[cutntrim]

Excellent advice from both of you, thanks.

Rick: I recover the downtime/travel time/support time (whatever term you wish to use) in the actual estimates for monthly services, not in overhead. So, for example, a 30min. on-site weekly maintenance customer will be priced at maybe 40min. per visit multiplied by the number of visits per season. All my customers pay a flat monthly service fee on the 1st of the month, rather than T&M invoiced at month-end.

The fuel tank is a good idea, and one I've thought about in the past...but, I only run two trucks and most days they're nowhere near each other, and I need the space in the bed of each truck. One is only a short-box to begin with, and the other has to carry a bed-sander in the winter.

What I have come up with is this; I'll have one guy (foreman) arrive early (initially I'll try 15min) to load the equipment. The other employees can arrive at the normal time and then simply roll out. At least this way I'm only paying one guy for load time in the a.m. Then at the end of the day, the clock will stop for the employees when the truck pulls away from the curb at the last property. The foreman will still be on-the-clock because he's still working (driving) but the others are done. I've always paid for everyone to travel back to the yard, but have found out that legally that's not required. Makes sense. Do you know anyone working a typical 9-5 day that gets paid for their commute times? I don't.

Anyway, the foreman can either fuel up on the way home, or in the a.m. while loading the equipment. There's a gas station 1 min. from our storage yard.

Dale: I agree that 27.5% is way too high. It's costing me time, and my customers money...'cause it's them who pay for my efficiency or lack thereof. Every company should strive to increase their efficiency and quality each season, and I've got some work to do...particularly regarding the former.

So, how are the rest of you calculating downtime and what % do you feel comfortable with or strive for?