Can Calendly acheive this system for vehicle mechanic

Hi ​@ScottRWS - Thanks for reaching out!

You can get close to this workflow in Calendly, however, we don’t currently track a shared “10 hours per day” across different job types. Instead, you’ll use separate event types, working hours, and meeting limits to keep each day reasonable, and rely on clear instructions to enforce the 8:00am drop-off / 6:00pm pickup rule. I’ve taken some time to write out some instructions below for you!

First, lets identify what Calendly can’t do

Calendly can’t:

• Add up different event durations (30 min, 3 hrs, 5 hrs, etc.) into a shared 10-hour daily pool, and automatically stop once that 10-hour capacity is reached.
• Show every appointment on the customer’s calendar as 8:00am–6:00pm while secretly tracking a different internal duration.

So you won’t get perfect hour-by-hour capacity automation, but you can get a setup that:

• Lets customers pick the right job type.
• Keeps the mechanic’s day from being overbooked via meeting limits.
• Clearly tells customers: “Drop off at 8am, pick up at 6pm.”

With that in mind, if you still wanted to move forward, here is how I would set something like this up:
 

1. Create one event type per job with the real work duration

Create separate event types like:

• Diagnostic Work – duration 30 minutes
• Standard Service – duration 3 hours
• Major Service – duration 5 hours
• Air Conditioning Service – duration 4 hours

Each event type controls its own duration and settings.

Helpful articles:

• How to set up an event type:  https://calendly.com/help/how-to-set-up-an-event-type
• How to customize your event types:  https://calendly.com/help/how-to-customize-your-event-types

2. Set working hours to 8:00am–6:00pm, Monday–Friday

Next, define the mechanic’s general availability:

1. Go to Availability.
2. Use the Weekly or Calendar view to set availability to Monday–Friday, 8:00am–6:00pm.
3. Save your changes.

This ensures all event types draw from the same 8–6 window on weekdays.

Helpful article:

• How to set your availability:  https://calendly.com/help/how-to-set-your-availability

3. Use meeting limits so you aren’t overloaded by jobs

Because Calendly can’t enforce “10 hours” exactly, you’ll use meeting limits to cap how many jobs can be booked per day for each event type, and optionally across all event types combined.

For each event type (e.g., Major Service):

1. Go to Scheduling → [that event type].
2. Select More options → Limits and buffers.
3. Turn on Meeting limits.
4. Set how many times that event type can be booked per day (e.g., “Maximum 2 Major Services per day”).
5. Save.

Optionally, you can also set an overall daily limit across all event types:

1. Go to Availability → Advanced settings.
2. Under Meeting limits, add a limit for per day (e.g., “No more than 4 total meetings per day”).
3. Your settings save automatically.

This doesn’t calculate exact hours, but it keeps the daily mix of jobs within a safe band that works for a 10-hour workday.

Helpful article:

• How to set meeting limits:  https://calendly.com/help/how-to-set-meeting-limits

4. Enforce “drop at 8 / pickup at 6” with event descriptions and notifications

Even though the calendar event might show a shorter duration (e.g., 8:00–11:00 for a 3-hour job), you can make the customer experience match your process by clearly stating the rule:

• In each event type’s description and confirmation page, add something like:
  > “All vehicles must be dropped off by 8:00am and will be ready for collection at 6:00pm, regardless of the end time shown in the calendar. The time you see is the estimated work time, not drop-off/pickup.”

You can also automate reminder emails or texts before the appointment using Workflows (e.g., a reminder the day before that repeats the 8am drop-off / 6pm pickup instructions).

Helpful article:

• Workflows overview:  https://calendly.com/help/workflows-overview

Hope this all makes sense! Let me know if you have any questions!