How Far To Travel??
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I would say keep them within 10-15 miles of your start point. With no more then 1-2 miles between clients. If its a bigger client it could be 10 miles from your other clients, but only if its big enough to be worth it.
Thats kinda how I figure it. At first I was thinking I would go anywhere within 20 miles, but when it came down to it, and I got some calls 20 miles away I passed on them, just not worth it. Remember you have to figure in your drive time when you figure how much your making an hour, so if your making nothing driving half an hour, then $75 for the half hour your there, then nothing for the half hour drive back, well you only made $75 in 1.5 hours, and you had the risk of getting stuck or stranded a long ways from home/shop. The people on here that keep thier routes tight are the most efficient, and are the ones making bank.
There are exceptions though, I would take a job that was 20 miles out, if it could be done when I wanted to- like a day or two later- when I had nothing else to do.
Thats kinda how I figure it. At first I was thinking I would go anywhere within 20 miles, but when it came down to it, and I got some calls 20 miles away I passed on them, just not worth it. Remember you have to figure in your drive time when you figure how much your making an hour, so if your making nothing driving half an hour, then $75 for the half hour your there, then nothing for the half hour drive back, well you only made $75 in 1.5 hours, and you had the risk of getting stuck or stranded a long ways from home/shop. The people on here that keep thier routes tight are the most efficient, and are the ones making bank.
There are exceptions though, I would take a job that was 20 miles out, if it could be done when I wanted to- like a day or two later- when I had nothing else to do.
Trouble is...when you're starting out you may have to take on some of the "far out" ones to build accounts...then weed them out as you get closer ones...that's what I'm doing. It's a process that may take a few seasons to tidy up to a tighter route...it's working for me...just this afternoon I got a call that may yield 3 accounts within 3 miles of home base.befnme;460506 said:
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This is what I did when I started. I was 17 miles out, thats a long way in a bad storm. I ended up with too many dissatisifed customers, lots of bad phone calls. I droped a bunch, the second year, to cut my route down in miles traveled. I ended up with more customers that were very satisifed and recommended me to thier friends in the area. After a couple of years I decided to pick an area to plow in and thats what I stick with. Its 5 miles around the block, about 6 hours on a normal storm. I try to do a better job than the rest and also charge a higher price.MOWBIZZ;460646 said:
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