I am looking at doing an enclosed trailer w/ladder rack on top. Does anyone have this set up? Has anyone tried this setup? If so please tell the pros and cons of them both.
The biggest reason I want to do it is that all of my equipment will be safe and secure plus it can be a rolling billboard.
Star Design Graphics - Mobile, Alabama
Tony
Yes, we do this for our company. We like it very much.
[B]Pros: [/B]
-A reasonably secure place for all of your stuff. We pack in ladders, our RODI unit, a pressure washer, pure water tanks, chem tanks and all our traditional WC’in gear.
-As you said, it also is a huge canvas to advertise what you do.
-You don’t have to monopolize the vehicle that you tow it with as a “work only” vehicle like you would with a van or Sprinter.
[B]Cons:[/B]
-Sometimes I’ve found it hard to maneuver around our customers driveways. They are a pain to backup. This is when I would rather have a van or Sprinter.
-Need separate insurance to cover the equipment inside. This is in addition to the one you get from your motor vehicle insurance company. As an example, Allstate charges us $75 per year for our trailer premium. My business Insurance charges me $250 per year for the stuff inside (that’s to cover $10,000 worth of equipment).
Hope this helps.
Don’t do it. The trailer idea sounds great but it is an inconvenient overkill. You can get truck with a contractor cap and it is easier to maneuver, park and get things from.
I disagree with the trailer being an inconvenient overkill. Crawling up into the back of a truck that’s jam packed with all of your equipment is a real inconvenience. Each one must decide for him/herself though. I really enjoy the easy access to my equipment on my open trailer.
Any vehicle will have its pros and cons. Weigh them out and see which seems best for you.
I love my van for both access and security.
I like my trailer too, it looks good and I have gotton 3 customers out of having it (have it with graphics), easy access to all my equipment and I can also leave my trailer on large job sites. Have not done the ladder rack on the top because it wont fit into my garage. Would love to do that tho.
I have a 10x6 enclosed trailer and i love it. I have everything I need in it and when Im done working I can disconect it and I have use of my suv for what ever. Sometime if I have other things to do my helper will come and load the trailer on his truck and go to work. It works great. Be carefull what size you get. If you get anything smaller then a 10x6 then they are a pain in the a@$ to back up. Plus you will run out of room really fast.
I like my trailer for all the reasons above. AS for backing I used to be a farmer so I can back it almost anywhere. Good at backing or not they do increase your chance of an incident and they are not to friendly to the back of your car. They take up space in your drive but you don’t have to have a dedicated work vehicle
We like the enclosed trailer setup for WFP work. We use a Haulmark 6X10 with ladder racks. We epoxied the whole interior to waterproof it. It has a 12V lighting system when hitched to the truck, and battery when it isn’t. The racks and cabinets inside hold 5 stage RO/DI, 5 WFPs, electric heater, conventional window cleaning tools and all the misc. tools and chemicals directly related to WFP. We use a 200’ reel for raw water supply; one 300’ (+extra 275’ as needed), and one 166’ for pure water; 125’ of power cord on a reel. We carry five large rubber mats to cover lines where they cross sidewalks, etc. along with the usual signage. We have waste water dump through the floor, but often direct it to drains with hose anyway. Drain plugs in the floor help when we can’t get it perfectly level. LP gas line for our water heater run through the trailer frame from a tank up by the hitch. We use three ports (RV style) in the rear doors in the winter (see pic at: SBS WINDOW CLEANING, contact us page), allowing the heated trailer to be closed up, with only the lines coming out. While I’m droning on, for anyone who wants us to build one of these, just Private Message me.
Steve Ball
SBS Window Cleaning
Steve, you sure are on the “ball”
Seriously, that’s a really nice setup. How long can you safely extend the WFP season for yourself. I know it can get pretty cold in Ohio like here in PA from Nov.-March.
Awesome setup!!! Killer website too!!! Great idea about the mats to cover hoses/lines crossing sidewalks. The water heater system evidently extends your WFP work well into (or perhaps throughout) Winter there in Ohio. Well thought out and put together, and very impressive.
The mats are invaluable by eliminating trip & fall hazards. As often as possible, we run our lines up to the ladder racks, and on to adjacent roofs/overhangs to keep them above foot traffic.
To answer the “how cold can you work” question: We have done WFP down to 25 degrees F. Below that, even if you can clean the glass, and keep your machine, supply, and pure water lines warm, the run off freezes too quick. This is especially troublesome on spandrel glass (which isn’t normally heated inside) , fascia, and the sidewalk, of course. Although we use it in cold weather, of course, heating the water is really for more effective cleaning and faster rinse.
Our trailer is set up with a compressed air blow-out fitting. Reset a few valves, and the whole system is blown dry in reverse (so the pure water exits through the raw supply line, instead of contaminating the pure water lines with raw standing water from the supply hose) at the end of the day. Even so, we leave a heater plugged into a thermo switch overnight, as our shop isn’t heated ($11.00 @ Lowes, kicks on a 38 degrees), just in case.
We always have a cooler in there, but now the guys are lobbying for a coffee maker. We’ll see.
Hope that’s helpful.
Obviously you are getting alot of support for the trailer. We have a few enclosed set-ups, some for PW, some for windows, some for floor cleaning, and one for high-rise. We have 2 trailer set-up for PW that are exposed all season. They are great for quick access, but not so great when the weather goes south. We don not have enclosed caps for our trucks, but that is because we snowplow, and my guys hit enough stuff already with the distraction.
Anyway, definately set up an enclosed unit, but keep it clean at night or it will smell like a wet dog in weeks!
any chance you can post some pictures for us to see, we are looking to purchase a 7x 14 maybe 16 need some ideas on set up
Have you considered a Spider Lift? A bit more expensive but opens up lots of perspectives…
Ditto on the request for some pics inside your trailer set up. we are currently using an open trailer and want to move into an enclosed trailer
