Pick up truck Vs tipper Vs panel van

[monkeybusiness]

Not having a 3.5 tonne tipper from day 1 definitely held my business back - get one before pretty much anything else if you are setting up in the tree game in the uk. 

[Dan Maynard]

I went tipper trailer route, I don't agree less capacity as it's 12 foot X 6 foot. Not cheap to buy but I think cheap to run - depreciation/road tax/repairs etc figured in. Brand new, super reliable, smart image.

Storage is an issue to solve, also space at the job. I'm mostly rural and round the villages, go in to town and the trailer can be a pain depending on the driveway. If you don't already have a pickup though, you'll need something to tow it.

You say large tree jobs, but surely not on your own? When I'm doing bigger trees I get other subbies in, before I bought my trailer I just paid one of them a bit extra to bring a transit or tipper trailer.

After that, first vehicle should cover all the jobs you do on your own so either panel van if it's more landscaping and ground maintenance or maybe crew cab transit tipper is most versatile?

You'll have to look around and see what you can get, a friend has bought one of these recently for 3.5k I think but he does look a bit disreputable turning up in it. Van is affectionately known as the shitbox.

I think you'll get a much nicer panel van for 3k.

[doobin]

35 minutes ago, Dan Maynard said:

I went tipper trailer route, I don't agree less capacity as it's 12 foot X 6 foot. Not cheap to buy but I think cheap to run - depreciation/road tax/repairs etc figured in. Brand new, super reliable, smart image.

Storage is an issue to solve, also space at the job. I'm mostly rural and round the villages, go in to town and the trailer can be a pain depending on the driveway. If you don't already have a pickup though, you'll need something to tow it.

You say large tree jobs, but surely not on your own? When I'm doing bigger trees I get other subbies in, before I bought my trailer I just paid one of them a bit extra to bring a transit or tipper trailer.

After that, first vehicle should cover all the jobs you do on your own so either panel van if it's more landscaping and ground maintenance or maybe crew cab transit tipper is most versatile?

You'll have to look around and see what you can get, a friend has bought one of these recently for 3.5k I think but he does look a bit disreputable turning up in it. Van is affectionately known as the shitbox.

I think you'll get a much nicer panel van for 3k.

 Better to look a bit shabby (just avoid pikey transits with stripes!) yet be efficient than struggle to unload brash from a panel van IMHO. 

 

OP- Anything you can get on finance for around 8k is likely to be 5k real value in this current market. Personally I find the sweet spot to be around 3-4k and be prepared to do some spannering, but that's just me. I only do that with vehicles, as I have a lot of spare capacity- all my machinery is pretty new.

 

If you buy for 3k, and it last two years, they are generally worth £1k for export/breakers. But so long as you have a good look underneath to avoid a rotbox, they can be kept on the road. Avoid anything on an SN plate- more than likely used for gritting in Scotland, then sent down south because the Scots aren't dumb enough to keep them around. Make use of the government's online MOT history check to look for previous rot before travelling a way to view one.

 

 

What do you currently have?

 

Edited December 24, 2021 by doobin

[Sviatoslav Tulin]

I am 25 years in landscaping and tree business, only 3.5 tipper or flatbed with a tail lift, trailer it's not very handy, don't forget u need to tow a dicent chipper for big jobs in future. 

[woody paul]

Trailers are the best bit of kit you can have, take up no more room then truck to store, can increase your carrying capacity by 3x depending on truck towing it. You can tow a fair size chipper with average size van and if job is so big will probably have extra drivers available anyway. 

[doobin]

15 minutes ago, woody paul said:

Trailers are the best bit of kit you can have, take up no more room then truck to store, can increase your carrying capacity by 3x depending on truck towing it. You can tow a fair size chipper with average size van and if job is so big will probably have extra drivers available anyway. 

But he asked for a first vehicle... For all we know (and all we will ever know untill he replies), a trailer is totally out of the question for him due to storage issues. It's certainly out of budget if he doesn't already have a tow vehicle, and I think we can assume that to be the case.

 

 

Nirvana is when you have beavertail, flat, plant and tipper trailers, and a tipper truck, pickup truck, panel van and a small van for quoting 🤣

[Tommygunn1992]

It seems to be pretty conclusive a tipper is best, I don't have anything right now and actually don't have a license so whatever I do get I will be driving on L plates with a colleague until I can finally get a test due to the COVID situation. I am assuming you can do this on a provisional with a 3.5 tonne? My wife has a little Volvo which we use for everyday life.

 

My main worry about a pick up is the room on the back, can I get a lawn mower, hedge cutters, strimmers and all that stuff on. When I say big tree jobs I usually get a lad with truck and chipper in to help out and take waste away which usually costs around £350-450 but as I only work on weekends for myself that may be a better option than few hundred quid a month finance.

 

I have nowhere to store a trailer at the moment as I don't have a driveway so vehicle will be parked on the street outside my house which I'm sure will upset the neighbours and in Kent a trailer is likely to get stolen unless stored somewhere in a lock up out of sight.

 

I like the idea of buying outright for around £3-4k but costs of keeping it on the road worry me a bit with maintenance and the current price of all second hand vehicles scares the shite out of me.

 

The firm I work for obviously have a tipper with a chip box, a flatbed truck and a Toyota Hilux and for trees we tend to use the tipper and Hilux if leaving waste.

 

Thanks for the advice, I think I will see what tippers I can buy outright in my price range.

[openspaceman]

21 minutes ago, Tommygunn1992 said:

I have nowhere to store a trailer at the moment as I don't have a driveway

That sorts that one out then

[Sviatoslav Tulin]

3 hours ago, woody paul said:

Trailers are the best bit of kit you can have, take up no more room then truck to store, can increase your carrying capacity by 3x depending on truck towing it. You can tow a fair size chipper with average size van and if job is so big will probably have extra drivers available anyway. 

We talking only about 1 transport ,with max budget 8000,so no trailers .

[woody paul]

I am not the only one to mention trailer, so don't just point out what I have said and no one else. 

You now what business you want to take on and what ground to get across its up to you to decide what you get but £8000  should buy you something decent,