How We Outfit Our Trucks

Look good, feel good, spray good.

Author

Casey McDaniel
October 10, 2024

I love looking at pictures of nice rigs. Most industries can benefit from having a clean, organized truck. We are no different. We give our technicians a lot of flexibility in how they organize and outfit their vehicles but we are sticklers on one thing: they must be clean inside and out at all times.

Vehicle of Choice

Our first vehicle in the fleet was a used 2015 Nissan NV200. It gets great gas mileage, is super reliable, and compliant with rules and regulations. Most states require that chemicals be locked up at all times and that they are not stored in the cab with the driver. This means you can’t keep them in the back seat of your truck and you can’t keep them in the bed of the truck if they are exposed. This makes the Nissan NV200 a great choice.

We put black rims on everything we own.

We installed a barrier in between the cargo area and the cab to be complaint and the back doors lock with the click of a button. The only con to these vans is that they are two wheel drive which poses some problems in the Colorado winters.

Our second vehicle was 2000 Ford Ranger. We mainly got it because it was cheap, reliable, and had 4 wheel drive. We ran it hard for about 9 months and made it our backup vehicle.

Yes, we even murdered the rims on the old ford.

Third, we got another Nissan NV200.

Our fourth vehicle was a ½ ton 2019 Dodge Ram with a ARE DCU topper. Low miles, great price, 4×4, and compliant. We got this one for obvious reasons as well as the fact that we had just promoted a technician to be “Head Tech” and wanted him to have a little bigger, nicer vehicle than the rest of the guys.

Looking cool ain’t cheap and looking cheap ain’t cool.

Ford Mavericks

Earlier this year, we acquired another company about 4 hours from our current location. Since we were already taking on a lot of debt, adding a lot of cashflow, and trying to win the trust of these new employees, we spent some serious dough and got brand new 2024 Ford Mavericks. Four of them.

Now I know what they say. “Never trust an ecoboost engine.” And they were right. One of them has been in the shop twice and another has the check engine light pop on and off every other day even though they all have less than 5,000 miles on them. Time will tell if these get worked on in the shop and replaced with better parts or if they eventually drive us to the point of trading them all in.

We ordered 4 toppers when we bought them and then we waited, and waited, and waited. Finally this week (12 weeks later) they arrived. We had out first one installed yesterday with the rest getting installed later this week.

New topper installed today. Need to install logos. Need black rims. Coming very soon.

So, to get to the topic. How do we organize these bad boys?

We don’t have any SOP’s regarding outfitting. Every tech can do what’s best for him and his work. I know I prefer to keep my truck stocked and organized a certain way and my business partner doe sit his way. That’s fine.

We do require our techs to wash their trucks at least twice month and vacuum them on the inside. They put these charges on the gas card we provide. We have a staff meeting once a month where trucks are inspected to check things like the las time we had an oil change, how the tires and fluids are looking, any obvious damage like dents and scratches, and to make sure the inside and outside are both clean.

Additionally, on payday every 2 weeks, they are required to send in pictures of the inside and outside of their vehicle to ensure its clean and presentable inside and out. I don’t care of you think this sounds militant. I am a firm believer that how someone treats their work truck is how they will treat everything. That includes our equipment, customers, and the company itself.

Here’s how one of our techs stocked his truck this morning after getting the topper installed:

Liquids, dusts, granules, and web brushes in the shelving.

Gloves, mask, towels, and bait stations on the other side.

Exterior sprayer, interior sprayers, bait, gas can, and BurrowRX machine in the bed.

We are playing musical chairs with the trucks this week rotating them and sharing them one with another to be sure all routes are sprayed and all trucks get into the dealership to get their toppers installed. Due to this, they don’t all have every single gadget and tool in every truck. Many of our crew members use rubbermade totes to store and secure things in the bed. Mason here just likes to use bungies.

There’s more than one way to skin a cat and we let our crew decide these things for themselves. Companies that require little things like this to be done a certain way often drive away their best employees. We don’t do that here.

We know, we know. We’ve got the coolest rigs in town and they turn people’s heads. We have had people call in just because they see our vehicles out and about and notice that they are clean and professional looking. You don’t need a $4000 wrap on your truck! You need to keep it washed and take pride in how it looks. Customers notice.

Thanks for reading!

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