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It all depends what you are doing personally I have lwb van and a 4 tonne trailer but I do garden maintenance and landscaping
We do lawncare & mowing, and I drive around in a pickup doing quotes, customer visits and basic treatments eg fertilising or spraying. I would not use it over a van if I need to mow/strim or any other mechanical treatment, or take waste away. Van everytime for that - just so much easier, loading, space, security etc. I think if I just had the pickup then I'd also need a trailer a lot of the time.
So, swings and roundabouts. Really comes down to having (or not) a compelling reason of one over the other.
There is no ideal "gardening vehicle" what do you do most? I started with a Vauxhall Combo which was fine for the work I did in the first 18 months but to have one now would be a horrendous productivity block
I' think a van and trailer are probably the best for general maintenance and light landscaping. I do love pickups for waste and materials transport but for tool sucurity has to be a van.As already stated it depends on what your doing if you have only I vechicle then a 3litre tranny might not be best for the super market run or visiting relitives.If your have a larger company then maybe a mixed small fleet.
I have a berlingo and a transit tipper, the berlingo is probably similar in load space to a pick up but with a pick up you’ll not be able to stack bits against the sides one thing I do find is that everything needs to be in right for the strimmer to sit straight and if you start setting things in diagonally it turns into a real mess which is something that may be relevant to a pick up. With the tipper the tools go in with the waste which isn’t ideal and your always jumping up and down. The thought of always having to draw a trailer and have your tools in it for possible tea leaves to see has never appealed to me, along with the poor fuel consumption, probably similar to my tipper which is 20-25mpg. You will know you’ve gone wrong when you’ve purchased as no matter what you go for there will always be improvements to be made!
It's a question that has no definitive outcome if you ask me. But overall the van is the most practical in that it provides nearly everything in alot of scenarios. The car with advertising is a luxury, after youv run out of other things to buy:-)... make sure you get the right van too...
Best
LWB van here.
Ride on, push mower, strimmer, hedge trimmer, handtools all out of sight and the elements & ladder on roof. Would struggle with a pickup.
Have been stuck on soft ground before but the winch stored in van got me out of that!
I think it’s all dependent on what aspect of landscaping that you undertake.
We are all the construction side and have a transit and Cabstar tipper. Far better productivity as we use our pick ups constantly keeping the jobs going ie - at the merchants for paving , going to the quarry for cheap type 1, getting bulk soil and composts loaded on that can be tipped directly on site.
Also waste removal is easy - ie all green waste loaded and tipped easily at recycling centre, bulk wood pallets etc also tipped directly for a tenner at our wood recycling centre.
No brainer for us have went down the tipping trailer road before but far better with a pick up tipper.
For me first vehicle would always be a transit size van. I see it as a mobile shed which means i can carry all my gear and then some and get some waste in in bulk bags.When i outgrew this i got a trailer with high sides which i now use all the time. Its not a tipper but even full of green waste it only ever takes max 10 mins to drag off even on my own. Next on the list will be a tipper for all the reasons Gary Ormiston stated but when you are in the position to run only one vehicle then it would be a van for me everytime.
I am going to go against most of the advice already given, which is generally ‘Van’. I have always used a double cab Pick-up. I am on my ninth currently [last eight being Hluxes]. I mainly do grass cutting of course, a fair bit of hedge cutting, occasional tree pruning and some soft landscaping [turfing] over winter. I don’t get the idea of the lack of security with a Pick-up. I have always had a canopy [Sammitr and now Aeroklaas] which lock and can be had without windows. I carry a self-propelled hand mower [which is almost never used], Strimmer, Sthil hedge cutter, Sthil blower, Chainsaw, Good quality Steps, Easy-lift harness [which is quite large], Petrol cans, hand tools, spanners, tool boxes and spares etc., the list goes on. There is still plenty of room left in the Hilux. I have roof bars for ladders, if needed. I pretty much never need to take waste from jobs, but on the rare occasion I use the trailer, which carries my Stiga PWX 740 or my John Deere z535 ride on mowers.
I always have new Hiluxes, which are smart looking vehicles which I can use when not working. I can’t imagine going out for a meal and turning up at the restaurant/pub, or attending a wedding or a funeral in a van. The double cab pick-ups are certainly more upmarket, stylish and certainly more comfortable than a van. I don’t need to buy, tax, insure and put fuel in an additional car if I own a pick-up. I sometimes need to drive across grassy slopes etc. with the trailer on, I won’t get stuck or even spin a wheel with the Hilux.
Last Winter I helped a friend out for a few days with some long distance deliveries. I drove both a brand new Ford Transit and a nearly new Mercedes Sprinter. They were OK, but getting back into the Hilux afterwards was a revelation every time, so much more comfortable and refined.
We Gardeners spend most of our lives running a business and driving around from job to job. I would rather spend my days driving something nice, something I can be proud of.
This is only my opinion and how I do things. It works for me.
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