The reason was utilitarian. He needed more room for house-hunting families to stretch out, and he often finds himself hauling trash out of homes to make them more salable.

"In my world, I would love to have a more efficient car, but it just doesn't make sense," Delk said last week.

Since that automotive upgrade, however, gasoline prices have been on the move. On June 14, AAA Nevada said the average Las Vegas price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was $2.27. By Aug. 16, that price has jumped to $2.62.

Delk, an agent with Rossum Realty Unlimited, is now paying about $70 a week to keep the new truck fueled, as much as three times what he paid driving a sedan.

"It's taken a bite out of my paycheck," he said.

He added that out-of-state investors interested in the headline-making Las Vegas real estate market are still asking for valley tours only to find that the get-rich-quick run-up in housing prices evaporated months ago.

"I'm working with larger amount of buyers without making more sales," Delk said.

Once Delk combines his truck with his family's other car -- a Ford Mustang -- that takes about $40 a week in gas, he and his wife are out about $440 a month in fuel costs, he speculated.

While Delk said there's no mechanism for him to recover gasoline costs from clients, other businesses said prices are likely to rise as costs increase.

"It's all going to wind up in price increases to customers," said Michael Klimek, president of Pro Handyman Corp. of Las Vegas.

With all of the company's work done on site, there's little opportunity to trim mileage, Klimek said.

"We just have no choice," he said. "We've got to get to the jobs. ... It's expensive."

Cara Roberts, spokeswoman for the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, said the specter of gasoline prices is weighing particularly heavy on small businesses.

"For small businesses that have a transportation component, such as landscapers and floral deliveries, their big decision is at what point do you raise prices or pass it along to the consumer," she said.

Such a move comes with the risk of pushing customers away to lower-cost rivals, especially larger competitors who might have the option of bulk gasoline purchases.

"That's always one of the biggest dilemmas a small business faces," Roberts said.

Small businesses can combat those issues with creativity, she added, like working with multiple customers in the same area to provide service on the same day, cutting down on back and forth travel.

"Everyone is dealing with gas prices right now," she said. "Customers don't want to see a business struggle or go out of business."

Roberts also said businesses must be aware that the high gasoline costs are taking a toll on employees dealing with less disposable income after payday. The chamber itself is promoting company-paid bus passes for its employees.

With expenses for companies and consumers on the rise, retailers are expressing concern.

Lee Scott, chief executive of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., pointed to the diversion of disposable income to gasoline pumps when explaining the company's weakest quarterly performance in four years.

"Our customer continues to be impacted by higher gas prices," he said in a recent statement.

The news was much the same from the International Council of Shopping Centers, which said higher gasoline prices were causing some lost sleep among store owners and their customers.

"Over the course of the last week, gasoline prices jumpes to a new record high -- $2.55 per gallon for regular-grade gasoline, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration -- which further accentuated the worry among retailers as well as consumers," said Michael Niemira, ICSC's chief economist and director of research.

Those comments were made Aug. 16, when the council reported a 0.2 percent drop

Kevin Rademacher covers utilities and finance for In Business Las Vegas and its sister publication, the Las Vegas Sun. He can be reached at (702) 259-4069 or by e-mail at kevinr@lasvegassun.com.