Landscape Management, October 2010
Box trucks provide a rolling billboard and help protect equipment from the elements 65 OCTOBER 2010 LANDSCAPEMANAGEMENT NET dinner buffet Everything looks good and they keep bringing out something better Today vehicles come with iPod docking stations satellite radios and a host of other features Most dealers have their specifi cations but its not always easy to limit the options Do I spec out CD players and plugins for iPods Defi nitely not Dowell says Almost every truck comes with power windows We dont spec that Theyve all got tilt and cruise They practically all come that way In his temperate climate Heavilands employees dont need air conditioning Were in southern California and it rarely gets extremely hot here he explains Its just an AM FM radio and bench seats We get exactly what we want on it and we buy it at a good price The look of a truck is just as important to contractors as its versatility is Image is half of your business Johnson says You dont want to go out and do a lousy job landscaping the yard At the same time you dont want your trucks looking like theyre going to collapse in the driveway or go down the road with the fender fl apping As vehicles become more sophisticated maintenance challenges increase They are becoming more fuel effi cient more productive Johnson says At the same time they are drastically reducing the ability of owners to work on their own vehicles Purchasing solutions Whether buying new or used contractors are defi nitely keeping a closer eye on their cash fl ow When its time to purchase a new vehicle Dowell and Heaviland hand off that task Heaviland uses Enterprise Fleet Management We got out of the vehicle business Heaviland says Theyre the professionals When we go to sell a truck we turn it back to Enterprise They sell it and those proceeds are applied to the purchase of another truck or to pay the loan of an existing vehicle Theres a tax advantage there Im not paying on the gain on the sale of an asset Dowell uses an agent as well His prices have been consistently good better than what I had been able to negotiate he says Plus it takes me out of the negotiating process I dont need to be going in beating up on people He does all the work His prices are good I would recommend that everyone have an individual like that LM With a built in sprinkler adjuster and wire cutter you can now do more in less time Razor sharp ultra tough and all day comfortable the new BP 3670 cuts up to 1 and itll turn heads for years to come coronaclipper com 800 847 7863
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