Graeme Horton's fencing business sees him drive from Yanchep in Perth's north, to Mandurah in the south and across the hills flanking the city's west.
He sometimes has to return several times to the same job before it's done.
Soaring petrol prices are cutting deep.
"I'm travelling up to 3,000 to 4,000 kilometres a week, carrying big loads on my ute. A petrol tank every two or three days," Mr Horton, who lives in Eden Hill, said.
A tank of petrol has skyrocketed from around $60 to close to $100, he said, which was "just killing everybody. All the single guys, all the little guys ... it's impacting us a lot."
At the same time, the price of materials, including steel, had gone up three times in the last year.
Mr Horton has had to raise his prices by 10 to 15 per cent and it's putting customers off.
"To raise your pricing to try and pay for these rises is near on impossible to get the work," he said.
Choosing between petrol and food
The dramatic rise in petrol prices is hurting people across the community, cutting into family budgets and forcing drivers to reconsider using their cars.
Charity organisation Foodbank said it had received calls from desperate people this week who had to decide whether to put petrol in their car or buy food.
For Mandy Mitzos, getting to work from her home in Landsdale to Ocean Keys has become very expensive.
Already mindful of the family budget when buying groceries, she now also thinks twice about taking the car out.
A recent RAC survey found a quarter of drivers will struggle to afford petrol for their cars and 40 per cent will drive less if it stays at the current price of about $2 a litre for unleaded petrol.
The motoring group has calculated that at $2 a litre, drivers will paying about $670 extra over the next year for fuel compared to last year.
If prices get up to an average of $2.20 per litre, they can expect to pay well over $900 per year extra.
And if average prices get up to $2.40, that could see drivers paying about $1,100 extra per year for fuel.
"So it does stand to make a very big impact on hip pockets unfortunately," RAC vehicles and fuels manager Alex Forrest said.
Surge in families seeking help
Foodbank has seen the pressure building on household budgets since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.
"The soaring impact of petrol is the latest of the developments of the unrelenting pressure that many households are facing," Foodbank chief executive Kate O'Hara said.
With the cost of living increasing, and food prices set to rise further, 500 families now come to Foodbank for help and cheap food everyday, compared to 200 before the pandemic.
"They'll be making a decision about do I fill up the car or do I get food this week?"
People are likely to have to make those stark choices more often if fuel prices keep rising.
The RAC says drivers can still cut fuel costs substantially by filling up on the cheapest day of the two-week fuel cycle.
