• As of January 1, 2018 The brand new logo that was created and released in 2017 will be the only official logo in affect and allowed to be used on any electronic media however, any such media like truck wraps, stationary, and postcards will be grandfathered in. Contributing Members will be allowed to use the UAMCC logo in any advertising. Permission to use the logo otherwise must be in writing. Logos used in electronic formats (ie: Websites, forums, etc.) must be linked back to the member’s profile in the UAMCC directory. Contributing Members are members that are paid and current with their dues. Please contact info@uamcc.org with any questions.

How Big or Wide is Your Service Area?

Carlos Gonzales

New member
How far will you go out to get the work? Do you stay in your state or do you travel beyond your state border?

Say you were offered 75 stores 300 miles away from you. Price was not great but you could turn a profit by doing the 75 stores....would you go after it?

Just curious....
 

Florin Nutu

New member
I would if the work could be done on OFF peak of the season. I would rather stay close to home during the peak season where profits are high. I would also do it if it was redundant work that I could setup a crew on the work and let them loose and supervise long distance or make sure to have a good team leader.
 

Carlos Gonzales

New member
I would if the work could be done on OFF peak of the season. I would rather stay close to home during the peak season where profits are high. I would also do it if it was redundant work that I could setup a crew on the work and let them loose and supervise long distance or make sure to have a good team leader.

Say like quarterly? Would that work?
 

Florin Nutu

New member
hmmmm. The peak season schedule would be tricky but I'd be able to make it work. Go along on the first clean and set up a crew and manage from there on out. Id have to look deeper into the details and what type of work.
 

Lonnie Greenwood

New member
i do it all the time an i willtravel 600 mile to do 75 stores il travel 1000 miles ive done that alot of my work reqiures me to travelwe go to tn sc ga ny and va for the last 3 years:clap::clap:
 

Rick Petry

New member
Carlos,

We generally stay within a 25 mile radius of the barn. Good demographics, and plenty of business.

For very large, exceptional wood jobs, we will travel up to 70 miles. Will be starting a 2300 sq. ft. ipe' job in early August that is 72 miles from home.
 

Terry Miller

New member
Carlos,
The job you speak of is enticing. Having that type of work will strengthen our business. Presently, as Rick said, we are proud that 90% of our work is within 15 miles of our home. We like it and the employees like it. Actually today I will be estimating a job 40 miles away. That is the farthest this year. We will travel for the correct amount of work. Thank you.
 

The Cleaning Doctor

Contributing Member
My work is normally within 30 miles for the moment but I am willing to travel up to 100 miles and since I am on the border I do cross state lines. For this job at this point in my business growth(Still growing), yes I would. Some profit better than no profit.
 

Carlos Gonzales

New member
Great responses from everyone. I am curious how other folks view their service area and what would prompt them to travel beyond their normal service area for work.

Lets see...75 stores to do. Do two of them a day...thats roughly 37 days. Lets just say the stores pay 300.00...just flat work and sidewalks...or whatever. Takes 4 hours to do one store....thats $22,500 Gross Revenue ever quarter x 4 quarters = $90,000.

Might be worth a trip
 

Jim Chesmore

New member
Great responses from everyone. I am curious how other folks view their service area and what would prompt them to travel beyond their normal service area for work.

Lets see...75 stores to do. Do two of them a day...thats roughly 37 days. Lets just say the stores pay 300.00...just flat work and sidewalks...or whatever. Takes 4 hours to do one store....thats $22,500 Gross Revenue ever quarter x 4 quarters = $90,000.

Might be worth a trip

thats only $75/hr, is that enough to cover expenses?
 

Trevor Steel

New member
I don't like to turn down a job I often travel for work even residential. I charge appropriately and if I get the job great but if I don't that's OK too.
 

Ken Fenner

Active member
I think you have to be setup for it. Let's look at real world numbers for an owner operator.

The rate many of these corporate accounts are willing to pay on quarterly work is $.03 per s/f. So using Carlos' number of $300 per job, that is 10,000 s/f. That would make two per day an accurate production rate for most guys factoring in gum removal and travel. (more experienced guys could probably do more)

To keep things simple we'll break it down into one week. We'll say this is the week of the furthest most accounts.. 250 miles out from home base.

Gross billing for going on the road for 6 days (12 jobs at $300) = $3600.
I'm not going to get into all the expenses but with no travel and properly setup company, a business owner can take at a maximum 60% of gross billing.. that's if he is a one man show. Now subtract off another $800 for the additional expenses incurred by travel (fuel, lodging, etc).

Okay so a one-man show away from his family six days per week, eating fast food and living out of a suitcase brings home $1360. Not horrible. I wouldn't do it but there are single guys that don't need much to live on and can travel. Would I do it? No way. I own a business not a job.

The problem with the above $1360 is this.. where do you have margin to hire employees? It would probably cost you about $1000 in salary to send a guy out on the road for a week. It would all be in your production rates.

Getting back to how I started this response.. Being set up for this type of work means you would have multiple employees out doing this work 50 weeks per year. Production rates would go up and expenses would fall. There would be multiple geographically closer accounts to offset your margins. A business owner with 6 trucks handling commercial work across multiple states would probably make a nice living. (over $200K)
 

DJ Carroll

New member
I think you have to be setup for it. Let's look at real world numbers for an owner operator.

The rate many of these corporate accounts are willing to pay on quarterly work is $.03 per s/f. So using Carlos' number of $300 per job, that is 10,000 s/f. That would make two per day an accurate production rate for most guys factoring in gum removal and travel. (more experienced guys could probably do more)

To keep things simple we'll break it down into one week. We'll say this is the week of the furthest most accounts.. 250 miles out from home base.

Gross billing for going on the road for 6 days (12 jobs at $300) = $3600.
I'm not going to get into all the expenses but with no travel and properly setup company, a business owner can take at a maximum 60% of gross billing.. that's if he is a one man show. Now subtract off another $800 for the additional expenses incurred by travel (fuel, lodging, etc).

Okay so a one-man show away from his family six days per week, eating fast food and living out of a suitcase brings home $1360. Not horrible. I wouldn't do it but there are single guys that don't need much to live on and can travel. Would I do it? No way. I own a business not a job.

The problem with the above $1360 is this.. where do you have margin to hire employees? It would probably cost you about $1000 in salary to send a guy out on the road for a week. It would all be in your production rates.

Getting back to how I started this response.. Being set up for this type of work means you would have multiple employees out doing this work 50 weeks per year. Production rates would go up and expenses would fall. There would be multiple geographically closer accounts to offset your margins. A business owner with 6 trucks handling commercial work across multiple states would probably make a nice living. (over $200K)

Ken you forgot to add in the stress factor of having employees 250 miles away working .... If something goes wrong they can't call you and you will be there in 5 ... I think that is a HUGE thing to consider lol :pukey:
 

Carlos Gonzales

New member
Ken you forgot to add in the stress factor of having employees 250 miles away working .... If something goes wrong they can't call you and you will be there in 5 ... I think that is a HUGE thing to consider lol :pukey:

DJ - Stress factor? There is no stress factor in power washing. Don't you remember...we are just a bunch of guys just playing in water...where's the stress in that? :biggrin:
 

Isaac Baghdanov

New member
What happens if a rig goes down?

Rent one? I will travel state wide for large jobs, or many smaller jobs. Farthest so far has been 1 1/2 hrs for a PM. An apartment complex, and a buncha small rental houses. While I was out there, a retirement home contacted me to clean the facility, booked it after the other jobs.
 
We travel anywhere between Jacksonville and Miami for commercial or larger projects. Residential is strictly within 1 hour... even then, 45 mins to an hour and I would be looking to refer or sub it out (the 'right' job and we would do it ourselves... job that can lead to more work, referrals, improve relationships, etc)
 
Top