Diamond Landscapes works on efficient strategies to combat hike in gas prices
Trower says the 55 truck fleet needs to be filled up once a week while for mowers it's every other day.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) – You and your wallet have no doubt noticed you’re paying a lot more for gas since Russia invaded Ukraine. According to AAA, the current national average is a little over $4/gallon…compared to one year ago when it was $2.76.
In Lexington we have seen prices range from $3.68 to $3.99. AAA says the average is $3.75.
For diesel, it’s close to $4.80.
The hike in prices is affecting everyone, including the Lexington based mom and pop landscaping company Diamond Landscapes, a company that relies on gas to get the job done.
“It’s the elephant in the room. It’s something we have to have” said President of Diamond Landscapes, Chris Trower.
Diamond Landscapes is able to get their gas from a wholesaler at 2-3% lower than what you would see at the gas station, but the hardships with that is the amount of gas needed to fill its fleet and its equipment.
“Mowers. skid steers, loaders, plows, salter’s, I mean, even our salter’s, we have a couple of electric salter’s, but all of our equipment is gasoline” added Trower.
Trower says the 55 truck fleet needs to be filled up once a week while for mowers it’s every other day. He says the best thing they can do is create more efficient strategies to save what they can.
“Stretching the gas so we aren’t wasting certain things, making sure our teams take all their tools to the job site, making sure they take the most cost effective route in terms of gasoline the shortage miles so we have routing software and GPS date stamps so were as efficient as we can be” added Trower.
Despite the new challenges brought on by the gas hike, it’s business as usual for Diamond Landscapes.
“There’s nothing you can do about gas I mean, we are a petroleum-based company and we have to have it” said Trower.
Customers are not affected by the increase in gas prices right now, but Trower says eventually they will have to up the price of their services because of it.
