Trucks: A Custom Fit

And so it goes with vehicles. Contractors first select what they feel is the best vehicle, then add equipment and options until they have created the vehicle that will best serve their crews in the field.

Most contractors make alterations to trucks so the vehicles are suited to their individual businesses. Many times, trucks are bought stripped down and equipped with a wide range of accessories both stock and custom-built. The ultimate goal for any vehicle, though, is bottom-line productivity, and there are about as many ways to outfit a truck as there are contractors.

EVERYTHING IN ITS PLACE. Our goal is to try to create a truck so everything has a place, stressed Mike Ward, president, Mike Ward Landscaping, Cincinnati, Ohio. If something has a place then people know where to put it. Put in terms of labor savings, Ward calculated that if 20 workers spend five minutes per day every working day trying to find a misplaced item and the workers were paid $10 per hour, it could cost the company $4,000 per year to be unorganized.

Ward equips his trucks with a two-way radio for communication. Trucks also feature a customized bed that allows the sides to fold down for items such as bulk salt to be easily loaded onto the truck. He purchases small dump trucks with a dump body and specifies different sizes of toolboxes and trimmer racks for the trimmers, blowers and gas cans on the trailers, he said.

Ward said he purchases dump trucks with only the cab and chassis. They add a flat bed from a manufacturer to the vehicle.

The key is to think how are you going to use the truck now and in the future and think out a plan, Ward recommended. This could save a lot of money by not having to redo something that was added or have to take a vehicle apart in order to add additional components to the truck.

Setting up the truck right the first time is cheaper than doing it twice, he added.

Subscribing to the same philosophy of designating a place for everything, Dwight Hughes, Jr., owner of Dwight Hughes Nursery, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, equips his trucks with customized racks and holders leaving nothing without its prescribed place.

Hughes explained in his book, Systems for Success, how he constructed racks to make better storage space out of his trailers and trucks. Hughes has a designed place for every item he even constructed a wooden lunchbox holder positioned on the back of the truck cab to hold each employee’s lunchbox.

Behind the cab seat are organizers that hold items such as a first aid kit and hand tools and keep the inside of the trucks neat.

Hughes designed a box that mounts underneath the flatbed of his 1-ton truck where tarps, insect repellent, ropes and marking paint can be stored. Tucked between the chassis of the truck and its frame is a tray where rakes can be carried, and a special compartment exists for holding hand tools and shovels. And, by welding expanded steel to the bottom of the trailer frames, he created shelving for hauling spare tires, garden hoses, vinyl edging or anything flat.

For a gooseneck trailer, sideboards were constructed for hauling equipment and plant material. The trailer can be tarped and the sideboards can be removed, which makes equipment easy to unload from all sides.

ADAPTABILITY. Adapting vehicles to provide for multiple uses and efficient changeover is also a concern for contractors. Mike McClurry, vice president of Marvins Garden and Landscape Services, Sarasota, Fla., said that the purchase of a new skid steer loader demanded he find a way to modify his trailer. The trailer now carries the skid steer’s attachments to the sides and also has the capability of carrying other machinery.

McClurry said he attempted to attach toolboxes to the trucks and trailers but could not find a way to mount them underneath the truck or trailer without them becoming damaged.

If we were always on the street we wouldn’t worry about the boxes, but often the trucks are off road, he said.

The cabs are filled with three-person crews where even the glove compartment space is used. The truck registration and title are enclosed in a plastic bag and taped to the back of the seat to save space, he said.

I have a toolbox for every foreman, and it is hand-carried on to the truck, he added. If I made the toolbox immovable, that could waste space. I want to make things to be mobile.

The toolbox contained in the vehicle includes a first aid kit and tools specific to the job. Reliability is important and McClurry said he wants a truck that can crank in the morning and get us to and from the job.

Sam Lang, president of Fairway Green, Raleigh, N.C., equips his one-ton trucks with a diesel engine and a custom rig for his spraying business. Lang explained that he purchases only a bare bones truck with a 4-wheel disk brake package, cab and chassis, costing about $28,000, and he pays an additional $3,500 for a diesel engine.

I don’t worry about the cost of the truck if it’s going to give me greater reliability, he commented. If that truck is down you aren’t producing any revenue.

In the past, after the rig was on the cab for one year, it was removed and the bed was sandblasted and painted. Lang said now he gets his new trucks coated with Rhino Liner, a polyurethane coating sprayed into the cab and on to the truck’s bed and chassis to prevent rusting. The 1/8-inch-thick layer of material is worth the $400 investment, he added.

Rich Johnson, vice president of the Rhino Liner franchise in Raleigh, said only one coating is needed to prevent rusting. The coating contours to the truck and can also be sprayed inside the cab, making the interior waterproof. Then, when the truck is dirty, the interor can be hosed out with water, he recommended.

EYE FOR SAFETY. Reliability is a necessity for Ed Hoffman, division manager/maintenance, Clarence Davids & Co., Blue Island, Ill., but he is also concerned with safety.

All of the trucks are equipped with as many safety standards as possible and are set on a preventive maintenance routine.

During the busiest time of the season, you don’t want to be doing maintenance. We’re too busy to have a truck that doesn’t work, he said, citing his busy periods between Apr. 15 and May 15 and then Oct. 15 through Dec. 15.

After a new truck is purchased, the installation of a dump body is contracted out to a mechanic, Hoffman remarked. Any toolbox or tool rack installations, truck painting, and decal work is done by employees in-house.

Hoffman said he equips his fleet of dump body trucks with two, 2-foot by 3-foot long toolboxes underneath the body. The smaller trucks, used mainly for crews and pulling open-air trailers, have two toolboxes that fit lengthwise along the truck bed.

Trucks once were equipped with radios, but Hoffman said he has switched to digital, hand-held radios for greater privacy and better convenience. When the guy is in the field, the radio is on his belt instead of in the truck, he explained.

Versatility is also a necessity to achieve performance in Clarence Davids’ other divisions, which include landscape construction, maintenance and winter snow removal. Hoffman’s fleet of dump trucks are all equipped with beds that have removable bed sides that can be taken off during the winter so the snow plow driver can have better visibility.

It was done so they don’t hit cars when they’re backing up, Hoffman added.

Each truck is also equipped with a safety light mounted on top of the cab to warn drivers during snow plowing or when crews are working off the side of the road, he mentioned.

Everything we do is for safety, he remarked, adding that it also adds professionalism to the company.