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How organized is your work vehicle?

16K views 86 replies 40 participants last post by  Switched 
#1 ·


An organized electrical van does more than save you valuable time and money. It shows your clients that you’re professional, detail oriented and can get the job done. That’s the image every business wants to convey. By investing a little time and money into organizing your electrical van, you can advertise your skilled demeanor every time you open the doors. 8 Tips for Organizing Your Electrician’s Van
How organized is your work vehicle?

Do you have any tips on how to keep it organized?
 
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#2 ·
Do you have any tips on how to keep it organized?
Yes, don't be a slob like most of the lazy bums here :vs_mad:

At the end of the day the last thing I want to do is put everything back in it's place in the van, so I throw it all on the floor. But the next morning I spend 2-10 minutes putting everything back where it goes so that the floor is completely clean. Then I take the stuff I will be using that day and put it on the floor near the door.
 
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#11 ·
I once watched a YouTube video of a graduating state police academy class where the graduates were being assigned their cars. The head honcho was telling them "Now when a citizen looks into that car they expect to see a clean, well organized car for the tax money they paid for it. They don't want to look in there and see your lunch, personal items and trash."
 
#31 ·
I’m in the process of reorganizing our vans.
Generally I’m pretty organized and tidy with my van and in clients homes.
Still, things can get a bit messy in the van at times.
It needs to be easy to find things AND keep clean, otherwise they guys won’t do it.
How do you track van inventory and restocking?
Any tips or suggestions to set up ones van in the best way would be appreciated.
 
#20 ·
I personally have times when I'm fairly neatly squared away and times when I am pretty messy but I'm never at either extreme. Neatness and organization is a means to an end. If there's work to be done, and there always is, I will straighten up enough to stay efficient, but I won't be sorting and stacking junk in my trunk until everything's just so.



Obviously if you let things get past a certain point it gets so it's hard to put your hands on what you need when you need it, that's no way to work. Occasionally when things get particularly messed up, I have to stop and tidy up some just so I can concentrate on what I'm doing.



One of my customers at a county agency retired from the state police where he was some big deal investigator, he was a real sharp guy. He was fairly neat and tidy type but he told me if someone's desk was REALLY neat, like too neat, watch them!



I have a customer who has a zero tolerance policy for untidiness. They have fired people more than once for violations like leaving the trash from their burger king lunch in their truck. But don't get the idea that they are just THAT super squared away, so perfect that they didn't tolerate even that slight infraction. Unfortunately nothing could be farther from the truth, they have one of the most incompetent crews I have ever seen, always getting sued, terrible turnover, very seldom get any repeat business - just a total bottomfeeder company - but the vans are neat.



In the military and the police, keep in mind that for many there are long periods of time where there's nothing to do but wait for something to happen. Making people shine things is a good way to keep them out of trouble and somewhat engaged in the job in those intervals. I haven't had a time when I was waiting for something to happen in decades.
 
#26 ·
I pay my service truck employees 40 hours regardless of how many hours they actually are doing service work so there is a lot of down time. I don't make them do busy work, but I do require that if they have nothing better to do, they clean and organize the truck, make a shopping list, and go buy material they are low on.

My personal truck becomes a rolling disaster. I clean and organize it every couple of weeks, usually on a Sunday. It usually takes two or more hours.
 
#29 ·
Personally I’m quite a bit untidy, but the hired help is responsible for keeping the vans organized. Every morning trash out, scrap wire in the bin, quick organize of tools and unused materials from previous day. 10 minutes tops.

It wasn’t planned this way in the beginning, but found that it was really nice but Monday mornings I never schedule work until around 10:00 and that gives time for all the trucks to be washed, a thorough interior cleaning, and a quick inventory of truck stock stuff that needs to be replenished. Check oil, tire pressure, etc. trucks are assets that we do well to take care of.

2 hours fly by and the trucks look great all week. For me it gives me time in the office and not be rushing out first thing Monday, and it is a bit of an ease from weekend to the work week. Guys are working 10-11 hour days lately so I think it helps moral a bit.
 
#30 ·
I was always OCD about what I worked out of as for interior organization.

Make sit easier of you send someone out to get something if you can explain exactly where it is and also if you are going yourself when you don't feel like screwing around and wasting anytime.

Now as for washing the outside.....I was far from OCD!
 
#32 · (Edited)
I usually only do industrial service work. i receive a lot of " The sky is falling come now" work, so my truck has a lot of the materials and tools that i normally need. It looks like a disaster inside, but I know what I have and where it is. Sometimes it does require a little digging though.

The worst hassle is storing wire. I keep the standard colors of 16 to 10 on the truck. So that is about 25 rolls of THHN plus some instrument cable and SO cord. I have tried multiple arraignments and nothing really works well, so i gave up and throw it in a pile in the floor.

Yes, I know that a person could drive a semi around and not have everything, but I like to show up and be able to accomplish something.
 
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