How the Route Day Planner works
Driving is the drive between each pair of jobs plus the drive out to the first job and home from the last.
Your day is that driving plus the time on every job.
Costs are everyone's pay for the whole day, since driving is paid time, plus the truck's cost for every hour it's on the road.
Profit is your jobs times the average price, minus those costs. It doesn't include supplies, so subtract those if they're big.
Tips from the trade
- Give each part of town its own day. Customers rarely mind which weekday you come if it's the same every time.
- When you take on a new customer, ask which day you're already nearby before you quote.
- Charge a little more for stops far outside your route, or don't take them.
A worked example
Here's the example that's already filled in above, so you can see how the Route Day Planner works before you enter your own numbers.
- Jobs today6
- Minutes per job, on average60
- Drive between jobs (min, average)15
- Drive to the first job and home (min, total)40
- Average price per job$75
- People in the truck1
- Pay per hour, per person$20
- Truck cost per hour of driving$15
The result: length of your day 7 h 55 min; time driving 1 h 55 min; share of the day driving 24%; profit for the day $263.
Grouping stops so they're 10 minutes apart would give you back 25 min and about $15 a day.
Related free tools
- Truck Cost Per Mile Calculator: what your work truck really costs per mile and per work day, counting fuel, payments, insurance and repairs.
- Weekly Capacity Calculator: how many regular customers your crew can handle before you need to hire or raise prices.
- Pool Chlorine Calculator: how much liquid chlorine, cal-hypo or dichlor to add to raise free chlorine, and what the dose costs.
When you need more than the free Route Day Planner
This calculator answers one quick question. Running a business means doing it on every job, with your own rates saved and a quote you can send.
Route Day Planner questions
How much of my day should be driving?
Many route businesses aim for driving to be well under a quarter of the day. If it's more, grouping customers by area is usually the fastest way to earn more without raising prices.
Is drive time paid time?
For employees, usually yes, between jobs. For you as the owner, it's time you can't spend working, so it should be in your prices either way.
How do I work out truck cost per hour?
Use our Truck Cost Calculator to find your cost per mile, then multiply by how many miles you cover in an hour of route driving.
Does this plan the order of my stops?
No. It shows what your day costs and earns. Put your stops in a map app to find the best order, then use the drive times here.