How Freezing Rain and a $12,000,000 Home Launched a Business
October 1, 2021
If you work in the trades, you've probably encountered situations where it was hard to be clean or neat.
You end up biting your nails, hoping the home or business owner doesn't notice or say something.
For Eric and Jason Trusty, their problem started with the work they needed to do on a $12,000,000 home after a cold rain. As a result of their ordeal, they created a product that they now sell.
The success they've had is evidence that lots of tradespeople want tools and techniques that will keep them working cleanly and efficiently.
Here is Eric telling the tale:
It's not that ladders should be stored inside a work truck. As contractors ourselves, my brother and I store ladders inside and outside of our trucks as necessary, just as any other contractor.
Generally speaking, everyone knows that the very longest ladders always have to be stored outside. However, we all also know that this subjects them to rain and snow and road grime and sun damage and even theft. Taking a filthy or wet ladder into a jobsite is never desired, especially in the final days of trimming out a brand new, luxury home.
In fact, we invented JET Rack as a result of doing just that.
Our van was fully loaded with building and signal wire reels and boxes which took up almost all of the cargo space inside our van. We didn't have room for anything else (or so we thought) and when preparing at the end of the day before, we put all of our ladders on the roof rack.
Wouldn't you know it, that night a freezing rain followed and 1/4" of hard, clear, ice formed on every ladder. There we were the very next morning, about to enter a $12,000,000, brand-new home after the family had already moved in.
So there we were, spending the first hour of our day chipping away at ice and drying off our ladders which were dripping wet and completely unfit for job service.
As we were doing that, we glanced into our "fully loaded" van to notice a tremendous amount of the space above all of that wire we loaded the day before. In an instant, we realized that if we had our ladders "up" in that ceiling space before we loaded our materials we wouldn't be doing this right now.
Soon thereafter, we invented what became the Interior Ladder Storage system.
The features and benefits of JET Rack are greater than first impressions. A user of JET Rack learns first that ladder access is faster and easier than ever before. It takes a matter of seconds to load or unload a ladder with JET Rack.
At the end of the day, we contractors were accustomed to tossing our ladders into the back of the truck without a care because that was the easy thing to do. Day after day, this not only damaged the ladder and the contents within, but being the largest tool in the truck, it is a source of tremendous frustration because it blocks access to shelving and is constantly tangling with tools and materials.
JET Rack is one of the tools that truly pays for itself...not only in time savings, but also by allowing the ladder it holds to remain in quality condition for far longer than it ever would otherwise.
Back to Trucks and Bolts Staff:
Eric and Jason's story is a great example of how you can build a business off the inefficiencies that you find in your daily work.
Other companies have been built to create things like simple jigs, tool mounts, tool foam, holsters, and better ladders. There is even a company that sells magnetic-base umbrellas into the HVAC industry to keep techs cooler and drier when they need to work in bad weather.
Got a consistent problem and a solution to that problem? You've got the start of a business.
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