Every dispatch rule answers one question: does this repair need my eyes before money moves? Set the threshold too low and you're back to approving every $90 faucet washer. Too high and a $2,000 surprise shows up on an invoice. The line belongs where your regret is symmetric.

A starting framework: auto-dispatch routine, bounded jobs — plumbing under $300, appliance service calls, lock and door hardware — to your preferred pro. Queue for approval anything over your per-job ceiling, anything structural or permit-shaped, and any category where you don't yet have a trusted bench pro.

Urgency overrides amount. An active leak or a no-heat night in January should always dispatch immediately — the cost of a wrong $250 call is trivial next to the cost of a wet ceiling at midnight. Slow categories like cosmetic work can comfortably wait in the queue.

Revisit the thresholds quarterly. As a bench pro builds history with you, raising their auto-approve ceiling is how trust becomes time saved.