Suitable vehicle

[Ookysoft]

[ I appreciate that the subject is not plumbing, however, plumbers opinions are sought ]

Hey!

I'm supposed to be setting up as Ooky-the-Plumber / handyman.... After a 5 odd year 'rest' from work.

I'm looking for a suitable vehicle to work out of; and am interested in the opinions of any 1-man-band's out there.

I'm looking to tackle most stuff which falls within my qualifications & experience so need something suitable. Plumbing and heating but not the installation or maintenance of boilers. Related [ or at least Part P ] electrics and those 'other' little jobs folks are looking to be done.

I'm offered a Ford Focus Estate with tow-hitch, real cheap.
I've looked at Vauxhall Combo's [ up to 50k miles / 5 years / £5k kinda level ] - kinda think the Transit Connect may be better though they do have stronger 2nd hand prices.

I do think that what won't fit on the roof, can just be delivered by the supplier, though maybe better still, will be to have the customer organise the bigger stuff.

Anyways..... Car with a hitch for a trailer if needs be, a Combo style van or something bigger?

Ta!

 

[Agile]

For most purposes I think an estate car is the answer, particularly for fuel economy, security and insurance costs.

However, if you want to move baths then you need one which is larg enough.

Tony

 

[Ookysoft]

Thanks for that one!

Have to admit, I shifted a bathroom suite [ pan, cistern, pedestal, basin, fitting & a few tools, in the back of, and bath on the roof of, a Ford Ka! ] Shame some Bi-atch ploughed into the back of me across Christmas.... *sighs*... So was wondering if I go the car or van route!

 

[Agile]

Of course some people go everywhere in their huge van!

I expect Dave goes on holiday to Bognor in his!

Tony

 

[Happyplumber]

If you want to give a professional type of image for handyman then a small van will be ideal the combo or connect are perfect

Rack up the inside and make sure it is well organised before you start otherwise you will never do it when you start

No van is ever big enough,trust me the bigger the van the more stuff you pile in ,we use transits as well as combos and once you put stuff or tools in then they live in the vans never go back to the stores

small van clean and tidy well sign written,which is cheap as chips and free advertising is the best way forward and to start with get cheaper one dont spend 5k more like 2k to start with spend what you save on marketing such as business cards and flyers and some local advertisng in newspapers etc

good luck ,its tough out there

 

[Ookysoft]

Thanks for that!

I do appreciate it's tough out there - especially as the 'site plumbers' are nicking the other guy's work until the building industry kicks back in.

However, I'm kinda hoping that flexibility and the [apparent] more personal commitment of a 1-man-operation, will win over.

Have been scouring the area for vans in reasonable nick at less than £5k with the VAT and am struggling unless I want something really old or high milage - I'm going to need some assurance toward reliability! But equally it could be argued that I could buy 2 clunkers for the money!

Decisions decisions!

 

[Agile]

You dont tell us where you are but in London you are lucky to find any parking place within 100m of any address so what you drive up in is not important.

A trainee of mine did not take my advice about buying a cheap estate car and instead bought a brand new £16,500 part PU and part 4 seat cab. It would not even carry a bath.

Three years later he had given up trying to make a living from plumbing!

Tony

 

[jono_h]

I started up 3 years ago and got an escort van for a grand. It does everything I need it to do, although the comment about it never being big enough is right!
I can get a bath inside and fence panels / 8x4's on the roof.

It isn't lovely to drive, but i've just got another mot and if I have to throw it away after this year, I'll have had my moneys worth.

 

[Ookysoft]

Hmmmm!

It's true to say I won't be buying a new vehicle - a mate of mine works out of a pickup but I think takes advantage of supplier deliveries for the bigger stuff. Though I'd like 1, I really don't see it being practical for me as to remain gainfully employed, I'm going to need to diversify and that means shifting all sorts of stuff on occasions.

I'm tempted by the clunker for a £1k as a couple of years use would pay, however I don't have another personal vehicle and as my Ka had 196550 on it in 8 years 9 months, I'm guessing the clunker isn't going to hack it through the personal milage.

I totally realise too, that a vehicle is rarely an investment in itself, in fact it's all spend, spend, spend... The only return I'm really investing in is reliability and that's as much luck as it is judgement.

I'm in the Suffolk area, medium sized town with it's fair share of Hyacinth's looking for 'By Appointment' on the van on the drive & wanting to be invoiced..... [We'll have to nip that in the bud real quick], but folks still think there's a scarcity of plumbers so what you arrive in is not an issue.

Maybe I should be less concerned about the size of van, but more-so the size of trailer and the towing weight allowed on the proposed car!

Thanks for the input so far, Folks!

 

[Corgigrouch]

I agree with Tony about the crewcab pickups.. Ideal if you are a "Property developer" and thus do nothing useful, the vehicle reflects this perfectly.. They are not even nice to drive..

I can recommend the VW Transpoter T4.. nice to drive, big enough for stuff, small enough to fit on the drive pretty reliable and old enough to be a good price, there are still a fair few about in nice condition.... Avoid the Transporter T5 as it is an unreliable piece of junk and it will eat your wallet.

 

[Agile]

One of the reasons I recommend an estate car is that it doubles as family transport.

Another that when parked it looks just like any other vehicle in the street.

I appreciate that London is worse than Suffolk but breaking into vans for the tools is a big problem here and in other large cities.

Tony