# How do I include travel time in my prices?

Add travel in two parts: the time, paid at your hourly rate, and the driving cost per mile. ProfitDrawer's dog walking guide counts 10 minutes of travel inside a 45-minute visit, and adds 2 miles at $0.725, the IRS business rate for January to June 2026 (76 cents a mile for July to December 2026). The photography guide adds 0.5 hour of travel to a 5-hour session. Example numbers only.

How to do it:

1. **Time:** add drive time to the hours for the job, then multiply by your hourly pay. Travel time is work time, even though the customer does not see it.
2. **Miles:** multiply round-trip miles by a cost per mile. Our guides use either the IRS standard mileage rate or a rough running cost (several use $0.70 a mile, the pressure washing guide $0.40).
3. **Long drives:** set a service area and add a travel fee beyond it, or a minimum job price.
4. **Route planning:** booking jobs close together cuts both parts.

The free price per job calculator has a travel per job field (gas and parking) and an hours field that should include travel time.

The IRS standard mileage rate is a tax figure for deducting business driving; check irs.gov for the 2027 rate when it is announced. Using it in prices is a planning choice, not a tax rule. General information, not tax advice.

- Source: [How to Start a Dog Walking Business in Your Neighborhood](https://profitdrawer.com/guides/how-to-start-a-dog-walking-business.html)
- Updated: 2026-10-29
- Published: 2026-10-29
- Category: Pricing and profit
- Canonical: https://profitdrawer.com/answers/how-do-i-include-travel-time-in-my-prices.html
- Publisher: ProfitDrawer (https://profitdrawer.com)