HVAC
HVAC Drive Time Cost Calculator
Put a figure on what driving between calls costs in wages, vehicle and the work that time could have been.
Result
The reduction percentage is yours to set and nothing here validates it. Some driving is irreducible: a spread-out territory, a customer who can only take a 4pm slot, an emergency that pulls someone across town. Treat the output as the size of the prize if you hit the reduction you entered, not as a saving software will deliver on its own. The default vehicle cost per mile is a placeholder. Use your own from fuel, maintenance and depreciation.
Open the HVAC dispatch demoWhat moves the number
- Burdened hourly cost, since drive time is paid at the same rate as work.
- Vehicle cost per mile including maintenance, insurance and depreciation rather than fuel alone.
- Opportunity cost, which is the job that did not fit in the day.
Where this one goes wrong
Costing drive time at fuel only. Fuel is the smallest part. Wages plus the full vehicle cost plus the displaced work is several times the fuel figure.
Questions
About this calculator
What is a realistic cost per mile for a service van?
Higher than fuel alone by a wide margin once maintenance, tyres, insurance and depreciation are included. Work it out from your own annual vehicle spend divided by miles actually driven.
How much drive time is normal?
It depends entirely on territory density. The useful comparison is against your own previous months rather than against an industry figure that assumes a different service area.
What reduces it most?
Clustering the day geographically and assigning from the technician's current position. Both are scheduling decisions rather than driving decisions.
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How to use this calculator
- Field technicians. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 6.
- Trips between jobs per technician per day. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 4.
- Average minutes per trip. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 26.
- Average miles per trip. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 11.
- Working days per year. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 250.
- Burdened labour cost per hour ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $38.
The result updates as you type, so you can try a figure, see what it does to annual cost of driving between jobs, and change it back. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere or saved.
A worked example
These are the figures the calculator opens with. Every number in the results column below is produced by the same calculation the page runs, so you can follow it through before putting your own figures in.
What goes in
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Field technicians | 6 |
| Trips between jobs per technician per day | 4 |
| Average minutes per trip | 26 |
| Average miles per trip | 11 |
| Working days per year | 250 |
| Burdened labour cost per hour | $38 |
| Vehicle cost per mile: fuel, tyres, maintenance | $0.68 |
| Reduction you think is achievable | 15% |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Annual cost of driving between jobs main result | $143,680 |
| Value of the reduction | $21,552 |
| Technician hours recovered per year | 390 |
| Cost of one trip | $23.95 |
Each trip between jobs costs about $23.95, $16.47 in paid time and $7.48 in vehicle cost. Over 6,000 trips a year that is $143,680 and 66,000 miles. Cutting the average trip by 15% would return 390 technician hours, enough for roughly 260 more 90-minute jobs, and save $21,552.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only burdened labour cost per hour, this is what happens to annual cost of driving between jobs. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Burdened labour cost per hour ($) | Annual cost of driving between jobs |
|---|---|
| $19 | $94,280 |
| $29 | $120,280 |
| $38 example above | $143,680 |
| $57 | $193,080 |
| $76 | $242,480 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Field technicians
- A number, between 0 and 200, starting at 6.
- Trips between jobs per technician per day
- A number, between 0 and 30, starting at 4.
- Average minutes per trip
- A number, between 0 and 300, starting at 26.
- Average miles per trip
- A number, between 0 and 300, starting at 11.
- Working days per year
- A number, between 0 and 366, starting at 250.
- Burdened labour cost per hour ($)
- A money amount, starting at $38.
- Vehicle cost per mile: fuel, tyres, maintenance ($)
- A money amount, starting at $0.68.
- Reduction you think is achievable (%)
- A percentage, between 0 and 70, starting at 15%.
What the results tell you
| Result | What it is |
|---|---|
| Annual cost of driving between jobs | The headline result. A money figure. |
| Value of the reduction | A money figure. |
| Technician hours recovered per year | A number. |
| Cost of one trip | A money figure. |
Before you rely on this number
Sizing, capacity and load figures here are planning estimates. A real installation depends on the manufacturer's data for the specific equipment, the duct system it is going into, and a proper load calculation for the building. Use this to sanity-check a number or price a job, not to select equipment.
Keep going
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