Service area guide
How to create a profitable mobile service area
A service area should describe where you can deliver work reliably, not every place you would ever consider travelling. Profitability depends on your own prices and costs, so use this framework with real business figures.
Map current customers and enquiries
List the postcodes you already serve, the journeys between them and the value and duration of the work. Look for clusters rather than drawing a radius first.
Calculate the full cost of an outer booking
- Outbound and onward travel time
- Mileage and parking
- Service duration
- Gaps the booking creates
- Whether nearby demand can fill the route
Create a core and optional outer area
Keep the core area available on normal working days. If an outer area can work only with grouped demand, offer it on selected days or by manual arrangement.
Example decision
A higher-value job 35 minutes away may work when followed by another nearby booking, but not when it requires a 35-minute return to the core area. Judge the whole route, not the appointment in isolation.
Review the boundary regularly
- Track accepted and declined postcode demand.
- Note repeated long gaps.
- Check whether prices still cover travel.
- Expand only when demand supports a workable route.
How CalMov helps
CalMov combines service duration, working availability and customer location to help mobile businesses offer bookable times that allow for the surrounding journeys.
See CalMov for home visit businesses