What's the furthest you travel to cut?

[taprlawncare]

Just wondering how far you guys go distance or time wise to cut a lawn. In miles or the time it takes for you to get to the property. What's your furthest distance travelled to drop the tailgate and start cutting?

[IMAGE]

about an hour. I'm building business in 3 distinct areas. each about 50 miles from each other.

[nosparkplugs]

If the money is right what is distance, I have traveld about 100 miles both ways to cut commercial accounts that was for some good $$$cheese$$$

[IMAGE]

If the money is right what is distance, I have traveld about 100 miles both ways to cut commercial accounts that was for some good $$$cheese$$$

exactly! This spring I bid on a job thats 4 hours away.... I just missed it by a couple hundred bucks annually.... I will get it in 2011 when it comes up for bid again!

[LDH]

Most of my clients are in a town that's 30 miles away. I make the drive daily, sometimes twice a day if something comes up unexpected. It's no big deal to me. I put an average of 80 to 100 miles a day on my truck odometer. Like they said, if the price is right, it doesn't matter. As long as you figure it into the bid, distance isn't really an issue. At least it's not for me.

[topsites]

Oh yeah, 50-100 miles a day is standard mileage for my truck, too.

[LawnGuy73]

Eight mile radius of the shop for me.

[mowerdude777]

10 miles only

[flatlander42]

about 150-175 miles a week....not too bad at all...

[birdman0494]

wtf? mowerdude said many times hes only 13 and then he said hes got all these ztrs but how the hell is he gonna drive them 10 miles?

[Mike Blevins]

My route is 74 miles a week.

[LawnGuy73]

Are we talking how far you drive to do the whole route a week, or how far you are willing to drive for a job?

[LDH]

I believe we're talking how far you're willing to drive to do a job.

[Disgruntled_Veteran]

We are 40 miles from the area we do the majority of our business , so we put on average 100-110 miles a day on our truck. Its not a bad drive but at the end of a hot and hard day , the drive seems to take longer .. :hammerhead::sleeping:

[mowerdude777]

wtf? mowerdude said many times hes only 13 and then he said hes got all these ztrs but how the hell is he gonna drive them 10 miles?

My mom drives me to do friends and relatives lawns any where with in 10 miles, and I never said I have any ztrs, I use wbs only

[starry night]

A complimentary question is "How many clients do you have that are very close together?" For instance, I do a lot of commercial maintenance and I have 12 locations all within a quarter mile. ( It used to be 16 in that stretch until four went out of business in the last year and a half). Probably you guys in larger cities have more than that close together?

[Disgruntled_Veteran]

Now if we are talking about how far we are willing to drive for a job , then it would all have to depend on the job and the profit.. I would easily drive the distance whatever it maybe for a big job ..

[LDH]

Most of mine are within 2 miles of each other, but the town is about 30 miles away.

[dtelawn]

I actually have one acount 170 miles from home. Keep in mind I do at least 8 accounts on that route. For the day I put about 385 miles on the odometer. I can do the entire route in about 16 hours solo. It does make for a very long day but I clear alot for that day. I usually leave around 2:3am and drive to the account that is the most distance away and work my way back in.

The majority of my work is at least 75-80 miles away but they are all close in that area. It really is not much different than a long drive for a regular job.

[Disgruntled_Veteran]

I actually have one acount 170 miles from home. Keep in mind I do at least 8 accounts on that route. For the day I put about 385 miles on the odometer. I can do the entire route in about 16 hours solo. It does make for a very long day but I clear alot for that day. I usually leave around 2:3am and drive to the account that is the most distance away and work my way back in.

The majority of my work is at least 75-80 miles away but they are all close in that area. It really is not much different than a long drive for a regular job.

Brother , thats some serious traveling... I think you take the cake !! Hey if you dont mind me asking , are you just doing lawn care on this route ?

[lawncuttinfoo]

Eight mile radius of the shop for me.

I was about to call you a lier because I saw you in eastern Eden Prairie then I measured it and saw how big 8 miles really is. I didn't realize I have a 8 mile radius from Richfield. :)

Even with good routing software my 8 mile radius still means 40-45 miles per day driven.

[Charles]

I have a 10 mile radius limit. I could see why someone with big crews would go further. Not worth it for one man to drive all over the place giving bids for small jobs. Been there and done that:hammerhead:

[USFGUY]

Largest account is a condo complex that is 2 hours drive each way. takes 2-3 full days to mow then 1 day to trim/edge... every 2 weeks an additional 4-6 hrs trimming bushes/trees.

WAY!!!!!!!! underbid it.. really the work is double what I bid... next year will bid better.. this is my first year in business. :)

[SEMI-RETIRED]

I have a few large acreage jobs that are about 50 miles, but everything else
under 25 miles, since i do very little residential most of my jobs are pretty
large and pay well enough to travel..

Bob..

[Lawn Enforcer]

My farthest account from my shop- 2 miles! I love it, but I'm willing to drive up to around 20 miles if needed. I once drove 90 miles to an aeration job (the grandparents place) after he told me he would make the trip worth while. I ended up aerating almost the whole town (only has population of about 50 people)

[Lawn Enforcer]

My farthest account from my shop- 2 miles! I love it, but I'm willing to drive up to around 20 miles if needed. I once drove 90 miles to an aeration job (the grandparents place) after he told me he would make the trip worth while. I ended up doing 35 lawns that weekend. I gave my grandpa $100 for his sales and marketing for me:laugh:

[JFF]

I'm ashamed to admit I got involved with a family friend who had a big farm (her second home) in Oklahoma City she wanted my help cleaning up, and for a summer, I spent my weekends there mowing. Yes I drug my trailer over there. over 300 miles.

But the pay was good, and I got to spend some weekends by myself at a very nice farmhouse by myself looking at acres of freshly mowed Bermuda.

Not sure that counts. It wasn't exactly part of my route.

[dtelawn]

Hey Veteran, I just do the regular Full Landscape Maintenance at a chain of stores. Most every day/trip I have been doing some repair on odd repais on the properties(Fencing, small painting, ect. I know it sounds crazy but it has been very goood for us this year since landing this account. I have been going through the entire landscape at every store and getting them shaped up. (Mulching, planting new shrubs, pulling out old stuff, edging) The managers decided that paying more for my driving is worth having one vender.
I have the stores on a 10 day schedule so each stop is quick and easy.

[Disgruntled_Veteran]

Sounds very good DTE .. I hear ya on the odd job repairs , I too dibble dabble repairing and painting .. If I have the time and I can make a few buckaroos I will do it.. Because of alot of the heavy storms in Texas this year , gutter cleaning has helped us out quite a bit...:)

[Mike's LawnCare Landscape]

well I feel alot better now. LOL I hear all the time guys saying I don't work on that side of town LOL. I Don't even live in the town and work all over it .
The fartest yard That i have out is 45 miles . But have many on the way and on the way back. Now this makes me feel good that im knowing thats not that big of a deal !!

[jkilov]

I try to keep driving to a minimum. It's quite an expense including truck, gas and windshield time.

[Pitbullawns]

12-15 miles. Unless I can get a group of clients in an area. I am concentrating on my hometown and the next town over and doing well so far.

[dtelawn]

I will not argue about the driving being a costly part of business but I have to go where the money is made. I was not sure how I would handle all the long drives but I have gotten used to it. Not much different than a delivery truck running a route every day. The deduction on mileage will be a very large amount this year for me. As far as the truck, I am set up as an LLC so the business provides me with the truck and receives the dueduction for it.

Also on the odd jobs, I have gotten into many profitable larger jobs by doing a small one. I advertise custom fencing and deck building as well as the landscaping and lawn care

[turfbuilder]

15 mile radius within my shop. :usflag:

[mitw44]

I mow part time and work full time. The full time job is in Tulsa. I live about 45 miles from Tulsa. Most of my accounts are in my home town, but I have two lawns in Tulsa that only need a 21" mower. In fact the streets are too busy/crowded to pull a trailer to them.

One night a week after work, I mow these two yards. One is every week, the other is every 2 weeks, so each Tuesday night I mow either one or both of them.

If something messes up weather wise or schedule wise, and I have to come to Tulsa to mow these 2 on a Saturday, it is a real time and profit killer.

I am really thinking of giving them up after this year. I mow them because I have a good relationship with the customers. If I could find a good local LCO that would do them for the same price, I would love to hand them over.

:weightlifter:

[MiguelTX]

Question: my neighborhood has almost 1000 homes. I live in NW Houston there are neighborhoods all around me! Since it's such a "concentrated" area would it be wise to keep everything close to home?

[johndeereguy]

Our furthest account is 90 miles one way. We have 4 good size acounts all together though. Takes 2 guys a 13 hour day to get it all done with 2 big Z's

[tradeyouraccounts]

The furthest used to be 30 miles and then work back from there but then got it to a 15 mile radius. Sold and traded the furthest ones and now working more than traveling.