Question for multi truck guys...

[Anderson]

Of course this is all approximate but in general
Profit margin is less with more trucks and employees .

 

[Six Figure Solo Cleaner]

** Was it for Creative?**

?

 

[Smittys6]

Adding more vans will almost always reduce your net profit for awhile. All the expenses involved (labor, fuel, chemical, advertising, insurance, etc.) generally out way the demand for that "next" van. Create demand first!! Have your schedule full for weeks/months in advance first. Increase your price as much as possible increasing net on first van before adding. Its a mistake I made and won't do that again!

 

[ACP]

At 2 trucks now and hoping to max out at 4. I want to be sustainable in the event of a terrible drop in the economy... would be pretty stressful to be at 8/9 trucks with a bunch of employees and have another 2008 situation.

4 trucks just seems like a good spot to be at and have a good amount of free time plus lower stress. I would at that point invest in other business ventures rather than "putting all my eggs in one basket" with carpet/surface cleaning.

Lots of other ways to make money and would rather have 4 cleaning trucks and 2 window washing trucks rather than 6 carpet cleaning trucks..... or 4 cleaning trucks and a small online retail business... bar or anything that is completely separate.

 

[ash]

Not about "trucks", its about revenue and profit.
Plug in the equipment/vans you need.

Trucks is too vague anyway, some people have $10k and others $70k.
THAT would make a big difference....

This, plus the biggest issue is that when you grow you tend to get several anchor accounts that really propel your business forward. At the same time your overhead increases almost as fast. If you are not so much consolidated into large accounts then your also at the mercy of the market. From personal experience I know it is VERY hard to quickly adjust not only your variable but fixed costs when your top end takes a dive.

When doing ~80-150k this is easily managed, things just sort workout with the next big job or the next big invoice that pays. I had alwasy assumed it gets easier when the numbers get bigger but so far to me this is not the case! Maybe one day, some magical sweet spot will appear...

For the record, I'm in a rural part of Texas and we expect each truck to generate 500-700 a day (two man crew).

 

[ash]

Adding more vans will almost always reduce your net profit for awhile. All the expenses involved (labor, fuel, chemical, advertising, insurance, etc.) generally out way the demand for that "next" van. Create demand first!! Have your schedule full for weeks/months in advance first. Increase your price as much as possible increasing net on first van before adding. Its a mistake I made and won't do that again!

this x100

 

[Kilara]

Ad budget should be 15-20 and payroll should be about 35