-
I want to thank all the members that have upgraded your accounts. I truly appreciate your support of the site monetarily. Supporting the site keeps this site up and running as a lot of work daily goes on behind the scenes. Click to Support Signs101 ...
Charging for travel
- Thread starter Pete Moss
- Start date
shoresigns
New Member
I would charge based on a round trip from our shop to the install location. Doesn't matter if we combine 2 tasks for different clients into one trip every once in awhile - that's a bonus for us.
We do our utmost to gang up our deliveries and installs. We work in a reasonably small area, maybe a maximum 20 mile radius of the shop, so we try to be fair about travel charges and charge only $50 per hour for just the driving part. It covers the vehicle costs, wages and it doesn't take special skills to drive, so our customers really appreciate the break. We also deliver for free within a few miles of the shop. Every day, one of us has to go to the bank, run an errand, etc. and our competition charges for delivery, so it gives us a nice edge and is the friendly, full service kind of way we want to be known for.
The other reason we do the free local delivery is that the quicker a job is out of our hands, the quicker it is to be paid for. Nothing drives me nuts more than seeing a finished job sit on the outgoing shelves when we could have just dropped it off while doing something else nearby and start the payment process. I can count the number of times on one finger we've been stiffed, so thankfully we're in a great community where people honor their commitments.
Installs are done at our normal shop rate.
The other reason we do the free local delivery is that the quicker a job is out of our hands, the quicker it is to be paid for. Nothing drives me nuts more than seeing a finished job sit on the outgoing shelves when we could have just dropped it off while doing something else nearby and start the payment process. I can count the number of times on one finger we've been stiffed, so thankfully we're in a great community where people honor their commitments.
Installs are done at our normal shop rate.
Gino
Premium Subscriber
We do our utmost to gang up our deliveries and installs. We work in a reasonably small area, maybe a maximum 20 mile radius of the shop, so we try to be fair about travel charges and charge only $50 per hour for just the driving part. It covers the vehicle costs, wages and it doesn't take special skills to drive, so our customers really appreciate the break. We also deliver for free within a few miles of the shop. Every day, one of us has to go to the bank, run an errand, etc. and our competition charges for delivery, so it gives us a nice edge and is the friendly, full service kind of way we want to be known for.
The other reason we do the free local delivery is that the quicker a job is out of our hands, the quicker it is to be paid for. Nothing drives me nuts more than seeing a finished job sit on the outgoing shelves when we could have just dropped it off while doing something else nearby and start the payment process. I can count the number of times on one finger we've been stiffed, so thankfully we're in a great community where people honor their commitments.
Installs are done at our normal shop rate.
One charges, as if whomever you are delivering to, is the only person you are delivering to. Ganging your deliveries together is a nice thought, but what is the guy/gal gonna say when one day you charge them $12.00 and the next time $32.00 ?? You either have a set policy of what a delivery costs or you cover it up in your pricing structure.
Toad, you talk as if you have a retired delivery person working for you...... is that so ?? If your shop rate is $85 or $90 an hour, why would you charge 1/2 that rate for the guy to go out of the shop for 1/2 shop wages to make not a single dime ?? Here, at our shop, we charge more for anything setting a foot outside our door, except taking the trash out or jockeying vehicles around for lettering. So, while you're out making no money for the business, you are also wasting even more time and gas to be a friendly neighbor and p!ss on your competitors, because they're more business minded ??
We don't wait for the customer to get the sign to bill it out.... we bill it out immediately and tell them to come pick up their stuff. It's on them, if they don't pick it up for a week or two. If you're having problems collecting money, unless you deliver, then I'd venture to say, you have still more internal problems to think about.
We go out-a-state quite a bit for installations and if I was doing it at regular time, I'd be losing a lotta money. While in the shop, the people are producing things for several projects at one time and that adds up to several hundred dollars an hour to close to a grand sometimes. If I charged out at regular shop rate for everyone, while on the road, it wouldn't pay to go anywhere.
The other reason we do the free local delivery is that the quicker a job is out of our hands, the quicker it is to be paid for. Nothing drives me nuts more than seeing a finished job sit on the outgoing shelves when we could have just dropped it off while doing something else nearby and start the payment process. I can count the number of times on one finger we've been stiffed, so thankfully we're in a great community where people honor their commitments.
Installs are done at our normal shop rate.
One charges, as if whomever you are delivering to, is the only person you are delivering to. Ganging your deliveries together is a nice thought, but what is the guy/gal gonna say when one day you charge them $12.00 and the next time $32.00 ?? You either have a set policy of what a delivery costs or you cover it up in your pricing structure.
Toad, you talk as if you have a retired delivery person working for you...... is that so ?? If your shop rate is $85 or $90 an hour, why would you charge 1/2 that rate for the guy to go out of the shop for 1/2 shop wages to make not a single dime ?? Here, at our shop, we charge more for anything setting a foot outside our door, except taking the trash out or jockeying vehicles around for lettering. So, while you're out making no money for the business, you are also wasting even more time and gas to be a friendly neighbor and p!ss on your competitors, because they're more business minded ??
We don't wait for the customer to get the sign to bill it out.... we bill it out immediately and tell them to come pick up their stuff. It's on them, if they don't pick it up for a week or two. If you're having problems collecting money, unless you deliver, then I'd venture to say, you have still more internal problems to think about.
We go out-a-state quite a bit for installations and if I was doing it at regular time, I'd be losing a lotta money. While in the shop, the people are producing things for several projects at one time and that adds up to several hundred dollars an hour to close to a grand sometimes. If I charged out at regular shop rate for everyone, while on the road, it wouldn't pay to go anywhere.
whadafug...... do you walk home, then ?? You get a walloping $2.30 a mile, but nothing for your time ?? No wonder you wanna build that big $300,000.00 building to do all your-in-house electrical work. You can't afford to go anywhere.
Solventinkjet
DIY Printer Fixing Guide
For service calls, we don't charge travel for in town customers as a courtesy so if they are both in town, free. Out of town, I figure out the mileage with google maps before I head down. Then I charge the customer's for their leg only. The first customer gets the way down and the second customer gets the way back. If one is a lot further then the other I will charge more but it is rare.
shoresigns
New Member
We charge our full hourly rate for travel time (we should really add mileage on top of that). Our operating costs don't suddenly get lower when we leave the building.
klingsdesigns
New Member
$60/hr from the time I leave till I get back.
Pete Moss
New Member
This question was directed more in terms of calculation of cost per mile and if the mileage is split, when there is more than one installation in route. I can see the case whereas one would want consistent price structures so that charges do not vary from time to time. This whether there is five stops along the way or zero. Even if the actual miles is much lower than the billable miles due to stops along the way. For those of you who charge by the hour regardless of the amount of stops, wouldn't that be like working on two signs at the same time, finishing both in two hours and charging both customers for two full hours each, equaling four actual hours although not all of that two hours was focused on one particular sign?
1. Charging per mile is flawed. Charge for your time. Going 9 miles in Manhattan may take 1.5hrs. Can't charge $1.50/mile.
2. If you can gang up jobs, I don't see a real issue in passing on the savings. Make sure you invoice it as a savings and not the regular price. Write out your normal rate and then apply a discount. It's no different than a plywood supplier. If they deliver to your area Tuesday and Thursday, you may pay only a few bucks to get the delivery. If you want a delivery on Friday, you're going to have to pay a heck of a lot more for a special delivery.
How to figure the pricing is up to you. You should be able to come up with a common sense solution. Remember, people are happy to save money and likely will be happy with the savings rather than question it.
3. "Double charging" for time is a myth. A job and a service has a value. Charge that price. If you get that job done faster, great for you. Slower? You need to improve. Making money is the objective. Don't penalize yourself for being efficient.
2. If you can gang up jobs, I don't see a real issue in passing on the savings. Make sure you invoice it as a savings and not the regular price. Write out your normal rate and then apply a discount. It's no different than a plywood supplier. If they deliver to your area Tuesday and Thursday, you may pay only a few bucks to get the delivery. If you want a delivery on Friday, you're going to have to pay a heck of a lot more for a special delivery.
How to figure the pricing is up to you. You should be able to come up with a common sense solution. Remember, people are happy to save money and likely will be happy with the savings rather than question it.
3. "Double charging" for time is a myth. A job and a service has a value. Charge that price. If you get that job done faster, great for you. Slower? You need to improve. Making money is the objective. Don't penalize yourself for being efficient.