Purchasing a fleet of vehicles is a big step for a small business. Getting it right the first time is crucial in getting a return on the investment and there’s a lot to consider. A few weeks back Curtis Smitley got to sit down with Henry Berroa of Trade Mark Universal Stone in Louisville KY to discuss the decisions facing his management team when they decided to make the plunge and purchase a fleet tailored around their custom granite and quartz countertop installation business.
Putting Your Best Foot Forward
For small business owners it’s not just important to do high quality work with only the best materials. It’s also important with upscale projects like quartz and granite countertops to look good doing it. So the Folks at Trademark Universal Stone had all of their vehicles custom wrapped with logo’s and taglines. According to Henry the return on extra ” rolling billboard” advertising this provides doesn’t only offset the cost. It actually caused a major uptick in their business. In effect getting the return on investment time decreased significantly because their new fleet was out all around Louisville being seen on a daily basis. According to Henry “when the trucks aren’t rolling we’re losing money”. And we know this to be true. Curtis Smitley actually seen them all over town and asked Henry to do a sit down with us to tell us about his new fleet.
Various Vehicles For Different Purposes
For first visits, estimating client granite countertop projects, and after project quality control inspections they chose 2 Chevrolet City Express Vans. They can haul what they need and get around town really well, while at the same time getting decent mileage.
After that comes a large Chevy Tahoe because sometimes you just need to sit a lot of guys comfortably out of the weather. The Tahoe also can haul light cargo in the back if needed.
The main stay of the medium side of the fleet is made up of 3 Chevy Silverado’s. They can haul and transport 4 men if needed and look great doing it.
Afterwards come the work horses in the form of 2 Crew Cab Isuzu Box Trucks. These large box trucks not only haul 4 guys comfortably. With their 6.0 liter engines they can haul the weight of the stone too. The materials to make Quartz Countertops is kind of heavy and they haul a lot of it at Trademark Universal Stone.
Keeping Up With Maintenance Schedules
When we asked Henry about their maintenance we discovered that they read the owners manuals maintenance sections for all of the vehicles in the fleet and follows them to the T.
All of the work is performed at one location so if there’s ever any issues, he knows who to call. And beyond that they keep them very clean, with an in house inspection on every vehicle on a weekly basis.
If you want to read more about their fleet or have a better look at it you can find Trademark Universal Stone at 4103 Bishop Lane
Louisville, Kentucky 40218. They’re very proud of their new fleet and even dedicated a page on their website to it. Visit their OUR FLEET page if you want to get a better understanding of how to get the most out of your new fleet of trucks.
