For tree service owners
How do I cost drive time between tree jobs?
Short answer
Treat drive time as a real cost. Build an average into your crew hour rate, add more for far jobs, and group jobs by area so crews spend more of the day on billable work.
By Umair Nawaz. Published October 25, 2026. General information, not legal, tax or insurance advice.
The longer answer
Drive time is not free. The truck, fuel, insurance and wages keep running while the crew is on the road. If you price jobs as if the crew teleported, the windshield hours come out of your profit.
First, work out your average drive time per job over a couple of weeks. Most owners are surprised by the number. Build that average into your cost per crew hour. Then adjust job by job. A job an hour from the shop should carry more travel cost than one ten minutes away. If travel is a big part of the price, say so on the estimate.
On the schedule, group jobs by town or zip code. Give crews a route, not a scramble. Try to put the first job of the day near the last job of the day before.
Two tools can help: the travel cost calculator and the crew day rate calculator.
More answers for owners
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- How do I estimate the time for stump grinding?Read the answer
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- How do I find good tree crew members?Read the answer
- How do I find out which licenses my state requires for a tree service?Read the answer
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