Price Billable Travel Time and Trip Expenses

Travel can consume a working day even when only part of that day is spent delivering the service. A quote should explain which time is billable, how travel expenses are handled, and what the business gives up by taking the trip. Those are entered commercial assumptions. There is no universal travel-time rate or reimbursement percentage in this worksheet.

Account for the whole trip

Assume an onsite assignment requires six service hours and four travel hours. The quoted service rate is a hypothetical $120 per hour, and the entered travel-time rate is $60. Transport and lodging cost $180 and are reimbursed dollar for dollar in this scenario. Client charges total $720 for service, $240 for travel time, and $180 for expenses, or $1,140.

The $50 internal time cost is a planning input, not the selling rate. Under these assumptions, the $180 reimbursement creates no additional result because it offsets the same $180 expense. If payment fees apply to reimbursed amounts, add their actual entered cost; reimbursement at face value would then fail to recover that extra charge.

Compare a trip with a feasible alternative

If the business could instead sell ten remote service hours at $120 with the same $50 time cost and no trip expense, that alternative produces $700 after the stated costs. The onsite trip's $460 result is $240 lower. That comparison matters only if those remote hours would actually sell and are displaced. Unsold calendar time should not be valued as guaranteed lost revenue.

If no travel time is charged, client payments fall to $900 while the modeled costs remain $680, leaving $220. If the business absorbs the $180 expense as well, charges fall to $720 and the result is $40. These alternatives show exactly which part of the trip the original quote recovered; they do not establish what customers will accept.

Check the itinerary and scope

Use door-to-door time, including transfers, required waiting, and setup when relevant. Avoid charging the same travel period again as both a full day of service and additional travel hours unless the actual offer expressly defines separate deliverables. Separate reusable equipment from expenses consumed on this one assignment.

Document the treatment of delays, extra nights, cancellation, and receipts through the entered agreement rather than assuming reimbursement rights. Record actual time and expenses after the trip. The worksheet excludes tax deductions, mileage rates, and employment-pay rules; it helps the business see the economics of its own quote and the capacity the trip occupies.

Method references: OpenStax: Relevant Information for Decision-Making. Accessed October 22, 2026. All dollar figures are hypothetical worked examples.