Service fee for distance?

[WillS]

If you are in a larger city, or have surrounding areas where you get phone calls from to book jobs, do you charge any additional service fee for driving out of your main service area? We had a customer move approx. 50 minutes from our service area, but they are willing to pay for us to come to them. How much do you normally charge? Just gas both ways? I was thinking $20 charge or more?

 

[ruff]

How busy are you?
Do you want/need the job?

I know what I usually make per hour and the fact that I'm driving makes no difference as I could fill my time and do another job with the time I spent driving. So whatever extra time I drive that is beyond my normal travel time, I charge at my hourly rate. For those clients who may have a hard time accepting it, I just schlep it to the total without naming it.

On the other hand, if you're not that busy, you may want to add something that will be more acceptable to them and still get the job. If you do, make sure that you let them know that they're getting a special deal. As otherwise they will take it as a given and be hard to raise it as you get busier.

 

[Desk Jockey]

I agree with Ofer, the biggest hit is your time. You could be making money else where.

What we do...out here in the sticks (you circle 4-5 wagons out here and they call it a town) is have a "Service Area" with a minimum and an "Extended Service Area" with a larger minimum. Windshield time is the same but it forces the client in the extended service are to clean more at that appointment.

"Ma'am we do clean in you city but that is in our extended service area which has a larger minimum of $****************.00"

 

[smastio]

" I charge at my hourly rate. For those clients who may have a hard time accepting it, I just schlep it to the total without naming it."

Ofer FYI - Exactly why we built it that way...

Built in Travel Distance Charge

We know that it costs you more money to travel to the perimeter of your service area than it does to go around the block, so we built into the zip code functionality the ability to add a travel charge to every zip code you desire, and have that charge spread out over the items that the consumer chooses to have you clean. For example - If you offer a package that is normally $199 and you want a travel charge of $20 added to zip code 12345, then FittleBug would display it as $219 for that zip code. If they chose additional items the cost would be spread out over the items reducing the cost of each items with every item they choose, but NEVER charging more than the $20 travel charge, and NEVER displayed as a Travel Charge. This hidden approach is an optional feature and of no additional cost to you. Take a look...

 

[WillS]

Thanks for the input. We have been turning away jobs weekly because we are still small with 2 trucks running. Even though they have been a great customer, its still difficult for us to travel that far. I did call them and let them know because of scheduling we had no time to get out there (due to driving time of course) and they offered us $100 additional to the price for driving. So yea, we are going out there now.

 

[WillS]

and plus we get to keep a loyal customer....

 

[Desk Jockey]

Great deal!

 

[ruff]

+++ it is a great compliment and a vote of confidence, that they're willing to do so.
Congrats.

 

[Ed Valentine]

Glad to see that everything worked out, Will.

Whenever a question or situation like this crops up in the future, always look in the mirror and ask yourself, "What would you do or expect". In other words, realizing that this particular customer is a real exception to the rule, would you as a normal potential customer, pay extra in travel expenses, or just call someone else locally? Most would call locally.

Instead, I would just increase my minimum to compensate. In this particular case, the customer offered $100 "for travel expense". If it were me, I would offer them an extra $100------in cleaning. In other words give the customer 100% of the value of their hard earned money/expense.

Although I am sure you already know all this above, I just wanted to offer my input as help and future thought.

best;
Ed Valentine
cross-american.com

 

[WillS]

Thanks Ed, yes I completely agree. We will go over and beyond for them, just as we try with all.

 

[ruff]

I agree with Ed's expressed sentiment of giving the client good value for their money. Always a good practice and creates good will.

However, that $100.00 in extra work does not really compensate for the loss of time. We all want to get good value for our money, however we and the client also need to be fair. If Will is going to lose money due to job taking longer (longer than usual drive time) they should compensate him (they did generously offer the extra $100.00). Therefore, if will chooses to discount his services, which he did by offering extra work for that $100.00; that's fine and may be a smart business decision.

As an example, if Cross American got a request from a devout fan of his totally awesome portables, say from a short gentlemen in Australia. Would Ed give them a bunch of extra equipment equivalent to the extra money they paid to ship it to that far away and forgotten Island?
How about Hawaii?

And if he did that for one, big fan, client, will it be the norm from now on?

Maybe he would and maybe he won't, it may be a business decision. Most manufacturers won't, as in a sense their regular clients will be actually, without consent, subsidizing other clients from far flung places.

 

[Barry-QDCC]

I have taken the geographical area that I service and split it up in zones. I don't charge an additional fee to travel to the farther away zones I just have a higher minimum for those areas. In other words in close in areas my minimum charge will cover 3 areas cleaned. In the most distance areas my minimum will cover the work of cleaning 6 rooms, even if they only have 3 rooms to do. I also try to group the jobs together in the same area so I don't travel from one end of my area to the other in the same day.

 

[WillS]

I like the higher minimum for different areas idea. I may apply that for our travelling. Thanks!

 

[your_good_sons]

<10 miles no fee, $75 minimum
10-20 miles, no fee, $100 minimum
>20 miles, $125 minimum zoned. For example 25-35 miles to my east is a good market, I can have 2-3 jobs there on a given day. Tuesday may be my "East" day. 25-35 miles to my south is a very good market. I will go there for 2-3 jobs a day, 2-3 days a week. To the east, one day a week. To my west or north is too rural. There is always a travel fee. It is unlikely to get 2 jobs in the same area. They must pay the $10-15 travel fee, up front via PayPal or the appointment is not set. In communities where I have a high likelihood of getting played the fool, there is a $10-15 travel fee up front or the appointment is not set. This is new.

Last week, I got a bad vibe and told them the appointment will not be set without a $15 travel fee, up front. I asked for an e-mail address and sent the bill. They would be credited the $15 if I performed >$125 worth of work. They never paid the bill. 3 days later, I didn't show up. They called me up furious. I told them they didn't pay the bill that was sent them. They hung up. I'm waiting for the negative feedback. The name and location lead me to believe I'd have trouble. I just refuse to get sucked into their nonsense. Last week, I had one of these people say they wanted $100 worth of cleaning, not a penny more. When I did $100 worth, I presented them the bill and started to pack up. The job was not done. I just was doing what they negotiated from the moment they called me, $100 worth of cleaning, nothing more, nothing less. They paid for what they got and I left. Again, not getting sucked into this nonsense ever again.

 

[PrimaDonna]

We will tack on $45 travel fee if outside our normal service area. Only if it's a small job or min charge. If the invoice is over $400 we will wave fee. If they can get a neighbor to book a job too, no fee. If they are willing to wait till we are in that area or close to it so we aren't going much further, no fee. Most understand and rarely do we get push back. For the most part they are willing to pay or be flexible in scheduling if they don't want to pay.

 

[WillS]

Thanks Peter, I like this breakdown, I need to create a model like that for myself now.

 

[Barry-QDCC]

We will tack on $45 travel fee if outside our normal service area. Only if it's a small job or min charge. If the invoice is over $400 we will wave fee. If they can get a neighbor to book a job too, no fee. If they are willing to wait till we are in that area or close to it so we aren't going much further, no fee. Most understand and rarely do we get push back. For the most part they are willing to pay or be flexible in scheduling if they don't want to pay.

I outlined my way a few posts above so I'm just responding to the "outside our normal service area" comment. Once I decided what my service area was I just never go outside it. There is no need for me to do that. I live in so calif.
and I'm imagining that within a radius of 20 miles from my house there is more potential customers than some, if not most of the people here have with a radius of 100 miles or more.

 

[amygeorge]

We service a very large area because we’re in a very rural part of the state. If I get a call and have to drive 90 miles one way, we charge $1.25\mile and they have to have at least 3 clients lined up. If they only want us to clean for them, they have to pay mileage and hourly rate. There is a big outfit in Lubbock \ Amarillo that charges $1\mile each way. Basically, it’s common in these parts.