The travel calculator works out how far a venue actually is, so you're pricing travel on real numbers rather than a guess at the map.

## Using it

1. In the **Basic** step of the proposal builder, find **Travel Cost**.
2. Turn on **Use Travel Calculator**.
3. Enter your starting address.
4. Select **Calculate**.

You get back:

- **From** — your starting address
- **To** — the venue
- **Distance**
- **Duration** — drive time by car

## Turning that into a price

The calculator gives you the journey, not the charge. What to weigh:

**Double it.** The result is one way. You're going home too.

**Cost your time.** Drive time is working time. A 45-minute each-way trip is an hour and a half you can't sell to anyone else. Most DJs undercharge here, and it's the main reason a distant booking feels worse than it looked.

**Add tolls and parking.** City venues in particular.

**Consider the hour.** A 40-minute drive at 2am is not the same as one at 6pm. If the finish is late, that's worth reflecting.

**Check whether you can get home at all.** If not, the overnight goes in — as travel cost, or as an additional item so the client can see what it is.

## Which starting address

Where you and your equipment actually leave from. If your kit lives at a studio or lock-up, use that.

## Sanity-checking the venue

The calculator is also a quick check that the address the client entered is a real place near where they said. A result that comes back much further than expected usually means the address lookup landed on the wrong town — worth confirming in the conversation before you quote.

## When to skip it

Local bookings where you already know the drive. Typing the figure in directly is faster.

## Setting expectations

Drive time is based on typical traffic. If you're playing a Saturday evening in a city centre, plan your own arrival with more margin than the number suggests.