the overrun in the buffer.
Can different services have different buffers in Alice?
Not in the current business-wide buffer field. Use one routine number for similar work. Handle a service with a very different reset or travel need through a longer block or manual review.
Will a buffer stop every double booking?
No. It protects time around bookings, but staff, services, rooms, tools, external calendars and booking channels can still clash. Test the whole path.
Sources checked on 17 August 2026
- Google Calendar Help: Create an appointment schedule
- Microsoft Learn: Configure service availability in Microsoft Bookings
- Square Support Centre Australia: Adjust your appointment settings
- Alice Booking Diary live settings and availability rules, checked 17 August 2026.
Product settings can change. Check the live help page and test a real diary path before you depend on a timing rule.
Give the next job room to start well
Measure normal work, set one honest buffer, then keep unusual jobs on a review path. Alice can hold the routine gap while you decide the exceptions.
See Alice Booking Diary