Whether it’s the take-home policy or the purchase method, there’s a lot to consider when it comes to service vehicles.
From pickup trucks to vans to utility vehicles, landscape contractors can use a wide variety of vehicles for each specific job. Peter Novak, president of Serpico Landscaping based in Hayward, California, says his company uses pickup trucks for landscape maintenance.
The company, which employs about 150 people, tried out various pickup trucks and decided to purchase primarily one brand. “It’s the most versatile option,” Novak says. “We wanted to be able to maximize our utilization on our fleet, which means that the more versatile of a vehicle we can use, the more ways we can purpose that vehicle if we’re not necessarily sending it out to a maintenance route for the day.”
Novak’s fleet consists of roughly 85 service vehicles, the bulk of which are pickup trucks. Vans are used by irrigation crews. Management and sales staff are assigned either a company truck or SUV.