Vendor Load-In Window Calculator

Estimates how many hours before doors your vendor trucks need to start unloading, and how many dock bays it takes to fit the load-in in the time the venue gives you, for planners, venue managers and production leads.

Your estimate

Dock time for all trucks...

Load-in window you need...

Bays needed to fit your window...

Verdict...

Estimates only. Assumptions are listed below, and you can change every input.

Load-in is where event days are won or lost, and it is usually planned with a single line on the timeline that says "vendors arrive." In reality eight trucks cannot unload at one dock at the same time, the lighting crew needs hours after their gear is on the floor, and the planner still wants a walkthrough before doors. When those pieces are not added up, the first guests arrive to a room that is not ready.

This calculator turns the load-in into simple capacity math. It divides your trucks across the dock bays you have to get the number of unloading waves, multiplies by the average dock time per truck, then adds the longest vendor setup and your final walkthrough buffer. That total is the load-in window you need, which it compares against the hours the venue gives you before doors. It also searches for the smallest number of bays that would make the load-in fit. The estimate assumes the slowest setup starts after the last wave, so it is deliberately on the cautious side.

How to use this tool

List every vehicle that needs dock time and estimate the average minutes each spends at the dock, including paperwork and pushing carts in.
Enter your dock bays, the longest single vendor setup, the walkthrough buffer you want, and the hours the venue contract gives you before doors.
Compare the load-in window you need against the hours available. If it is short, use the bays figure to negotiate more unloading spots, or move the longest setup vendor to the first wave and re-run with a shorter setup.

What the math assumes

Trucks unload in full waves: the number of waves is the truck count divided by bays, rounded up, and every wave takes the average dock time you enter.
The longest vendor setup is assumed to start after the final unloading wave, which is the worst case; if that vendor unloads first, real setup overlaps earlier and you have more room than shown.
Vendor setups run in parallel with each other, so only the longest one is added, not the sum of all setups.
The walkthrough buffer is added in full after setup and is not overlapped with anything.
Bays needed is the smallest bay count from one up to the truck count that makes the window fit; if no count fits, it shows one bay per truck and the verdict says so.

Frequently asked questions

Why does the calculator add the longest setup after all the trucks instead of overlapping it?

Because that is the case that hurts you. If the staging truck is stuck in the last wave, the whole room waits on it. If you can guarantee that vendor unloads first, subtract one wave of dock time from the window you need.

What counts as a dock bay if the venue has no real loading dock?

Any spot where a truck can legally sit and unload at the same time as another: a curb lane, an alley, a lot with a ramp. Count only the spots you have been told you can use, not the ones you hope to use.

Can I use this for load-out and strike as well?

Yes, in reverse. Set the setup input to your longest teardown, the walkthrough buffer to your final sweep, and the hours available to the time between the end of the event and the venue curfew.

Link to this toolhttps://gigtimelinr.com/tools/vendor-load-in-window/

Free for readers and publishers alike. If you cite the result in an article, a link to this page helps others find it.

More free tools from GigTimelinr

Run of Show Buffer Calculator: Estimates how much schedule slack a day-of run of show has before the hard stop once realistic overruns are added, for event planners and stage managers building minute-by-minute timelines.
Timeline Update Time Saved Calculator: Estimates how many hours a year a planner spends re-sending revised run-of-show timelines to vendors one by one, and what a single shared live timeline would save in hours and dollars.

A run of show that holds

Event day-of run-of-show timeline builder.

Build your run of show