Travel time/windshield

[A+ Lawncare]

hello... wondering what everyone is doing when it come to travel time behind the windshield...

I was thinkin about traviling a $1.25 per mile past 10miles....
Example if i was to leave my business and go to a jobsite that was 20miles away then i would charge them $12.50..... this would cover mainly my gas and a little bit of my time.... is this a wise plan? i drive a chevy 1500 that gets around 14miles per gallon...

[crzymoe]

All that should be figured into your prices. not sure that is the way i go about it. we try to get as many customers in one area so you are only really driving the distance once to that area, and once back. with as much competition there is around here, we cant nickle, dime everything. figure out how much it cost to do everything in your business so you know what your prices should be. Should say what it cost you to do business and make the money you want, then that gives you a better idea what to charge

[A+ Lawncare]

cost of business is really small... i have a helper who i pay $10 an hr and then its the gas money and the expense of my equipment to pay off. the rest is just milkin the cafe... money in my pocket

[Phil Nilsson]

[QUOTE=A+ Lawncare]hello... wondering what everyone is doing when it come to travel time behind the windshield ...QUOTE]

Charge travel into job price (average stop) at cost ...

[mariner]

cost of business is really small... i have a helper who i pay $10 an hr and then its the gas money and the expense of my equipment to pay off. the rest is just milkin the cafe... money in my pocket

That employee is big overhead!

[Hawk83]

That employee is big overhead!

A+. i agree with mariner here in that your helper is big overhead. Your young, and can no doubt handle your work load on your own seeing as tho otherwise you just have school, unless of course you have 50 accounts or something. If i were you, i'd drop the helper like 3rd period french. think about the $10 /hr back in your pocket and all the new toys you can buy to make your solo business run faster and still reep all the rewards! :p but its just a thought. good luck with everything, man -Hawk

[A+ Lawncare]

Phil, how much would you charge for your travel time into the job price....
Example, say you travel 15minutes or 10miles to that jobsite..... would you charge round trip or just charge from A-B.... in any case, i hear where ppl are charging a $1 per min... since it took you 15mins to get to the jobsite, would this be a $15 charge.... how bout the gas you had to use to travel 10miles, is this another expense that u charge the customer? thanks--- carlton

[ahlgrenlandscaping]

A+ If you have one lawn off on it's own 15 min. away I would try and drum up more business in that general vicinity so that you are making more money on that one trip otherwise a 30$ lawn has 15 dollars in expenses coming right off the top. That would be 30 dollars in profit if he was your neighbor. Try and advertise and set up routes to mow so your accounts aren't scattered about.

[dwyman]

The key is to concentrate your accounts in as few areas as possible. That way your drive time is minimal. Have 1 account in a neighborhood, do flyers in that neighborhood to drum up another or another or so on.

As far as drive time charge, the way I do it is to add 30 mins to every job. So if I have a job that will take 30 mins, I add the base 30 mins to get a total of an hour for that job. If your hourly rate is 30.00 for example, I would charge $30 even though I'm only on site for 1/2 hour. I'm sure others have different ways of figuring it, but that works for me.