I am a one man operation doing remodeling and home improvement services. At the present time I have a Ram 1500 with a V-6. I use to have a Dodge Dakota 4 cylinder that got pretty good gas mileage.
I was thinking with gas approaching $4.00 a gallon of either getting rid of the Ram and buying another small truck such as a Dodge Dakota or Chevy S10 to get better gas mileage and cut down on fuel costs. Or keep the Dodge Ram and get a small car like a Saturn 4 Cylinder to use on days I do not need the truck. I have looked at insurance costs, maintenance costs, estimated miles driven per year, etc. I like having the big truck to haul stuff in when needed, but I do not need it everyday. Somedays I can get by with just throwing some tools into the trunk of the car and head to the job site. However I have to be realistic about fuel costs and how they effect my business. Anyone have two vehicles for their small operation? Or how have you dealt with rising fuel costs, just raise your rates??? I have to do something, gas prices are starting to become more of a costs to deal with.
Replies
I have a Ford F150 that gets ~16MPG with the rack and boxes that are on it. It runs about 800 miles per month and the cost for fuel at $4 per gallon is $200.
If I could do 60% of my driving in a Ford Ranger 4cyl that got 25MPG, i.e. 480 miles at 25 MPG and 320 miles at 16 MPG, I'd be spending about $77 on gas for the small truck and $80 for the big one... saving just under $50/mo. If I buy the Ranger new for $9000 cash, I have to run it for 180 months.... 15 years.... to break even.
So, on the face of it, it doesn't pencil out very well unless you need two trucks for other reasons. But from another angle, all of us in this country should be thinking about conserving fuel and I will probably get a small p/u sometime this year, especially since the dealers seem so happy to get rid of them.
Thanks for the response. I was thinking of picking up a small truck or small car off of craigslist used. I have seen some pretty good deals money wise and the truck/car looks in decent shape with anywhere from 80000 to 100000 miles on it. I can probably get 25 to 27 miles a gallon with a Saturn car. My Dakota was a four cylinder manual and I use to get 25 miles to the gallon with that truck. Man do I miss that truck!!!! Bought it new in 1989 and finally had to get rid of it in 2006. I believe I got my money out of it :).
This is what I'm doing to augment the huge increase in fuel costs since I figured my rate including the cost of doing business, some time back.
My 8cyl van gets 13 at best-usually 10/11. This 8500lb tool box carries most all I will need on service call or jobsite. Wouldn't think of changing to a smaller vehicle at this time. Definitely wouldn't think of partial tool hauling, changing / adding according to task.
To be fair to all, I have instituted a fuel cost adjustment. Using the daily fuel cost I enter mileage in my Daybook at start/finish. When billing, I add the fuel cost using 10mpg per gal. cost. This way the close jobs get a smaller fuel cost. Further away-more$'s.
Most of my work is cost/plus so this daily mileage is a must. The job is "estimated" on a spread price and in doing that I must remember to estimate days on the job and add in the fuel adjustment.
I just started doing this in the last month-no one has questioned it, but should appreciate the fairness v. across the board rate increase.
A Great Place for Information, Comraderie, and a Sucker Punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
Edited 4/11/2008 5:45 pm ET by calvin
Calvin:
Thanks for the response. I provide firm prices for my work so I have to include my expected fuel costs as part of my overhead for a job. I just know with gas going to $4.00 and then probably $5.00 or $6.00 a gallon, something has got to give, i.e. either I change the way I do business or raise my rates or both. Everything else is going up because of fuel costs so I guess my clients are going to suffer as well. I can do something to save some money by changing my transportation methods, i.e. small car mixed with big truck verses just the using the big truck all the time. How the heck do they do it in Europe with gas at $7.00/gallon???? It would cost me $245 to fill my 35 gallon tank on the Dodge Ram. Ouch.
I don't know what is a realistic thing to do.
A dollar an hour increase in rate of pay would bring in 8.00. At the current price of fuel (3.35) would take care of 23 miles round trip. What was figured in my orig. cost of doing business could afford a moderate and fluctuating increase in fuel costs. This constant rise goes beyond that.
Think too on material I call 'shop'. Misc. fasteners, glue, finishing goods etc. All are going up. So should your charges for them.
This sucks for sure.A Great Place for Information, Comraderie, and a Sucker Punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
I've lived in a rural area for over thirty years, where the available work is often an hour's drive away. That has made me very aware of how fuel costs effect net profits.
After driving many types of cars and trucks I've settled on a 4cyl, 2WD Toyota with a cap, and a folding utility trailer as my best compromise for carrying tools and materials while saving on fuel.
Nonetheless, I could be easily convinced to drive a hatch-back or a small wagon or even a minivan with seats removed if a trailer hitch could be mounted. A roof rack for ladders would be an asset too.
Pick ups aren't ideal for carpenters, not in my opinion. Most of what we carry are tools which require easy access so, unless you want to build in a big sliding drawer system as some BT carpenters have, a pickup with an 8ft bed and a cap isn't very helpful. It may make a good impression on clients but it doesn't really serve our purposes that well.
I'd like to drive a small car with good gas mileage, decent acceleration and handling as my regular transportation. So a good compromise for me would be a 4cyl hatchback or a small wagon like the Honda Fit.
I drove a Honda Civic hatchback for a few years in the 80's, towing a folding utility trailer when needed. It was fun to drive, economical and it handled the trailer fine too. I hauled as much as 3/4ton of firewood and a large variety of other stuff with that rig.
The only problem with going small is that you have to be fairly well organized and have some garage or shed space for the tools you're not using. That's not all bad because hauling a lot of extra weight around adds to the fuel expenses, not to mention the possibility of theft.
My folding utility trailer takes up about a foot and a half of floor space in the garage, against the wall in front of my truck. It unfolds and hooks up to the car or truck in about one minute. It's almost as handy as having a pickup as a second vehicle, without the expense of insurance, registration, etc.
So while it's nice to have a reliable 25mpg pickup like my little Toyota, gas prices are making me more inclined to buy something like the 35+mpg Honda Fit and find an after market trailer hitch for it.
I would run the five door Fit with the rear seats folded flat, and a piece of 1/4" AC plywood covering the entire rear area. That would give me access to the rear through three doors, very handy for loading tool boxes and buckets through the sides and larger tools through the hatch.
That's how I did it with the three door Civic hatchback, without as much room as the Fit. Still it worked out fine, having the trailer available.
Edited 4/11/2008 6:27 pm by Hudson Valley Carpenter
I have a full size chevy truck with a 350, gets 10 to 12 but i need it for roofing, Bought a 1500 Nissan truck with 4cly gets 28 on highway, Still need the big truck but try and use the small one. actually my boy took the Nissan cause he needs the good MPG and gave me his explorer which gets 17, I like the explorer and its big enough for tools and ladder.
I have a craftsman LT 2000 ride-on 18hp, and that's all I need, takes about 2 1/2 gal a week
There's enough youth in this world, how 'bout a fountain of SMART??!!
Edited 4/11/2008 6:57 pm ET by andyfew322
Well I cant beat Andyfew but I had used Ford Rangers for several years, they got about 17 mpg at best. I switched to a Chevy extended cab with a 350 and I got 20 mpg. Then bought a newer Chevy Silverado 4 wd with a little bigger moter and my milage droped back to about 18-19, sold the other Chevy to a fellow worker and he says without any load he gets around 21-22 mpg.
Smaller trucks dont always get better gas milage, of course my mechanic says that the real reason was that 4 letter word on the tail gate!
Doug