The Bearded Plumber's Super-Small, Dual-Door Heating Install and Service Van

Basic Layout

The Volkswagen Caddy is a small van without a lot of storage, but Ranj has configured it to keep most things within easy reach. If you need to pack a ton of inventory in a small space, Ranj's van will give you some great ideas.

The upfit he's done is an inexpensive DIY solution. He's the only one that uses it, so he's intimately familiar with where everything is.

One feature he specifically wanted was sliding cargo doors on each side of the van. This model usually comes with one, but the dual doors give him a lot more access.

A full-width false floor runs the length of the cargo area. This provides for a raised work surface and has slots and drawers for storage.

There are three drawers under the false floor: one at the back, and one at each of the side cargo doors. At the bulkhead, some long tools and materials are stored in slots and tubes, allowing them to be pulled out through the side doors.

Ranj uses garage shelving and numerous dense organizers mounted on the walls for most of his parts and a few of his tools. The driver-side cargo door is blocked, but that's because it has bins, slots, and a drawer that face out for easy access to their contents.

Plywood False Floor

False floors work well for storing long items. In this VW, a multipurpose ladder, pipe offcuts, and a long tool drawer slide out through the cargo doors. The ladder is bulky and would block access almost anywhere else in the van, so this is an ideal place for it.

Ladder Strategy

Ranj uses a multipurpose ladder that goes under the false floor at the rear of the van and a collapsible, plastic, one-step stool that he keeps at the front. This means that all his ladders are inside the van - they are safe from theft, out of the weather, and easy to access.

He doesn't need to store or load ladders on the roof, and since the step stool is very lightweight, it's easy to take it on the job. The step stool is also a great height for sitting and working on a unit.

Lots of Battery Charging

Ranj has lots of batteries to charge, and he does this with a battery charging station setup on the rear of the driver-side shelves. His battery charges are mounted to the plywood side of the shelf, and he has a variety of chargers because he uses a few different tool brands: DeWalt, Bosch, Rothenberger, and Black and Decker.

Normally, it is a good thing when you can use a single brand of tool! It makes battery charging a lot easier. However, Ranj likes specific tools for specific things and so he has more chargers.

For instance, though he likes DeWalt power tools, his "bucket kit" (see below) has a Black and Decker multi-tool with a drill and compressor head. The alternative would be to bring both a drill and compressor onto every job, but they would weigh more and take up more space than a single tool.

Cheap Steel Racking and Gum Containers

Ranj was looking for an inexpensive solution when he was upfitting the van, and he discovered that he could use steel garage shelving. Since the shelving is the type that slips together with tabs and slots, he riveted the shelving at the joints to make it stiffer.

Ranj has reused lots of plastic containers for part storage on the VW. The passenger rear cargo door has a homemade rack with several labeled gum containers that hold screws and other small parts.

Yogurt buckets hold things like valves, but can also be used as a water receptacle when he needs to drain something down.

Ranj also carries larger buckets for draining down, and these are used to store things like towels and hoses.

On the Job Carry

Ranj has three main items that he carries onto each job:

• Daily bag (Veto Pro Pac Tech-MCT)
• Step stool
• Bucket kit

We haven't seen a bucket kit like this, so let's go over it:

First, there are three nested plastic buckets. One has a strap attached so he can sling it over his shoulder. A length of drain hose and towels help with cleanly draining down heaters and radiators.

He also uses a Black and Decker drill with swappable heads. By swapping on the air compressor head, he can pressurize expansion tanks. By swapping on the drill head, he can drill a hole in a flue for a flue analysis.

Lastly, he has some short, flexible rubber buckets, also used to catch water for draining. He likes these because they're flexible and will conform and fit into tight spaces.

And More Tool Bags...

Ranj has even more tool bags for hand tools that he doesn't necessarily use daily. He keeps these in a variety of Veto Pro Pac bags and plans to change the setup a bit with a Velocity bag. See more about his tool bags:

• Favorite Tool Bag
• Veto Pro Pac Tech-MCT Review
• Velocity Tool Bag Review

He attached a clip to the back of his bags and a bracket on the truck so that he could keep the tool bags standing up.

Small Parts Organizers on the Walls

Ranj needs to carry a wide variety of fitting and fixtures, so he's mounted home shop organizers to the driver-side wall and bulkhead of the van.

There are many, many drawers in the small parts organizers. One notable thing is that none of them are labeled since Ranj says he knows where everything is. The organizers have drawers that fully pull out, and he secures them with a bungee cord across the front.

Job Specialization Is It

Ranj's strategy of specializing in heating repairs and installs is very smart! There are a few benefits to doing this:

People Know Him As the Heating Guy.

Specialists can often charge more because of their specialized knowledge and because the customer knows that a specialist has specific knowledge. If you need your Ford repaired, you're likely to go to a Ford specialist (like the dealer). If you need your iPhone repaired, you'll take it to the Apple store.

Specializing Lessens the Inventory and Tools Required.

If you're a plumber that does everything, you need to carry everything, or you're going to make a lot of runs to the supply house. By doing less, you can carry less inventory and fewer specialist tools.

Think about drain cleaners: Do you need to do drain cleaning? Some plumbers carry multiple drain cleaners and some drain cleaning machines are huge and heavy.

Many plumbers in the US "do it all" and they have enormous full-size vans that cost a lot in fuel, maintenance, and initial purchase price. They carry lots of heavy inventory and often up to four ladders. Ranj's van is a great example of what you can do in a small space.

Weekly Cleanup Keeps It Tidy

Ranj says that in the winter he does 5-7 jobs per day. The van tends to get a bit messy, so he takes some time on the weekend to clean it up.