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  mark jenkinson September 1, 2015 at 12:02pm

  Hi Duncan,

  I have a Fiat Doblo which according to Auto express has a larger load space than the berlingo. Mine is just fine, but you really need to plan your day and work around what you can get in. Mine is boarded out and i have rings screwed onto the boarding that hold the pole attachments that go with my stihl kombi tool. I get a 19" Honda roller self propelled mower in and some other tools, plus 2 large garden sacks for grass clippings etc. Things are tight but next year the Doblo will be towing a small cage sided trailer for the waste.

  Maybe in a few years i will look at getting something bigger but for now it works for me.

  Larger garden jobs that require a lot of waste removal mean that i hire a skip, and generally i put other garden waste into it from other gardens that i have done over the few days that it may be at a clients property.

  hope that helps
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  Daniela McGhie September 1, 2015 at 2:08pm

  I have garden rounds. So for me having looked at vans I needed something with a long wheel base to get all the tools in. So I opted for a VW Caddy Maxi. Alongside the tools like a 2 meter plus extendable long reach pruning pole, lawn mower, strimmer, ladder, all the smaller hand tools, power washer, etc, I can get up to 12 large paper garden refuse bags into the van as well at the same time, I think they are around 80 liters each in size.

  The new models are coming out so you may be able to pick up a cheap one at auctions. British gas have loads of them going to auction all the time. They take off the branding and you are left with a lovely blue van, with lots of gadgets in it.

  Was looking at the Frenchies, but I found them too small. British Gas had Frenchies, but found them too unreliable and hence switched to VW.

  Also have a look at the Fords, I liked them too, but they don't do automatics, at least at the time I was looking..
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  Dan Davies September 1, 2015 at 2:58pm

  I would say it all depends on how much waste you plan on carrying and what work you do for your clients.

  As a few months ago I was looking at a berlingo or something similar but I took the advice from a friend that they are just to small if you need to carry waste of any size.. So I ended up going with a SWB transit with a medium roof. I have found thats a good size.

  But its down to preference. :-)
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  Andrew Midgley September 2, 2015 at 7:32pm

  I use a Toyota Hilux single cab with a Ifor Williams canopy as my main vehicle supported by my old '69 Morris Minor Van which is sign written. I toyed with the idea of buying a modern van but I like the versatility of taking off the canopy off my Hilux if I need to. Also a lot of my business is on Dartmoor hence the 4x4. The downside is the fuel cost but it's reliable and a very useful but of kit. As others have said, having side sliding doors is essential. Renaults are traditionally more expensive on parts. Best of luck.
• PRO

  Andrew Watts September 2, 2015 at 10:49pm

  It's difficult to find the perfect one size fits all van - depends on your equipment, whether you use different equipment on different jobs/customers, and whether you take away waste. We're in lawn care and mowing with a little gardening, so get a fair amount of waste from scarifications and customers love that we'll take it away for recycling. I started with a Hyundai Iload, 2.3m load length. Great little van, air con, car like to drive, twin side doors, but quickly found  it being too full to be efficient and was hindering schedules and wasting too much time swapping things over. So I added a lwb transit, an ex utilities van, so had racking etc and greatly helped us with waste removal. However, it was old'ish (05 plate) and started to go wrong and the downtime for repairs plus costs was a real pain and so we've replaced with a leased XLWB Relay 4.2m load length - its great. All the space you could want.

  We also have a lwb vivaro, 2.9m load length and a 1.6D engine. We get almost 40mpg and it's very practical and comfortable. Again it's leased. If we could only have 1 vehicle, I think I'd pick this as the best compromise.

  Know of a chap using a berlingo, and within a few months he needed to add a trailer and in hindsight he says he would have gone bigger to start with. Again, lawn care work.

  Considering older buy vs lease new, when I looked at the mpg, repairs, downtime etc, I quickly concluded leasing new was much more cost effective! Maybe I was unlucky on a couple of older vehicles, but much happier with our newer vehicles.
• PRO

  Harry@VWGS September 3, 2015 at 7:25am

  Hi Duncan, i use a new plate Renault Kangoo Eco van, single side loading door, i absolutely love this little van, I put £15 worth of diesel in it on a Monday and it lasts me all week, it fits everything I need for my daily work, roof rack for ladders, I don't take rubbish away from any of my clients, I highly encourage reuse of any garden waste with in their gardens, I am positively moving towards being as Eco garden friendly as possible hence the change to a small van with great emissions etc. I would say though that I have been doing this 20 years now and I'm VERY set in my ways, 20 years ago I could not work the way I do (with a small van) as it limits what i would need to do to build my company, have downsized over the years, ford transit high top/long wheel base, down to a Toyota hi ace, down to a pickup, down to my current van, but would encourage you to go bigger, or as big as you can afford, also personally I'd stay away from leasing a new van, far too much hassle and worry for you in the early stages of your company, you need a van you can just throw kit in and crack on, not worry about scratching etc, those leasing firms are all your mates until it comes time to hand your van back to them, then they are little Hitlers.... Good luck
• PRO

  Andrew Watts September 3, 2015 at 9:12am

  Yes the finance companies are not your friends, but there is contract hire, where you hand the van back at the end, and they want it in good condition, and will stiff you with charges. Personally, I think not a good idea for vans in our industry.

  However, finance lease, at the end you are responsible for getting rid of the vehicle, so re-financing, selling privately or px'ing against another new one. Here the price achieved will reflect condition etc. If you make sure the final value is low enough to allow for the expected condition then all should be OK. It's a risk, but its more under your control.

  It's a fine balance between having capital tied up in a vehicle (that could alternatively be used to grow the business / generate efficienies), running costs and reliability. If you get a good older vehicle, quids in, but as I said, we tried this route and it didn't work for us. I was really surpised when I added up the extra maintenance / repairs / fuel / downtime of our older vehicles - what I was saving in depreciation I was spending elsewhere, but because it was piecemeal / intermittant, it didn't feel so bad...until I added it all up! If you're handy with the spanners or have a mechanic friend, sure it makes more sense.

  Maybe I bought badly, or was just unlucky, but for the last nine months we've had a blishful trouble free 40k miles on our vehicles vs a dozen+ trips to the garage the year before (3 vehicles)
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  Gavin Gray September 4, 2015 at 6:20pm

  get as big as you can afford

  i cover nearly every aspect of landscaping hard and soft, i bought a 13 year old Transit LWB, 1 year MOT and does me fine, built my own shelves in it and can still get all my kit in it

  i dont carry waste material except off cuts of wood left over from jobs but if i did i would have to look at something bigger but you cant go wrong with a transit, so many of them on the road and its so easy to get parts
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  Paul McNulty September 4, 2015 at 9:40pm

  Duncan, are you starting out as a one-man business doing basic maintenance?
  
  If so, I think a mid-sized van is the only option. Transits are surprisingly big: mine needed the higher-weight MOT, was awkward to park at some sites, wouldn't go under height restrictions when I wanted a sandwich from the local Waitrose. I rattled around in it to be honest, it was a medium wheel-base semi-high, so not even the largest.
  
  You will need to carry a certain amount of kit. Minimum is one mower, strimmer, blowwr, hedgecutter and hand tools. Plus a toolbox for essential things like a hammer and nails, tree ties, spare cables for the mower. Ideally, you should carry a second mower as you WILL get the odd breakdown, and having a backup machine makes financial sense. Also, having a cheaper wheeled mower for the rough stuff saves your expensive roller mower from some abuse.
  
  You just can't fit that all in a small van designed to carry one pallet loads in my opinion. Even a couple of bags of grass clippings and you're going to be shuffling things around.
  
  My current set-up in a LWB Hiace is:
  
  Two 21" mowers
  Strimmer, 30" hedge cutter, long-reach hedge cutter attachment and blower. Box filled with string, wire etc. Toolbox with everything for on-site repairs. 5 plastic bins for waste, plus loads of strong, re-useable bin bags for grass.
  
  With all that on board, I can easily get two bulk bags of waste as well if I need to, so most hedge work doesn't need the trailer to be parked or stolen on site. It's perfect for 99% of the work you'll ever do as a one-man operation.
  
  I don't need width or height: the ladder goes on the roof and nothing else is really that big. Length is key to me, as I need to get things in and out the side door repeatedly all day, but have loads of room in the back for the tools I don't need so often, and waste can fill a van so fast on a busy day.
  
  
  I'd look at LWB versions of the mid-sized vans: the extra 30CM or so makes a massive difference. The Vivaro varients, Hiace, the new Connect if it's in budget.
  
  £3K buys a reliable Toyota, albeit a bit scruffy. I can't see a small van being worth the hassle unless you have been offered one at a price you can't refuse, and are prepared to put up with a lot of compromises.
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  Geoff Norfolk September 5, 2015 at 8:39am

  Problem with this is that everyone thinks their van is best which can be a bit confusing however I reckon most of the smaller vans will hold everything you need if they're packed sensibly.... I use a smallish van....a Transit connect..... bought it 8 years ago and never let me down in 40k miles. I always carry one plastic bin(though I have, on the odd occasion) put in 3 if I know I'm going to need them) to pick up "rubbish"........... invariably, it goes in the householders "green" wheelie bin...... amazing how much they hold when you climb into it! If my plastic bin is full and the wheelie bin too, the rubbish just goes into the bin of one of my next customers if they've room to spare (with their ok!) Spare mower............ in an ideal world, yes, but how often does a mower break down (mine never has fortunately) and if it did, I would just "waste" an hour nipping home and back to pick up the spare. For the odd job requiring a lot of waste...... happens very occasionally (usually, one-off jobs which can always be turned down).......... I've an Ifor Williams trailer I take along but for regular maintenance work, you're unlikely to need it. As mentioned..... parking has to be considered........ even with my "small" van, can be a problem with the larger vans. 

  I use a Transit Connect.............. 100k on the clock and never let me down. To be honest, Everything fits in with room to spare. Never had to leave something out through lack of spaceand I can carry out just about any task in "routine" garden maintenance with the tools on-board.