The Closed-Job Restock: build a truck stock list from the jobs your techs ran

This is the guide behind the video: the truck stock sheet, how to turn closed-job usage into a minimum for each part, the rules for changing minimums, and how it fits the inventory tools you may already have.

The restock in two steps

1. Read the closed jobs. An agent reads the parts used on your closed jobs over the last few weeks, truck by truck.
2. Draft the list and the minimums. It drafts what each truck should carry and a minimum for each part, and your parts manager approves the list before anything changes.

Here is why the second step matters. ServiceTitan can already flag a truck that drops below its minimum, but someone still has to set those minimums, and that is the part that goes stale. A minimum set two years ago reflects two years ago's jobs.

Why a missing part costs so much

A part that is not on the truck turns one visit into several. Aquant's 2024 Field Service Benchmark Report, as summarized by VSight, says that when the first visit fails, the job takes an average of 2.7 total visits to resolve and adds roughly 13 days. Aquant is a vendor and the figure covers field service broadly, not only plumbing or HVAC, but the direction is clear: the second trip costs a truck, a tech's time and the customer's patience.

Who this is for

Service companies running three or more trucks, with closed jobs that record the parts used. If parts are not recorded on jobs today, start there: the restock can only read what your techs write down. Our parts and materials page shows how Cortex handles this side of the work.

What your software already does

ServiceTitan. Inventory templates are stock lists with a minimum and maximum quantity for each item; the minimum is the reorder point, the maximum is the most the location may carry, and one template can be assigned to several trucks. Replenishment records are created when quantity at a location falls below the minimum reorder point set for each item. Replenishment transfers are for trucks only, trigger after a job has started, and need account configuration from ServiceTitan support.

Housecall Pro. Its help center points to a Material Usage on Jobs report and material inventory detail tracking, and says many pros use QuickBooks Online Plus for its built-in inventory tracking. The usage report is the input the restock needs.

In both cases the software enforces the minimum. Nobody in the software decides whether the minimum is still right. That is the gap.

The truck stock sheet

Copy these columns, one sheet per truck (or per template, if several trucks share one):

Part	Part number	Used on closed jobs, last 8 weeks	Jobs it appeared on	Current min	Proposed min	Proposed max	Reason	Approved by
1/2 in. ball valve	BV-050	12	9	2	4	6	used most weeks
Water heater thermocouple	TC-18	3	3	0	1	2	3 return trips logged
3/4 in. PEX coupling	PX-075	0	0	6	2	4	not used in 8 weeks

These rows are a worked example with made-up numbers for a demo company, not data from a real fleet.

How to set a minimum from closed jobs

Use one simple rule and adjust it with your parts manager. In the example below the truck restocks once a week.

Step	Rule	Example: 1/2 in. ball valve
1. Weekly use	Parts used on closed jobs over 8 weeks, divided by 8	12 / 8 = 1.5 a week
2. Cover the restock cycle	Weekly use times weeks between restocks, rounded up	1.5 x 1 week = 2
3. Add one job's worth	The most used on a single job in the period	+2
4. Proposed minimum	Step 2 plus step 3	4
5. Proposed maximum	Minimum plus one restock cycle of use	4 + 2 = 6

The numbers are illustrative. The point is that every minimum has a reason written next to it, so a parts manager can agree or change it in seconds.

Two extra rules cover the cases arithmetic misses:

• The return-trip rule. If a part caused a second visit in the period, give it a minimum of at least one, even if it is rarely used.
• The dead-stock rule. If a part has not been used in the whole period, propose lowering it rather than removing it, and flag it for the parts manager.

How the agent runs it

1. Every two weeks, it pulls parts used on closed jobs for each truck.
2. It recalculates the proposed minimum and maximum with the rules above.
3. It drafts the sheet with only the rows that would change, and the reason for each.
4. The parts manager approves, edits or rejects each row.
5. Only approved rows are entered as the new minimums in the inventory template.

The agent never changes a minimum on its own. That step stays with a person, which is how Cortex builds every agent, as described on our human-in-the-loop page.

What to watch out for

• Parts not recorded on jobs. The restock cannot see a part a tech used and did not log.
• Seasonal swings. Eight summer weeks will understock a truck for winter. Look at the same season last year before approving big cuts.
• One template for every truck. A drain truck and a water heater truck run different jobs. Split templates when their usage differs.
• Changing everything at once. Approve the biggest changes first and watch the next two weeks.

How to tell it worked

Every minimum on every truck has a date and a reason, the parts manager reviews a short sheet every two weeks, and return trips logged as "part not on truck" go down over the next months. If you want help reading your own closed jobs, that is part of the free AI Operations Audit.