# Chariot Bucket Trucks - AI Context Archive ## Generated: 2026-06-03 22:12:21 UTC ## Note: Content is de-duplicated for efficiency. Standard warranty and technical specs appear once. ### TITLE: Prime Sign Installation—Finding Their Missing Tool URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/blog/prime-sign-installation-finding-their-missing-tool/ CATEGORY: Case Study/Story CONTENT: When he finally picked up the phone to buy his next truck, the decision had already been made. You see, Cody Jarrell was missing a tool, and we all know how frustrating that can be… “I already knew the price,” he said. I wasn’t shopping around—I knew what I wanted.” That clarity didn’t come overnight. It was the result of years spent learning the trade from the ground up—starting with almost no experience, figuring things out job by job, and eventually building a thriving installation company along the way. This is the story of how one installer grew into a business owner—and how the right equipment helped him scale smarter. Starting with Nothing—but Willing to Learn Cody’s journey into the sign industry wasn’t planned. Originally from Ohio, he moved to Jacksonville after getting married, searching for something more than just another job. He wanted a career—something he could grow into. “I had my CDL, but I didn’t know anything about crane trucks. I’d never even put a wire nut on before.” What he did have was a background in construction and a willingness to learn. That—and the appeal of becoming a true “jack-of-all-trades”—drew him in. It didn’t take long before the work clicked. Being on a different job every day.” That variety became more than just a preference—it became the foundation for his growth. Becoming a Problem Solver Early on, he wouldn’t have described himself as a problem solver. But the nature of the work changed that. “When I started, I wouldn’t say I was a problem solver at all. But after thousands of jobs… you naturally become one.” Every job site brought a new challenge. Different buildings, different constraints, different surprises. Over time, those challenges sharpened his instincts. A big part of that growth came from strong mentorship. “The guy who trained me had 40 years of experience. He wouldn’t just give you the answer—he made you think through it. That’s what really developed the skill.” Even today, that mindset sticks. I’m not afraid to pick up the phone and call someone if there’s a better way.” Taking the Leap into Business Ownership Like many in the industry, entrepreneurship wasn’t the original plan. “I always wanted to start a business, but I didn’t think I had the skill. I thought you had to be a full manufacturing company.” That changed when he started talking to subcontractors—small crews doing installation work for larger sign companies. It opened his eyes to a different path. “I bought a cheap truck, parked it in my driveway, and started calling local companies.” The early days were slow. Eventually, he hired his first employee—someone he had worked with before. From there, things accelerated: From a driveway → to a storage unit From a storage unit → to a leased property From two employees → to seven overnight after acquiring an installation division Today, his team includes a mix of experienced installers, including retired Navy personnel who bring discipline and flexibility to the operation. And, in a full-circle moment, his wife joined the business too. “I was always calling her for help. One day she was having a rough day at work, and I said, ‘I can fix some of those problems.’ So she came over—and it’s been great ever since.” The Reality of Installation Work Unlike manufacturers, installation companies deal with a unique challenge: they don’t control what they install. “Sometimes it’s not built to spec. Sometimes it’s built for one scenario, and it doesn’t match the field conditions.” That means adapting—on the fly. “We’ll fabricate on-site, tweak things, or bring it back to the shop. And sometimes, yeah, we have to send it back. But usually we can make it work.” It’s just another example of why problem-solving isn’t optional in this business—it’s essential. Hitting a Growth Ceiling As the company grew, new challenges emerged. They had the trucks—multiple 65-foot units and a 48’ articulating boom. But they were running into a different kind of bottleneck: Efficiency. “We were tying up big trucks on small jobs—surveys, low signs, quick service calls. It just didn’t make sense.” On top of that: CDL driver availability was limited Small job sites made maneuvering large trucks difficult Routine work was consuming high-value equipment He didn’t need more capacity—he needed smarter capacity. The Shift to Efficiency That’s what led him to invest in Van Ladder’s Chariot Bucket Truck. What stood out immediately wasn’t just capability—it was convenience. Flip the switch, parking brake, throw a couple cones out—you’re ready.” The impact was immediate: Faster surveys More efficient service calls Less strain on larger trucks Ability to arrive onsite fully stocked Reduced dependency on CDL drivers “It’s the most efficient truck we have for the type of work I send it on.” A True Support Vehicle Rather than replacing larger trucks, the new addition carved out its own role. “It’s really a hybrid—service, surveys, and support.” That shift unlocked new opportunities. “It’s allowed us to pursue multiple service contracts.” Today, the company services: Over 200 gas stations Dozens of rental locations Ongoing maintenance and retrofit projects With the right setup, crews can respond quickly—with everything they need already onboard. “If a call comes in, we’ve got the parts. We’re ready.” Real-World Advantages The benefits show up most clearly in everyday situations: Tight job sites “I was at a strip mall—multiple stops. Being able to turn the truck off, work quietly, and move quickly—it made a huge difference.” Limited access installs “There are jobs where a bigger truck just wouldn’t work. I’d have to shut down a whole parking lot. With this, I didn’t.” Long-distance efficiency “We cover a huge area—Pensacola to Savannah to Orlando. I don’t need to send a big truck for a survey.” Speed and organization “I can load everything in minutes, drive out, and not have to come down from the basket once I’m up.” Built for Real Work It’s not just about mobility—it’s about how the truck supports the work itself. From organized storage to basket layout, everything is designed to reduce friction. “I keep my drill on one side of the bucket tool tray, impact on the other, hardware in the middle. I always have a free hand.” Even small features make a difference: Project bags reduce trips up and down Storage keeps tools dry and organized Attachments simplify installs “I’ll be up there sometimes thinking—‘There’s an attachment for this.’ I just forget because I’m used to doing it the hard way.” Confidence in the Field Like any new piece of equipment, there’s an adjustment period. “I’ve put that truck in every position you can think of—ditches, tight angles, full extension—and it’s handled it.” Even support has been seamless. They solved it in 30 seconds.” A Tool That Pays for Itself At the end of the day, the decision comes down to ROI. “That truck makes a lot of money. It’s very profitable for us.” By: Reducing wear on larger trucks Expanding service capacity Increasing daily efficiency …it quickly became an essential part of the operation. “It’s taken a lot of pressure off me.” Advice for the Next Generation For those just entering the industry, his advice is simple: “Keep pursuing it. The industry is way bigger than you think.” He encourages new installers to: Get outside their local bubble Attend trade shows and events Talk to people across the industry “There are so many opportunities—but you have to go after them.” And perhaps most importantly: “Your first plan probably won’t work. That’s just part of the job.” Looking Ahead Today, his company sits at a comfortable and sustainable size—around eight to nine employees—with room to grow if the right opportunities come along. Cody has also purchased the property where his business resides, and plans to add more indoor space for his trucks, shop, offices, etc. “I’d be happy staying this size. I’d also be happy growing to five or six million. We’ll see what’s in the cards.” That mindset reflects the journey itself—steady, open, and grounded. “I’m not trying to force anything. I’m grateful for what we have.” From Driveway to Direction What started as a single truck in a driveway has become a growing, capable business—built on hard-earned skills, strong relationships, and a willingness to adapt. And somewhere along the way, the guy who “wasn’t a problem solver” became exactly that. But because the job demanded it—and he rose to meet it. --- ### TITLE: Prime Sign Installations Email URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/prime-sign-installations-email/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: From one truck in the driveway to a smarter, more efficient fleet 2026 Fully Loaded Sign Package — $145,834.58 — 5-Year Standard Warranty “A lot of stuff we were running into was tying up your trucks on smaller tasks… it wasn’t super‑efficient.” “Flip the switch, put the parking break on, you’re good to go, throw a couple of cones out.” “That truck makes a lot of money. It’s a very profitable vehicle for us.” Prime Sign Installations owner Cody Jarrell shares how he grew his business by working smarter, not bigger. Starting from a single truck in his driveway, they grew into a multi‑truck operation serving hundreds of locations. Along the way, he discovered that many of his biggest challenges weren’t solved by larger bucket trucks but by right‑sized equipment that matched the day‑to‑day reality of sign work. By adding a Chariot Bucket Truck to handle service calls, surveys, and installs in tight or high‑traffic areas, Cody unlocked faster setups, greater flexibility, and reduced downtime on his larger trucks. The result is a more efficient, profitable operation with less stress, smoother workflows, and the freedom to take on more work without unnecessary complexity. --- ### TITLE: Prime Sign Installations URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/prime-sign-installations/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: From one truck in the driveway to a smarter, more efficient fleet 2026 Fully Loaded Sign Package — $145,834.58 — 5-Year Standard Warranty Enter your information to download your detailed quote* “A lot of stuff we were running into was tying up your trucks on smaller tasks… it wasn’t super‑efficient.” “Flip the switch, put the parking break on, you’re good to go, throw a couple of cones out.” “That truck makes a lot of money. It’s a very profitable vehicle for us.” Prime Sign Installations owner Cody Jarrell shares how he grew his business by working smarter, not bigger. Ready to see how Van Ladder can transform your installs? --- ### TITLE: post-2026-isa-sign-expo URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/post-2026-isa-sign-expo/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: It was great meeting many of you at the ISA Sign Expo 2026 — discover what sets our trucks apart in the field. If you stopped by our booth at the ISA Expo, thank you! Even if a new bucket truck isn’t on your radar right now, we’d still love to stay connected. After all, the Chariot Bucket Truck was built specifically for sign work… so when the timing is right, it just might be exactly what you need. In the meantime, let’s stay in touch. We share stories from sign companies like yours who are finding ways to work smarter, grow their capabilities, and improve their bottom line using the Chariot (and honestly, they’re great stories). Do you ever grab a free sample at the grocery store… even when you weren’t planning to buy anything? Click below and pick a story that sounds interesting: Stay connected for our latest customer stories and product updates The chariot is the only bucket truck designed specifically for sign work—not utilities, not construction, but sign work. That means our efforts go into designing and building a product that simplifies the work you do every day. Here’s the kicker…it also some at a significantly lower price than other new installation truck options. We stand behind our lift equipment with the only five-year standard warranty in the industry, giving you peace of mind that your equipment is built to last. Two major things set the Chariot Bucket Truck apart from other trucks: A rotating material-handling system and an arsenal of accessories that transform the bucket into a one-man aerial workshop. A box with 500-cubic feet of organized storage space, making this truck a traveling warehouse. Now you can show up at the job site fully stocked (no more running back for tools or fasteners). Then, you can secure the sign to the rotating material-handling system with hands free to use your tools. It saves time and eases frustration. Yes, the Chariot Bucket Truck has several other unique benefits: The lift’s all-electric operation allows you to work with the vehicle turned off. In fact, you can operate the lift all day without running the vehicle engine. When you’re back on the road, the vehicle’s alternator recharges the system. No exhaust fumes and very little noise. Ford’s E-450 cut-away chassis coupled with the 12’ Workport box has a footprint that fits in a single parking stall, no outriggers required. This is a huge advantage for installing retail signage at strip malls (with perpendicular parking spaces) No more cone-off multiple spaces the night before an install. Pairing our efficient footprint with 31’ of side reach, you have a truck that can fit into tight spots and still reach over obstacles. The Chariot Bucket Truck is service-friendly. We use plug-and-play electrical components that are swapped out in minutes. We offer free tech support for the life of the lift, and our friendly technicians know the equipment like the back of their hand. Finally, the Chariot’s box makes a great 6’ x 12’ traveling billboard. Is there a better way to show your potential customers what you can do with vinyl? We have published more that 30 customer testimonial videos, see for yourself by clicking the button below. --- ### TITLE: From Van Ladder to Chariot: Why Our Name Is Changing URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/blog/becoming-chariot-bucket-trucks/ CATEGORY: Case Study/Story CONTENT: Not long ago, a woman heard the name Van Ladder for the first time. She paused for a moment… and then burst into laughter. “You guys really lack imagination,” she said between laughs. “That’s more of an observation than a product name.” Then she lowered her voice and grunted like a caveman. “Van… Ladder.” We had to laugh with her. Because, honestly, she wasn’t wrong. But the story behind that name goes back much further than most people realize—and understanding that story explains why we’re now changing it. After nearly three decades of innovation, development, and listening to our customers, Van Ladder Bucket Trucks is becoming Chariot Bucket Trucks. And the reason is simple: the product has become something entirely new. The truth is, we didn’t name the product. The Van Ladder was invented in 1968 by Eugene Faulstich of Spencer, Iowa. He created it for the cable television industry as a safer way for technicians to reach the tops of utility poles. Back then, the design was exactly what the name described. A ladder was mounted to the top of a cargo van. Workers would climb the ladder to access a bucket, allowing them to work safely at pole height. So, while the name might not win any marketing awards, it was perfectly accurate. Eugene eventually sold the company in the 1980s, but the new owners ran into a brutal economic environment. High interest rates made it difficult for many manufacturers to survive. Eugene bought everything back at auction for pennies on the dollar and stored the equipment away. The product sat quietly in mothballs for years. At the time, none of us knew that story would eventually intersect with ours. That changed in 1997, when Dave Peterson heard about the dormant company through a friend. Dave wasn’t looking for a bucket truck business. He was running excavation and ready-mix operations and had spent his entire life around heavy equipment. In fact, his story with machinery started very young. When Dave was thirteen years old, his father put him behind the controls of a dozer in a gravel pit. The machine was so old it used a small gasoline engine to start the diesel motor. It took him an entire summer just to learn how to start it. But by the end of that summer, he could run it. That early experience began a lifelong relationship with equipment—and with the people who depend on it every day. Dave grew up working alongside his father, who started an excavation business in 1967 with little more than a backhoe and a pickup truck. If Dave wanted time with his dad, he had to work. By age twenty, Dave had bought the excavating and gravel business from his father and found himself $300,000 in debt in the middle of the 1981 recession. He moved into a $1,300 trailer house at the gravel pit and worked relentlessly to survive. Those early years taught him lessons that would shape his philosophy as a manufacturer: Keep your belt tight. And most importantly—listen to the people who use it. Through his years in excavation, trucking, and road construction, Dave bought a lot of equipment. And buying equipment was often frustrating. Some manufacturers seemed disconnected from the field. They didn’t design for reliability or ease of maintenance. But every once in a while, Dave encountered companies that did it right. Companies that built equipment with three clear goals: Best design Highest reliability Lowest cost of ownership Dave admired that approach. If he ever owned a manufacturing company, he decided, that’s exactly what he would build. So, when he learned about the mothballed Van Ladder product in 1997, the idea intrigued him. He made a deal with Eugene Faulstich to bring the company back to life. The product had been off the market for over a decade. And the original design needed serious development. When production resumed, some reliability issues surfaced. Design shortcomings had to be addressed. Improvements had to be made quickly. Dave and his team did something many companies wouldn’t have done. They went back out to the field and fixed the equipment already in customers’ hands. But it built something more valuable: trust. Many of those early customers stuck with the company—and many are still customers today. That experience also reinforced the culture Dave wanted the company to have. And pursue improvement relentlessly. Over time, the product evolved dramatically. To increase the bucket’s weight capacity and improve side-reach, the company pivoted away from standard cargo vans to a heavier chassis with dual rear wheels and a 14,500 lb. The change was nerve-racking at first. The company had spent years marketing to customers who preferred vans. But the heavier chassis ultimately opened new possibilities for customers to have a traveling warehouse: Greater payload More cargo space with separate compartments to stay better organized A cavernous project area capable of transporting signage in a protected, enclosed area What initially looked like a challenge turned into a major step forward. Another pivotal moment came in 2019 at the International Sign Association Expo. Sign installers kept telling us something important. Our lift was fantastic for servicing signs. But it wasn’t ideal for installing them. At the time, the bucket didn’t rotate. Installers had to park perfectly square to the wall to line up a sign correctly. That feedback sent our engineering team back to the drawing board. They worked tirelessly to develop an articulating system between the ladder and the bucket—but they kept running into obstacles. Finally, one day during prayer, Dave asked for help. He pictured himself standing in a bucket with a rounded front. Beneath his feet, forks rotated around the circumference of the bucket like a giant lazy Susan. When the team built the prototype, one of our fabricators stared at it for a while, then grabbed two 50 lb. weights and leaned them against bucket. He stepped back and yelled across the shop floor: “Look guys—it’s Roman chariot!” The name stuck. When we brought the Chariot prototype to installers, we wanted honest feedback. Installers actually preferred rotating the sign itself rather than rotating the bucket hydraulically. Hydraulic bucket rotation can be jerky. But rotating a sign manually allows installers to move it a fraction of an inch at a time. That level of control matters when you're working with delicate signs next to expensive buildings. The Chariot concept solved a real problem—and installers loved it. Once the Chariot Bucket existed, new ideas started flowing. Installers inspired an entire system of attachable accessories designed to make installations faster and easier: Lower forks for tall signs Mid forks for medium signs Upper forks for raceway signs A jib attachment for top-lifted signs Banner spindles Pattern arms to hang channel letter templates Face bars for flex faces Project bags for tools, sign letters, and materials Instead of a simple bucket, the system became a mobile installation platform, a one-man aerial workshop The innovation didn’t go unnoticed. At the International Sign Association Expo 2020, the Chariot Bucket earned the industry’s prestigious ISA Innovation Award. And it arrived at the perfect moment. Modern signs are dramatically lighter than they were twenty years ago. Advances in LED technology and lighter cabinet materials mean that signs that once weighed 500 pounds now weigh closer to 130. Today, many sign companies estimate that: 70% of the signs they install weigh under 200 pounds Most installations occur below 45 feet That means the massive trucks and two-person buckets of the past are often unnecessary. With the Chariot system and its accessories, one installer can now handle many installations that previously required two people. The second crew member can stay on the ground preparing the next task instead of standing in a bucket holding a sign. That’s a big shift in efficiency. When Dave Peterson acquired the company in 1997, he essentially restarted a product that had been sitting in storage. Since then, nearly every part of the design has evolved. The lift system changed from cable to hydraulic. The chassis platform changed completely. The bucket became the Chariot system. Accessories transformed installation capabilities. And today we offer an industry-leading five-year standard warranty, compared with the two-year standard offered by many competitors. In other words, the product today barely resembles the Van Ladder that came out of mothballs nearly 30 years ago. It has grown into something entirely new. Some customers ask: “If you don’t climb the ladder anymore, why keep the ladder design at all?” Great question. To achieve a 45-foot working height on a smaller chassis, we build our lift from aluminum rather than steel. To get the necessary strength from aluminum, the structure must be built as a truss—which essentially looks like a ladder. From an engineering standpoint, it’s the best design. If a mechanical failure ever occurred, the ladder provides a safe emergency exit from the bucket. Walking down a ladder beats sliding down a steel post any day. For almost thirty years, we’ve been refining this equipment one improvement at a time. And relentlessly pursuing excellence. Today the Chariot Bucket has become the defining feature of our trucks. So it only makes sense that our name reflects what the product has become. Van Ladder Bucket Trucks is becoming Chariot Bucket Trucks. Just a name that finally matches the innovation behind the machine. --- ### TITLE: Phillips Signs URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/blog/phillips-signs/ CATEGORY: Case Study/Story CONTENT: When Ben Phillips looks back on more than four decades in the sign industry, what amazes him most isn’t a single job, a single piece of equipment, or even the scale of the operation Phillips Signs has become. It’s the way everything connects. The willingness to learn, invest, and adapt. And the relationships that prove their worth not once, but over time. From Truck Doors to a Trade Ben’s entry into the sign business didn’t come from a grand plan. In the late 1970s, Ben was working for his grandfather’s construction company—something he’d done since he was 13 years old. While unloading truckloads of metal buildings, his attention kept drifting to the hand-lettered logos and names on the truck doors. “I’d look at the lettering and think, I could do that.” So he tried. He bought brushes, paint, and lettering books and started practicing. What began as dabbling quickly became a reputation. Ben was good—really good—at hand lettering and pinstriping. It became his passion, and eventually, his calling. He left the construction company and went all in. In the early days, Phillips Signs didn’t have a shop, a lift, or a fleet. Ben worked out of the back of a Ford pickup with a box of brushes and paint, setting up at truck stops or wherever someone would pull a vehicle in. That was just how it worked back then. As his customer base grew, so did the scope of his work. Hand-painted signs led to bigger projects, and bigger projects demanded more space. Ben built a small shop behind his house about 14 miles from where Phillips Signs operates today. It was the first of many growth steps—and none of them happened alone. Investing in People First One of the defining traits of Phillips Signs has always been Ben’s approach to people. He credits much of his own success to others who were willing to share what they knew. As a result, he never hesitated to do the same. A young kid walking home from school used to stop by Ben’s shop just to watch him work. Ben noticed he had real talent for hand lettering. That kid became Phillips Signs’ first employee—and decades later, he’s still there. “He’s almost like a son to me now,” Ben says. When customers began asking for illuminated signs, channel letters, and things Ben didn’t yet know how to do, his answer was never no. “I don’t do that,” he’d say, “but I’ll figure out a way.” He hired people who had the right skillsets and were willing to grow alongside the business. Phillips Signs didn’t just add capabilities—it earned them. Growth Fueled by Opportunity and Grit In 1991, Phillips Signs reached a turning point. Ben had little money but a lot of momentum. A realtor friend sold him an acre of land along a major highway for almost nothing—property no one else wanted. Ben convinced a bank to finance a modest building, and suddenly Phillips Signs had visibility. From there, the growth accelerated. A small bank client with one branch expanded to ten—and Phillips Signs grew with them. Illuminated awnings became popular in the late 1990s, and Ben didn’t hesitate to jump in. At first, they purchased awnings from a supplier in Florida. Then they studied the products, learned the systems, and began doing them better themselves. That willingness to learn paid off when Phillips Signs landed a massive outlet mall project—thousands of feet of lighted fascia, awnings, towers, and flex-face signage. Ben admits he didn’t know exactly how they were going to pull it off. One summer, three guys (one of whom as Ben) added 100 feet onto the building—pouring concrete, running electrical—just to get the job done. “That’s how we’ve always operated,” Ben says. “You do what you need to do.” Equipment Is Not a Luxury—It’s a Responsibility As Phillips Signs grew, Ben became firm in one belief: you must invest in equipment. “I’m amazed how many competitors don’t,” he says. If you don’t stay on the cutting edge, you’re getting left behind. One hundred percent.” Early on, that meant buying used equipment—because that’s all he could afford. It also meant learning quickly what worked and what didn’t. In the early ’90s, before Phillips Signs owned a proper crane truck, Ben relied on a 1974 all-electric Garland crane. “It looked like a fishing rod every time you used it,” he laughs. We installed a lot of signs with it—but it was finicky, battery-dependent, and constantly being tinkered with. That experience left Ben skeptical of electric lift systems for years. Eventually, he purchased his first true sign crane: a fully hydraulic 1995 Elliott. It’s reliable, familiar, and proven. For decades, hydraulic bucket trucks were all Ben trusted. Enter Van Ladder—With Some Skepticism About five years ago, Phillips Signs needed a new service truck—something with enclosed storage and a reliable lift. Ben’s son, an electrical engineer who also handles maintenance on the fleet, suggested looking at Van Ladder. I don’t think it’s for us.” His son saw it differently. From a maintenance perspective, the simplicity was appealing. They ordered a Van Ladder on a Workport body, and right away, it changed how service work was done. The enclosed storage, side access doors, and layout allowed the crew to stock everything they needed—especially important before LED retrofits reduced weight and components. Most importantly, the truck just worked. “It was maintenance-free,” Ben says. “The batteries weren’t an issue. You take care of them, and that truck works every day.” They ran it for five to six years, putting heavy mileage on it. When it came time to replace it, his son suggested another Van Ladder. “I see no reason not to,” Ben told his son. “It’s been everything they said it would be—and then some.” Innovation That Actually Matters When Phillips Signs began speccing their second Van Ladder, Ben noticed something else. New accessories for installation and service. Thoughtful, practical improvements that made real-world work easier and safer. “This is common-sense stuff,” Ben says. “The kind of thing that makes a guy who uses the truck every day shake his head and say, That’s a good idea.” For Ben, one feature of the new generation Van Ladder stands above the rest: enabling one-person installs. “With the labor shortage in this industry, that’s a game-changer,” he explains. “If I can send one skilled guy out alone and still get the job done safely, I’ve just doubled my efficiency.” Not every operator immediately embraces every accessory, and Ben is candid about that. But even without full adoption, the reliability and capability of the truck won over the crew. “The tech that runs it absolutely loves it,” he says. A Truck Built for How Ben Works Today Today, Ben remains a hands-on owner. He believes the time he spends on-site—making sure his crews have what they need—is invaluable. But as he puts it plainly, “I’m getting older.” A Transit van with a hydraulic bucket had served him well since 2018, but the limited reach and cramped storage were becoming problems. His back didn’t love climbing in and out, and the setup forced compromises. When it came time to replace it, Ben once again looked at hydraulic options. But his son pushed him—again—to consider Van Ladder. And by now, the trust was already there. “Everything they say they’ll do, they do,” Ben says. It’s all about relationships.” He ordered a Van Ladder on a Cargoport body and customized the inside for surveys and installs. The addition of variable speed addressed one of Ben’s long-standing concerns about electric lifts. It was another example of Van Ladder listening to real users and improving the product accordingly. “I think I’m going to see the value in this every single day,” Ben says. “I know I made the right choice.” Honest. Ask Ben what truly drives the success of Phillips Signs, and he won’t talk about revenue or equipment. Treat people the way you want to be treated. Those principles guide how Phillips Signs treats customers, employees, and vendors alike. Sometimes that means choosing long-term relationships over short-term profit. Sometimes it means helping a customer even when a contract says you don’t have to. And sometimes, it means choosing partners who operate the same way. “I think that’s what you guys do,” Ben says of Van Ladder. “You’re in this for the long haul. You don’t sell through pressure—you sell through service.” A Relationship That Keeps Growing Phillips Signs now employs 28 people and serves a fast-growing region of Delaware. The company continues to evolve—but its foundation hasn’t changed. And strengthened by relationships that prove themselves over time. For Ben Phillips, Van Ladder Bucket Trucks isn’t just equipment in the yard. It’s a partner that listens, improves, and shows up—just like he expects from his own business. And that’s why the relationship keeps growing. --- ### TITLE: 2026-ISA-Sign-Expo URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/2026-isa-sign-expo/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: Come visit us at booth C10 We are so excited to attend the ISA Sign Expo once again. It’s a huge privilege to spend time with thousands of people who make our industry so incredible. This year we are undergoing a name change from Van Ladder to Chariot Bucket Trucks. Rest assured, though, that we still have the same ownership, staff, and product with the simple focus of simplifying your sign work. See why the Chariot is gradually becoming the industry standard for sign service and installs under 45’ and under 200 lbs. Come see us at booth C10 to tour the truck, schedule a demo, or to connect with us over email or social media so we can keep you up to date on our latest innovations (we never stop innovating). We’d love the chance to prove to you that the Chariot will raise your company’s bottom line. Don’t miss any updates ahead of the show: The chariot is the only bucket truck designed specifically for sign work—not utilities, not construction, but sign work. We’d love to have the opportunity to prove that the Chariot Bucket Truck will lift your bottom line. Please come and visit us at booth C10 and consider scheduling a time for us to come and hang a sign with you. We’d love to add you to our growing family of Chariot Bucket Truck users. --- ### TITLE: Phillips Signs Email URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/testimonials/phillips-signs-email/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: Watch their story—then get your itemized quote. 2026 Fully Loaded Sign Package — $145,834.58 — 5-Year Standard Warranty “I got people who were smarter than me, more talented than me… and then it just took off.” “Anytime I can send one man out by himself to install something, it’s a game‑changer for me.” “I do my research… what’s the best value for Phillips Signs to continue to grow?” Phillips Signs of Seaford, Delaware has grown from a one‑man hand‑lettering operation into a 28‑employee full‑service sign shop—built on hard work, relationships, and continuous investment in people and equipment. In this testimonial, owner Ben Phillips shares how Van Ladder bucket trucks have become an essential part of that growth: delivering maintenance‑free reliability, thoughtful innovations like the Chariot Bucket and one‑person install capability, and the kind of service and honesty that match Phillips Signs’ own values. From overcoming skepticism about electric lifts to upgrading multiple trucks over the years, Ben explains why Van Ladder has become a trusted, long‑term partner in the company’s success. --- ### TITLE: Phillips Signs URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/testimonials/phillips-signs/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: 2026 Fully Loaded Sign Package — $145,834.58 — 5-Year Standard Warranty Enter your email address to download your detailed quote* “I got people who were smarter than me, more talented than me… and then it just took off.” “Anytime I can send one man out by himself to install something, it’s a game‑changer for me.” “I do my research… what’s the best value for Phillips Signs to continue to grow?” Phillips Signs of Seaford, Delaware has grown from a one‑man hand‑lettering operation into a 28‑employee full‑service sign shop—built on hard work, relationships, and continuous investment in people and equipment. --- ### TITLE: Chariot Bucket and Accessories URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/blog/chariot-bucket-and-accessories/ CATEGORY: Case Study/Story CONTENT: In the sign industry, equipment decisions aren’t made lightly. Every tool on a truck has a direct impact on safety, efficiency, crew morale, and profitability. Over the past few years, one piece of equipment has generated consistent, enthusiastic feedback from sign companies across the country: the Chariot Bucket. As a winner of ISA’s Innovation Award, the thing that makes the Chariot Bucket stand out isn’t just the lift, but how the bucket, paired with its accessories, changes the day-to-day experience of sign installers. Based on feedback from multiple customers who use the Chariot in real-world conditions, a clear story emerges: this equipment is designed around how sign work is actually done. This blog was gleaned from dozens of customer interviews and brings those voices together into one narrative, highlighting the real advantages customers are seeing from the Chariot Bucket and its accessories. After reading this blog, if you would like to hear these observations straight from the mouths of our customers, please check out our testimonials page: https://chariotbuckettrucks.com/testimonials/ Designed for the Work Sign Installers Actually Do Customer feedback strongly reinforces that the Chariot Bucket isn’t just easier to use; it’s also faster to master. Multiple installers note that a new operator can learn to run the bucket confidently in a matter of hours, not days. That simplicity matters in an industry where skilled labor is hard to find, and training time is expensive. Customers explain that this ease of operation has led to a noticeable shift in how they deploy equipment. In many cases, companies that once relied heavily on cranes to lift lightweight but clumsy signs, now find themselves using their Van Ladders by itself, dramatically reducing cost, coordination, and setup time. This operational shift isn’t about cutting corners—it’s about precision. Installers consistently mention how controlled, predictable movements allow them to square up signs accurately, even when parking off-center or working in tight urban environments. A common theme in customer feedback is that the Chariot Bucket feels purpose-built for sign work rather than adapted from another industry. Traditional bucket solutions are often designed with utilities or general construction in mind. While they can get the job done, they frequently force sign installers to work around certain limitations—tight fiberglass buckets, inadequate reach, no material handling capabilities or, on the other end of the spectrum, large truck chassis trying to navigate in tight spaces. Customers report that the Chariot Bucket eliminates many of those daily frustrations. The bucket provides ample room to work comfortably, allowing installers to focus on the task instead of their footing. Controls are intuitive and responsive, which matters when crews are making dozens of precise movements during an installation or service call. Several customers noted that the learning curve for new operators is minimal. Installers feel confident quickly, which reduces downtime and makes it easier to rotate crew members without slowing jobs down. Stability That Builds Confidence at Height Even with no outriggers, bucket stability comes up repeatedly in customer feedback, particularly when installers describe working with signs in windy conditions. Many point out that the Chariot Bucket allows them to move and fine-tune sign placement with one hand—even when handling large cabinets or panels weighing well over 100 pounds. The Chariot’s swiveling material-handling capabilities play a major role here. Customers appreciate being able to park where space allows, then use the bucket’s rotation to square up to a wall. Compared to traditional rotating baskets that can feel jerky or unpredictable, installers describe the Chariot Bucket as smooth and controlled, allowing them to stay in a fixed stance while moving the sign instead of their body. This stability directly impacts confidence. Installers feel safer, less rushed, and less fatigued, which leads to smoother installs and fewer mistakes. Several customers specifically mention reduced anxiety during raceway and sign-face installs, where having the weight fully supported by attachments removes the stress of trying to hold on while operating the controls. Working at height is part of an installer’s job, but feeling unstable should never be. One of the most frequently mentioned benefits of the Chariot Bucket is its stability. Customers consistently describe feeling solid and secure, even when working at full extension. This confidence translates directly into productivity. Installers aren’t rushing to “get down” as quickly as possible. Instead, they can take the time to make their final adjustments and ensure a clean finish. This leads to fewer callbacks and higher-quality installs overall. From a management perspective, that stability also improves safety culture. When crews trust their equipment, they work smarter and more deliberately. Multiple customers mentioned that their teams are noticeably more comfortable in the Chariot Bucket compared to older bucket setups they’ve used in the past. Accessories That Turn a Bucket into a System If the Chariot Bucket is the foundation, the accessories are what turn it into a true sign installation system. Customer feedback overwhelmingly points to the accessories as the reason so many jobs can now be completed by one person rather than two, or by two people rather than three. Attachments That Replace Extra Hands Customers repeatedly describe the accessories as “extra hands in the bucket.” From clamps and arms to forks, jibs, and hanging bars, these tools securely hold signs in place while the installer focuses on positioning, leveling, wiring, and fastening. Installers highlight how these attachments allow them to swivel signs inch by inch, even in wind, without fighting gravity or momentum. Large Lexan faces, raceways, channel letters, banners, and cabinets can all be supported safely, freeing the installer to work with both precision and control. Banner, Pattern, and Face Installation Tools Banner spindles, face bars, and pattern attachments receive especially strong praise. One customer shared stories of multi-day, multi-location banner projects completed by a single installer traveling route-style across multiple states. Tight budgets, windy conditions, and limited manpower no longer prevented these jobs from being profitable. The pattern arms eliminate the need for a second person in the bucket simply to hold paper. The platform and clamps allow installers to wire and prep components while attached to the bucket at chest height instead of crouching on the ground, leading to faster installs and noticeably less soreness at the end of the day. Tool Trays, Bags, and On-Bucket Storage Storage accessories may seem insignificant, but customers say they make a big difference. Trays, project bags, and tool bag holders keep tools, fasteners, and even trash within reach. Installers report far fewer trips up and down, better organization, and less risk of dropping tools. Several customers admitted they initially underestimated these storage features—only to later find them indispensable once they experienced how much time and effort they save. While the Chariot Bucket itself earns high marks, customers are quick to point out that the accessories are what truly elevate it. Rather than being add-ons after the fact, these accessories feel integrated into the way the bucket is meant to be used. Tool Trays and Storage Solutions One of the simplest and most appreciated accessories is the bucket tool tray. Customers describe how having tools within arm’s reach in the bucket reduces constant up-and-down trips. Installers can bring everything they need with them, which saves time and reduces fatigue over the course of a long day. Several customers mentioned that these trays also improve organization. That small detail alone can prevent costly delays. Material and Sign Support Accessories Handling sign faces, panels, and lighting components at height can be awkward and unsafe without proper support. Customers highlight accessories designed to hold materials securely in the bucket, allowing installers to keep both hands free when positioning or fastening signs. Feedback suggests that these supports significantly reduce strain on installers’ bodies. Instead of awkwardly balancing materials against the bucket rail, crews can work more naturally and safely. Power and Utility Add-Ons Customers also appreciate power-related accessories that allow tools to be used directly from the bucket. Whether it’s running hammer drills, heat guns, or testing electrical components, having power readily available in the bucket reduces the need for extension cords and ground support. This independence is especially valuable on service calls where speed matters. Installers can diagnose and fix issues without relying on a second person to manage power from below. Faster Jobs Without Cutting Corners Across nearly all customer feedback, efficiency continually comes up—but always paired with safety and quality. Installers consistently report completing installs in a fraction of the time they previously required. Jobs that once took two vehicles, can often be accomplished with one. Jobs that took multiple installers can be achieved with one fewer than before. Raceway installs that once required careful coordination between two people can now be mounted to the wall in as little as 20 minutes, with a second crew member free to work on the wiring behind the wall or tackling other ground-related functions. Chariot users emphasize that this speed comes from workflow efficiency, not rushing. With signs securely supported, installers can pause, adjust, and perfectly place the sign without fear of losing control of the load. A recurring message from customers is that the Chariot Bucket helps them complete jobs faster—without sacrificing quality. Time savings come from multiple small efficiencies adding up over the course of a day. Installers spend less time climbing in and out of the bucket. They spend less time waiting on ground support. They spend less time repositioning trucks because the reach and maneuverability allow them to access more from a single setup. Customers report that these efficiencies really stack up on multi-sign sites or service routes. Over a full week, the time savings become significant, allowing companies to schedule more work or finish earlier without pushing their crew so hard. A Better Experience for Installers Beyond productivity, customers talk candidly about how the Chariot Bucket changes how installers feel on the job. Many describe it as less physically demanding and far less stressful. The open-frame basket design improves visibility and confidence. Installers can see exactly where they’re going and they can reach through the basket when necessary. If you would like to see a short video highlighting the Chariot Bucket and accessories, click this button. https://chariotbuckettrucks.com/chariot-bucket-and-accessories-email/ --- ### TITLE: How SignARC Transformed Its Installation Workflow With a Van Ladder Chariot Bucket Truck URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/blog/signarc-van-ladder-installations/ CATEGORY: Case Study/Story CONTENT: When Matt Helms entered the sign industry in 2003, he was just nineteen—young, ambitious, and operating primarily in the Charlotte, North Carolina market. Back then, installation logistics were simple: call a local sign installer, send them the job, and move on to the next project. With installers readily available, Matt had no need for bucket trucks, cranes, or specialized sign installation equipment. But everything changed in 2016 when Matt and his wife Emily opened a new shop called SignARC of Beckley, in Beckley, West Virginia. In their new market, Matt quickly realized something: the local pool of sign installers was extremely shallow. So, they did what most shops in that situation do: they bought a traditional bucket truck and made it work. And, for years, that truck got them by. But eventually, their truck died and a search for an upgrade began. Discovering a Better Bucket Truck When Matt came across the Van Ladder videos highlighting the Chariot Bucket with its sign installation accessories, he paid close attention. Nationwide—and especially in West Virginia—the challenge isn’t just finding workers but finding good workers. SignARC wasn’t exactly short-staffed, but they weren’t fully staffed either. They needed a way to turn what used to be two- or three-person installations into one- or two-person jobs. The Chariot Basket’s capabilities promised exactly that. Matt’s wife wasn’t fully convinced they needed a brand-new bucket truck. Why not just buy another used truck? But there came a day when Matt’s two installers couldn’t make it to work. To keep his promise to his customer, Matt needed Emily to help install a sign. After an especially challenging installation in the hot sun where Emily suffered heatstroke, Emily asked Matt if he could’ve performed the installation by himself with the Van Ladder. When Matt said he could, Emily began leaning toward the upgrade. Matt brought Emily to the ISA trade show to see the truck in person. After walking through the features, she agreed: this wasn’t just another truck; it was the next step in the evolution of their company. Shortly after the show, they placed the order. Today, after more than a year of daily use, SignARC considers the Van Ladder the best investment they’ve made (not counting their amazing employees). Some of SignARC’s work requires setting channel letters over awnings or under large overhangs (or both). Traditionally, these installations had demanded both a bucket truck and a crane to swing the sign in place and attach it to the wall. With the Chariot Bucket’s rotating fork system and attachable accessories, they can now lift those signs directly on the platform, eliminating the need for a crane on all but their heaviest signs. Matt describes jobs where they once needed two vehicles and multiple workers, but now do the same work with one or two people—and only the Van Ladder on site. It has saved them labor, fuel, and setup time, especially when installing signs for a large customer with multiple locations and significant traveling time. The Workport Storage Box: “Deceptively Big” Besides the installation accessories, the other thing that drew Matt to the truck was the storage space. What looked like a normal enclosure turned out to be big enough to hold a 14.5-foot sign entirely inside. With the sliding door open (between the box and the cab), the team slid the sign through, strapped it down, and kept it protected from weather, snow, and road grime. In West Virginia winters, that alone has been a game-changer. Now they can load signs the day before an installation, leave them overnight, and arrive on-site without having to shovel off a foot of snow. Inside the box, they customized their setup: Milwaukee Packout systems throughout Vinyl graphics supply area for quick onsite work A custom-built internal parts storage box Individual compartments for hardware, power tool, hand tools, power supplies, etc. A flexible “project area” for hauling signs that doubles as an indoor shop with a workbench Matt has even prepped stud-mounted letters inside the box during rainstorms, standing up comfortably using an interior shelf as a workbench. Attachments That Reduce Stress and Save Time The Chariot’s tool attachments have become essential. Some favorites: The Project Bag Matt admits he almost removed it from the truck, thinking they’d never use it—until one day when they were installing stud-mounted letters 35 feet up. Instead of repeatedly going up and down, they loaded the bag with letters, making the job go dramatically faster. Now the project bag is one of their most-used accessories. The Jib Attachment They’ve used the jib attachment on heavy, awkward sign panels that in the past would’ve required a crane. With the jib’s elevated lifting eye, they can safely bring a sign up and then level it on the wall by pulling the lifting strap right or left. Matt estimates that for those jobs, the jib has saved: One additional installer The crane truck Hours of setup time Thousands of dollars in labor costs and fuel consumption Plus, with one truck instead of two, they’re not monopolizing parking spaces in front of the customer’s store. Raceways in Minutes Mounting a raceway used to require someone holding the sign in place with white knuckles. Now, they set the platform a couple inches from the wall, resting the raceway safely, and work with hands free. The stress is greatly reduced, and because the work is more comfortable, the installations go faster. It’s not uncommon now to have the raceway up in twenty-minutes (not counting the wiring behind the wall). A Better Experience for Employees—And for the Business Good tools aren’t only about efficiency—they help retain good employees. Matt’s crew tells him all the time: “You give us the best tools in the field.” Matt agrees. Saving one installer per job adds up more than most shop owners realize. Labor is his biggest ongoing investment—bigger than the truck itself. And anything that reduces labor without compromising quality pays for itself quickly, especially when it boosts employee morale. New installers are almost impossible to find, so you need to keep the ones you have happy. Low Maintenance, Quiet Operation, and Outstanding Support After more than a year on the road, SignARC’s Van Ladder has had no mechanical issues. After loading the truck with tools and equipment, get it aligned immediately. Once they corrected the problem of uneven tire wear, the truck has handled very well. Matt also noted: The ability to work with the truck turned off reduces fumes and fuel use. The electric lift is quiet, especially helpful in tight areas under awnings. The simplified system—electric components with minimal hydraulics—is easy to work on. “Never once have I got a voicemail,” Matt said. A Milestone Moment Among the many installs SignARC has completed, the one that stands out most to Matt is their first KFC job. Seeing their truck set signs for a national brand was a full-circle moment. “For the 19-year-old kid who started the company,” he said, “that was the moment I thought—I made it to adulthood.” Final Thoughts: A Bucket Truck Built for Real-World Sign Installers SignARC didn’t just upgrade equipment—they reshaped their workflow: One truck replacing a bucket truck and a crane One or two installers doing the work that used to require three or four Faster jobs, safer jobs, less stress Weather-proof storage that protects materials and saves time Attachments that solve real installation challenges A project area that adapts to the workday And above all, a tool that helps a growing sign company stay efficient, profitable, and proud of the work they do. --- ### TITLE: Chariot Bucket & Accessories – Email URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/chariot-bucket-and-accessories-email/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: Everything You Need to Install Signs Faster, Easier, and With Fewer Hands. 2026 Fully Loaded Sign Package — $145,834.58 — 5-Year Standard Warranty Get jobs done quicker with fewer people. Tackle a wide variety of sign installations with this one tool & accessories. Achieve professional results every time. The Chariot Bucket is a one-person aerial work platform designed to make sign installations faster and more efficient. It features a rolling material handling system with 130° rotation for precise sign alignment. There are lower and upper forks for different sized signs, along with a coated platform and clamps to securely hold the sign in place. With a 400-pound capacity, the Chariot Bucket allows a single installer to lift and position signs without needing an extra set of hands. Additional accessories like the pattern arms, banner spindle, face bar, and jib attachment, simplify installation tasks and reduce labor costs, enabling one technician to complete jobs that typically require two. There’s no better way to maximize efficiency for installations weighing under 200 lbs. --- ### TITLE: Chariot Bucket & Accessories URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/chariot-bucket-accessories/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: 2026 Fully Loaded Sign Package — $145,834.58 — 5-Year Standard Warranty Enter your email address to download your detailed quote* Get jobs done quicker with fewer people. --- ### TITLE: Signarc of Beckley Email URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/testimonials/signarc-of-beckley-email/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: 2026 Fully Loaded Sign Package — $145,834.58 — 5-Year Standard Warranty “The Chariot basket functions sold us.” “Jobs that took 2–3 guys now take 1–2.” “If a tool saves us time, it saves me money.” “Other than employees, the best investment we’ve made at SignARC is the Van Ladder.” After years of relying on BOTH a traditional bucket truck and a crane for installs over awnings or under overhangs, SignARC of Beckley discovered that Van Ladder’s Chariot Bucket integrated with the Workport box was a game-changer. The ability to reduce labor hours, store everything securely inside the truck, and tackle challenging installs without extra equipment has allowed them to accomplish more with their existing installers. From mounting raceways in minutes to handling clumsier signs with the jib attachment, the Van Ladder has streamlined operations and reduced stress for their team. As they put it, the truck isn’t just a tool—it’s an investment that pays for itself every day. --- ### TITLE: Signarc of Beckley URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/testimonials/signarc-of-beckley/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: 2026 Fully Loaded Sign Package — $145,834.58 — 5-Year Standard Warranty Enter your email address to download your detailed quote* “The Chariot basket functions sold us.” “Jobs that took 2–3 guys now take 1–2.” “If a tool saves us time, it saves me money.” “Other than employees, the best investment we’ve made at SignARC is the Van Ladder.” After years of relying on BOTH a traditional bucket truck and a crane for installs over awnings or under overhangs, SignARC of Beckley discovered that Van Ladder’s Chariot Bucket integrated with the Workport box was a game-changer. --- ### TITLE: How a Storage Box Can Transform Sign Installations URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/blog/storage/ CATEGORY: Case Study/Story CONTENT: For years, sign installers have dealt with the same daily frustrations—forgotten tools, road-grime on their signs, cramped truck beds, and too many installations lengthened by unplanned trips to Home Depot. As installation work has become more competitive, traditional service trucks simply haven’t kept up with the demands of efficiency. To become more efficient, many sign companies are switching to the Van Ladder’s Chariot Bucket Truck with its 12’ Workport box — not just bins attached to a flatbed, but real enclosed cargo space functioning as a traveling warehouse. The impact on workflow, efficiency, and employee morale has been amazing. A Mobile Workspace Out of the Elements In regions with harsh winters or unpredictable weather, the enclosed box has proven invaluable. Installers who once struggled with signs getting splattered by road grime during transport now store their panels, letters, and faces fully protected inside the truck. What used to require tarps, towels, or risky open-bed hauling is now a clean, controlled environment. Many crews even use the interior space as a temporary workshop — peeling vinyl, installing new graphics, or making small on-site repairs without fighting rain, wind, or snow. Instead of trying to borrow workspace inside a customer’s business or waiting for the weather to clear, techs simply step inside the box, turn on the lights, and get to work. Organization That Eliminates the Most Common Installation Slowdowns With the Workport box, one of the biggest changes installers report is a dramatic reduction in forgotten tools and supplies. The Workport allows companies to create a clearly defined home for every category of equipment: electrical components, hardware, paint, rigging gear, cleaning supplies, safety equipment, power tools, hand tools, and more. Instead of digging through tool bags or climbing into cluttered truck beds, crews know exactly where everything belongs. Many shops routinely stock the box at the end of each week — refilling fasteners, checking tool inventory, and preparing for next week’s installs. This consistent organization has virtually eliminated the “Did we bring the…?” conversations that slows down departures in the morning or worse, requires a frantic parts run in the middle of the job. For companies juggling multiple installers or multiple vehicles, the standardized layout has also ended the problem of tools bouncing between trucks. Everything a crew needs stays with the vehicle, not the person. Cargo Capacity That Replaces Pickup Beds and Trailers While organization matters, the raw hauling capacity of the storage box is equally impressive. Sign companies are surprised by how much they can fit inside the project area — from full 5x10 panels to stacks of channel letters, and even long raceways (up to 14’ when slid between the seats). Companies that routinely used trailers for hauling larger jobs can usually get by with just the truck. Others report that they can load an entire week’s worth of installations at once, separating panels with blankets or cardboard and keeping everything protected and dry. Installers who were accustomed to “making it work” with pickup beds say the new box feels like stepping into a different category of vehicle — more like a secure delivery van than a traditional bucket truck. Workflow Improvements That Save Hours Every Week Having six easily accessible bins paired with 500 cubic feet of storage capacity combines to create one of the biggest benefits of the Workport box: speed. Many crews say they no longer spend the first hour of the day prepping, working off checklists, checking tool bags, or hunting for missing items. The reduction in wasted time has been so noticeable that some owners credit the box with freeing up enough time for significantly more installs each week. On site, the improved workflow continues. Instead of climbing into cluttered truck beds or rummaging through piles of tools, installers have easily accessible compartments on the outside of the truck, lockable with the truck’s key fob. They can grab what they need immediately and keep the job moving. For quick vinyl repairs or electrical fixes, the enclosed box often becomes a mobile repair station. Installers appreciate “jumping out and getting right to work on the install” — something that was rarely possible with their older trucks. A Safer, Cleaner, More Professional Install Vehicle Safety gear is now stored neatly in its own compartments, making OSHA compliance easier. Hard hats, harnesses, cones, extinguishers, first-aid kits are easily accessible. The difference in truck cleanliness is also noticeable. Owners mention that traditional service trucks often looked like their kitchen “junk drawer” — a bad impression when arriving at a customer site. With a little intention, dedicated storage areas can change that. Installers can now pull up in a vehicle that looks organized and professional, reflecting the quality of the work they do. For many, the Workport is more than a storage box — it’s a tool for elevating the company’s brand. And it doesn’t hurt that the box becomes a 6’x12’ billboard, advertising their business while showing the world what they can do with vinyl. What It All Adds Up To: A Better Day on the Job In the end, installers describe something deceptively simple: the job is just easier now. There are fewer interruptions, fewer forgotten items, and fewer weather-related issues. The storage box has become more than a place to keep things — it’s the backbone of an efficient installation operation. A mobile workshop, a weather shield, a hardware store on wheels, and an organizational system all in one. For sign companies looking to improve efficiency, reduce downtime, and support their installers, the Workport box may be the most impactful upgrade they can make to their fleet. --- ### TITLE: A Culture Built on Trust — Including Trust in Their Equipment URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/blog/a-culture-built-on-trust/ CATEGORY: Case Study/Story CONTENT: For KC Custom Signs in Kansas City, success isn't just measured by the signs they build — it's measured by the people who build them. Founder Mike Kuzmich describes the company as “culture-happy,” built on respect, pride in workmanship, and creating meaningful careers in the sign industry. “We make custom signs, yes, but what we’re making is people’s brand for their business,” Mike says. “We take pride in our work, so everything needs a custom touch.” That focus on people shows up everywhere in the company’s operations. KC Custom Signs holds team meetings every Monday morning — not just for project updates, but for personal and professional growth. Each teammate sets goals and the entire group helps keep one another accountable. “I don’t have employees — I have teammates,” Mike says. “We preach, ‘Be a better person every single day.’” Culture That Drives Growth When Mike and his VP, John Taylor, started the company, they set one main priority: build a place where people want to stay long-term. Incentives, a safe and organized environment, continuous learning, and a positive workplace all support that mission. The company has grown from six employees to more than fourteen, with no dedicated sales or marketing team. “Everything is word of mouth,” Mike explains. “We want to give our team a workplace they can retire from. That’s important to me as an owner.” A Skeptical Start Leads to a Game-Changing Decision When Mike first evaluated the Van Ladder — a bucket truck purpose-built for sign installers — he wasn’t sure what to think. “It’s a van with a ladder attached to it. How are you not skeptical in the sign industry?” he laughs. But once the team put it to work, the doubts disappeared quickly. Over six years, KC Custom Signs pushed their Van Ladder hard — 12 hours a day, across multiple states, on 90% of their installs. Only two service interruptions: one minor relay issue fixed in the field and one basic Ford maintenance repair. “This thing is really versatile and it's all-electric. It doesn’t just work — it will outwork you.” Expanding Capabilities with the Right Equipment At first, the company outsourced both channel letters and installations. Today, KC Custom Signs manufactures and installs their own channel letters and performs installs for other sign companies across the country — from Chicago to Texas to Colorado. It’s helped us grow a lot.” Designed for the Sign Installer’s World Mike says the Van Ladder’s purpose-built design is what sets it apart from other sign installation equipment: Fits and operates quietly in tight retail spaces — no big diesel engine or leaking hydraulics Smart storage — hardware, tools, and accessories organized in built-in compartments The Chariot Bucket — keeps tools and materials within arm’s reach Easy, fast maintenance — simple repairs without specialists Compared to large hydraulic trucks — like the one his friend purchased — the cost of ownership and reliability has been dramatically better. “Why spend $200,000 on a hydraulic truck that’s down for three months when a Van Ladder handles everything under 50 feet? Customers don’t even know we’re there.” Supporting the Future KC Custom Signs continues to grow strategically. Mike doesn’t want a large workforce that becomes hard to care for — he wants to scale in ways that keep culture and quality high. A second Van Ladder is already on the radar. “If anything, we’d add another installer and another Van Ladder. Because it’s working.” This year, Mike traded in his original unit for a new 2026 model featuring the Ford 7.3L “Godzilla engine” — and he’s excited for what comes next. I know you will take care of us.” --- ### TITLE: Why Every Sign Company Should Consider a Service Division URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/blog/why-every-sign-company-should-consider-a-service-division/ CATEGORY: Case Study/Story CONTENT: Over the past few months, I’ve had the privilege of interviewing several sign service experts. I asked them big-picture questions like, “Why would a sign company want a dedicated service division?” and practical questions such as, “What are the bucket truck requirements for sign service?” Here’s what I learned. 3 Key Benefits of Sign Service A Reliable and Predictable Revenue Stream Sign service creates a steady flow of work that complements sign manufacturing. While manufacturing tends to be up and down—busy one month and slow the next—there’s always a need for service: cleaning, bulb replacement, and repairs. Service invoices may not be as large, but the consistency evens out cash flow, giving sign companies more stability. Stronger Customer Relationships Most sign companies do some service because customers expect it. But a company that actively pursues service builds much deeper connections. Scheduled cleanings, LED replacements, and preventative maintenance create ongoing touchpoints. One expert summed it up well: “A service division allows a sign company more opportunities to prove their core values to their customers.” A Foot in the Door with Larger Customers Winning manufacturing contracts from competitors can be tough. However, many companies aren’t proactive about servicing the signs they sell. By offering quick, reliable service, you can earn a customer’s trust. And once you’ve proven yourself on the service side, it becomes much easier to win their manufacturing business too. 5 Keys to Excellent Sign Service Based on my conversations, here are the most important principles: Be intentional – Offer scheduled service to prevent issues before they arise. Be prepared – Aim for one-and-done service calls. Be quick – Minimize setup time to close more tickets each day. Be competent – Invest in training and retaining technicians. Be accountable – As one expert put it: “You can’t let a sign kick your butt.” Go above and beyond to fix problems and build trust. Why Van Ladder Is the Best Truck for Sign Service When it comes to equipment, a Van Ladder truck is a favorite choice among service professionals. Here’s why: Compact size for maneuverability in tight spaces Generous working height and side reach for most retail jobs No outriggers, which eliminates setup time 500 cubic feet of onboard storage for a fully stocked service truck Chariot Bucket with 400 lb. capacity and service-specific accessories for hands-free efficiency Final Takeaway A dedicated service division isn’t just about fixing signs—it’s about building reliable revenue, strengthening relationships, and creating new business opportunities. With the right strategy and the right equipment, like a Van Ladder truck, your service team can deliver faster, more efficient, and more dependable results. --- ### TITLE: Single-Man Bucket or Two-Man Bucket? URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/blog/single-man-bucket-or-two-man-bucket/ CATEGORY: Case Study/Story CONTENT: Most aerial lift manufacturers produce both single-man and two-man buckets. At Van Ladder, we only produce a single-man bucket, but we design accessories that in many cases make a two-man bucket unnecessary (at least for sign work). So, when people ask if we have a two-man bucket option, their question inevitably leads to a discussion about what the two people are doing when they’re up in the air. More precisely, the person who’s not operating the lift—what’s he/she doing? For example, we once observed a job site where two guys were hanging a paper template marking installation holes for 5’ channel letters spelling the word “KOHL’S”. The men were using an 85’ crane truck with a two-man bucket. In this case, there wasn’t a single component of the sign that weighed more than fifty pounds, but both the pattern and the individual channel letters were too clumsy for one installer to hang by himself, hence the two-man bucket. The helper’s job was to hold the pattern in place while the other guy taped the paper to the wall. Same thing for the individual channel letters—the helper held them while the other guy installed the fasteners. My partner, Dave, looked at me while the pattern went up, and said, “That’s a lot of truck to hang paper!” In the above case, a Van Ladder bucket truck with the Chariot Bucket would have been perfect. It not only has plenty of working height and side reach to install the entire set of channel letters from one parking position, but it also has bucket accessories that accomplish what the second person would be doing in a two-man bucket—namely holding something. Our pattern arms hold paper templates securely while the tape is being applied, and our sign platform and clamps hold the 5’ channel letters in place, so the installer has his/her hands free to work with tools. This frees the second person to work on the ground or behind the wall, making the 2-person team almost twice as efficient. Add to that the fact that a Van Ladder is half the cost of an 85’ crane truck with a two-man bucket, and it’s hard to make the case for not using a single-man lift with the proper sign installation accessories. I’ve also observed a case when a Van Ladder could perform the work but couldn’t match the efficiency of a two-man bucket. In this instance, the company was installing pole light fixtures in a gigantic parking lot. Each 40’ pole had three fixtures at the top. and the new LED fixtures were 25 lbs. Because the two-man bucket had a 500 lb. platform capacity and additional room in the bucket, a single installer was able to re-lamp an entire pole without having to return to the ground. With the Van Ladder, each pole would have required two trips up and down. That re-laming job occurred at night, when the parking lot was empty. So, the installers were looking for every efficiency they could find to finish the job in the limited hours available to them. In that case, the two-man bucket made perfect sense, even though the truck was more expensive. The key is finding the most efficient aerial equipment for most of your work, especially if you only have one truck. If you have multiple aerial trucks, a good exercise is to ask which jobs you currently do are the least efficient. Are you having a hard time setting up the truck in cramped parking areas? Do you lack the reach to accomplish the job in a single set-up? Are you lacking accessories to simplify your installations? Are you short of onboard storage for tools, inventory, and equipment? Would more capacity for craning help? What piece of equipment would bring the biggest benefit in terms of diversifying your fleet? Jason Ricketts, owner of Airport View Signs in Frederick, Maryland, owned two bucket trucks. One was an Elliot M43R (with a two-man bucket), and the other was a single man fiberglass bucket. Jason was happy with his Elliot, but he wanted to replace his single-man bucket with a truck having both a smaller chassis and more side reach. Van Ladder was the only option that checked both boxes. Here’s an excerpt from my interview with Jason: Me: “How has the sign industry changed in the last twenty-five years?” Jason: “The biggest change in the sign business has been the conversion from Neon to LED, making signs a whole lot easier to install, a lot less time, a lot lighter, and easier to build.” Me: “What led you to Van Ladder?” Jason: “I had an articulating one-man bucket truck, and it didn’t have the sideways reach that a lot of times this business requires because of sidewalks and parking spaces and different things. So, I started looking around for a lighter weight and smaller vehicle to get around in the big cities that had that kind of reach, and the Van Ladder was really the only one. And it’s proven to be exactly what I thought it was going to be. It’s got that good sideways reach, because a lot of times you’ve got to reach twenty-five or thirty feet to the side, and it can do that. And having the pivoting bracket on the front (rotating material handling system) makes it ever better, so you can get squared up. I can’t think of a situation that we’ve been in that we haven’t been able to utilize it. Obviously, the only thing would be the weight restrictions, but like I said before, we don’t really handle stuff that’s that heavy anymore.” Me: “Tell me about your other truck.” Jason: “The other truck is an Elliot M43R. They both have their place in the business. With the Elliot being a crane, the other option is when signs are that heavy, we crane it in place and use the Van Ladder to attach it. A few months ago, we did a big pylon in Glen Burnie where we used the crane to pick the stuff up and the Van Ladder to attach it all. It was a big electronic message board, and it made it real nice.” Me: “So, if you looked at your whole portfolio of business today with the lighter weight signs, how much as a percentage could the Van Ladder tackle?” Jason: “I would say in this business that I have—the work that we do—it’s probably about 90%. There’s not a whole lot that we do that it can’t do. Banners, channel letters, putting up paper patterns for Gemini letters or whatever, it works great. If I had to start from scratch, knowing that I was going to do installations, I would definitely buy the Van Ladder for a couple of reasons. It’s more compact to get around town, and probably one of the biggest things for us is that you can put everything inside of it, and you don’t have to worry about strapping it all down, or the potential of it falling off, or getting damage on the road, because there is a lot of cargo space and there’s plenty of places for all  your tools. And it opens (the possibilities of) the people that can operate it. They can drive it because it’s a smaller vehicle. The bigger bucket trucks, you may need a CDL to drive. You can even use it as a cargo van, you know, just to go letter some windows. You don’t always have to use the ladder (aerial lift) portion of it. So, you wouldn’t need to buy a second vehicle to do ground-type stuff. You can drive it downtown and park it in a parking spot and be comfortable with it because it’s not much bigger than a Transit Van.” As you can see, Jason feels good about the diversification of his fleet, even with only two trucks. He has an Elliot crane (with a two-man basket) that can lift a couple thousand lbs. to tackle the big jobs, and he has a fully stocked Van Ladder to handle the jobs weighing less than 200 lbs., which these days covers most of his work. And it’s nice that the lion’s share of the miles accrues to the less expensive vehicle. That stretches the life of the crane, which is a more costly truck to replace. --- ### TITLE: Purchasing a Bucket Truck vs Renting a Towable Lift for Sign Installations URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/blog/purchasing-a-bucket-truck-vs-renting-a-towable-lift-for-sign-installations/ CATEGORY: Case Study/Story CONTENT: Imagine being at a fork in the road. Two years ago, you hired a guy to work in your shop who happened to have some installation experience. When you asked if he was willing to tackle an occasional install, he said, “Sure.” So, you began keeping a few of your aerial installations in-house, renting a towable lift on an as-needed basis. Now, two years later, your fabricator/installer is spending most of his time hanging signs. You’re renting the 50’ towable lift from Home Depot two or three times a week at $500 per day, and you’re wondering if there’s a magic moment when it makes sense to purchase your own bucket truck. Circumstances like this have motivated many sign company owners to call us to explore bucket truck pricing. Since buying a bucket truck is a big decision, we’ve learned to ask questions designed to help weigh the pros and cons. As with most big decisions, timing is everything, right? If you pull the trigger too soon, you’ll tie up precious capital on an underused asset. If you wait too long, you’ll deny yourself the very efficiencies that will ultimately pay for the equipment. So, this blog is designed to walk you through the pros and cons of owning a bucket truck as opposed to renting a towable lift to perform sign installations. Annual Costs For sign companies that rent towable lifts, their monthly spend on lift rentals is typically the first trigger prompting an investigation of bucket truck prices. In their mind, they’re throwing money out the window on rentals, so if they can finance a truck at or below their monthly rental expense, they feel it’s worth exploring. As of September of 2025, our Chariot Sign Package Price is $144,942. This purchase price financed over 72 months at 6% (without regard to taxes) produces a monthly payment of $2,402. If the rent for a towable lift is $500 per day, then it takes approximately five rental days per month to equal a monthly truck payment. But wait, don’t forget that you’ll need to insure the truck. Insurance costs might push you to six rental days per month before the bucket truck will cash flow itself. Here are a few other cost factors to consider: Garaging – Do you have a safe place to keep the truck? Service on the chassis – This may not affect the equation very much, since you’re currently pulling the towable lift with an owned vehicle (probably a pickup), on which you are already paying for service (oil changes, etc.). But if you purchase a diesel bucket truck, keep in mind that your service expenses will exceed those of a gasoline engine. Servicing the lift – Is there a parts and labor warranty on the lift, or will you be paying for repairs out of pocket? Who will you put in charge of routine maintenance. Annual inspections – OSHA requires an annual inspection for aerial devices. If you’re renting a lift, that expense is covered by the rental shop. If you own a bucket truck, the annual inspection is your responsibility (figure at least $500). Flexibility Obviously, renting a lift gives you maximum flexibility. That’s assuming the rental company has towable lifts with various working heights and lifting capacities, and that the most appropriate lift is available on the day you need it. If you purchase a bucket truck, you’ll be forced to decide on a working height and a lifting capacity before you write the check. Do you buy a truck that will handle any installation that you’ll ever perform? What if you could save $100,000 by purchasing a truck that will tackle 80% of your installations? If you go the 80% route, you’ll still have the flexibility to rent a lift when more capacity is needed, but those additional rental costs need to be added to your comparison spreadsheet before you can determine the most cost-effective route. Another flexibility factor is the ability to maneuver into tight spots. Depending on its size, a bucket truck will be either more maneuverable or less maneuverable than a towable lift. It would be wise to assess your frequently visited customers and determine which chassis size is the most appropriate for your book of business. The last flexibility issue that I’ll mention is the flexibility to start servicing signs. If you’ve been renting towable lifts, you probably haven’t focused on sign service. After all, it’s not worth renting a lift to change a light bulb. But once you own a bucket truck, sign service is a possibility. Servicing signs is not only a potential way to keep your bucket truck busy between installations, but it also allows you to find new customers who may be in the market for a new sign someday. It's interesting that many larger sign companies inadvertently create two silos: An installation department and a service department. One big reason these departments don’t meld together is that the installation trucks aren’t designed for service (not enough storage) and the service trucks aren’t designed for installations (no way to hold a sign). This can be frustrating when one department is slow, and the other is buried with work. Fortunately, the marketplace is responding with hybrid bucket trucks that can cross over between installations and service. So, from a flexibility standpoint, a hybrid bucket truck is an option worth considering. Sign Industry Accessories Rental companies usually offer equipment designed for general aerial use. In other words, they don’t typically rent specialized equipment for a particular industry. So, the towable lift you rent at Home Depot probably doesn’t come with time-saving accessories that can turn a two-person job into a one-person job. For example, if you’re planning to install a one-hundred-pound raceway sign, you will likely need to rent a towable lift with a two-man basket—one person running the controls and operating the power tools while the other person is holding the sign. But if you own a bucket truck with sign installation accessories, your two-person crew can divide and conquer. When material-handling requirements are accomplished through specialized tools, only one person can be in the bucket. This allows the second person to work on the ground (uncrating, cleaning, wiring) or behind the wall. This division of labor can significantly cut installations times, making your jobs more profitable and your bids more competitive. Obvious Efficiencies There are some inherent inefficiencies associated with renting a towable lift by the day: Scheduling – Is the towable lift available on the day it’s required. First come, first serve – For rental shops that don’t take reservations, your installer must arrive when the rental shop opens to pick up the towable lift. A second vehicle – If your shop truck is needed to pick up the towable lift, then a second vehicle with a trailer will likely be required to bring the sign, tools, fasteners, etc. Set up time – Towable lifts can be finicky to set up, and bigger projects often require multiple set-ups. When added up, these inherent inefficiencies leave a lot of money on the table; money that could be used to help purchase a bucket truck. Surveys It’s one thing to rent a towable lift for a job that’s already on the books (since you’ve included the cost of the lift in your quote), but what about quote requests that require an aerial survey? A prospective customer is not likely to pay for your lift rental simply to receive a competitive bid from you. If you had your own truck, you’d likely tackle that survey the same day the quote request came in, allowing you to send the quote within the next day or two. But if you rent towable lifts, you might postpone the survey until you have an installation lined up so you can kill two birds with one stone. You’re hoping that your prospective customer is patient, but what if they’re not? How many sales are lost to untimely quotes? Conclusion Renting towable lifts is great way to wade into sign installations because it allows you to keep your equipment costs in line with your revenue stream (variable versus fixed expenses). But there is a crossover point when the inefficiencies of renting begin to outweigh the benefits. Having a thorough understanding of your desired future state, with its costs and efficiencies, will help you know the ideal time to pull the trigger on purchasing your own bucket truck. --- ### TITLE: Download Quote URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/price/download-quote/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: Download the quote Watch the video below to walk you through the quote Contact Rickon Peterson with any additional questions. Call 888-887-5847 or email rickon@vanladder.com --- ### TITLE: Email Opt-In URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/price/email-opt-in/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: We serve only the sign and lighting industry, so all our content is created with you in mind. By sharing your email address, you’ll hear inspiring stories from people like you, and you’ll stay up to date on our latest innovations for installations and service. Plus, if you choose to offer feedback, you’ll have a chance to shape the future of Van Ladder equipment. If you give us your email address, here’s our three promises: We won’t flood your inbox (You can expect to hear from us once or twice a month) and we won’t share your email address with anyone else. We will provide relevant and interesting content; typically, it’s a real-life video story about sign or lighting companies trying to become more efficient (see example). We will immediately honor any opt-out requests. Here is an example of what you can expect. --- ### TITLE: Subcontracting Installations Versus Owning Your Own Bucket Truck URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/blog/subcontracting-installations-versus-owning-your-own-bucket-truck/ CATEGORY: Case Study/Story CONTENT: I can’t tell you when to stop subcontracting your installations and take them in-house, but I’ve discussed this topic with hundreds of sign company owners so I’m at least well-versed in the considerations. Why might you entertain the idea of hanging your own signs? There are several of the reasons frequently shared with us: You suspect that you’re leaving too much money on the table by outsourcing what could be a very profitable part of your business. You have concerns about the quality of your subcontractor’s work (You don’t want that beautiful sign falling off the building and landing on someone’s car hood). You’re tired of your subcontractor’s ever-changing schedule, regularly forcing you to make apologetic phone calls to your customers, “I’m sorry, but he won’t be there today. Hopefully, next week.” If you’re in any of these boats, perhaps this article will help you sort through some of the pros and cons of doing your own sign installations. Fixed Cost vs Variable Cost If you’ve been subcontracting your installations to a third party, you already know the beauty of a variable cost. When there’s no installations, there’s no cost. Fixed costs, on the other hand, can be your best friend or your worst enemy depending on how busy you are. If you purchase a new bucket truck and finance it with a bank or leasing company, your monthly truck payment will probably exceed $2,000, and hiring an employee to run the bucket truck will cost even more than that. These costs, along with the insurance expenses, are fixed. When you have very little installation work, your fixed expenses won’t change, pulling your profit/loss statement into the red. But if you’re super busy with installations, you might cover your monthly fixed costs in the first week, making the final three weeks of the month extremely profitable. That’s why it’s important to analyze your records. Historically, how much per month (on average) did you pay your subcontractor? If your projected monthly fixed expenses for doing your own installations exceed what you paid out to your subcontractor, you might be better off farming out your installations until you grow more. That is, unless you have a solid plan for building your installation business once you have the truck along with an installer. For example, if your market is underserved, maybe you can handle installations for other sign companies in addition to your own. Another strategy for reducing fixed costs when you first start handling your own installations is renting a tow-behind lift on the days you need it. This recharacterizes the lift expense from a fixed cost to a variable cost. Renting a lift by the day carries some frustrations and inefficiencies, though, which I’ll discuss in my next blog. Venturing Into Sign Service One often-overlooked benefit of having your own installer and bucket truck is that you can venture into servicing signs (if you have qualified personnel with the proper licensing). Many sign companies use their service division as a prospecting tool to find long-term customers. It doesn’t take long to drive down a city street at night and observe which signs need cleaning or bulb replacements. An email to those businesses the following day with a photo of their sign attached, along with a proposal to fix it, might reel-in customers that you wouldn’t otherwise land. After all, aren’t new sign buyers more likely to give preference to a company that’s providing great service on their old sign? Hiring an Installer Good installers don’t grow on trees, and it’s getting harder to find young people who are willing to work both high in the air and in the elements, let alone possess the necessary skills to be a good sign installer. Many sign companies start looking in their own shop. Who is better to install a sign than someone who helped make it? Using shop personnel for installations has its pros and cons, though. One big pro is that your installers can be productively engaged in the shop when there are no installations on the schedule. That flexibility recategorizes your installation labor from a fixed cost to a variable cost, helping your installation division become profitable sooner. On the flip side, using shop personnel for sign installations makes weekly production planning difficult. When your shop foreman loses a portion of his/her crew to off-site installations, it can be challenging to meet customer deadlines. Following Best Practice for Sales How does having a bucket truck and an installer help you follow best practice for sales? Based on conversations with many sign company owners, the thing that comes to mind is surveys. Let’s say a prospective customer calls you, asking for a bid on a new sign. Best practice dictates that you turn that quote around within a reasonable time (Let’s say 48 hours). But before you can provide an accurate quote, you need to perform a survey, and to do the survey, you need to get up in the air. Do you incur the expense of renting a lift in the quote stage? Do you send your salesperson out with a ladder? Do you ask XYX Sign Company to do your survey for you? Or do you stand on the ground and try to guess what’s up there. Do any of these options strike you as best practice? If you have a bucket truck and an installer, you can usually tackle the survey the same day the quote request arrives. What a great message to the prospective customer; not only are you quick and thorough, but you also have the right equipment. Your quotes will be more accurate, and your quote turnaround will be a fraction of what it was before. Using best practices for quoting invariably leads to more sales and greater profitability. Getting Credit for Your Work So, you’ve met with your customer several times to design a brilliant sign that perfectly captures their brand. They give you the go-ahead to build the sign, and your production team knocks the project out of the park (You’re so proud). Now it’s time to install the sign so you call XYZ Sign Company to erect your work-of-art at the busy strip mall. Hundreds of people see the sign going up, and all of them assume that XYZ Sign Company designed and fabricated it. Now you’re irritated (rightly so) because one of your competitors is getting credit for your amazing work. Being Perceived as a Full-Service Sign Company We see very few sign companies handling the entire process, from design to installation, by themselves. For instance, maybe you have an affordable and reliable option for outsourcing your channel letters on a wholesale basis. But because fabrication happens inside the shop, no one knows that you’re not making your own channel letters. If you hire another sign company to install your signs, everyone knows you’re not a full-service sign company, and worse yet, they probably think the installing company is. Does the perception of being a full-service sign company matter? Let me tell you a story: I lost my dad not long ago. Fortunately, he and my mother had preplanned their funerals at a full-service funeral home. Prior to this experience, I didn’t know what funeral homes did. I mean, I knew some of it, but I didn’t know they cancel the deceased social security number. I didn’t know they coach families on how to write an obituary and then supply that information to the newspaper. I didn’t know they plan the meal that follows the funeral. I didn’t know they correspond with the military to obtain the veteran’s plaque for the gravestone. I didn’t know they obtain multiple original copies of the death certificate so I can close accounts. As I bragged up this funeral home to other people, I discovered that not all funeral homes offer this wide range of services. But I can tell you this: It felt great to be in the hands of someone who controlled the whole process competently because, at the time, I was over my head. I think branding is a bit like funeral planning; it’s both expensive and important, but it’s not something most people are familiar with. Business owners want to get it right, but they’re intimidated because they don’t understand the depth and breadth of what building a brand entails. So, it’s comforting to have someone in their corner who can walk them through the whole process from beginning to end. I think that’s worth striving for. Now, here’s a little Van Ladder commercial: Based on the above discussion points, here are some reasons Van Ladder makes a great first bucket truck? Fixed costs - There are no other new bucket trucks designed for sign installations at our price point, and the Chariot Sign Package can tackle virtually any job weighing under 200 lbs. Sign service – The Workport box has 500 cubic feet of organized storage space, allowing you to bring everything onboard for one-and-done sign service. Installer friendly – Van Ladder’s Chariot Bucket comes with specially designed installation tools to help installers perform their job safely and efficiently. It’s much easier to recruit installers when they know you have the right tools for the job. Plus, at a gross vehicle weight of 14,500, candidates don’t need a CDL license. Great for surveys – Being lightweight, small, and quiet, the Van Ladder can get in and out of places without disrupting business activities, making it the perfect truck for surveys. Getting credit for your work – The 6’ x 12’ box makes the Van Ladder a traveling billboard. Being perceived as a full-service sign company – The Van Ladder Chariot Sign package has a unique look, designed exclusively for the sign and lighting industry. It’s state-of-the-art equipment that sends a message. --- ### TITLE: Bucket Truck Accessories for the Sign Industry URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/blog/bucket-truck-accessories-for-the-sign-industry/ CATEGORY: Case Study/Story CONTENT: If you go to any sign manufacturing enterprise and look at the machinery inside the shop, you’ll find highly specialized equipment for printing, cutting, and forming signs. Wouldn’t it make sense, then, that the equipment used for installing signs should be highly specialized, too? New generation signs are shockingly lightweight, but still clumsy to hold. Most signs today weigh less than 200 lbs., so from a weight standpoint, they certainly don’t require a crane. What they do require, though, is specialized material-handling accessories. Without these specialized fixtures, you’re probably stuck using a larger truck with a two-man basket, simply to have one person to hold the sign while the other is taping, leveling, drilling, etc. From an efficiency standpoint, this leaves a lot to be desired. At Van Ladder, we recognized that the sign industry wasn’t being served with installation equipment specifically designed for today’s reality. So, we set out to create an aerial workshop with an arsenal of tools to free an installer’s hands, allowing them to perform almost any kind of sign installation (under 200 lbs.) safely and efficiently without a second person in the bucket. Here’s a summary of our specialized tools. The Chariot Bucket Much like a Roman Chariot, the Chariot Bucket has a rounded front. Permanently attached to the bucket is a rotating material-handling system, giving installers 140 degrees of rotation. This feature not only allows signage to be attached to the bucket, but it also allows the installer to square-up the sign to a wall regardless of how the truck is parked. The Chariot has retractable upper and lower forks for holding raceway signs, cabinets, or large channel letters. Sign Platform and Pads One consequence of signs becoming lighter is that they’ve lost much of their structural integrity prior to being attached to a wall. For this reason, it’s often easier to support the sign from beneath than to hang it from above. That’s why we’ve designed a non-slip platform that sits on the forks. There are cases, however, when the platform doesn’t work because the sign isn’t flat on the bottom. For those circumstances, we’ve also designed non-slip pads. Attachable Mid-forks It’s not unusual for buildings to have an awning below the sign and an overhang above it. What do you do when the lower forks are hindered by an awning and the upper forks are hindered by an overhang? You attach the mid-forks, onto which the platform or pads can be affixed. Securement Clamps It’s nice having the weight of the sign sitting on the forks, but how do you keep the sign from falling off the forks if there’s a gust of wind? That’s what our securement clamps are for. When installing a cabinet sign, the two clamps simply fit over the top and keep the cabinet from falling forward. For channel letters on a raceway, the clamps fit over the letters, exposing the raceway to the wall. Upper Fork Extensions These extensions can be handy when removing an old sign from a wall. Sometimes, after lag bolts are removed, the sign seems to be held in place with nothing but caulk. The fork extensions have steel tabs at the end, which can be slid behind the sign while it’s being pried away from the wall. This helps ensure that the sign won’t fall to the ground while you’re operating the pry bar. Face Bar The old style pan faces behaved quite well sitting on the forks, but this isn’t true of flex faces. So, the face bar attaches to the Chariot Bucket and gives you an 8’ bar on which you can clamp a flex face. It works well on faces up to 12’ long x 5’ wide. And, because the bar is attached to the rotating material-handling system, it’s easy to line up the face with the slots in the sign. Then, slide the face in, removing clamps as you go. Pattern Arms It might take four arms to attach a paper template to a wall, but it shouldn’t take two people. Adjustable up and down and from side to side, the pattern arms hold the template in position, allowing you the use of your hands for levelling and taping. Banner Spindle The banner spindle is like a giant tape dispenser, allowing the installer to have both hands free for leveling the banner and installing the fasteners. Jib Attachment For signs that aren’t designed to be supported from the bottom, or for cabinets that are too tall to rest on the lower forks, the jib attachment is the perfect accessory. It gives you an elevated lifting eye at approximately the height of the installer’s face, allowing the sign to be hung from above rather than supported from beneath. Project Bag When you have a bunch of 12” dimensional letters to install and you don’t want them sitting near your feet in the bucket, or when you’re doing an LED retrofit and you want a handy place to store your lights, tools, and cleaning supplies, the project bag will become your best friend. The project bag has an aluminum frame, canvas sides, and a high-density poly bottom. The wonderful thing is that it rotates around the bucket on the Chariot’s material-handling system, so it’s never in your way. Tool Tray The tool tray is mounted onto the Chariot Bucket directly behind the installer. It has three compartments, two with large holes for holding your drills, and a center compartment for fasteners. Bulb Holder This tool provides a hard-stop for holding fluorescent bulbs or LED light sticks in the protected area between the rails of the fly ladder. Since the bulb holder clamps to a rung, it can be moved up or down the fly ladder to accommodate any size bulb or LED light stick. Below-the-Bucket Lifting Eye & Remote Control If you want to leave the bucket unmanned for craning, we’ve installed a lifting eye on the underside of the Chariot Bucket. Our corded remote has plenty of length for the operator to move around to see what he/she is doing. bucket capacity (including the installer), the Chariot can’t hoist the big signs. That’s what the big trucks are for. But even for those jobs, the Chariot makes a great helper rig. Sign installers have a hard job, but having the right tools can make it a whole lot easier. --- ### TITLE: What’s Scary About a Used Bucket Truck? URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/blog/used-bucket-truck-problems/ CATEGORY: Case Study/Story CONTENT: “When I add up the repairs for this (insert cuss word) bucket truck over the last three years, I could have easily made payments on a new truck—and now I still have this #@%&#* truck, and those repairs didn’t add one dollar to its value. Plus, every time it breaks down, my installation schedule gets all jacked up and I wind up with angry customers.” Those are the words of a frustrated sign company owner who purchased a used hydraulic bucket truck and lived to regret it. Rather than being in the field making money, his truck is in the shop, costing money. On the other hand, I remember visiting a sign company and seeing their old battle-scarred bucket truck alongside the building. Assuming it was probably a huge source of frustration, I asked, “Does that old truck give you fits?” “Not at all,” came the reply. “That truck doesn’t owe me a thing. It was all I could afford when I bought it three years ago, and it’s been reliable. It helped me grow my business to where I can now consider buying a new truck.” So, there you have it—both ends of the spectrum—an expensive boat anchor, or a helpful steppingstone across a stream that’s too wide to jump across. It’s a crapshoot, and there are two chronic complaints about used hydraulic bucket trucks that make it a high stakes crapshoot: Internal hydraulic hoses – No one expects a garden hose to last too many seasons, right? It sits outside in the elements and gradually becomes brittle. Then, when you move it around to water your shrubs, the hose develops a leak. The same is true of hydraulic hoses. To protect their hoses from damage, most bucket truck manufacturers bundle them together and hide them inside the steel tubing of the boom sections, where they move around with the lift. As the hoses age, they become more brittle and eventually rupture or leak. Because the hoses are inside the boom sections, replacing them is both time-consuming and expensive. It’s normal for service shops to charge $8,000 to $12,000 to install a new hose kit, and you’ll likely wait a month before your truck is back in service. That’s a budget buster AND a schedule killer. Diesel engines – Most hydraulic lifts run off the vehicle’s PTO (Power take-off), which transfers power from the vehicle’s transmission to the aerial lift. A diesel engine is required to produce the necessary torque to operate a PTO, so the vehicle’s diesel engine sits idling the entire time the aerial lift is in use. Years ago, this didn’t present a problem because diesel engines were made to idle for long periods. But now, with DEF systems (diesel exhaust Fluid), excessive idling causes soot to build up in the particulate filter. Now idling has become the enemy of diesel engines, fostering more frequent repairs and higher maintenance costs. My partner has this saying: No one ever sold their old bucket truck because it was out of style. For the reasons I’ve outlined, people try to sell their used bucket trucks before they become a repair nightmare. Owning a truck with internal hydraulic hoses and an over-idled engine is like traveling around a Monopoly board, hoping not to land on Board Walk (with a hotel). So, if you’re considering purchasing a used bucket truck, make a call to a local aerial service shop and get pricing for a hose kit for that make and model. Ask them about typical turnaround times for repairs. How much will it cost to service that diesel engine? In other words, add the category “Repairs, maintenance, and downtime” to your consideration. It might be that a new bucket truck is more affordable than you think, considering that it will be under warranty. At Van Ladder, we’ve gone to a 5-year warranty on our Chariot lift for both parts and labor. That’s more than twice as long as our competitors. When you add that to the chassis warranty, it might be a strong motivation to consider buying new. What about when our 5-year warranty is over? Well, from a repair standpoint, the Van Ladder isn’t as scary as full hydraulic bucket trucks because our all-electric lift isn’t powered by a PTO, so the vehicle engine can be turned off while the lift is operating. That not only saves fuel, but it also allows us to use gasoline engines with no particulate filters to worry about. The other thing the Van Ladder doesn’t have is hydraulic hoses hidden inside the boom sections. We have two short hoses that sit stationary on top of the truck, making replacements extremely rare and inexpensive. I’m not saying you shouldn’t buy a used bucket truck. After all, we sell plenty of used Van Ladders. I’m only suggesting you go in with your eyes open to the realities of repairs and downtime, especially when there are aging internal hydraulic hoses and gummed up diesel engines. --- ### TITLE: Purchasing a Bucket Truck URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/blog/purchasing-a-bucket-truck/ CATEGORY: Case Study/Story CONTENT: What’s the best bucket truck for the money? That depends on what you’re planning to do with it. If you work with high voltage, you should buy an insulated (dielectric) lift. If you’re trimming trees, you’ll want a knuckle boom so you can descend to your work. A heavy limb could land on a squirt-boom and tip the truck over (or fling the operator out of the bucket like a rocket launcher). A construction company probably values lifting capacity more than a painting contractor does, so the question of the best bucket truck is industry specific. And even within an industry, there are no one-size-fits-all solutions because applications can vary greatly. At Van Ladder we don’t make trucks for linemen or tree trimmers. We make bucket trucks for sign and lighting companies. Over the last twenty years the sign and lighting industries have not only morphed together, but from a bucket truck perspective, their needs have changed radically. Joel Haluck, owner of Signstat in Jeannette, PA, summarized the changes in a recent interview: “It’s actually getting easier, I think. Back in the day when we were drilling 1-1/2” or 2” holes through block buildings—two of those holes per letter for neon—and all the work that we had to do back then, it’s a lot easier now with the LEDs. Before, you’d take a raceway up, and it was nothing to have a 300- or 400-pound raceway with neon transformers and neon letters. You had to have a crane to lift it.  Now, they’re 150 lbs.” Not all of Joel’s signs are small, though, as evidenced by several larger trucks in his fleet. “There are times, as we all know, when you need a truck like that,” Joel said. Then, pointing at his smaller Van Ladder, he added, “But more often than not, you need a truck like this.” Lino Carrillo, another long-time sign company owner, has a fleet of four large installation trucks, ranging in reach from 60’ to 140’. He also has a small service van that can reach 27’. After spending a day together in the field, we sat down with Lino and his installers to hear their observations about the Van Ladder. Here’s what Lino told us: “As the sign industry has changed over time, signs weight a lot less and are easier to install. And you don’t seem to need the same ability to crane things up at the same weight that you did before. So, this truck (Van Ladder) has a lot of facility for us in the new sign industry.”   We asked Lino how a Van Ladder might fit into his fleet. “I think it could actually replace one of the Elliots and our service van, both, which is what makes it unique.” The uniqueness Lino refers to is Van Ladder’s hybrid ability to handle both service and installations. Because the Van Ladder’s box has 500 cubic feet of organized storage capacity, it’s easily capable of warehousing all the tools and inventory needed for one-and-done service calls. But the Van Ladder also has the Chariot Bucket with a rotating material handling system and a host of sign installation accessories, allowing one person to tackle smaller installations without a second person in the bucket. This combination creates the ability to flex the Van Ladder to where it’s needed, service one day, installations the next. Lino’s head installer, Patrick, also shared his thoughts on having a smaller truck around: “The Van Ladder has a smaller footprint, being able to get in and still have 30’ of side reach to get over vehicles in a shopping center; if you go somewhere where it’s packed and nobody is moving their cars, you need to be able to park, boom over them, and still get the job done.” Based on yesteryear’s heavy signs, it’s still a common practice to send a crew of two in a truck with a two-man basket for every installation. Typically, when it’s time to erect the sign, both techs go up in the lift, one running the controls and operating the tools, the other holding the sign. However, as signs have become lighter, more companies are addressing the overkill in both equipment and manpower. A few years ago, Todd Thomas, from Creative Sign Company recognized an opportunity to diversify his fleet by adding a Van Ladder. Here’s how he described it: “We have a number individuals that we could send out in vehicles, but they don’t have CDL (commercial drivers license). So having a vehicle like this (Van Ladder) with the flexibility and economy that it has would be very beneficial. I have a number of cranes, and the problem with the cranes is the initial expense and the maintenance is very high. So, to use them to install something that this unit (the Van Ladder) could install isn’t practical.” Mike Richardson, owner of FASTSIGNS of Bloomington, Indiana, purchased an existing sign company that had two aging Elliots. The trucks were well maintained and in good working condition. However, when Mike explored the cost of replacing them with new models, he realized his best tactic was to conserve the Elliots by using them more sparingly. He accomplished this by purchasing a Van Ladder (at half the cost of a larger truck) to tackle their smaller installations. Here’s how Mike explained it: “I started looking at running our Elliots, and they’ve got some years on them, but Jeff (the previous owner) has done a great job of maintaining them. I started looking at factors like fuel, maintenance costs, and some flexibility, as well. So that’s what led to the Van Ladder is the ability to pull into a spot at a strip center and just rock and roll. With the Elliots, we were really trying to extend their life by rotating them in and out instead of having them on the road each day.” Jeff Arbuckle is the acquired company’s previous owner and now manages the new division. Jeff was completely onboard with Mike’s decision to diversify the fleet. “I’ve been in the sign industry for almost twenty-five years, and basically, everything I could want in a truck as far as accessories to make life easier installing banners and patterns and all that stuff, you guys have looked at and done it. And the Chariot Bucket’s rotation is really a key, too. That’s huge because sometimes it’s the difference between getting a 15’ raceway on the wall, or not.” Here are some things to consider before deciding on your next truck: What is the average weight of the signs you install, and at what height? If you have other trucks, what capabilities do they have (height, side reach, weight)? What types of installations do you struggle to do profitably? Is there a truck that might open the door to more work or take your company to another level? Is limiting your scope of work an option? Can you outsource jobs you don’t do efficiently?) What is your ratio of service to installation? Do you have personnel who could do installations if you had a non-CDL truck (under 26,000 lbs. There are many justifiable reasons to purchase to a wide variety of bucket trucks, but in the ever-changing sign and lighting industry, “We’ve always done it that way” might be a recipe for extinction. --- ### TITLE: Renting Towable Booms for Sign Work URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/blog/renting-towable-boom-lift-vs-owning/ CATEGORY: Case Study/Story CONTENT: We’ve had sign companies ask if there is an objective tool to show when it’s time to stop renting a towable boom and purchase a Van Ladder. It seems like a straightforward math problem, right? Well, as I’ve worked on creating this cost calculator, I’ve discovered that some of the variables are easier to describe than they are to quantify. Here’s what I mean: Variable #1: Price and availability of towable boom lifts This seems like an easy step in the formula—discovering who rents towable lifts in your area and obtaining the prices, starting with your closest and most affordable options. For example, in my town, Home Depot has a 35’ lift and a 50’ lift, which they rent out for a minimum of 4 hours. They also have daily, monthly, or weekly rates. After talking with several Van Ladder customers (who formerly rented these lifts), I learned that the daily option is the most popular, which in my town is currently about $500 for the 50’ towable lift. Here is the strategy that our former customers often used to maximize their daily rental investment: They’d set the installation appointment with their customer for Tuesday morning, for example. Then they would schedule a couple of surveys for potential jobs on Tuesday afternoon, not wanting to incur a separate rental expense for surveys that may or may not become orders. Ideally, they’d tackle the installation in the morning and knock off the two surveys in the afternoon. This is where the ideal day usually parts ways with their actual day. With three appointments lined up, what are the chances that one of them will need to reschedule? According to our former lift-renters, you can almost bank on it. Do you put off one of the surveys until the next time you rent a lift for an installation? What if the potential customer isn’t willing to wait that long for a quote? And even if they are willing to wait, delaying the survey can be a bad first impression. So now you’re forking over a 4-hour rental fee on a different day to tackle one survey. Another irritating variable-within-the-variable is that most of the rental companies follow a first-come-first-serve policy, meaning the sign company needs to have someone at the rental shop at 6:00 a.m. to ensure they get the lift for the day. If the installation is scheduled for 8:00 a.m., they’ve lost two hours before their day has even started. “What’s worse, though, is when the guy who had the lift the prior day decides not to bring it back. Now you’re calling other, more expensive (and further away) rental shops to find a towable lift, hoping you won’t have to reschedule all three appointments. But that’s not even the worst scenario. The worst scenario is renting the lift and getting it to the jobsite, only to discover that it’s not working properly because the guy who had it yesterday had an issue and didn’t report it. Now your schedule is wrecked AND you look bad in front of your customer. These trainwrecks are stories we hear over and over, but it’s hard to figure the costs on a spreadsheet. Okay, let’s say you get the lift, and it works fine, but the installation doesn’t go as expected (Imagine that…an install not going as expected). Now you’re stuck paying another half day for the lift to tackle two surveys that may or may not turn into orders (So much for killing three birds with one stone). It’s hard to overstate how many hours are saved by having a truck right there when you need it. It allows you to conform to your customers’ schedule instead of making them conform to yours. And what is the value of a happy customer? For that matter, what is the value of tackling surveys on the same day the quote request comes in? It’s hard to precisely quantify a quick quote turnaround, but it certainly leads to more sales. Variable #2: Logistics The employee you sent to get the lift needed a pickup with a hitch, so he took the shop truck. However, the sign is still at the shop, along with all the necessary tools and fasteners. So, while your installer’s assistant is off renting the towable lift, your installer is putting together a checklist with all the tools, fasteners, wiring, and whatever else is required for the installation. Since the shop truck is gone, your installer loads everything into your (the owner’s) pick-up because it’s the only vehicle left at the shop with a hitch, and he needs the hitch to hook up the utility trailer to haul the sign to the jobsite. Now you have two employees who have spent two hours preparing for the installation. That’s four labor hours that could have been avoided by having a fully stocked Van Ladder sitting at your shop. Oh, and since you no longer have your vehicle, you ask your graphic designer to give you a ride to the job site to pick it up, which takes an hour from your day and an hour from your designer’s day (more unbillable hours). Variable #3: Set-up time and re-set-up time Towable lifts are notoriously cumbersome to set up. For one thing, you need a lot of room to back the lift into position. If your job site is a busy parking lot at a strip mall, you probably don’t often have the luxury of a long runway to get exactly where you need to go. So now you’re waiting for cars to move before you can even get started. Once you have the lift in place, you spend time getting level before the controls can work, and this process is repeated every time you move the lift to a different spot. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a truck that fits into a single stall with no set-up time? Variable #4: Utilizing your manpower Towable lifts don’t have accessories to hold the sign, so installations generally require two people in the bucket—one running the controls and operating the tools, and the other holding the sign. Conversely, the Van Ladder’s Chariot Bucket has accessories to hold the sign, allowing a two-person crew to divide and conquer. Rather than standing in the bucket holding the sign, the second person can run wires behind the wall, uncrate the sign, clean channel letters, or whatever else needs to be accomplished on the ground. With some practice, this division of labor can cut your installation time in half. Doing the numbers So, on a monthly basis, if you’re spending more renting lifts than a new truck payment (including insurance), it’s probably a no-brainer to buy the truck. But given how much more efficient and flexible you could be with a fully stocked truck, the best time to pull the trigger might be sooner. I can’t say until I finish my cost calculator, but let’s review the considerations: On average, how many labor hours will you save per installation by having your own fully stocked truck at your shop? What is the value of flexing around your customers’ needs rather than forcing them to flex around yours? What is the advertising value of a professional-looking truck with your graphics? How much more new business would you bring in if surveys were tackled the same day as the inquiry? --- ### TITLE: Inefficient Installations – We Can’t Say Here! URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/blog/overcoming-resistance-to-sign-installation-efficiency/ CATEGORY: Case Study/Story CONTENT: In 1916, Ernest Shackelton, Frank Worsley, and Tom Crean hiked across the mountains on the island of South Georgia. They had almost reached their destination—a whaling station. Their ship, the Endurance, had sunk months earlier after being trapped in an ice flow while crossing the Antarctic. The expedition’s 27 survivors (most of them now marooned on Elephant Island) were counting on these three men to make the thirty-two-mile trek to the whaling station where a rescue ship could be summoned. After ascending 3,000 feet, the three men could finally see Possession Bay, but they realized they needed to make a rapid descent to sea level before nightfall. Suddenly, a dreadful fog rolled up the mountain and temperatures plummeted. They couldn’t see their hands in front of their face, but there was no time to inch their way down the icy mountain. Unless they moved fast, they’d certainly freeze to death. Realizing their situation, Shackelton suggested the unthinkable—that they lock their legs around one another’s waists (like kids on a toboggan) and blindly slide down the icy mountainside. Agreeing that this was their only chance to survive, his two companions complied and off they slid. Here's a quote by Worsley, describing the experience: “We seemed to shoot into space. Then quite suddenly I felt a glow and knew that I was grinning. We were shooting down the side of an almost precipitous mountain at nearly a mile a minute. I yelled with excitement and found that Shackleton and Crean were yelling too. To hell with the rocks!” Why am I recounting this story? Well, I started writing this blog by asking AI (Copilot) why people hate change so much. Here are the reasons I received: Fear of the unknown Fear of failure Resistance to control Comfort with the status quo Lack of incentive Lack of support Threat to self-image Then Copilot suggested a few articles on the topic. One of the articles discussed a research project where humans were compared with monkeys in our ability to embrace faster ways of doing things (efficiency initiatives). According to the study, the monkeys came out on top. So that was a bit discouraging… Another article, being more optimistic toward humans, suggested that people can and will embrace change, but only when 3 conditions are met: They understand the negative consequences of not They see a positive outcome associated with the suggested course of action. They have concrete action steps to go from the present state to the future state. These three criteria got me thinking about that crazy Antarctic adventure. In my mind, when I tried recreating their conversation on that icy mountaintop, I couldn’t imagine Shackelton not touching all three bases: Making crystal clear the consequences of not acting: “Gentlemen, if we don’t get down this mountain FAST, we’re dead.” Painting a positive outcome for his followers: “If we can survive this brutally efficient route, we’ll not only save our 27 buddies, but we’ll make it home to our families.” Officiating the first couple of steps: “Worsley, wrap your leg around my waist. Crean, wrap your legs around Worsley’s waist. Now, let’s push off, and may God go with us!” How does this relate to sign installations? Well, we build a bucket truck that offers significant efficiencies over a two-man bucket for installing signs weighing less than 200 lbs. (which covers a large percentage of today’s signs). But we often hear sign company owners (or installation managers) tell us that their installers won’t go for it, even though it’s more efficient. Their reasons are all over the board. Here’s a few that coincide with why people hate change: A threat to self-image - Maybe a veteran installer has spent years honing his/her craft (which now rivals a great magician on stage)—holding the sign while running the bucket controls while operating his power tools while whistling. But now he hears there are accessories making it possible for a rookie to perform the same trick. That news can threaten an installer’s perceived value to the company. Fear of failure - Maybe an installer has always been paired with a more experienced technician. He’s the second person in the bucket, holding the sign or handing tools to his counterpart. He hasn’t really had to prove himself. What does a one-man bucket mean for him? Will he be required to go up by himself? Does he have what it takes to fly solo, if necessary? Lack of incentive - Maybe an installer won’t get onboard until he understands what’s in it for him. Maybe he’s not all that interested in being more efficient because being faster only carries more expectations, a bigger workload. From what he can see, this change benefits the company, but how will it make his life better, or easier, or safer? When I place myself in the shoes of an installer, these fears and concerns are understandable. But there’s something a business owner knows instinctively: Inefficient companies don’t survive long—not with today’s competition—and that’s a threat to everyone in the organization. Like Shackleton, the leader must communicate an urgent message to the team, “We cannot stay here! We won’t survive long if we don’t find a more efficient route.” I imagine with Shackelton’s guys, it took a minute for this sobering truth to sink in, but it did. Once the leader has shared this message, it’s time to address each person’s fears and concerns, one by one, putting them to rest. Now, the path is paved to implement step 2: Paint a favorable picture of the future. This requires a leader to place himself/herself in the shoes of each member of the team and step into the imagined new world. Team members need to see it in their mind’s eye. That leads to step 3: Establish the first concrete actions to go from the present state to your future state. We’ve had sign company owners call and say: “I think a Van Ladder is our best choice, but I’m not the guy putting up the signs. What can we do to get my installer(s) onboard?” Here are some ways to turn skeptics into believers: Watch and discuss our customer testimonials on our website. Ask us for references from businesses similar to yours. Watch our How-To videos to see how our accessories simplify the installation process. Maybe we need to fly an installer to our factory to hop in the bucket and see how everything works. Maybe we need to bring the truck to your place so your installer can put up a sign. If you’ve done your research and believe that Van Ladder is your most efficient option for your next truck, we have resources to help you convince your team. A sign installer’s job is difficult. They just want to be convinced that a Van Ladder will make their job easier. Sources: Beckhard, Richard, Organizational Development; Strategies and Models. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1969 https://nzaht.org/encourage/inspiring-explorers.crossing-south-georgia/ --- ### TITLE: If You Were to Start from Scratch URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/blog/starting-a-sign-business-lessons-learned/ CATEGORY: Case Study/Story CONTENT: Knowing what you know now, what would you do differently if you could start over?  In almost any area of life this is a thought-provoking question. What traits would you look for in a spouse? This question mines the depth of your experience to pull up hard-earned nuggets of wisdom. It’s a great way to uncover your core values. But when you ask this question, you must have grace for yourself. You didn’t know what you didn’t know, right?  Having raised four kids into adulthood, I gulp when I think of the monumental decisions young people make before they reach the age of twenty-five—with almost no relevant experience to evaluate the pros and cons. So, they hopefully seek some advice, then most go with their gut, make mistakes, learn lessons, navigate course corrections, and build their own resumé of experiential wisdom. When Dave Peterson first acquired Van Ladder, he didn’t know much about manufacturing, but he did have a dream of one day building a great piece of equipment. Working for his dad, he had operated heavy equipment since he was old enough to climb into the cabs, and he’d already owned an excavating business and a ready-mix business. His experience gave him an appreciation for great manufacturers like CAT who made highly reliable and functional equipment. So, in the back of his mind, Dave thought it’d be fun to make a piece of equipment that would make life easier for its operators. His opportunity came in 1997, when one of his friends learned that Van Ladder was available. The company had been mothballed after making aerial lifts for the cable television industry for a couple of decades. With nothing but entrepreneurial optimism and some assets from his other businesses, Dave jumped into the manufacturing arena with both feet and immediately enrolled in the school of hard knocks. Dave wanted to sell aerial lifts into the sign and lighting industry, but his expertise as an equipment operator and a business owner was in dirt-moving and concrete-mixing. So, as it goes with many new ventures, our team was building the plane in-flight, which generally isn’t advisable. The best thing about the school of hard knocks, though, is that if you survive it, its lessons are never forgotten. The red-hot poker of experience has a way of branding each lesson deep into your hide. When asked what we learned from those early years in manufacturing, any one of us can spout a quick summary: Don’t go to market until your product is ready. Your product isn’t ready until you fully understand the needs of your customer. You don’t fully understand the needs of your customers until you’ve spent loads of time with them in the field, asking every question you can think of. Use the best components available, regardless of cost. Treat people (customer, employees, and vendors) the way you want to be treated. These bullet points all have compelling stories of their own, but I’ll save those for other posts. My point here is that we’ve learned the value of understanding the needs and wants of both equipment operators and the business owners. As the marketing guy, I’ve had the privilege of sitting down with many customers in the sign and lighting industry, listening to their stories, and learning about their own hard-fought lessons. We use this feedback not only for marketing, but also to identify areas of product improvement. Being factory-direct places us in contact with those who matter to us the most—those who count on our equipment to make money, stay safe, and make life easier. During a recent interview with one such customer (Jason Ricketts, owner of Airport View Signs in Frederick, Maryland), I asked the question: “Knowing what you do now, what would you do if you were to start a sign company today?” Here’s what he said: “If I had to start from scratch, knowing that I would do installations, I would definitely buy a Van Ladder for a couple of different reasons. One is that it’s easy to use and more compact to get around town. And probably one of the biggest things is that you can put everything inside of it, so you don’t have to worry about strapping it all down, or the potential of it falling off or getting damaged on the road because there’s a lot of cargo space and plenty of places for all your tools. It also opens up more options of who can operate it because it’s a smaller vehicle as opposed to the bigger bucket trucks where you might need a CDL. You can even use it as a cargo van if you want to go letter windows. You don’t always have to use the lift. So you wouldn’t need to buy a second vehicle to do your ground-type stuff. You can drive it downtown and park it in a parking spot and be comfortable with it because it’s not much bigger than a Transit van.” After struggling through our early years, it’s incredibly fun to be part of the conversation when an experienced sign guy contemplates what he’d do if he had the opportunity to start from scratch, and he includes us! I feel like we’ve come a long way from those early days when we didn’t know the industry. And, after earning a degree from the school of hard knocks, our gratitude is off the charts when we find favor in the eyes of a customer. Thank God for keeping us around to see it. --- ### TITLE: Price URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/price/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: $145,834.58 5-Year Standard Warranty Why do we collect your email address? Chariot Bucket with Accessories All-Electric 3931-HDX Workport Box Cutaway Van Chassis The Chariot Bucket makes a two-person job a one-person job. Winner of the ISA Innovation Award, the Chariot bucket has a rotating material handling system with a host of accessories to free up an installer’s hands, simplifying installations for signs weighing less than 200 lbs. It’s a traveling warehouse with 500 cubic feet of organized storage space. The are six compartments with doors on the outside and a huge, enclosed project area on the inside. The Workport is easily capable of storing everything needed for sign service and installation. The 3931-HDX has 45’ working height, a side reach of 31’, and a bucket capacity of 400 lbs. Quiet and free of smelly diesel fumes, the Van Ladder operates with the engine off. With plug-and-play electrical components and no internal hydraulic hoses, the Van Ladder offers the lowest cost of ownership of any sign installation truck. The Ford E450 chassis (14,500 GVWR, 7.3 V-8 Gas engine) has a shorter front-end than a typical truck, which allows this vehicle (with a 12’ box) to fit into a single parking stall. It goes where bigger trucks can’t. --- ### TITLE: Why an All-Electric Aerial Lift Makes Sense URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/blog/all-electric-aerial-lift-benefits/ CATEGORY: Case Study/Story CONTENT: One underrated advantage of an all-electric lift is that you can run it with the vehicle engine off. I say underrated because it’s not one of the first things we discuss with a prospective buyer. When we first arrive at a sign company or a lighting maintenance company for a demonstration, we tend to focus on the Chariot Bucket and its installation accessories, along the Workport box with its amazing storage space. It’s not until a tech goes for a ride in the lift that we hear him (or her) say, “Wow, I can’t believe how quiet this is.” He might have three or four coworkers on the ground, having a conversation, and he's contributing to that conversation from the bucket. Everyone is using their indoor voice. The ability to converse with someone on the ground is especially important when you have the Chariot Bucket. The Chariot’s accessories are designed to do what the second person would be doing in a two-man bucket. That allows a crew of two to divide and conquer—one in the bucket and one on the ground. When they can communicate without yelling over a noisy truck, they can reach peak efficiency. Louis installer told us after using the Van Ladder for the first time to install a sign: “I operated it for four or five hours and the batteries were barely drained at all. I like the quietness of the electric. You don’t have a big diesel running in the background, and I can communicate with the guys on the ground without having the noise barrier.” We hear some variation of this every time we place our equipment in the hands of sign installers. Joel Haluck, owner of Signstat in Jeannette, PA, bought a Van Ladder to handle his smaller installations. But Joel’s installers were accustomed to larger trucks with two-man buckets, so they were slow to embrace the fleet’s new little brother. Slowly, though, the Van Ladder won them over, and much of the credit goes to the ability to work with the engine off. Here’s what Joel told me: “One of the things that all the guys love is that it’s quiet. When you go out, and you’re running this truck, and you can actually say, “Hey, throw me up a nut or a bolt, or whatever you need, and the guy hears you on the ground. You’re not yelling over the truck. Customers appreciate it because the truck is not running outside their door with all the diesel fumes.” Before I abandon the topic of noise, I should mention that the ability to hear each other clearly at a jobsite is a big plus for safety, especially when working overhead and there’s the possibility of falling objects, unseen powerlines, careless pedestrians, etc. Two other benefits of having the vehicle turned off at the jobsite is not burning expensive fuel, nor producing stinky fumes. Most sign trucks have diesel engines. Years ago, a diesel could idle all day long, no problem. But with today’s particulate filters, idling too much can clog things up and create a service nightmare. Speaking of service, the all-electric Van Ladder has some distinct advantages over a full hydraulic aerial lift, especially for sign and lighting companies. Because most sign and lighting technicians are familiar with voltmeters. So, when a lift is having a problem, our service department can troubleshoot with the lift’s operator over the phone. Usually, we can identify the problem very quickly and get the customer up and running with almost no downtime. Here’s an excerpt from an interview with Matt Berrett, operations manager at Lighting Maintenance Systems in Salt Lake City (LMS has been a fleet customer for about fifteen years): “In my interactions with Van Ladder, they’re really easy to get ahold of.  And you’re talking to someone who has extreme knowledge of the piece of equipment, and they have all the answers. Whereas if you call any other lift equipment manufacturer, you’re getting some John Doe in engineering, and he may know one specific portion of that machine, but he doesn’t know it all. The techs at Van Ladder know that thing inside and out. Nine times out of ten, it’s the technician that’s on the jobsite who has an issue. You know, his aerial equipment is in the air, and he may need help figuring out which relay has gone down and swapping it out. Usually, we carry a few relays with us, just for good measure, and you have ten or fifteen minutes of downtime and that’s it; you’re back doing your work rather than, “Oh, the lift is down.” Then you need a mobile service man to come out, who has hydraulic expertise, and a huge repair bill that comes with that. My maintenance costs compared to a full hydraulic piece of equipment is night and day different. There’s no comparison whatsoever.” One major reason Van Ladders are more cost effective from a service standpoint is that there are no internal hydraulic hoses. Anyone who has owned a truck with internal hoses for very long knows how expensive hose kits are and how much downtime is associated with having them replaced. Using plug-and-play electrical components has kept our service costs the lowest in the industry. Year after year, our average annual cost of parts (for all in-service lifts in the U.S. and Canada) is around $300 per lift. That’s why Matt Berrett claims there is no comparison whatsoever. --- ### TITLE: A Traveling Warehouse URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/blog/traveling-warehouse-bucket-truck/ CATEGORY: Case Study/Story CONTENT: About ten years ago, we had an existential crisis at Van Ladder. The Federal Highway Safety Standards changed, and starting with that model year, we could no longer install Van Ladders on new one-ton cargo vans. That was our bread and butter, so suddenly our future was in jeopardy. The next best option for a chassis was Ford’s E450 or Chevy’s 4500. Of course, these are both chassis cabs, not complete vehicles. They are shipped to an upfitter to receive a camper, or a box, or a service body. So we began exploring various upfitters to find a box that would pair well with a Van Ladder. The big downside of changing vehicle types was the cost. How much would our price tag increase? Our customers were used to a certain price point, and we feared their reaction to a substantial hike. But our predicament wasn’t all negative. Moving to a heavier chassis would allow our customers to double their onboard payload for tools and inventory from 1,800 lbs. The heavier chassis also had dual rear wheels, giving the vehicle more stability, both on the road and when the aerial lift was in use. Would these benefits justify a significant price increase? The answer to that question would depend upon the box we chose. We needed to find a box with game-changing improvements over a traditional cargo van. Then we discovered Rockport Commercial Vehicles. Rockport manufactures a couple of chassis cab bodies perfectly suited for sign and lighting work. The most popular is the Workport model. The Workport has a spacious enclosed area measuring 146” long by 50” wide. Sign companies use this space for hauling signs. It protects their product from road grime, flying objects, rain, snow, and vandalism. Having this storage area saves time at the shop because signs don’t require meticulous packaging when traveling indoors. It also saves time at the install site because the signs don’t need cleaning once they arrive. Another equally enticing feature of the Workport box is the six outside compartments that lock with a single key fob. These compartments allow installers and service technicians to keep things organized. One compartment can be dedicated to fasteners, while another contains electrical components. There can be separate compartments for hand tools, power tools, cleaning supplies, and specialty vinyl tools. The key is knowing where things are and having them within easy reach. The old cargo vans didn’t have separate storage compartments, so they tended to be like your junk drawer in the kitchen—packed full of important items that are difficult to find without rummaging through EVERYTHING. How much time does it save to know where everything is? How much frustration can be avoided? I think most people would agree that proper organization is a big factor in both efficiency and job satisfaction. About two years ago, I learned something about the Workport box that I didn’t fully comprehend before that. I was interviewing a customer (CMI Signs in Safford, AZ) and one of their installers was comparing their old way of prepping for installations with their new way of prepping. Here’s what he said: “Before, we spent the first two hours of the day prepping, getting stuff ready, packing up, going through our checklist twice, three times, just to make sure we had everything. Now, it’s like, we just pack the signs up and go. It saves us time, lots of time.” Here’s the profound thing I finally understood: If your truck doesn’t have enough onboard storage space to stock EVERYTHING needed for ANY type of installation, you’ll be forever shackled to a checklist (Or forever leaving the jobsite to run for parts). But if you have the necessary storage space to keep all your fasteners onboard, all your electrical components, all your hand tools, all your power tools, everything needed for any installation, then you won’t need a checklist because it’s already in the truck. In CMI’s case, having the Workport box instead of their old service body saved about ten hours per week. Now, every morning they just throw the signs in the truck and go to work. Sure, they occasionally need to check their onboard inventory of fasteners, etc., but that doesn’t take more than a couple of hours a month. The other huge advantage the Workport box offers when paired with the frond-end of a van is that it fits into a single parking stall. That’s a big achievement for a truck with 500 cubic feet of storage! Think of the perpendicular parking in front of most strip malls. If you have a long vehicle you’re probably coning off five of those parking spots the night before an installation. Plus, it tests the patience of the other shop owners, who lose those parking places for their customers. It’s nice to pull into one stall, throw up a sign, and get to the next job. Does the Workport service body offer game-changing improvements over a cargo van? When we’ve asked the customers who’ve owned both, their answer is a resounding YES. Having an enclosed area for signage, with plenty of organized storage space for tools and inventory, in a truck that fits into a single parking stall, brings a surprising pile of money to the bottom line. It’s funny how an existential crisis can become a huge blessing. --- ### TITLE: Award Worthy Innovation URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/blog/award-winning-bucket-truck/ CATEGORY: Case Study/Story CONTENT: The Chariot Bucket was conceived from a prayer. Our team was working on a design for an articulating bucket, which isn’t an easy thing to do with a ladder boom. After running into one dead-end after another, our President, Dave Peterson, said, “Lord, we need your help!” Then, closing his eyes, he found himself standing in an imaginary aluminum framed bucket with a rounded front. Looking down, he saw sign forks rotating around the bucket from a Lazy-Susan-type device attached below his feet. He popped his eyes open and said, “Why wouldn’t that work?” Dave brought his inspiration to the R&D guys. They couldn’t think of any reason it wouldn’t work, either, so they got busy. Amazingly, the first prototype was nearly perfect. The material handling system rotated 140 degrees from an anchor point below the operator’s feet, with the weight being born on high-density rollers riding on a curved horizontal rail halfway up the bucket. This system made it possible to have lower forks and mid forks to carry large channel letters and cabinets, and upper forks for raceway signs. Securement clamps were designed to hold the sign in place, giving installers free use of their hands to run the lift and operate tools. When I stood in that prototype bucket for the first time, what impressed me was how smoothly the sign rotated around the bucket. A hundred-pound sign could be rotated easily with one finger and could be moved a fraction of an inch at a time, if needed. Now it wouldn’t matter how installers parked; they could still get the sign squared up with the wall and have their hands free. We took the prototype on the road, placing it in the hands sign installers all over the United States. We were hoping they’d like it almost as much as their articulating buckets for squaring up to a wall. They liked it better because their articulating arms tended to be jerky, and it’s nerve-wracking to be under hydraulic power right next to the building in a bucket that has inadequate fine-motor skills. They were more comfortable using our hand-operated roller system, which could be nudged a quarter inch at a time. Another amazing benefit to being on the road, visiting installers, was the exposure it gave us to their frustrations and obstacles at the jobsite. Sign installers are problem solvers extraordinaire, and when we asked for their advice on useful installation accessories for our new Chariot Bucket, they had great ideas. Putting our heads together with theirs, we developed the face bar, the banner spindle, pattern arms, the project bag, and the jib attachment. It’s no wonder why we call sign installers our V.P.s of R&D. When you look at our sign installation accessories, you’ll quickly discover that they’re designed to do what the second person would be doing in a two-man basket—essentially, holding something. Having a second set of hands is critical for most sign installations, but rather than tying up another person with those menial tasks, why not use accessories? We often hear the comment, “Well, I always send two guys out on jobs, anyway. It’s just safer.” I won’t argue with that, but to maximize efficiency, it’s nice to have one installer in the bucket and the other on the ground, or behind the wall. There are scores of productive tasks for the second installer when they are no longer needed in the bucket. The Chariot Bucket went into production in 2019 and was promptly placed into consideration for ISA’s coveted Innovation Award, which we won in 2020! One of our competitors’ trucks was also a finalist that year. They had some amazingly cool Bluetooth technology, far more space-aged than ours. But I think the judges appreciated that we had designed a tool for the new age of signs. After all, signs now weigh a fraction of what they did twenty years ago. So, it shouldn’t take a quarter million-dollar truck with a two-man basket to hang a hundred-and-fifty-pound sign. Sure, there’s plenty of signs we can’t hang, but if it’s lower than 45’ and lighter than 200 bls., the Chariot will likely handle it. Most sign company owners that we’ve asked estimate that 70% of their signs fall comfortably within those parameters. During those early testing days, it wasn’t uncommon for us to run into naysayers at the jobsites. One installer practically refused to try it. He said he’d stick with his big truck with outriggers and a two-man basket. He refused to climb into the Chariot Bucket until his boss had half-threatened him. They were installing a bunch of signs at a new carwash. When they had finally finished, he climbed out of the Chariot and said, “I think every sign company in the country will one day have one of these.” That’s when we knew we were on the right track. --- ### TITLE: Privacy Policy URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/privacy-policy/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: Privacy Policy Last updated: April 16, 2025 This Privacy Policy describes Our policies and procedures on the collection, use and disclosure of Your information when You use the Service and tells You about Your privacy rights and how the law protects You. We use Your Personal data to provide and improve the Service. By using the Service, You agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy has been created with the help of the Free Privacy Policy Generator. Interpretation and Definitions Interpretation The words of which the initial letter is capitalized have meanings defined under the following conditions. The following definitions shall have the same meaning regardless of whether they appear in singular or in plural. Definitions For the purposes of this Privacy Policy: Account means a unique account created for You to access our Service or parts of our Service. Affiliate means an entity that controls, is controlled by or is under common control with a party, where "control" means ownership of 50% or more of the shares, equity interest or other securities entitled to vote for election of directors or other managing authority. Company (referred to as either "the Company", "We", "Us" or "Our" in this Agreement) refers to BRINKS MFG. CO., 75351 255TH STREET CLARKS GROVE, MN 56016. Cookies are small files that are placed on Your computer, mobile device or any other device by a website, containing the details of Your browsing history on that website among its many uses. Country refers to: Minnesota, United States Device means any device that can access the Service such as a computer, a cellphone or a digital tablet. Personal Data is any information that relates to an identified or identifiable individual. Service Provider means any natural or legal person who processes the data on behalf of the Company. It refers to third-party companies or individuals employed by the Company to facilitate the Service, to provide the Service on behalf of the Company, to perform services related to the Service or to assist the Company in analyzing how the Service is used. Third-party Social Media Service refers to any website or any social network website through which a User can log in or create an account to use the Service. Usage Data refers to data collected automatically, either generated by the use of the Service or from the Service infrastructure itself (for example, the duration of a page visit). Website refers to Van Ladder, accessible from https://chariotbuckettrucks.com/ You means the individual accessing or using the Service, or the company, or other legal entity on behalf of which such individual is accessing or using the Service, as applicable. Collecting and Using Your Personal Data Types of Data Collected Personal Data While using Our Service, We may ask You to provide Us with certain personally identifiable information that can be used to contact or identify You. Personally identifiable information may include, but is not limited to: Email address First name and last name Company name Phone number Address, State, Province, ZIP/Postal code, City Usage Data Usage Data Usage Data is collected automatically when using the Service. Usage Data may include information such as Your Device's Internet Protocol address (e.g. IP address), browser type, browser version, the pages of our Service that You visit, the time and date of Your visit, the time spent on those pages, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data. When You access the Service by or through a mobile device, We may collect certain information automatically, including, but not limited to, the type of mobile device You use, Your mobile device unique ID, the IP address of Your mobile device, Your mobile operating system, the type of mobile Internet browser You use, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data. We may also collect information that Your browser sends whenever You visit our Service or when You access the Service by or through a mobile device. Information from Third-Party Social Media Services Tracking Technologies and Cookies We use Cookies and similar tracking technologies to track the activity on Our Service and store certain information. Tracking technologies used are beacons, tags, and scripts to collect and track information and to improve and analyze Our Service. The technologies We use may include: Cookies or Browser Cookies. A cookie is a small file placed on Your Device. You can instruct Your browser to refuse all Cookies or to indicate when a Cookie is being sent. However, if You do not accept Cookies, You may not be able to use some parts of our Service. Unless you have adjusted Your browser setting so that it will refuse Cookies, our Service may use Cookies. Certain sections of our Service and our emails may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags, and single-pixel gifs) that permit the Company, for example, to count users who have visited those pages or opened an email and for other related website statistics (for example, recording the popularity of a certain section and verifying system and server integrity). Cookies can be "Persistent" or "Session" Cookies. Persistent Cookies remain on Your personal computer or mobile device when You go offline, while Session Cookies are deleted as soon as You close Your web browser. Learn more about cookies on the Free Privacy Policy website article. We use both Session and Persistent Cookies for the purposes set out below: Necessary / Essential CookiesType: Session CookiesAdministered by: Us Purpose: These Cookies are essential to provide You with services available through the Website and to enable You to use some of its features. They help to authenticate users and prevent fraudulent use of user accounts. Without these Cookies, the services that You have asked for cannot be provided, and We only use these Cookies to provide You with those services. Cookies Policy / Notice Acceptance CookiesType: Persistent CookiesAdministered by: Us Purpose: These Cookies identify if users have accepted the use of cookies on the Website. Functionality CookiesType: Persistent CookiesAdministered by: Us Purpose: These Cookies allow us to remember choices You make when You use the Website, such as remembering your login details or language preference. The purpose of these Cookies is to provide You with a more personal experience and to avoid You having to re-enter your preferences every time You use the Website. For more information about the cookies we use and your choices regarding cookies, please visit our Cookies Policy or the Cookies section of our Privacy Policy. Use of Your Personal Data The Company may use Personal Data for the following purposes: To provide and maintain our Service, including to monitor the usage of our Service. To manage Your Account: to manage Your registration as a user of the Service. The Personal Data You provide can give You access to different functionalities of the Service that are available to You as a registered user. For the performance of a contract: the development, compliance and undertaking of the purchase contract for the products, items or services You have purchased or of any other contract with Us through the Service. To contact You: To contact You by email, telephone calls, SMS, or other equivalent forms of electronic communication, such as a mobile application's push notifications regarding updates or informative communications related to the functionalities, products or contracted services, including the security updates, when necessary or reasonable for their implementation. To provide You with news, special offers and general information about other goods, services and events which we offer that are similar to those that you have already purchased or enquired about unless You have opted not to receive such information. To manage Your requests: To attend and manage Your requests to Us. For business transfers: We may use Your information to evaluate or conduct a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of Our assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, in which Personal Data held by Us about our Service users is among the assets transferred. For other purposes: We may use Your information for other purposes, such as data analysis, identifying usage trends, determining the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns and to evaluate and improve our Service, products, services, marketing and your experience. We may share Your personal information in the following situations: With Service Providers: We may share Your personal information with Service Providers to monitor and analyze the use of our Service, to contact You. For business transfers: We may share or transfer Your personal information in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of Company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of Our business to another company. With Affiliates: We may share Your information with Our affiliates, in which case we will require those affiliates to honor this Privacy Policy. Affiliates include Our parent company and any other subsidiaries, joint venture partners or other companies that We control or that are under common control with Us. With business partners: We may share Your information with Our business partners to offer You certain products, services or promotions. With other users: when You share personal information or otherwise interact in the public areas with other users, such information may be viewed by all users and may be publicly distributed outside. If You interact with other users or register through a Third-Party Social Media Service, Your contacts on the Third-Party Social Media Service may see Your name, profile, pictures and description of Your activity. Similarly, other users will be able to view descriptions of Your activity, communicate with You and view Your profile. With Your consent: We may disclose Your personal information for any other purpose with Your consent. Retention of Your Personal Data The Company will retain Your Personal Data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. We will retain and use Your Personal Data to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations (for example, if we are required to retain your data to comply with applicable laws), resolve disputes, and enforce our legal agreements and policies. The Company will also retain Usage Data for internal analysis purposes. Usage Data is generally retained for a shorter period of time, except when this data is used to strengthen the security or to improve the functionality of Our Service, or We are legally obligated to retain this data for longer time periods. Transfer of Your Personal Data Your information, including Personal Data, is processed at the Company's operating offices and in any other places where the parties involved in the processing are located. It means that this information may be transferred to — and maintained on — computers located outside of Your state, province, country or other governmental jurisdiction where the data protection laws may differ than those from Your jurisdiction. Your consent to this Privacy Policy followed by Your submission of such information represents Your agreement to that transfer. The Company will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that Your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy and no transfer of Your Personal Data will take place to an organization or a country unless there are adequate controls in place including the security of Your data and other personal information. Delete Your Personal Data You have the right to delete or request that We assist in deleting the Personal Data that We have collected about You. Our Service may give You the ability to delete certain information about You from within the Service. You may update, amend, or delete Your information at any time by signing in to Your Account, if you have one, and visiting the account settings section that allows you to manage Your personal information. You may also contact Us to request access to, correct, or delete any personal information that You have provided to Us. Please note, however, that We may need to retain certain information when we have a legal obligation or lawful basis to do so. Disclosure of Your Personal Data Business Transactions If the Company is involved in a merger, acquisition or asset sale, Your Personal Data may be transferred. We will provide notice before Your Personal Data is transferred and becomes subject to a different Privacy Policy. Law enforcement Under certain circumstances, the Company may be required to disclose Your Personal Data if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g. Other legal requirements The Company may disclose Your Personal Data in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to: Comply with a legal obligation Protect and defend the rights or property of the Company Prevent or investigate possible wrongdoing in connection with the Service Protect the personal safety of Users of the Service or the public Protect against legal liability Security of Your Personal Data The security of Your Personal Data is important to Us, but remember that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While We strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect Your Personal Data, We cannot guarantee its absolute security. Children's Privacy Our Service does not address anyone under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 13. If You are a parent or guardian and You are aware that Your child has provided Us with Personal Data, please contact Us. If We become aware that We have collected Personal Data from anyone under the age of 13 without verification of parental consent, We take steps to remove that information from Our servers. If We need to rely on consent as a legal basis for processing Your information and Your country requires consent from a parent, We may require Your parent's consent before We collect and use that information. Links to Other Websites Our Service may contain links to other websites that are not operated by Us. If You click on a third party link, You will be directed to that third party's site. We strongly advise You to review the Privacy Policy of every site You visit. We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies or practices of any third party sites or services. Changes to this Privacy Policy We may update Our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify You of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page. We will let You know via email and/or a prominent notice on Our Service, prior to the change becoming effective and update the "Last updated" date at the top of this Privacy Policy. You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page. Contact Us If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, You can contact us: By phone number: 888-887-5847 --- ### TITLE: The Un-Bucket Truck URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/blog/the-un-bucket-truck/ CATEGORY: Case Study/Story CONTENT: Are you old enough to remember when 7-UP advertised itself as the Un-Cola? It was sold as a refreshing change in the cola-cluttered beverage world. That’s kind of how we view the new Van Ladder—a refreshing change for a sign industry that’s cluttered with large installation trucks. It’s fun to watch people who have never seen a Van Ladder before when they approach at a tradeshow. They tend to stand back about fifty feet, looking perplexed. At first glance, it doesn’t look like anything they’ve ever seen install a sign. Sometimes, their paralysis forces us to make the fifty-foot journey to them. Here’s how the ensuing conversation typically plays out: Visitor: Why the ladder? Doesn’t your bucket go to the ground? Me: Think of the ladder as a truss, making it possible to use aluminum rather than steel. Because the Van Ladder is both strong and lightweight, we can offer 45’ of working height and 31’ of side reach on a chassis that fits into a single parking stall. Visitor: So we wouldn’t use the ladder? Me: Not unless you need an emergency exit. Then, it’s far better than sliding down a steel post! Visitor: Ugh, I’ve had to do that! Me: Because a van chassis offers the advantage of fitting into a single parking stall. Truck chassis are too long for that. Think of the work you do at strip malls with perpendicular parking. A longer vehicle requires you to park parallel, taking four adjacent parking stalls. So then you must cone-off those stalls the night prior to your installation, which is time-consuming, and it doesn’t please the adjacent businesses at the strip mall. Visitor: Sure, but what if there’s no open parking in front of the store where the sign goes? Me: That’s when you need the Van Ladder’s 31’ of side reach. You can reach the wall from a couple of stalls over. Visitor: Do you make a truck with a two-man bucket? Me: No, just the single-man bucket. Visitor: But we use two guys—one to run the bucket and operate the tools, and the other to hold the sign. Me: This is where we can save you some serious man-hours. We’ve created the Chariot Bucket with accessories designed to do what the second person would be doing in a two-man bucket. Me: We have a material handling system that rotates around the bucket with three different platform heights. We also have clamps to hold the sign securely while approaching the wall. We have pattern arms, a face bar, a banner spindle, and a project bag. We even have a jib attachment with an elevated lifting eye to hold the sign from its top rather than support it from the bottom. Visitor: What is the lifting capacity? That’s not very much… Me: True, but if your installer weighs 200 bls., that still leaves you 200 lbs. Visitor: Well, we install heavier signs than that. Me: No doubt…but as a percentage, how many of your signs weighs less than 200 lbs.? Visitor: (He thinks for a while) I guess most of them weigh less than 200 lbs.—probably 70% (then, after thinking a little more). Signs don’t weigh that much these days. Me: The way we see it, no truck can install EVERYTHING. But our niche is helping sign companies tackle 70% of their work in the most efficient manner possible. Many of our customer use two-man crews, but there’s always plenty of work for the second guy on the ground or behind the wall. With the Van Ladder, they can divide and conquer. Our trucks have open service bodies. Me: You can pull a trailer with our truck—we have a 5,000 lb. But most of the time, our customers haul the signage inside the enclosed box, in what I call the project area. It’s 12’-2” long and 50” wide. The ceiling height is 66”, so you can haul most of your signage back there, where it’s not exposed to the elements or road grime. Then you have all those individual compartments that open to the outside for your tools, fasteners, and inventory. There’s enough storage on this truck to stock everything needed for any type of installation, so you don’t have to load your truck from a checklist every morning or run back to the shop for missing parts. Everything you need is in the truck. Customers tell us that being fully stocked saves a minimum of hour-and-a-half per day. That really adds up, and those savings all go to the bottom line. Visitor: I can see the advantage—if my guys would KEEP it organized. It really doesn’t matter if they have everything onboard if they can’t find it. That’s why having all the individual compartments is critical. Then they know where everything goes. The fasteners can be in one compartment, the electrical stuff in another, the hand tools over there, and so on. We’ve taken photos of how various customers have thoughtfully set up these six compartments, and those pictures are on our website. Visitor: Does the lift run off a PTO? It’s powered by three deep-cell marine batteries that the alternator charges when you drive down the road. visitor: You mean you don’t need to have the vehicle running? You can run this lift all day without running the vehicle. That means your installers can talk to each other using their indoor voices. There are no stinky fumes to deal with in front of the customer’s door. And you’re not burning fuel at the jobsite. There’s a lot of advantages to being all-electric. Me: The up and down function is hydraulic, but the hydraulic pump is powered by an electric motor. The hoses are only about 3’ long and sit on top of the box. Replacing them is inexpensive—a couple hundred bucks. Compare that to a hose kit for a typical bucket truck with internal hydraulic hoses. Visitor: You don’t need to tell me what those cost. I paid $8,000 for a hose kit last year. Me: So, are you ready for a truck tour? Visitor: Yeah, let’s take a closer look. --- ### TITLE: No One Likes Change URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/blog/no-one-likes-change/ CATEGORY: Case Study/Story CONTENT: Joel Haluck has been in the sign industry since 1992. He started with an S-10 pickup, a ladder rack, and some hand tools. Then he moved into a small storefront where he made fast-turnaround vinyl signs. His next advancement was manufacturing and installing electrical signs. Now, 32 years later, Joel has seven trucks, and his company (Signstat) occupies a 22,000 square foot building on 2.5 acres south of Pittsburgh, PA. When Joel initially began doing installations, raceway signs were steel boxes with neon letters and heavy transformers. “I’m not exaggerating,” Joel told me in our interview, “it was nothing to have a three- or four-hundred-pound raceway sign. You had to have a crane to lift it.” Through the years, Joel has accumulated a fleet of large aerial trucks with sufficient lifting capacities to hoist two installers plus signs weighing several hundred pounds. “We started to realize that a lot of these signs we put up now are very light weight. And we were looking at these trucks that are heavy, heavy-duty trucks. They’ll do a lot of work, but do you need that? That was the big thing—do we need that for what we’re doing? There are, as we all know, times when you need a truck like that. But more often than not, you need a truck like this (he pointed at his Van Ladder). So, for us, we started to analyze it and really sit down and think about it, and say, you know, ‘Why are we spending this much money when we don’t have to?’” When Joel couldn’t come up a good answer to that question, he decided to buy a Van Ladder. For the first few months, his installers were skeptical. “A few of my guys were hard sells on this truck. When we first got it, it really didn’t go out all that much because, like I said, we have our installers and the crews were like, ‘Ah, I’m not taking that,’…Nobody likes change.” Then Joel hired a business advisor to help him evaluate his pricing structure post-COVID. He wanted to determine the cost of operating each of his trucks, considering service, maintenance, fuel usage, vehicle depreciation, vehicle replacement cost, insurance, salvage value, and whatever else bean-counters think to consider. What Joel discovered through this exercise was that his cost to operate the Van Ladder was nearly half that of his bigger trucks on a per mile basis. With those numbers dancing around inside his head, Joel decided to lead by example and use the Van Ladder himself. Here’s what he said, “You know, it has made a believer out of me after running it, because I still go out on the road and run these trucks. A couple of my guys weren’t believers in the beginning, but once they started seeing me take it and put up raceway signs, especially raceways under ten or twelve feet—I mean you can take it up there, and I was amazed myself. I put it on the fork system with those brackets to hold it, and it’s like a no brainer. You just go up, and it’s so easy to position. I put the sign up, and I really didn’t need anybody else, other than the sign was a little cumbersome to get it on the forks. Other than that, I was putting it up while the other guy was wiring. He was doing his thing, and I was doing mine, and we got out of there a little faster. You didn’t need the two guys to hold it. Even if you put it on a jib boom in the other truck, you’d still have it swinging around. You always need to have a hand on it. But with this, when you put it on there (the platform), it’s staying. That was impressive.” Joel’s lead installer, Brandon, was one of the skeptics in the beginning. “When we first got the truck, I was hesitant on it because it’s a one-man basket. But after using it, I changed my mind. It’s got a lot of attachments, it’s quiet, it’s smooth. It makes a two-man job into a one-man job.” I asked Joel what percentage of their installations are currently handled by the Van Ladder. “Right now, I would guess we’re at about fifty percent. Guys are starting to realize it’s a lot easier to take this truck. The other big thing about this truck is this box. Putting things inside of it, you’re going to jobsites—we’re in Pennsylvania—you’re going to jobsites in the wintertime and your signs get all the road grime on them, whether they’re going inside or outside, they’re getting all this road grime on them. With this, when you put them inside the box, they’re just as nice as when you put them in there. You know, you don’t have all that clean up. And the other thing is, in the wintertime, we’ve done faces inside this box. We’ve stood them up, peeled the vinyl, put the new vinyl on, and it was no big deal to do inside while it’s raining or doing whatever outside. So, there’s a lot of advantages just to the box itself.” As time has gone on, Joel and his team have discovered other positives about the Van Ladder. “One of the things all the guys love is that it’s quiet. When you go out, and you’re running this truck, you can actually say, ‘Hey, throw me up a nut or a bolt,’ and the guy hears you on the ground. The other thing is, customers appreciate it because the truck isn’t running outside their door with all the diesel fumes or gas fumes, depending on what you’re running. And you know, every time a customer opens the door, the truck is real loud and they hear it. When you’re doing installs in plazas, that’s a big deal.” Another pleasant surprise for Joel was the battery life. “We just did a McDonalds job, and we were running this truck all week. We were at a hotel, and it wasn’t getting charged, and it ran that whole week, no problem at all. The battery voltage didn’t drop down to where it needed charging. I mean the boom is going all day, and the engine is shut off. So that’s part of the savings on this truck.” Perhaps this blogpost should be called No One Initially Likes Change. In an airplane, altitude changes are often accompanied by turbulence. If you want your business to soar, you need to constantly assess your reality, especially when making capital investments. If your current reality supports changing the way you do things, it’s best not to ignore it. Although change is difficult in the short term, think of all the times you’ve looked back and said, “Why didn’t we do this earlier?” --- ### TITLE: Set Up For Success URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/set-up-for-success/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: Having a specific place for everything maximizes productivity and communicates professionalism. Ask a Fireman how important it is to have an efficient box set-up. “We can’t afford to be inefficient at our job because someone is having the worst day of their life.” (Customer Photos) --- ### TITLE: The Intangible Benefits URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/blog/the-intangible-benefits/ CATEGORY: Case Study/Story CONTENT: We frequently receive calls from potential customers who are trying to decide if buying a Van Ladder makes financial sense. Sometimes the math is pretty simple. For example, if someone currently rents a tow-behind lift, the calculation might be as straight forward as comparing their average monthly rental expenses with a payment on a new bucket truck (including insurance). Sure, they’d also need to compare the working height and bucket capacity, etc, but if those considerations are relatively equal, it’s hard to imagine that they’d be better off renting because, in addition to the labor savings, there are so many benefits to having your own truck. For example, one new customer recently highlighted a benefit that I hadn’t considered—timely surveys. Before he owned his own truck, this customer let his surveys pile up until he could justify renting a lift for the day. Or, he’d wait until he had an installation on the schedule and try to sneak the survey in before bringing the tow-behind lift back to the rental shop. After all, no one gets billed for a quote, right? That makes it hard to justify the expense of renting a lift to put pricing together for a customer who may or may not buy the sign. But his cost-saving strategies delayed his quotes, sending the subliminal message to his potential customers that their business wasn’t important, or that he was slow to get things done. Now, with his own bucket truck, he’s out doing surveys the same day the quote request comes in. And a day later, the prospect has the quote in hand. Now, he’s sending these two subliminal messages: You’re important to us. Just how much additional money will this new way of doing business add to the bottom line? That’s hard to calculate, but timely quoting has a significant bearing on your closing rate. The other thing this new customer told me is how much he now looks forward to his installs. The tow-behind lift he was renting monopolized his pickup’s trailer hitch, so he had to make two trips to the jobsite—one to bring the lift, and another to haul the sign on a utility trailer. Once at the jobsite, it took time to set up the lift, which was a pain. Then two people went up in the basket, one to man-handle the sign, balancing it on the rail of the basket, and the other to run the lift and operate the tools. A third person was usually on the ground, tossing up sockets and bits, uncrating, etc. This is a small sign shop, so a typical installation cleared a significant portion of his workforce out of the shop for hours at a time, leaving only a skeleton crew to build signs. Now, with the Van Ladder, most signs are easily transported in the truck’s Workport service body, safe and out of the elements. The Chariot Bucket’s accessories allow signs to ride securely on the rotating forks system, freeing the installer’s hands to run the lift and operate tools. A raceway sign can be installed in less than an hour now with one person in the bucket and another on the ground, and it’s a relatively stress-free operation compared to the old way. We all know how nice it is to tackle a project with the right tools, and how frustrating a project can be when you don’t have the right tools. It’s simple math to estimate the labor savings from making your process more efficient, but how can you put a price tag on your happier life quotient? Or your, I sleep better now quotient. and sometimes the intangibles really add up. --- ### TITLE: An Installation Center with a Lift on Top URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/blog/an-installation-center-with-a-lift-on-top/ CATEGORY: Case Study/Story CONTENT: At a recent sign convention, a customer told me that we are not marketing our truck properly. Ordinarily, I’d take offense—being the marketing guy, and all—but Steve Adrian at FASTSIGNS in Forest, VA, has earned my ear. He’s one of those guys who is as entertaining in how he says something as he is informative in what he says. “What are you talkin’ about?” I asked, acting surprised (I was trying to keep the illusion of marketing prowess). “Think of it like this:” he replied. “When I bought my Van Ladder, I bought an installation center that happens to have a lift on top.” “Yeah?” I mumbled, waiting for more. Steve could see I wasn’t really getting it, so he showed me one of the other trucks at the show. It was an aerial lift mounted on a flatbed with a two-person basket. “Okay,” he said, “Let’s assume whoever owns that truck needs to install a 5’ x 10’ panel behind the receptionist’s desk at a dental office. Will he drive that truck to an indoor install like that?” Staring at the huge vehicle, I shook my head. They only use that truck to hang their outdoor signs. He probably has a Ford Transit van at his shop for the indoor stuff. Do you know how much a new Ford Transit costs? Now you need to build the inside with shelves and compartments for all your installation stuff. By the time you’re done, you’ve paid for over half a new Van Ladder.” Steve was beginning to make sense. I said, “So, you’re telling me that you do all of your indoor installs from the Workport box?” “Of course,” he said, pointing at our truck. “With all that room, and all those compartments, it’s set up better than a Transit van could ever be. Maybe it doesn’t get quite the mileage, but the difference in gas cost doesn’t begin to offset with the efficiency of having a single mobile center to handle all of my installs. The Van Ladder is our primary install vehicle, whether the boom is used or not. The boom is just ONE of the features that makes it an ideal install vehicle. The inverter, the compartments, the ability to transport large substrates safely. EVERYTHING we need to do ANY job is a permanent and re-filled item on that truck - fasteners, tools, (battery and corded), paint, adhesives, electrical parts.” Then he looked me in the eye, and said, “Do you hear what I’m telling you? You guys are marketing the Van Ladder as a bucket truck with wonderful storage, but you should be marketing it as an installation center with an aerial lift on top. That’s all I’m trying to say.” At the hotel that night, during a mesothelioma ad on the Grit channel, I replayed the conversation in my head and concluded that Steve was right: We haven’t been marketing the back end of our truck properly. Back at my office, I called Steve and asked him to send photos of the open compartments to his Workport box. When I had all the photos in front of me, I called him, and he walked me through each one. I’ll do the same with you right now, if you have a little time. Project Area: Finished panels go from the shop to the back of the truck, and stay there, safe and sound. When we finish a piece, we want it out of the shop—out of harm’s way. But we want to handle it as few times as possible. The panels are set against the wall with a rachet strap and that’s it until they’re installed. The 24’ ladder fits perfectly upright in the front of the box. On the shelves (behind the panels) are folded moving blankets to cover the signs. There are also large coils of electrical conduit up there. When we remove lamps from existing cabinets, the fluorescent tubes go up on the shelves, too. On the floor behind the panels are the 4’ clamps. If he’s going to dig a hole, he’ll have the auger in there. The slider door opens to allow a 14’ post. A 12’ post fits without using the slider door. Rolled vinyl for upcoming jobs sits on those shelves, too, along with my longer levels. Of course, the larger accessories for the Chariot Bucket have their own special out-of-the-way place back there. Box #1: Cleaning supplies and vinyl tools We have certain hit-and-run projects that take as little as 10 or 15 minutes (For example, installing a logo on a glass door). If my installer has a few minutes before lunch, or at the end of the day, this is his go-to box. All the holders and brackets are permanently installed to keep things from moving around. Black and white spray paint Adhesive remover Wet application fluid Alcohol and paper towels. Clear double-sided VHB (very high bond) tape Adhesives Bag with vinyl tools (squeegees, knives) This compartment is also used when cleaning up at the end of a job. It’s on the driver’s side because it’s the most frequently opened compartment. Because vinyl is extremely fragile, it is stored inside on the top shelves. If the vinyl gets wrinkled or folded, the whole job is screwed up. We can do three or four jobs in a day if they’re medium to small—because we have everything on the truck, everything is in its place, and things aren’t getting damaged. Box #2: Electrical First aid kits. Electrical hookups: Different types of wire Fish tape Wire nuts Liquid-tight connectors Box #3: Fasteners The organizers are screwed into the metal. The non-transparent organizer contains the heavier hardware. I’ll replace it with a transparent organizer if I find one strong enough. Inside the drawers are fasteners (for drywall, masonry, wood, steel) because you don’t want the truck running to Lowes to buy hardware. We buy boxes of fasteners at quantities of 1,000 or 1200 and store them at the shop. My installer routinely stocks these organizers from the larger boxes. Black bag (Adam’s electrical bag—wire strippers, meter, etc.) Drill bits and driver cases Box #4 Power tools DeWalt battery charger on top of inverter. Vacuum cleaner Light for attic crawl spaces for fishing wire Pigtail for sign testing Tools are held in place with DeWalt’s mount adapters (found on Amazon). An empty adapter signals a lost or forgotten tool. Box #5:  Safety items Project bag (It just fits nice in there). Water Cones Hard hats Chair Fall arrest equipment. Box #6: Miscellaneous Pattern arm clamps Face bar clamps Shackles Straps Hand tools Pass through rachet set. DeWalt toolbox (our back up kit) and Unicorn tools (hardly ever tools—until you need it). I love that the doors are worktables. --- ### TITLE: Having Everything You Need in the Truck URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/blog/having-everything-you-need-in-the-truck/ CATEGORY: Case Study/Story CONTENT: When his truck was new, Howard Vobis dubbed his 2006 Van Ladder the Flying Freddie in tribute to his father (Fred Vobis) who served in the Army Air Corp during WWII. During a recent visit to our shop to have his sixteen-year-old Van Ladder overhauled, we asked Howard why he gave his father’s name to his bucket truck. He told us it had to do with his father’s zeal for efficiency. Here’s the story: “One thing about the WWII veterans,” said Howard while standing next to his truck— “if they didn’t know how to do something, they figured it out.” Howard credits his father’s amazing ingenuity for fueling his own desire to maximize efficiencies in every facet of his life. In his sign business, Howard strived for one-and-done service calls. He wanted his truck to be a mobile warehouse so his technicians wouldn’t need to leave the jobsite to chase after tools and inventory. To accomplish his goal, though, Howard needed a specialized service body with a variety of storage compartments. In 2005, Howard met Dave Peterson (our company president) at a sign show in Atlantic City. Dave listened to Howard’s vision for the perfect service body for sign work. Then Howard listened to Dave’s plans to make the Van Ladder’s bucket go to the ground. “When you have that figured out,” he said, “and you’re happy with it, let me know and I’ll special-order the chassis and box that I’ve been dreaming about. The two men’s visions aligned in 2006. That’s when Flying Freddie was commissioned. Howard said the efficiencies exceeded his expectations, so in 2009 he ordered Freddie’s twin brother, which is also still in daily service. Here’s what Howard said about Flying Freddie: “As far as I’m concerned, this truck will never leave our fleet . It’s served us well, and I really can’t brag about it enough. I think that this configuration with the Van Ladder is the perfect service/installation truck, small size, for the industry.” As you can see by the photo above, the body that Howard special-ordered sixteen years ago, is very close to the Workport body we use today. Our customers are the ones spending their time dreaming about faster, safer, and easier ways to accomplish their work. Listening to and acting on those ideas is the greatest privilege we have at Van Ladder. Howard: That’s one thing about Van Ladder—you guys are always thinking and trying to improve things. Me: We’re just stealing your ideas. Howard: (Laughs) Yeah, I’m still waiting for a commission check. --- ### TITLE: When to Buy a Bucket Truck for Sign Installations URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/blog/when-to-buy-a-bucket-truck-for-sign-installations/ CATEGORY: Case Study/Story CONTENT: Ambro Alvarado owns an Image 360 franchise in Bloomington, MN and Apple Valley, MN. At the time of this interview, Ambro had owned his Van Ladder Bucket Truck for just over one year. Ambro had far more wisdom than I could possibly pack into a three-minute testimonial video, so I saved some nuggets for this blog. What follows is a portion of our interview discussing the topic of when to purchase a bucket truck. Me: People often tell me they need the business to buy the truck and they need the truck to get the business. I think that if you’re going to make an investment like this, you must be 100% confident, not in what the truck can do, but in what you can do to keep the truck busy. I think for us, we got to the point where we were right on the threshold of, “Should we continue outsourcing all of this or is it time to invest?” But I did not realize, personally, that the investment of the truck would generate an additional 25% to 30% more business just because of having it (the truck). And the speed in which we do these jobs is significantly faster than relying on someone else to do it. And the quality of these jobs—I feel more confident because I’m there to do it, rather than relying on someone else to do it, and sending us photos. I knew that it was the right move for us. And I was confident enough that having the truck would generate more business because I saw it coming our way already. But now looking back, I wish that I would have purchased the truck years ago instead of buying my flatbed printer, which still cost me $125,000, anyway. So those are the kind of things that, as a business owner, we learn, and we try to adapt to the changes. We think back three or five years, and say, “If I would have bought the truck three years ago, or five years ago, where would I be now? Me: When I was watching the video of an installation you guys did in Rochester, it kind of reminded me of a magician taking stuff out of his hat. You had all those signs, and they just kept coming out of the truck. Ambro: We packed up all of those signs, and I didn’t think they were all going to fit in there. It’s amazing when you look at those photos, how big the sign is, and the space that we have in the truck, and when we packed everything up in there, we were still able to shut the door. That’s why it’s not just a transport, it’s everything that you need to do the job well. Because all the tools that we have—everything is in the truck. I remember having to run to Depot (Home Depot) because we’re missing this, leaving the installation because we’re missing this. Do you know that we put up all those raceways in just an hour and a half? So we ended up doing three additional site surveys for the landlord the same day in Rochester. We did a panel cabinet for a different customer, those raceways, and we snuck in three surveys that same day. So when you talk about time management and the things you can really capitalize on to save money and make money at the same time, that’s the way to do it. Me: Do you see that someday there may be more trucks? Ambro: I’ve already talked to the guys. I talked to the guys and said, “You know what? I think we need a second truck.” We have people splitting out now for installations. One of the guys has to finish with the truck while the other guy goes and preps the other site. When the first guy’s done with the install, he drives the truck over. So again, you have to understand when it’s time. And if we continue trending the way we have, it may not be long before we reach out again and ask for another one. Conclusion: I agree with Ambro’s assessment. Don’t shell out money for equipment without a solid plan to utilize its capacity. At the same time, trust that the equipment itself will attract new business (especially when the equipment serves as a traveling billboard). Keeping these two considerations balanced should prevent you from buying too early or waiting too long to pull the trigger. --- ### TITLE: A Hybrid Bucket Truck? URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/blog/a-hybrid-bucket-truck/ CATEGORY: Case Study/Story CONTENT: Hybrid defined – A thing made by combining two or more distinct elements. So let’s amend the old adage to necessity is the mother of hybrid. Who has time to invent stuff with Mother Necessity nipping at their heels? Isn’t it more efficient to combine two things to form a new thing? For example, look at what happened at schools and businesses during the pandemic. By necessity, hybrid solutions were birthed. Now many businesses offer employees a fusion of home and office. Up here in Minnesota—where kids count on a few snow days to goof off—schools now pivot to virtual learning when the forecast is bad. So, thanks to COVID and Mother Necessity, snow days are a thing of the past up here in the North (bummer for the kids). Recently, one of our new customers called the Van Ladder a Hybrid Bucket Truck. Mother Necessity had required this company to merge their service and installation departments, combining two things to form a new thing. So they needed a couple of their trucks set up for both service and installs—a hybrid Bucket Truck. Why are companies rethinking their structure and re-evaluating their equipment needs? Here’s one reason: Times have changed. Having separate service and installation departments made greater sense when signs were heavier and lightbulbs didn’t last as long. On the installation side, heavy signs required big trucks. While on the service side, old lighting technology required frequent bulb changes, best accomplished with small trucks. So, for equipment reasons, it made sense to run the two departments separately. But now signs don’t weigh as much. Countless companies tell us that 70% of the signs they hang weigh less than 200 lbs. So having a smaller bucket truck with material handling capabilities is a big plus for many installs, especially in cramped spaces like strip malls. Why not use the big trucks for big signs? This saves money on equipment, set-ups, and personnel (You can check out the Van Ladder’s material handling capabilities at https://chariotbuckettrucks.com/chariot-bucket/) How about the service side? Here’s a riddle:  How many technicians does it take to change lightbulbs? The vast wave of LED retrofits in recent years is steadily reducing the number of trips required to change lightbulbs. Could this trend free up time for service personnel to help with installs? It could—with the right equipment. With its separate storage compartments, the Van Ladder’s Workport box (https://chariotbuckettrucks.com/chassis-and-box/) sets up beautifully for service work, facilitating organized storage for inventory and tools. But there’s also a large open area between the wheel wells (50” x 146”) to transport installation projects when needed. Now you can flex your personnel in the direction of the need. Install/Service—it’s a hybrid model for organizational efficiency. --- ### TITLE: Recruiting Sign Installers URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/blog/recruiting-sign-installers/ CATEGORY: Case Study/Story CONTENT: If you’re trying to hire an installer, remember: Tools themselves have the power to attract people to a profession. Because I wrote my eighth-grade career paper on dentistry. Dentistry!—for no other reason than I loved the little tools my dentist used. He had a big platter covered with highly specialized stainless steel tools right in front of my face while he worked. As a kid, I’d sit with my mouth open in his fancy chair, pumped to the perfect elevation by his foot, gazing at that platter of tools, trying to imagine what each one was for. Even the drill (which I hate now) was mesmerizing. And that spit sucker—pure genius. I was so captivated by the tools, I never once thought about the downside of the profession—being bitten by little kids or scorned by adults. I only thought of how fun it would be to have a job using those tools. It’s probably always been that way with tools, even in primitive societies. Can you imagine a tribal chief sending a kid out to kill a lion without a tool of some kind? But that same chief could hand the kid a perfectly balanced spear with a sharpened point, and it wouldn’t be long before that kid would be hunting a lion—no suggestion necessary. It’s tough to find employees right now, especially people who are good with tools, not scared of heights, and willing to brave the elements. And further narrowing the field, installers need to be problem solvers, able to zig and zag, and stay cool when things don’t go as planned (And let’s face it, installs almost never go as planned. “Hey, why is there an I-Beam back there?”). Finally, like it or not, installers are brand ambassadors, dealing one-on-one with customers. So, ideally, they should have magnificent personalities, too. Yikes, it’d be easier to find a unicorn. So how do you attract people made from the right stuff? And when you do, how do you pull them onboard? It’s a challenge regardless, but without having the proper tools, it’s dang near impossible. Recently, one of our customers told us that they’ve been using our Chariot Bucket’s How-To Videos during their interview/recruitment meetings with candidates for their installer positions. She said the applicants relax a little when they realize the company has bucket truck accessories to make the job safer and easier. Every year, we spend a few weeks helping installers hang signs. Each time we do, we’re inspired with more ideas—generated in the field—to make an installer’s life safer and easier. It’s fun and rewarding, because that’s the niche we’re trying to fill. If you have a great idea, give us a call. --- ### TITLE: The Quiet Revolution URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/blog/the-quiet-revolution/ CATEGORY: Case Study/Story CONTENT: As a kid, I remember my mom requiring me to raise my legs so she could vacuum up the fallen crumbs from the floor alongside the couch (Let me clarify that this was before I was properly trained to operate equipment). J Although lifting my legs was a bit inconvenient, it wasn’t nearly as frustrating as trying to read Greg and Marsha’s lips on the television while the vacuum roared in my ears. (Fortunately, I was smart enough to internalize my complaint. If I would’ve opened my mouth, my equipment training would have started immediately!) My point: It’s nice to be able to hear each other when the equipment is running—because the stakes at the jobsite are much higher than missing a few lines of the Brady Bunch. Your installer’s safety might depend on hearing his or her partner say, “Watch out for that wire!” At the very least, the person in the bucket should be able to request a few more screws from the ground-person without disturbing the customers inside the store. We were recently reminded that most bucket trucks are loud and stinky. For Classic Sign Service in Missouri, the Van Ladder’s absence of noise and fumes proved to be one of its top qualities. That’s because the Van Ladder can run all day on the batteries—no fumes and very little noise. Watch this short video showing Classic Sign Service using the Van Ladder to hang raceway signs for Pappy’s Smokehouse in St. At Van ladder, we’re trying to start a quiet revolution. --- ### TITLE: As Advertised URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/blog/as-advertised/ CATEGORY: Case Study/Story CONTENT: As I walked in my neighborhood this morning, I watched a garbage truck collect everyone’s recycling. The truck had one of those giant claws that reach out and grab your garbage bin before swallowing it into its cavernous body. The driver watched the action from his rear view mirror. I was astounded at how much ground that truck was able to cover in a short period. I thought back to my childhood—watching the Stadheim boys riding on the back of their father’s garbage truck. I remember being jealous of their muscles and their tans, but they’d earned those things from long hours of hefting garbage cans and hanging on for dear life as the truck rumbled down the street. I realized that at some point during my existence, truck manufacturers transformed garbage collecting into a one-man show, eliminating the backbreaking, nauseous, and dangerous job of riding the truck’s rear-end like a rodeo cowboy. Maybe some jobs were meant to be eliminated. We’re trying to accomplish something similar at Van Ladder—transforming two-person jobs into solo performances—at least on smaller sign installations. Signs aren’t as heavy as they used to be, but they’re clumsy. By creating time-saving accessories, we’re able to help installers cover more ground, safely, with less stress. Recently, I picked up a customer at the airport. His name is Lane Keen, from Keens Signs & Graphics. He flew up to Minnesota so he could drive his new Van Ladder back to Augusta, GA. On the way to our shop, Lane shared that he’d cut his teeth in the corporate world as a plant manager for a large company. Ten years ago, after refusing a transfer to Miami, Lane decided to start his own business, opting for the sign industry. Having been trained for many years in the art of finding efficiencies, Lane determined that he wouldn’t invest in new equipment unless it saved a significant amount of labor. After years of either renting aerial lifts or subcontracting his installation work, Lane decided to purchase his first bucket truck. He chose the Van Ladder with the Chariot Bucket because he believed that, among all his options, this truck would shave the most labor hours from his installations. A couple of weeks after Lane headed back to Georgia with his truck, I received this very efficient email: “The bucket worked as advertised on its maiden voyage. 1st of many, I hope.” The photos told the story—a job made simple for one person. It seems like new challenges are dropping on businesses like hailstones these days. But one thing remains true: Efficient companies thrive. --- ### TITLE: Dividing and Conquering URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/blog/dividing-and-conquering/ CATEGORY: Case Study/Story CONTENT: (Let’s Do the Math) The Van Ladder is a one-person aerial workshop, but that’s not to say you shouldn’t send two people on installs. We’ve talked with plenty of sign companies that utilize two-person teams, regardless of the size of the job, with excellent reasons for doing so. Does the Van Ladder lose its benefits over a two-person bucket when there’s more than one installer on the job? But for these companies, dividing and conquering might mean separating the aerial work from the ground-level responsibilities so both technicians can be productive and efficient. To make the point, let’s assume you’re installing a set of five-foot electric channel letters on the side of a big-box store. Let’s compare the Van Ladder with a big bucket truck with a two-person platform. Hanging the pattern Two-person platform: With a two-person platform, there’s plenty of room for both installers to go up with the pattern—Installer #1 holding the paper, and Installer #2 measuring, leveling and taping. It’s not until the pattern is in place that the team can split up—one to drill the holes, and the other to begin uncrating the letters. Van Ladder with the Chariot Bucket: We’ve developed pattern arms that attach to our rotating fork system. The pattern arms do precisely what the Installer #1 does in the two-man bucket—hold the pattern. These arms are adjustable up and down, in and out, left and right. That means one of your installers can be in the air while the other works from the ground—uncrating the channel letters, preparing the wiring and conduit, and staging the sign for easy access to the bucket. So by the time the pattern is up, the first letters are ready to go. Installing the letters Two-man bucket: Again, the two-man bucket easily accommodates both installers—Installer #1 resting the cargo atop his boot with hands engaged in holding the channel letter in place for Installer #2, who lines up the holes and inserts the screws. Couldn’t installer #1 go up by himself? Sure, but it’s hard to line up the holes—peeking behind a five-foot letter—when the cargo is resting on your boot. Plus, what prevents the channel letter from falling to the ground if it slips off the boot and one hand is holding the drill? Van Ladder with Chariot Bucket: The Chariot Bucket has lower forks that slide out to receive a rubber-coated platform. Once the channel letter is in position on the platform, securement braces slide over the top of the letter holding it in place, giving the installer a free hand to operate the lift. As the bucket nears its intended destination, the platform can be rotated to square the letter to the wall. The installer then snugs the platform close enough to the wall that the channel letter can’t fall. Now it’s safe to remove the securement braces. Since the letter is still resting securely on the platform, the installer has both hands free to work. Now, rather than standing in the bucket with a letter on his toe, Installer #2 is on the ground, continuing to prep the letters, and then loading the platform for Installer #1, keeping him moving. Once all the letters are prepped, Installer #2 can run inside and pull wires or clean up the job site or start prepping for the next project. The idea is to divide and conquer—one person handling the aerial work and the other tackling the ground-level functions. On a recent installation, a technician estimated that the Chariot Bucket saved him and his partner (4) man-hours on an installation involving (10) 5’ channel letters. That’s the benefit of dividing and conquering. Doing the math For easy calculation, let’s assume a new Van Ladder costs $100,000, while a nicely accessorized 60’ bucket truck with a two-person platform costs $250,000 (To be clear: We’re not saying you don’t need the big truck for much of your work, but maybe not the 4’x10’ cabinets or the 12’ raceways or the 5’ channel letters). Let’s say you’re spreading the cost of that big truck over six years. At current interest rates, your payments on that $250,000 truck will be in the neighborhood of $4,000 per month. If you can keep that truck busy 8 hours per day, five days a week, the bank payment alone would amount to $23 per hour. Now, how about gas, oil changes, and the occasional repair? Or, how about uncooperative weather, holidays, vacations, project delays, and all the other stuff that might keep that truck in the yard on Monday thru Friday? It’s no stretch to discover that your actual cost on that truck is somewhere in the neighborhood of $35 per hour. Van Ladder has the lowest cost of ownership in the industry (after the purchase). But for this example, let’s assume that our hourly cost of ownership bore the same ratio to the big truck as their purchase price, or 40% ($100,000/250,000). That would place the Van Ladder’s cost of ownership at a more manageable $14 per hour. Now, let’s look at your installers. When you add up their pay, benefits, payroll taxes, work comp insurance, and potential unbillable hours, you might discover that you need $50 of billable hourly revenue—just to cover your labor. If two installers traveling around in a two-man bucket were to tackle the above referenced installation in (8) hours, here’s what the math would look like for job costing: $35 (Truck) + $50 (Installer #1) + $50 (Installer #2) = $135 x 8 (Hrs.) = $1,080 If my installer friend is right, and two guys with a Van Ladder could accomplish the job in 6 hours, here’s the amended calculation: $14 (Truck) + $50 (Installer #1) + ($50 Installer #2) = $114 x 6 (hours) = $684 In this fictitious example, the Van Ladder option represents a cost savings of 37%, which goes straight to the bottom line. Also, the time savings would provide more capacity for your team to complete more jobs—added revenue. But we don’t expect you to take our word for this divide and conquer philosophy based on a fictitious example. If you’re in the market for a truck, let us bring a Van Ladder with the new Chariot Bucket to one of your installations. You can let your own installers verify the value of having a one-man aerial workshop. As you’ve seen on our videos, we’ve witnessed it over and over. This is shaping up to be a crazy year. We’re all trying to do 12 months of work in nine. We believe the Van Ladder can help you get it all done. --- ### TITLE: Becoming Better Than Ever URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/blog/becoming-better-than-ever/ CATEGORY: Case Study/Story CONTENT: No doubt, there is ample evidence in your life to show that you’ve grown the most in times of struggle and challenge. If that’s true, the opposite must be true as well—you’ve grown the least when things are easy and comfortable. Even so, for most of us, simply knowing these truths doesn’t adequately supply the motivation to shed the yoke of comfort in exchange for difficulty. Sometimes though, that decision is made for us. What do you do when your world is on hold? Sure, there’s plenty of elevator music to pass the time, but you can only watch so many YouTube videos or play so many board-games without feeling the hangover, right? Maybe then it’s time to think about the new normal, to contemplate how life might change when the dust settles. Envisioning the new normal can be intimidating because it involves a great deal of guesswork. Each of us moves in many different directions, making it nearly impossible to weigh the ramifications of global disruption on every aspect of our complicated lives. But maybe that’s the whole point. Perhaps that’s what we’re supposed to be learning—that our lives, along with our business, run in too many directions. We’ve all discovered what it means to slow down. We’ve all experienced how different life can be when you focus on one thing instead of ten things. Finally, we’ve learned that with single-minded focus, you can change the trajectory of a curve. So how do we capture the power of this important lesson as we move forward? In his famous book, Good to Great, Jim Collins unveils something he calls the Hedgehog Principle. Because the hedgehog employs a simple, consistent method of defense—curling into a ball with quills pointing in every direction, effectively staving off an attacker. Just to be clear, Collins doesn’t advocate curling into a ball (although that’s my first instinct in crisis). What Collins does promote, though, is simplicity. The Hedgehog Principle is a tried-and-true method for businesses to focus on the intersection of what they are great at doing, what they are passionate about, and what they can make money at. After studying several companies that had experienced a good-to-great transformation, Collins discovered they all adopted the hedgehog principle. And when they did, life grew simpler, and they were finally able to harness the power of focus—that amazing tool that turns normal light into a steel-cutting laser beam. Jim Collins’s lesson on hedgehogs has transformed our thinking at Van Ladder, not only in business but in all of life. We don’t pretend to be experts at too many things, but we’re gradually becoming experts on hedgehogs. So here’s the first question to ask yourself while the dust is settling: What is it that our company does really, really well? Your employees know what it is, too. But maybe you need to draw a circle around it and say, “Let’s focus on doing this even more, even better. Let’s figure out how we can make a great living doing this.” The next question: What aspect of your business do you and your people love? I mean, when this particular thing is on your calendar, you spring out of bed and sing on your way to work. Heck, if you could do this thing every day, you wouldn’t even need your 401(k). Last question: At the intersection of what you’re great at doing and what you’re passionate about doing, where is your highest potential for profits? The answer to this question helps you define your target market. And once you’ve pinpointed your target market, you won’t be moving in every direction anymore, and your what-will-this-look-like-after-the-dust-settles questions become more manageable. Let me apply this to Brinks Manufacturing. Question 1: What do we do really, really well? Answer: We make a bucket truck with a low cost of ownership that can handle both service work and a high percentage of installations with one person. Question 2: What are we passionate about doing? Answer: We are passionate about making sign and lighting work simpler, safer, and more efficient. Question 3: Who are the customers that are most eager to purchase our product? Answer: We have three target markets: Larger (regional) sign companies who currently send out two technicians with a large truck to hang a paper patterns and install 50 lb channel letters. Lighting maintenance companies who need inside cargo space and a generous payload to stock inventory for servicing their customers without running back and forth to the shop very often. Smaller sign companies who want to start handling installations in-house, or give their installers a better tool than extension ladders or a beat-up bucket truck. For us, the answer to questions #1 and #2 haven’t changed. But what we’re trying to predict is this—how will this global pandemic affect the target markets outlined in question #3? This crisis that our world is working through has already inhaled tremendous resources, effectively clipping the wings of both governments and businesses. We believe most companies will need to run lean for quite some time. For many smaller sign companies, that could mean continuing to farm out their installations until their finances recover. On the other hand, more of the larger sign companies might consider purchasing a Van Ladder now, hoping to accomplish some percentage of their work more efficiently than their big trucks will allow. So we’re taking time now, in the throes of our Netflix hangover, to reconsider our hedgehog strategy—because none of us can afford to waste resources in the days to come. --- ### TITLE: Service and Installation URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/blog/service-and-installation/ CATEGORY: Case Study/Story CONTENT: The slash between service and installation sometimes confuses people. Not long ago, we dropped off a new Van Ladder with a potential customer. They wanted to try it out and see how it worked. A few days later, when we returned to pick up the truck, we discovered there’d been some head-scratching as to whether it belonged in the service department or with the installation crews. With its installation accessories, and its increased weight capacity (now 400 lbs.), the new Chariot Bucket has blurred the distinction between a service truck and an installation rig. Before the advent of the Chariot Bucket, sign guys would look at our truck and say, “That’d make a nice service rig.” They were referring to the truck’s organized cargo space for stocking inventory, and its agility in tight spaces. Often though, that comment was followed by another-- “I wish I could justify having a dedicated service truck, but I can’t.” For those companies, the new Van Ladder with the Chariot Bucket might be the best of both worlds. Let’s say your installer weighs 200 pounds. That means you have an extra 200 pounds available for material handling—lifting a raceway, installing large channel letters, or mounting a cabinet sign. We’ve been asking installers what percentage of the signs they install weigh less than 200 pounds, and the answer is usually around 60%. Understandably, if you don’t have a larger truck, purchasing a Van Ladder as your sole installation rig could pose a problem. But if you do have a larger truck, why send it out for work the Van Ladder can accomplish more efficiently? Why not save wear and tear on your more expensive vehicle(s), and give your techs the ideal tool for the smaller jobs? The biggest tool isn’t always the best answer. The Chariot Bucket is also carving a niche’ with larger sign companies who have one or more dedicated service trucks. It’s not unusual for the installation division to be busy when the service division is slow (or vice versa). In times like that, the Van Ladder makes the perfect crossover vehicle, able to run where the fire is burning the hottest (Maybe that’s why it looks like an emergency vehicle). “Having a vehicle like this with its flexibility and economy would be very beneficial for any sign company.” --- ### TITLE: Two-man bucket truck to hang paper? URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/blog/a-two-man-bucket-truck-to-hang-paper-why/ CATEGORY: Case Study/Story CONTENT: I’ve always considered the sign industry to ride on the leading-edge of technology. Every year, I’m anxious to walk the isles of the ISA Show to view the latest and greatest technological solutions. The exception, however, within this otherwise hi-tech industry is sign installation equipment—particularly channel letters. This clumsy process starts with hanging paper. More often than not, the paper is of the variety I’ve seen fish wrapped in, and the tape seems best suited for fish-wrapping as well. When a 10 mph breeze blows across the front of the building, it’s anyone’s guess if the paper will rip or the tape will fail (It’s usually one or the other). Either way, the process then starts afresh and frustrations mount. Hence the need for a two-man bucket, along with a second person to occupy that bucket, simply to hang a paper pattern—one person to hold, and the other to level and tape. This process doesn’t get much easier when it’s time to install the letters. Without specialized material handling capabilities in the basket, the channel letters typically ride up the side of the building on the toe of someone’s work-boot, effectively immobilizing the boot-wearer, requiring again a two-man basket, along with a second man. At Van Ladder, we don’t manufacture a two-man bucket truck, so we keep asking the question: “How can we help sign companies do this with one person?” Mistakenly, we though our banner spindle would do the trick, dispensing the pattern by simply rotating the bucket, but we quickly discovered something: Wide patterns require the bucket to be moved up and down for taping, so affixing the pattern to the bucket wasn’t the answer. That’s when we came back to our shop with a paper pattern and a challenge to one of our guys: “Hang this by yourself on that wall outside—in the wind—and keep it level.” Necessity is the mother of invention, so it wasn’t long before the pattern-arms were developed, becoming an important part of Van Ladder’s one-man aerial arsenal. The pattern-arms free both hands for dispensing, leveling and taping, doing nothing more than the second guy in the bucket does, but for a lot less money. Once the paper is up and the holes are drilled, the swiveling platform on our Chariot Bucket keeps the letters secure while the technician rotates the platform into position, giving himself hands-free to access to his work. Now, the job can be accomplished in half the man-hours with a less expensive bucket truck, freeing the bigger truck to lift bigger and heavier things (You know—like you bought if for). We think we have the most profitable solution for installing channel letters, and so do the companies who’ve bought the new Van Ladder with the Chariot Bucket. If you’d like to see it in action, here’s a link to a short video: https://chariotbuckettrucks.com/chariot-bucket-sign-installation-precision-signs/ --- ### TITLE: The Chariot Bucket URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/blog/the-chariot-bucket/ CATEGORY: Case Study/Story CONTENT: Twenty years ago, we discovered something interesting: Sign techs don’t have enough hands to hold a sign face, operate the bucket controls, and run their cordless tools—all at the same time. That’s when we first developed bucket forks. It’s probably hard to believe now, but other bucket truck manufacturers weren’t making forks for the front of their bucket back then. As far as I know, we were the first manufacturer to do so. In the ensuing years, however, we fell a bit behind. Some of the hydraulic boom truck manufacturers figured out how to make their buckets articulate around the boom—a wonderful feature, allowing operators to rotate their work platform and square-up to a wall, eliminating the frustration of having to work over the corner of the bucket. At Van Ladder, we wanted to follow suit by creating an electric version of the rotating bucket. However, while in the R&D phase, someone asked an interesting question: “Why don’t we just make the front of the bucket round? Then they’d never have to work over the corner.” Most of us laughed, thinking that if a rounded bucket was a legitimate solution, someone else would have thought of it already. “What about material handling?” someone asked. “How would we mount the forks to a round bucket?” That’s when the magic started to happen. “If the front of the bucket is rounded, why couldn’t the forks rotate from one side to the other? Then they could just move the signs into place, and have their hands free to work.” We built a prototype, and it functioned beautifully. With the pivot-point centered underneath the bucket, and heavy-duty rollers mid-way up, the more weight we placed on the forks, the smoother they traveled. We brought the new bucket to a few sign companies and helped them perform installs. Soon, we were dreaming (along with the installers) of all the accessories that could slide into the square-tubing and pipes—forks, platforms, pattern arms, banner spindle, face-rail—creating a one-man aerial workshop for sign and lighting companies. One day, one of our shop-guys was staring at the prototype. Then, smiling cleverly, he walked over to the shelves, pulled down a couple of wheels, and leaned one on each side of the bucket. “Look,” he said, “It’s a Roman Chariot!” He was right. And that’s the story of the Chariot Bucket. To see it’s features, or to watch a short video, check out this link: https://chariotbuckettrucks.com/chariot-bucket/ --- ### TITLE: model-3931-hdx URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/model-3931-hdx/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: Model 3931-HDX Designed to make you money, not cost you money. Product Video Learn More > Specifications PDF Learn More > Service Made Simple Learn More > With the front bumper entry system and 31’ of side-reach, a technician can pull into a single parking stall and span storefronts without needing outriggers. With a 45’ working height and 31’ side-reach, the Van Ladder can reach most of your sign and lighting work. The all-electric Van Ladder runs on three deep-cycle batteries, allowing you to work without the vehicle running. Then, when you’re driving down the road, the alternator recharges the system. From a maintenance and service standpoint, the Van Ladder’s cost of ownership is a fraction of a typical hydraulic bucket truck. With no internal hoses, easy-to-access electrical components, and second-to-none free phone support, there’s very few problems that can’t be solved in minutes, allowing your tech to keep moving. One-hand controls Automatic leveling cylinder Fly section with 13’ telescopic travel All three directional functions can be operated simultaneously without a reduction in speed or power Main lift cylinder Maintenance-free rotation ring with 360 degree continuous rotation Van Ladder’s sturdy lightweight aluminum construction --- ### TITLE: Chassis and Box URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/chassis-and-box/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: Chassis and Box The Van Ladder is a traveling warehouse, allowing you to bring everything you need for one-and-done service and installs. Workport Learn More > Cargoport Learn More > Setup Ideas Learn More > It’s not enough to have storage space—you need organized storage space, so your techs aren’t spending their day rummaging through clutter. With separate compartments on the outside, and a generous amount of flexible storage space on the inside, the Workport box is the perfect solution for being both stocked and organized. “It is easily capable of allowing me to keep any product I need…” Mark McKee McKee Sign Service What other truck can offer 500 cubic feet of organized storage space and still fit into a single parking stall? The cut-away chassis offers the maneuverability needed to fit into tight places, and with no need for outriggers, your tech can get in and out in a hurry—and on the next job. Standard Features E-coated steel and vinyl wrapped rear structure E-450 Cut-away chassis Vertical compartments on both sides include adjustable shelf Horizontal compartments on both side include access from inside Drip rail above compartment doors 50/50 rear swing doors with 49.5” clear opening Dual rear integrated access ladders Galvanized rear step bumper with class 3 receiver and 7 way plug Front bumper Platform E-coated steel and vinyl wrapped rear structure E-450 Cut-away chassis Vertical compartments on both sides include adjustable shelf Horizontal compartments on both side include access from inside Drip rail above compartment doors 50/50 rear swing doors with 49.5” clear opening Dual rear integrated access ladders Galvanized rear step bumper with class 3 receiver and 7 way plug --- ### TITLE: Chariot Bucket URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/chariot-bucket/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: The Chariot Bucket The Chariot bucket is the tool that gives you an extra set of hands. Accessories Learn More > How-to Videos Learn More > Testimonials Learn More > Giving your technicians the right tools for the job will: Reduce worksite frustration and increase job satisfaction Increase efficiency and profitability Reduce variability for tighter costing and more accurate scheduling Improve safety Protect your product from damage Convey professionalism to customers --- ### TITLE: Work Ready Package Quote URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/work-ready-package-quote/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: Recommended package for sign work: Ford E-450 cut-away van chassis w/6.8 Liter V10 Rockport’s Workport body (key fob locks all doors) Van Ladder model 3931-HDX aerial lift (45’ working height with 31’ side-reach) Chariot bucket (lower and intermediate rolling fork system included, along with lifting eye) Accessories: Banner spindle Bucket work tray Tool bag holder with canvas tool bag Fluorescent bulb holder 110V bucket outlet (Quote will not include power source for 110 outlet unless requested) Overnight charging system Cargo netting Back-up camera Fill out the form below to request a quote for a work ready package. --- ### TITLE: Customer Service Manager URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/customer-service-manager/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: Jason Jacobusse Customer Service Manager Van Ladder Bucket Trucks With our work ready program, we maintain a constant flow of standard packages to minimize lead times and get you up and running fast. offers knowledgeable product support for the life of each Van Ladder. Efficiency creates profitability.  A 1-man crew can quickly set up the jobsite with no outriggers.  Utilize the many time saving accessories to do more and make more. Enclosed body keeps tools and materials secure and organized. The generous compartments with adjustable shelving and a fully enclosed walk in area make this bucket truck a true workshop on wheels. --- ### TITLE: Mamaroneck Union Free School District URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/mamaroneck-union-free-school-district-3/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: Steve Brugge Director of Facilities Mamaroneck Union Free School District Mamaroneck, NY Six schools 5,149 students +1,000,000 sq ft. facilities Hear what Steve has to say about Van Ladder With our work ready program, we maintain a constant flow of standard packages to minimize lead times and get you up and running fast. --- ### TITLE: Install This Sign and Awning URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/install-this-sign-and-awning/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: Paul Miller Owner: Install This Sign and Awning Co., Minneapolis, MN With our work ready program, we maintain a constant flow of standard packages to minimize lead times and get you up and running fast. --- ### TITLE: Seaboard Signs URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/seaboard-signs/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: Brian Cabe Owner: Seaboard Signs, Myrtle Beach, SC With our work ready program, we maintain a constant flow of standard packages to minimize lead times and get you up and running fast. --- ### TITLE: SAR URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/sar/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: Bruce Ahlswede Director of Service SAR Sign Service - San Antonio, TX With our work ready program, we maintain a constant flow of standard packages to minimize lead times and get you up and running fast. --- ### TITLE: CLM Midwest URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/clm-midwest/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: Guy Lollino Owner: CLM Midwest Facility services company In business since 1998. Services include lighting maintenance, electrical, plumbing, handyman services, and more. Self-perform the majority of services throughout the Midwest. With our work ready program, we maintain a constant flow of standard packages to minimize lead times and get you up and running fast. --- ### TITLE: Allied Electric Sign & Awning URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/allied-electric-sign-awning/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: Allied Electric Sign and Awning Established in 1993 100+ employees 4 locations Van Ladder customer for 12 years With our work ready program, we maintain a constant flow of standard packages to minimize lead times and get you up and running fast. --- ### TITLE: Grow Your Business URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/grow-your-business/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: Driving a Van Ladder is like driving around with two 6’ x 12’ billboards. This exposure will build your brand and attract new business to your company. Not only are you telling the public, “We do sign service”, but you’re also saying, “Look what we can do with vinyl!” Click here to hear what Van Ladder customers have to say about how Van Ladder can grow your business. Next Step Contact Us Phone: 888-887-5847 Email: dave@vanladder.com   jim@vanladder.com --- ### TITLE: Designed for Signs and Lighting URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/designed-for-signs-and-lighting/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: The Van Ladder is unlike any other bucket truck. With 500 cubic feet of cargo space and 4,000 lbs. Be well-stocked and well-organized at the same time. Add Van Ladder’s time saving accessories and you have a bucket truck that helps you get in, get out, and get paid. Click here to hear what Van Ladder customers have to say about the design. --- ### TITLE: Versatile URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/versatile/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: The Van Ladder makes very helpful assistant to your big truck. But it’s also capable of tackling many two-person jobs—all by itself. Drive into a single parking stall and work off the front. Click here to hear what Van Ladder customers have to say about versatility. --- ### TITLE: Durable and Reliable URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/durable-and-reliable/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: How can the Van Ladder be both sturdy and light-weight? It’s our design—a ladder truss, lifted on a rolling fulcrum, supported by a 72” rotation ring, engineered for ideal dispersion of weight. More cargo space and payload—without sacrificing strength. Our AWS certified welders use pulse technology to achieve strong and consistent welds on T6061 aluminum, giving the Van Ladder a long, rust-free life. Refusing to compromise quality for price, the Van Ladder is manufactured from the finest components, giving you maximum up-time. Click here to hear what a Van Ladder customer has to say about durability and reliability. --- ### TITLE: Cost of Ownership URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/cost-of-ownership/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: The Van Ladder® has the lowest price tag for a bucket truck with a 45’ working height. Plug and play component design allows for easy and inexpensive repair. We even offer free and friendly tech support for the life of the lift. Click here to hear what a Van Ladder customer has to say about cost of ownership. --- ### TITLE: Mark McKee URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/mark-mckee/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: “The Van Ladder is easily capable of allowing me to keep every product that I need . along with the tools required to make sure that I can run a job efficiently.” With our work ready program, we maintain a constant flow of standard packages to minimize lead times and get you up and running fast. --- ### TITLE: Michael Dick URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/michael-dick/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: Michael Dick Owner: JDI Signs and Graphics and Yesco of Minnesota Started in sign industry in 2003 Full Service Sign Shop YESCO Franchise since 2013 Runs two Van Ladders for sign and lighting maintenance With our work ready program, we maintain a constant flow of standard packages to minimize lead times and get you up and running fast. --- ### TITLE: Easy Financing URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/easy-financing/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: Easy Financing for Your Van Ladder Bucket Truck Flexible payment options, quick approval, and personalized service to help you get the equipment you need. Van Ladder Bucket Trucks partners with a few different banks to make financing seamless. Please contact us for more information. Van Ladder Personalized Finance Service We understand every business is unique. Our team works with you to create a financing plan that fits your needs and budget. Loans Leases TRAC (Terminal Rental Adjustment Clause) leases Lease purchases Leases with buyout options Flexible payment options Operating leases A team dedicated to the success of Van Ladder and its customers Direct financing Financing of new and used equipment Quick credit decisions Solutions tailored to your needs Unparalleled services and support Specific Van Ladder vehicle and equipment expertise Financial products that fit your business needs Financial strength in every economy Purchasing Power: Lease financing allows you to acquire more and/or higher end equipment. Cash Preservation: A lease does not require a down payment allowing you to conserve working capital and keep your bank lines of credit open. Flexibility: Leasing provides flexibility to add and upgrade your equipment so you can respond quickly to industry changes. Quick: Your lease application will be reviewed and evaluated within one business day. Customized Solutions: Customized leases are designed to match your special requirements, budget considerations and tax objectives. Tax Advantages: Lease payments may be tax deductible, check with your tax advisor. 100% Financing: The term of the lease can be matched with the useful life of the equipment. Pay for Equipment as you use it: With leasing, you pay for the equipment out of future profit, not working capital. Improved Cash Flow: Cash flow is predictable with leasing because predetermined payments enable you to prepare more accurate budgets and forecasts. --- ### TITLE: Service Documents URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/service-documents/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: Model 3931-HDX (Serial Numbers 10720 – ) Model 3928-HDX - (Serial Numbers 10600 – 10628) Model 3928-HD - (Serial Numbers 10438 -10470 , 10500 – 10521) Model 3928-TGH - (Serial Numbers 10400 – 10437) Models 3122-TGH, 3222-TGH, 3424-TGH, 3624-TGH, 3924-TGH - (Serial Numbers 3001-3025, 4011-4029, 10100-10342, 11100-11103) --- ### TITLE: Work Ready Units URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/work-ready-units-2/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: Be ready when opportunity comes knocking We at Van Ladder understand that in business, timing can be everything.  That’s why we developed our work ready program.  This provides the opportunity to get you rolling in a new Van Ladder bucket truck fast.  The work ready bucket trucks are set up with our most versatile and popular vehicle and body styles.  These are available for rent or as an expedited purchase utilizing trucks either already on the ground or already on order. Sometimes you need a bucket truck and can’t afford to wait 4 or 5 months.  With our work ready program, we maintain a constant flow of standard packages to minimize lead times and get you up and running fast.  Contact us to see what we have available today. Do you have a short term opportunity?  Perhaps renting through one of our partnering rental dealers is the best approach.  Competitive rates and rent to own programs will provide you with the equipment you need to turn profits quickly. Not sure whether to rent or own?  Give us a call to have a thoughtful conversation about what will best meet your needs. --- ### TITLE: Model 3928-HDX URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/model-3928-hd/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: The newest generation of Van Ladder bucket trucks are now more HEAVY DUTY and more STABLE than ever before. The box constructed boom manufactured with high tensile 6000 series aluminum provides a safe and rigid work platform for operators.  Van Ladder’s unique rolling fulcrum design makes the design efficient as well as strong.  The enclosed cargo area continues to be wide open with remaining vehicle load capacity around 4000 lbs on average.  NO OUTRIGGERS are required, making each jobsite visit quick and easy. Standard Features 45 feet working height 28 feet of side reach 350 lb load capacity 360 continuous rotation Ground level bucket entry All electric – ZERO emissions. Industries served Sign installation Lighting installation Flag Installation Electrical contractors General contractors Cable Splicers Painting contractors Building maintenance Sign maintenance Lighting maintenance Security Systems contractors Window washers Aircraft Maintenance Cable Companies 45 feet working height 28 feet of side reach 350 lb load capacity 360 degree continuous rotation Front access to bucket Simple, serviceable electronics in durable weather proof enclosure Numerous vehicle body options, with or without side access storage compartments Unique rolling fulcrum design Automatic bucket leveling system, utilizing linear actuator Fall arrest anchorage point for operator in bucket Intuitive and serviceable controls in a durable weather proof enclosure Cage bucket provides superior versatility and ergonomics Optional Bucket Forks Optional Work Tray Optional Toolbox Optional Strobe Beacons See how the all new Model 3928-HDX combines real world versatility, performance, and safety into an aerial lift that only Van Ladder can build. First-class performance and affordability come together in the all new 3928-HDX Van Ladder bucket truck.  The robust ladder boom design makes this the perfect work horse for numerous industries.  The flexibility of being installed on a variety of enclosed bodies and vehicle types allows each Van Ladder to be tailored to what works best for you. Efficiency creates profitability.  Quickly set up your jobsite with no outriggers.  Operate the boom at the jobsite with zero emissions while the vehicle is turned off.  Utilize the many time saving accessories to do more and make more. Work smarter with Van Ladder aerial lifts. --- ### TITLE: Testimonials URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/testimonials/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: Bucket Trucks Specialized for Signs and Lighting “If you don’t stay on the cutting edge you’re going to be left behind.” “Other than employees, the best investment we’ve made at Signarc is the Van Ladder.” “It doesn’t just work, it will outwork you.” “We can finally meet our customers’ needs anytime we want to, and anytime they need us to.” “The customer service is really, really good.” “It’s actually almost twice as efficient as the other trucks we have.” “Everything is in the truck, so now, when we leave, we don’t forget anything.” “We’re short-staffed . so now one person is able to do more.” “Bringing the Van Ladder onboard gives us more flexibility.” “This vehicle works with you. It’s a whole other sign installer.” “We can’t afford to be inefficient at our job because someone is having the worst day of their life.” “I’ve always bought the best equipment and it has always paid off for me.” “We can put everything we need for any installation in this truck.” “The small footprint adds a lot of ability in an urban environment.” “I saw that it could be more than a service truck.” “We needed this truck to help our business and take the next step forward.” “There are buckets made for cable guys and fire guys . this was made for just what we use it for.” “The versatility of the Chariot Bucket with all the accessories makes the installation so much faster.” “Seeing what the truck is capable of now is definitely very impressive..” “This configuration with Van Ladder is the perfect service/install truck—small size.” “It took away a little bit of the anxiety I get during certain installs. .” “We just found that we had more and more reasons why we wanted Van Ladders.” “It comes fully equipped with accessories that help you easily install a sign by yourself if needed.” “The Chariot Bucket is definitely a step up . It’s a lot of great innovation.” “I’m happy with the truck. It’s the only truck I’ll ever need.” “Essentially, we purchased another employee that’s going to help with hands in the field.” “Sign installing is the best job I’ve ever done. It’s never the same twice.” “I like the quietness of the electric. You don’t have a big diesel running in the background.” “In a matter of three or four years, this truck will pay for itself with not sending two vehicles to every job . .” “What would normally take two guys to do, I can do by myself in that basket.” “It saves so much labor because you can do everything with one person.” “Having a vehicle like this with its flexibility and economy would be very beneficial for any sign company.” “We have six Van Ladders right now and our annual cost of maintenance has to be under $500 apiece.” “The Van Ladder is much more versatile than my other truck—no outriggers, pulls into a single parking spot, one man, plenty of storage . makes it simple.” “You Can’t Find a More Cost-Efficient Service and Installation Bucket Truck” “We discovered the Van Ladder was agile, and flexible, and reliable and maneuverable, and so it became preferred by our service techs.” "They are really easy to get a hold of...and talk to someone with extreme in depth knowledge of the product. They have all the answers." “The support with Van Ladder has always been #1 with us.” "It is easily capable of allowing me to keep any product I need..." "The new way we wanted to do services was to have everything on the trucks, so we decided to look at something that had good cargo area, and the Van Ladder fit that mold" 30 employees 27 years in sign business manufactures, installs, and services signs Van Ladder Customer for 18 years We’ve slowly replaced our previous aerial ladders with the longer-reach Van Ladder product.  Today’s lifts are aluminum, which makes them lighter, so we can more easily put a longer reach ladder on our vehicles.  Our fleet includes ten 45’ Van Ladders, which can handle 98% of our work.  We rarely need to rent a lift to reach higher for a job.  Not having to deploy outriggers speeds up the service time, which in turn saves the customer money. We came to choose the Van Ladder product for its overall value and features not found in any other aerial device.  The Van Ladder itself is a very rugged unit , easy to use , easy to maintain, and easy to make any repairs.  The lift functions very smooth for an electric unit with multi-function capabilities . Though the ladder would look to be lightweight , it is actually very ridged due to the traveling lift cylinder mount.  This is combined with a chassis and body combination that has a wealth of storage space and is easy to drive.  Not needing the chassis engine running while the lift is being used is also a great profit aspect for the end user. The staff at Van Ladder are all very professional and are constantly striving for new ideas and superior customer support.  We recommend the Van Ladder to our customers because we see the value in all of these features.  Value means profit and profit means long standing relationships with our customers. I bought my first Van Ladder in 2008 and traded it for the new one in 2014.   Before Van Ladder, we had to depend on outside help for measuring and installing.  The ability to do it in house has made quoting and service much easier and faster. Increased sales and profits are the result.  We rarely have a situation that our Van Ladder does not meet our needs.   It is very easy to use and maintain.  The battery operation works very well and saves gas and engine wear.  The few times that we have had an issue with our unit, the folks at Van Ladder have been very helpful getting the problem solved.  I highly recommend Van Ladder for all of the above reasons. The Van Ladder allows us to reach the places we need to reach and we can carry everything we need for the job enclosed in the van. I have used Brinks Van Ladders exclusively for the past 15+ years. I have found the quality and reliability of their units to be second to none. Being able to utilize the entire inside of the vehicle for parts storage has proven to be very important to my business.  The entire staff is very knowledgeable and honest without question.  As long as they are building Van Ladders, that is what I will buy. Fill out this form and send us your experience with Van Ladder. --- ### TITLE: Accessories URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/accessories/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: Included with the Chariot Bucket The rotating fork system allows for 130 degrees travel to square up a sign. The lower forks work great for taller channel letters and cabinets, while the mid and upper forks are ideal for channel letters, cabinets, and raceways that aren’t as tall. This coated platform attaches with pins to the upper, lower and mid forks, and supports the sign prior to installation. A hole at the edge of the platform allows it to hang from the side of the bucket when not in use. These removable extensions are designed for use with the upper and mid forks. Adjustable in every direction, the pattern arms free-up the installer’s hands for leveling and taping pattern. The securement braces slide into the vertical tubing and bracket the outside edge of the sign while it rides on the platform, giving the installer a free hand to run the controls. The Face Bar slides into the Chariot’s vertical tubing and pins into place. Three heavy-duty clamps are included to hang the sign face from the bar. An attachment point rated for 300 lbs. These coated pads fit on the upper, lower, and mid forks and pin into place. Optional Accessories Make an easy one-man job of rolling out and hanging wall patterns or banners.  The material simply rolls off the spindle as the Van Ladder moves along the mounting surface.  A spring loaded keeper ensures the spool stays tight as it unwraps.  The spindle is designed to be quickly attached to the front of the bucket when needed. Made with an aluminum frame, heavy canvas, and a rigid high-density poly bottom. Because of their size or design, some signs are best hung from above. For these unique challenges, the jib attachment mounts to the Chariot’s rotation system and provides a lifting eye at head-level. Heavy duty aluminum construction for attaching to rear of bucket.  3” deep x 6” wide x 26” long.  Perfect for tools and supplies. This removable aluminum bracket holds a heavy-duty canvas tool bag between the rails of the fly ladder. Power up those corded tools in the bucket with the integrated 110V circuit and conveniently located outlet.  Ground level cord end provided to connect to the power source of your choice.  Vehicle mounted power sources (generators/ inverters) are available and can be installed upon request. This power supply is installed in the forward side compartment of the box’s passenger side. Marine grade charger to keep all batteries in optimum condition after prolonged periods without much vehicle run time.  Equipped with weather proof receptacle so vehicle can be secured during charging. Place a box of fluorescent bulbs conveniently on the ladder boom within easy reach of the bucket.  Locate the holder on any of the ladder rungs to adjust for a variety of bulb sizes. Installed on the driver’s side only of the Workport box. Installed on the passenger side of the Workport box. Class 1 Amber LED strobes, by Federal Signal, increase visibility at all times of the day.  Strobes have adjustable flash patterns and are permanently installed at the rear of the boom turntable.  Strobes automatically activate when the Van Ladder is in use. Comfortable, heavy-duty, top quality.  OSHA required. Heavy Duty molded rubber chocks to hold up to all conditions.  Molded in eyelets to attach to cable or chain as desired. --- ### TITLE: Vehicle Types URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/vehicle-types/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: Van Ladder bucket trucks are available in several standard packages. Van Ladder bucket trucks are available in several standard packages.  Installations on Workport and Cargoport bodies coupled with either a Ford or GM cutaway chassis provide a cost effective solution for many applications.  Custom installations on other vehicle types are also available.  Contact our knowledgeable staff to discuss your vehicle needs. The Workport enclosed service body is manufactured to Van Ladder specifications to achieve an efficient and economical solution for a variety of applications.  The generous compartments with adjustable shelving and a fully enclosed walk in area make this bucket truck a true workshop on wheels. Standard features include: Fiberglass reinforced side walls E-coated steel and vinyl wrapped rear structure Aluminum roof Full undercoating Dual rear integrated access ladders 70/30 rear swing doors with 49.5” clear opening Tuff-Ply rubberized non-slip floor coating over 1 1/8” plywood Vertical compartments on both sides include adjustable shelf Horizontal compartments on both sides include access from inside ABS Automotive style locking handles with spring loaded closures Heavy duty aluminum hinges with grease fittings Drip rail above compartment doors Interior counter top above compartments 67” Interior body height 2 LED Cargo lights with 3 way lighted cab switch Rear step bumper with class 3 receiver and 7 way plug Electric remote locking system (integrated with chassis power locks on most models) Set back bulkhead for added front seat travel Sliding bulkhead door for access to cargo area from cab Usable cargo floor length true to body length (typically 12 feet) The Cargoport enclosed body is manufactured to Van Ladder specifications to provide a large open space able to be customized by the end user for maximizing storage potential.  This creates a bucket truck that can be upfit with a variety of shelving and storage solutions or left open to handle large, bulky items.  The curbside access door adds to the ease and flexibility offered by this body. Standard features include: Fiberglass reinforced side walls E-coated steel and vinyl wrapped rear structure Aluminum roof Full undercoating Detachable rear door mounted access ladder Full opening rear swing doors with cam bar lock 36” curbside swing door with step well Heavy duty aluminum hinges with grease fittings 1 1/8” painted plywood floor 67” Interior body height 2 LED Cargo lights with 3 way lighted cab switch Rear step bumper with class 3 receiver and 7 way plug Set back bulkhead for added front seat travel Sliding bulkhead door for access to cargo area from cab Usable cargo floor length true to body length (typically 12 feet) --- ### TITLE: Stay Organized, Stay Efficient URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/stay-organized-stay-efficient/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: With more enclosed cargo space than you dreamt possible The unique geometry of the Van Ladder creates a bucket truck that maintains valuable inside cargo space.  The enclosed vehicle bodies keep tools and materials in a secure environment that is protected from outside elements.  Compartments or shelving systems allow for quick and easy organization to keep you working, not searching. Standard vehicle packages utilize a support structure that has been engineered to maximize useable space inside the body.  This efficient design means the remaining vehicle payload also remains high.  Load up with everything you need for multiple jobs and streamline reloading time between jobs. Wondering where to put those ladders that you still need from time to time?  Workport packages come standard with integrated ladder tie-down systems to secure them inside and out of the way. Vehicles can also be customized for your specific applications.  Contact our friendly staff to discuss what vehicle body type is right for you! --- ### TITLE: A History of Innovation URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/a-history-of-innovation/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: Van Ladder bucket trucks have seen many changes since being originally developed.  Originally conceived for the cable television industry, inventor Eugene Faulstich of Spencer, Iowa, quickly found many other applications for his design.  Today's Van Ladders are still recognizable by the unique boom design but have been completely redesigned for the sign and lighting industry. As aerial needs have grown and changed, so too the Van Ladder has adapted.  Building on the efficiency of the original Van Ladder, Brink’s Manufacturing Company has developed a bucket truck that is now more versatile than ever.  With a working height of 45 feet and 31 feet of side reach with no outriggers, Van Ladder has set a new standard for small bucket trucks.  The all electric design originally conceived in 1968 is still a cornerstone of all Van Ladder lifts.  With improvements to battery and charging technology, the zero emissions system is not just environmentally friendly, it is reliable and economical. Never content to just be good enough, Brink’s Mfg. continues a relentless pursuit to make every Van Ladder better than the last.  Our customers’ feedback has and will continue to be the driving force in Van Ladder’s approach to innovation.  Customers are encouraged to contact the factory support team to discuss ideas they have for improvements or problems they’re faced with.  Our team won’t rest in exploring new ways to innovate and find solutions. Produced in America’s heartland, we view each Van Ladder as a testament to quality and craftsmanship.  By utilizing components that last, your maintenance costs will be low, keeping your return on investment sound and predictable. values every customer, large or small, and considers them as part of what we call the Van Ladder family.  Our commitment to ongoing product quality and outstanding customer support is why so many choose Van Ladder when it is time to purchase a new bucket truck. --- ### TITLE: Service URL: https://www.chariotbuckettrucks.com/service/ CATEGORY: Technical/Specs CONTENT: endeavors to offer personalized and knowledgeable product support for the life of each Van Ladder. Our first-class support team is available Monday-Friday to answer questions and help troubleshoot your unit to get it back in service! We understand that downtime kills profits, which is why we offer same day shipping on most replacement parts. To speak with a service representative call 1-888-887-5847 or use our contact form here. Owner’s manuals are free upon request! Proper maintenance and routine inspections are important to maintain optimum efficiency and safety. Those operating and servicing the equipment should be familiar with the owner’s manual provided with each Van Ladder. If you’ve lost yours, let us know and we’ll gladly send you one free. Annual Inspection Checklists are available by filling in some basic information. Each year, a qualified independent inspection provider must perform an inspection of your Van Ladder. Ensure your Van Ladder continues to meet OSHA and ANSI standards and keep workers safe by following these guidelines. ---