Gary's Ford Transit Plywood-Shelf Handy Van

Clean It Up!

Gary has a focus on cleaning up after completing a job, and that's obvious because of the amount of cleaning materials he has and where they are located. At the side cargo door he keeps a broom, dust pans, trash cans, a vacuum, and rags.

On the wall, he cut some plastic totes to turn them into trash bag dispensers.

It's great to see his emphasis on cleaning. Many homeowners fear that tradespeople will make a mess of their home, but you can allay their fears by showing up with the gear to keep the job site clean.

Philosophies

Gary says that his local roads are terrible! They are bumpy and potholed and will make things fall off shelves. His shelves were made to prevent tools and materials from bouncing off shelves, but also so that he wouldn't need to use tie-downs anywhere.

A no-tie-down system makes your van look less cluttered and, with the right system, makes it a lot faster to grab a tool.

Gary want to keep the different trades on his van separated, so he organized to keep plumbing with plumbing and electrical with electrical. He says:

My thought was, whenever I step into the van, I know where everything is at based on the shelves.

Plywood Foundations

All the shelves on the van are built with a tilt to retain whatever they hold

A Rubbermaid FastTrack system mounted to the driver side wall is used for hanging his 6-foot step ladder and multipurpose ladder. He doesn't have other ladders and many tradespeople find that a similar setup is all they need. Some tradespeople only keep a 2-step ladder and a multipurpose ladder on their truck.

One of Gary's favorite things are the Big Ant crates that he uses. They are collapsible milk crates that he uses to store caulk and many of his corded tools. They slide under the plywood shelf units.

Quick-grab Drills and Drivers

For easy grabbing, Gary took short lengths of ABS pipe and made slots that the handles of tools would fit through. The motor portion of the tool slots into the pipe and the handle and battery hangs down from the bottom.

Frequent Access

Accessing frequently-used tools from outside your work van should be as fast as possible. If you use a particular tool bag on every job, you don't want to climb into your van every time you need it.

At the side cargo door, Gary stores many of his hand tools in tool bags.

At the rear cargo doors, Gary stores some frequently used items, including tape measures, hammers, pencils, screwdrivers, roofing squares, and caulk. These are mounted on dedicated racks on the rear face of the shelves. Pieces of gutter, door threshold, and metal have been repurposed to make cheap, effective racks.