Gas for out of town

[cuttingedgeron]

I called a business looking to place a bid and the owner told me immediately that he has 3 houses in another town about 25 minutes away that need mowing, the business itself need mowing and another house about 10-15 minutes away from town that needs mowing as well. I was really glad that I called about it. The total acreage is almost 9 acres. I was wondering would you guys take a job where the properties are spread apart and some distance from your home? Also, what would you charge on average for the added fuel costs to get to the other properties?

[LawnBoy0311]

Lawn care business tips

The furthest I go from my house is 25 minutes. I'd go further, but traffic in my area is horrible. I think 5th worst in the country. On that note, I track the milage and add on .50 cents a mile to the quote.

[Steve]

In general it seems you tend to take more customers who are all over the place when you are getting started and you are looking to be busy more than be profitable.

As your routes start to fill up and tighten up with more people close by each other, you tend to drop the further away ones because you make more money from clients that are close.

With that said, can you make money on these clients with the price you bid it at? Is it worthwhile to you now to take them?

[cuttingedgeron]

Originally Posted by Steve

In general it seems you tend to take more customers who are all over the place when you are getting started and you are looking to be busy more than be profitable.

As your routes start to fill up and tighten up with more people close by each other, you tend to drop the further away ones because you make more money from clients that are close.

With that said, can you make money on these clients with the price you bid it at? Is it worthwhile to you now to take them?

Im sure you can make money, but I will not low ball them just to get the job. I have yet to give them a proposed bid, will soon though.

I would like to take the bid just to get my name out more and some business. The owner is a well established business owner in my town and Im sure if hes happy with the job he is getting from me, I will eventually get more yards by just word of mouth.

[Steve]

Keep us posted on how all this goes! I look forwards to your updates.

[SECTLANDSCAPING]

Originally Posted by Steve

In general it seems you tend to take more customers who are all over the place when you are getting started and you are looking to be busy more than be profitable.

As your routes start to fill up and tighten up with more people close by each other, you tend to drop the further away ones because you make more money from clients that are close.

With that said, can you make money on these clients with the price you bid it at? Is it worthwhile to you now to take them?

That is extremely true. I did this with lawn and snow at first. Now this winter all my plowing accounts are within a mile of my house. This means all plowing and no driving. I turned down jobs that were just 5 miles away because in a snow storm thats a 20 minute drive.

With the lawncare ill take further away jobs if its early in the season. This will give me a chance to take other yards that wouldnt be profitable enough to do by themselves.

[HPI_Savage25]

For the right price, driving isn't bad. You just have to calculate the time it takes to get there along with the gas it takes to get there and back. If its a 20 minute drive one way, that ends up being 40mins just driving. I would be charging an extra $20-30 just for the added drive time alone. Remember time is money.