David's Paulk-Inspired Plumbing Van Build

The Organized Mindset

David believes that organizing your van should be one of your priorities:

"I'm a very busy plumber and having my van organized means I'm quicker, cleaner, and the job gets done much better."

To keep it clean and stocked, he says the van just needs a 5 minute wipedown at the end of the day and a weekly stock check.

He took care to not have any straps or fiddly things to undo, and to make every part and tool as Grab 'N Go as possible.

He says a plywood shelf system for plumbers should take you about a week to build. David did this work himself, there was no fancy carpentry involved! For him, it's crazy to hear others say that they don't have the time to do a build like this:

"The truth is, I don't know how I'd find the time NOT to have my van like this."

Tool Theft?

Tool theft is a huge problem in the UK and many tradespeople have different ways to deal with this. Some tradespeople remove all the tools from their work van, some use locking storage inside the van, but David's solution is just to keep the van well-secured at night.

Long Materials Inside

Because it's a mid-wheelbase model, the van can carry full lengths of pipe and tubing. The pipe and tubing rack is simply the vertical shelf supports extended upwards with cutouts that materials can slide inside. This is an easy and cheap way to store materials. Materials strapped to a roof rack aren't protected, and materials that go in a material tube require extra time to extract.

A side benefit is that no materials on the outside gives thieves one less clue that there are expensive tools on the inside of the van.

Side Access

The side cargo door of the van is partially blocked off with a shelving unit. Facing out is a shallow rack for holding caulk tubes. This is an easy way to keep your tools and materials accessible while still have access through your cargo door.

On the other side of the caulk racks are the power tool storage shelves. While a Ron Paulk-styled system would consist of cubbies for unboxed tools, David keeps tools in their factory tool boxes. The shelves are all a uniform height to accommodate different tool box heights.

Aside from tools, there are some consumables like bits and screws that are stored in Festool organizers.

A Real Workbench

David built in a workbench to the driver side of the van. A small bench vise is secured here and would be great for being a third hand or just for hammering on uncooperative work pieces. This is also a great place for plumbing jobs that make smelly fumes you want to minimize in a residence.

The workbench is setup like a real shop workbench would be, with several tape measures, some pipe cutoffs that hold pencils/pens/scissors/markers, and a plywood shelf above with small fittings organizers. He uses some strip magnets to hold frequently used box/open end wrenches and allen wrenches.

Lots of Labels

Labels are everywhere in this van. It helps for David to know where things are and so that they go back into the same location. More importantly, he passed the van on to an employee later, and it's already setup with parts and tools easy to find. Labelling is great for working with co-workers or helpers so they don't need to learn or memorize your organization.

Some parts organizers go a couple of layers deep. David solves this by labelling in front of these bins so that he doesn't need to remember what's in the back row.

Plywood Bulk Bins

Bulk fittings are stored loose in large plywood bins on the passenger side of the van. They are easy to see, so when stock is low it's simple to resupply.

On the front of the bins are some longer tools: pipe benders, a hand saw, and a bike pump for repressurizing expansion tanks.