Why Your Tool Trailer or Work Van Needs On-Board Electricity

What On-Board Electric Does for You

At the very least, every tech or contractor is running a smart phone and using it for work - you look up directions to a job, you find the nearest supply house, you look up product information.

Why do you do it like this?

It eliminates friction.

You don't need to ask someone how to get to their house. You don't carry a phone book with you. You don't need a box of manuals. These are all little points of friction that you get to eliminate by carrying a smart phone.

On-board electricity does the same thing, eliminating points of friction that you have.

Touch your batteries and chargers once at the end of the day.

Most tradespeople want their tool batteries charged at the start of the work day.

The best way to do this:

Slap your batteries into a powered charging station in your work van at the end of your last job. That's the last time you touch them for the day.

In most cases, if you're moving your batteries and chargers to a job site or out of your work van every day, you're doing it wrong.

You lose a few minutes of your precious time whenever you do this - any repetitive thing you do should be simplified as much as possible and setting up battery charging every day is one of those repetitive things.

Since charging batteries is a repetitive task, you also need to remember to do it! At the end of the workday, you should be reducing the cognitive load of remembering to do stuff.

Run a mobile power and air hub from your tool trailer.

In many construction tool trailers, a heavy gauge extension cord plugs the trailer into the grid and provides 120V throughout the the trailer. Once you've got power, you can:

• Run any 120V tools out of your trailer.
• Easily plug it in at home to charge batteries.

Lots of tool trailers and work vans use this setup to power an air compressor, a microwave, and a battery charging station. If a work station, like a miter saw table, needs to be setup outside the trailer, it can also be powered by the trailer.

Running the air compressor in the trailer keeps compressor noise contained and eliminates the time and effort needed to transport the compressor on and off the job site. Air hose can be spooled into the job site from a reel on the trailer.

Some contractors run full battery setups, with all-battery tools and a battery bank that keeps tools charged through an inverter. This can make them electricity-sufficient for the duration of a job. This is ideal on jobs where there is no power and can eliminate the need for a generator.

Going all-battery has other positives, like never needing to deal with extension cords, so this will probably be a trend we'll see a lot more throughout all trades.

Heat food up in a crock pot or microwave instead of getting takeout.

Takeout food costs money and time. If you eat lunch out a lot, think about the time it takes: you need to get to a local eatery, wait for your food to be prepped, head back to the job, and then eat.

If you heat leftovers or pre-prepped meals from home in a microwave or crockpot, you can save significant amounts of time each day. Leftovers are also cheaper than eating out, so you can save significant money by just stopping your takeout habit.

This doesn't mean you need to be working during that saved time! It does mean that you get to enjoy that part of your lunch break doing what you want instead of driving.

Run a mobile workshop in your van.

You don't need to have a mobile workshop in your van or trailer, but it can help with specific jobs.

For instance, you may need to do some smelly soldering that you'd rather do outside a residence. You may need to do a quick job or cleanup some finish work.

Rather than cut or drill inside someone's home, why not do it in your work van? You will:

• Keep tools on the van and carry fewer tools onto the job site.
• Keep dust and smells in the van and do less cleanup on the job site.

Frankly, we've got a pretty loose definition of a mobile workshop! You really just need a flat spot to work, at standing height, with a few of the tools you use on a regular basis.

Run a mobile office in your van.

Smartphones, tablets, laptops, printers, and SAAS (Software As A Service) business apps are becoming more common in the trades and can save time if they're used efficiently. You can track time, print invoices, and create quotes from your vehicle.

Particularly with apps, this can save you time with bookkeeping if you're in a trade like HVAC or plumbing where you complete multiple jobs per day. Since it isn't particularly common, printing pro-level invoices or estimates on the job can impress a customer.

Conclusion

Think about it like this:

You have a limited amount of time each day and you shouldn't spend it doing time-wasting repetitive tasks. A simple on-board power setup is a simple way to eliminate at least of few minutes of wasted time from each work day.