I usually schedule work (jobs and estimates) as it comes in. But this can make my routes really annoying since stops come in from random places at random times.
What do you guys do? I personally prioritize saving time on routing and minimizing downtime.
I also do all my estimates after work, which might be inefficient.
Hone in on a service area and really commit to it. I have a large service area but 95% of my business is within 20 minutes. The other 5% are repeat customers that I got early on and the money is just too good on maintenance washes to give them up.
That’s an interesting approach. I feel like I don’t get enough jobs in one specific area, even if I try to hit it with the ads harder. So I end up serving 5 counties (maybe 1.5 hours from end to end of my zone).
That’s a huge service area. If you narrow it down and really focus your efforts in one smaller area I bet you’ll find you have pretty good success.
Displaced Texan gave you wisdom about honing in on an area. But sometimes when jobs get scarce you’ll have to spread yourself out. But travel time and expense eats away at the bottom line.
Agree, that does make lots of sense. But my jobs are so sporadic that I end up traveling farther than I’d like.
So I will try to hone in on my area next season.
@Sherm . When you do end up spreading out, how do you handle scheduling so you drive around the least? I get that some jobs are just far, but is there a way to schedule closely without downtime?
It’s just logistics…planning…it’s tougher with a small/1 truck outfit, but if you’re booking a lot of work, and have a backlog, it’s easy to do service days (ie- in town Monday/Wednesday/Friday, North/South every other Tuesday, East/West every other Thursday)…adjust based on workloads in various areas. The only way to make it really work, is you have to abandon a strict “first-come, first-served” scheduling plan. Figure how much of your work is in each “zone” (however you define them), and proportion your scheduling openings accordingly.
If some areas aren’t driving enough work, then you do one there, and the rest of the day back towards home base. Always only work in one direction from your base in a day, either working your way out, or driving out and working your way back.
