where to offer services

Ok so I live in New Jersey. I live in Mercer county and it is pretty big. I want to offer my services throught New Jersey, but do not want to travel too far. I do not want to start putting stipulations on my services like, customer needs to pay extra for me traveling so many miles. I just want to choose a certain area or areas in which I will offer services to make it easier for the customers.

So how do you all decide where and how far you will travel to offer your services?

The biggest thing to take into consideration is gas money... unless you own an electric car... you HAVE to figure that in your expenses. Also, the time it takes to travel back and forth to a distant could keep you from taking another gig that day... So, if you don't want to "tack" on a travel fee, just make it known that any distance farther than your preset distance is automatically a higher rate per event.

You are bound to have requests from outside of your area sooner or later. So I would suggest that if you want to set boundaries (which you can do) without the option of travel fees to take you further, then you should probably find someone else that you can refer them to that will travel further or is out in that direction. It's not required but I think if you don't have a way of accommodating them yourself, it would be a huge help to them if you had a recommendation for them.

I understand that travel fees are a pain, I have it marked on my website that I serve all of Windsor and Essex County, but anything outside of that is going to have a fee of 40 cents per km from my house in Windsor. It doesn't happen often, I've only had to do it 2 or 3 times I think. I've done a bunch of parties on the far edge in Leamington and Tilbury, but only a few outside of that. Even then, I kind of estimate rounded to the nearest $10 or so because I don't like to take too much time looking up addresses and figuring out exact kms.

I love the idea of just charging more. That keeps it flexible, and rounding it up or down is great

Thanks, I was wondering the same things

I just say "within the Greater Toronto Area - extra for outside of that (ask for a quote)". It means I'm driving an hour (or a bit more) to some events each way, but it works for me - the events that are three hours away (or five in one case) get quoted on (and I build extra for my travel time as well as mileage). I *do* get asked to travel a lot - it's not that there aren't others that could be asked, but *I* get asked..... and if they are willing to pay me for my travel time, mileage, event time, who am I to argue?

I've broken the Greater Vancouver Area into zones, taking into consideration not only distance, but bridges, toll bridges and if I know it's in an area where it's pay parking only. Rush hours here are intense (not sure about mornings, but afternoons are packed from about 2pm-7pm, give or take an hour). Less so on weekends, unless it's a long weekend or there's a game, haha.

So most of Surrey (where I live) and Langley there is no travel. Zone 2 is South Surrey (Surrey's pretty big), Fort Langley and North Delta are $10. My "regular" zones go to 6, for West Van and downtown Vancouver, at $50 - and people do pay since parking is insane and gas is something like $1.30/l right now (translates roughly to $5/gallon).

Whether they are the closer edge of their zone or the furthest, it's the same (IE the west side of Burnaby is $20, and the east side of Vancouver is $30, even though they're side by side) - I figure it evens out and I can't be bothered to look up exact kms each time, lol.

Still haven't been taken up on my $70 travel cost to Chilliwack, though

I charge nothing extra for anything within 40 miles of my suburb. If the venue address is more than 40 miles from my house via mapquest, I charge $2 per mile (or that is what my contract says.) I find that then, if I really want the job, I can choose to offer them a deal on the travel, and my offer seems more reasonable, and more like a deal. Not a huge issue usually.

My rate is the same, but I charge travel of $0.50/km for trips that are 50kms or more round trip from my home.

I have gigs that are 508 kms round trip... that's $254 (it is easy math - I arrive taken the odometer reading... 254 kms one-way so that is $254 return!)

A 50kms round trip is $25 on top of my fee which is my minimum travel charge if applicable.

I live in a sparsely populated area... compared to say metro Vancouver or Toronto so travel for big jobs is a necessity. But I won't travel outside of town in winter. For birthdays the travel costs usually puts me out of their budget but there are always those still willing to pay it.

Thanks for all the awesome feedback. I like Kristal's idea of zones. I live in New Jersey, so I am going to see how it works. I also like the idea of being able to recommend other painters. This will allow me to keep good face for future business. I do not have to travel everywhere to make money. I need to set me limits and know when to bend or stretch my rules.

Shoot, I'll offer my services ANYWHERE as long as they are willing to pay an appropriate travel fee! Generally, I only advertise in the county (which goes about 1 hour North and 1/2 hour South of me.