i get asked this question on a regular basis people always say the same thing
dave what's the best size van to go for now i've been there and done that i've had the
big kitted out vans i've had the smaller vans heck i've even had a pedal bike when
i started out so in this video i'm going to give you some brilliant examples on how you
can kick your own van out and we're going to be taking a look at vw caddies for transit connects
we're even going to take a look at a voxel corsa van so if you're thinking about getting started
out and you want a little bit of inspiration then this video could be the answer to your prayers
so you're a little bit undecided about the right size of the van that you're after well
today we're going to be covering just the smaller vans today because we want to break
this down into lots of different videos just to help you guys out so we're going to be focusing
purely on the small vans today and we're going to be covering loads of different pros and cons
and hopefully by the time this video is finished you're going to have a clear mind
and you should be able to decide for yourself which is the right van for you
so let's start off by taking a look at some of the pros of a small van so the mpg is going to
be one of the biggest factors for a lot of you because you're not going to be carrying a load of
weight because you simply can't and also they're great for nipping in and out of city centres
and if you've got a massive van and you're not the best driver in the world it can be a bit of a pain
in the backside if you're trying to park up and you're trying to maneuver something when you're in
a bit of a flap so small vans do have some huge advantages and also another thing to consider
think about how many things you store in your van right now if you've got a big van
what i find is when i have my larger vans i was just filling it up with all sorts of stuff there
was a point right where i had a gigantic tierne because i had a water tank and i was like yeah i
need to heat the water up in the winter i had a blooming tian that's not the sort of thing that
i'd probably carry in a smaller van just because you can't you just can't carry that much stuff
in it so i do think i was sort of buying stuff which i thought was quite necessary at the time
but now when i look back at it i just think why was i buying that and then i was buying like
two pressure washers keeping two in at the same time in case the other one went completely wrong
and then it turns out i never really did need to use it so it's just carrying around
extra weight so i think when you've got a bigger van it also gives you the incentive just to chuck
everything in there and you're not always as organized whereas if you've got a smaller van
you're like right i'm going to get everything all set out it's all got to be put back nice and tidy
it does keep you on top of your organization skills let me tell you that and also another
thing to consider a smaller van might mean you might be able to get cheaper stickers because your
vehicle is not going to be as big it's a little saving it's not a massive one but i thought i'd
chuck it into the mix but anyway let's talk about the cons of owning a small van the biggest con is
an obvious one for me a small van cannot carry all the things that you might need now if you're
somebody who's starting out from scratch and you just want to work your way up i can't see anything
wrong with a small van but if you want to go big time and you want to get a generator you want
to have a massive water tank you simply can't do that and even if you could do it it wouldn't give
you much space to put things like your marquee or many other chemicals and also vans have two seats
which means if you do get busy you're not going to be able to take two mates with you if you want
to get done in a quicker time you're only going to have that one seat and the odds are that one seat
is probably going to be dedicated for your henry hoover and there is one more big factor for me and
it happens to everybody you're out there you're cleaning your car it starts raining just out of
nowhere and you have to chuck everything back in the van you have about three minutes to do it it
is a bit of a flap i've got to admit when you've got a bigger van you can sort of just chuck it
in and you're like right it's still space but in a smaller van you've got to be pretty quick and
you're just slamming stuff in there you get very disorganized from doing that as well that can
be a real put off for some people but if you are working inside then you can completely ignore that
factor okay so you do want to go and buy a smaller van so let's take a look at all the essentials
that you're going to need to kit it out first of all the water tank is questionable because
some people may just rely on customers water but for most of you this is going to be an important
factor so you need to utilize the height of your van and go for a water tank that's got good height
but less width so you're going to need to carry loads of chemicals as well now you need
to make sure that you've got at least five liter drums you can't obviously carry 25 liter drums
in those small vans it's just not possible you might be able to get away with one for tfr
but other than that you're not going to be able to carry much stuff so you have to break it down
and unfortunately it just means you're gonna have to top the chemicals up every night when
you're getting from work so the essential 5 liter products will consist of car shampoo
wheel cleaner fallout remover tfr snow foam citrus pre-wash and an interior cleaner you've also got
to make sure that you've got enough space for your cleaning caddy and also i keep emergency one liter
bottles so i have wheel acid and i've openly said that before there are some occasions where you
just need to use the damn stuff because nothing else will shift it so it's good to have one
liter of wheel acid and also a heavy duty carpet cleaner a lot of you probably aren't going to get
through that much carpet cleaner so carrying five liters in one go every single day just to
use it once a month seems a bit pointless keep the weight down and go for a one liter and when
it comes to equipment you're also going to need a decent sized pressure washer if you want to get a
machine that works pretty well it is going to be quite big those karcher k2s are not going to cut
it yes they're small and light and they are good for getting in and out but unfortunately they're
just not going to cut it for this business you're also going to need to get yourself a decent vacuum
cleaner a charles or a george [ __ ] is pretty much all you're going to need it's going to be
box standard it's going to be perfect for you it's going to have good reliability and it's going to
have good sucking power as well you're also going to need extension leads and if you need a steamer
well this is another thing you can question i got a steamer but i don't always use it so
again i don't know if you can class that as an essential for carrying in a small van but i'll
leave that one down to you you're also going to need somewhere to put your machine polisher
but that can easily be solved by putting it in a bag and even sticking it under one of the seats
you also got to have a nice storage facility like little racking i spend about 15 pounds on the
light cheap racking you can get it in wilkinsons you can pretty much get it anywhere i keep all my
cloths separate in them i've actually got i've got about 10 drawers now where i put all my
different cloths i've got the glass ones i've got the towels i've got the door shut towels i've got
the interior cloths i've got the fabric i've got so many different things that i use and they're
all nicely compact away because you're also going to need space to put your buckets as well and even
when you carry your buckets you're going to need three to four buckets and you're going to need
to put all your wash mitts somewhere you don't want to just leave them in the bucket and then
stack the buckets because then you could get grit from the other bucket going into your main one
and that's when you cause problems and you also need somewhere to put your brushes as well
so there is quite a lot of things you need to think about before you actually go out and get a
van you have to plan all these things in advance now here comes the good juicy bit i'm going to
show you some fantastic examples of what valley vans have done now this is a uk-based company
they basically kit out any van or you can go and buy a van that's already been done by them
so even if you have bought your van and you're thinking well i don't really know what to do you
can go to them and they can get it out everything for you everything is done and not only that they
can supply the chemicals the machine all the equipment everything can be built up so all
you've got to do is go buy the van and then let those guys go and do the rest now they've got all
sorts of different packages i really want you guys to go and check out their website because
it is packed with so many amazing ideas and not only that go check them out on instagram
i contacted them the other day i said look please can i put some of these pictures on this video
because i think you guys need to see it these are absolutely epic in every single way so here's
some examples of some of the caddy van setups they've got and they look absolutely beautiful
especially with like the mood lighting they've put in there as well and they've all got carpeted
interior which adds a certain quality and i love the way that everything has its own
place and it's important if you are in a hurry and you have to chuck things back in and going
on from what i said earlier on about the five liter containers they've thought about that as
well they've got proper shelving where you can put all your five liter containers together it is just
perfectly done i love the way they've executed this so what they like to do is petition the van
in half so in the rear of the van we've got the generator and the hoover they normally have their
own place but then you've got like a nice little workbench and i think that's pretty important too
because it's always good to put the car mats on there so you can hoover them without sticking them
on the floor i think that idea works and i like the way that the five liters all just sit behind
and then you've got your 500 ml bottles which are all close to hand and they're all in their
own holders which means that nothing's going to spill out it's all nicely put together
i absolutely love this and i think this is the balingo one that i'm currently looking at now
and it is just gorgeous and then they got the steam cleaner and the kranzel which sits in front
of the water tank but there's still a little bit of blank space which i still think that you could
still utilize as well by putting some more little racking like i said before you can get those cheap
boxes there is a way that you could fit them into that so the next one i want to show you
is one of my favorites and this is on instagram and this is the reason why i contacted them
because it's incredible what they've done it's a voxel course a van so it's no different to
your little tiny car with two seats it's just so beautifully done i love everything about this one
um i mean look you haven't got a massive amount of space in there but they've still managed to
get a water tank in there which is that's quite incredible and the crandall's just sitting on top
of it and there is space for your buckets too and they put the brushes down the side they've got the
bottles all in their holders look admittedly it might be a bit of a faff for some people who are
trying to get their head around the whole thing you're not going to have a massive amount of space
but they've even managed to fit a generator in there but i think what they've done is nothing
short of a miracle in terms of utilizing the height they've nailed it so i think by looking
at some of these vans you should be able to get a good idea for yourself on how to kill it out
i always love the idea of having a workstation but if you can't do it honestly there is a good
alternative you can go to the range or ikea you can get those decorators tables and believe me
i know this sounds ridiculous but they aren't that heavy they're pretty light and they cost 10 pounds
you can literally pull it out the van put all your work stuff on it and get organized before you go
and actually do the car and even if it does rain you can put everything underneath to keep it dry
i still think those diy tables are a great thing and i may even feature a video on it
a bit later down the line because i'd love to try and make a custom one with like
brush holders and all sorts of gadgets which might be quite cool
might even give it a go later on in the year before christmas but i think having a workstation
is important and i think valid vans have done a great job of having one on the back because
i think that was one of the biggest problems for me i didn't go down the route of using them i as
some of you probably know my vans i've had so many flipping vans it got to the point where i'm just
like no i'm done with vans so i kept my transit connect it's been with me for like eight years now
and i use pallets i use pallet racking and i know it's heavy it's not practical but
i needed something built for the next day to do this job at top gear and i wanted to look good
i made it out of pallets and it's incredible honestly all right it's not that sturdy or sturdy
enough but i tell you what it has been perfect for everything i need my hoover's got its own place
the steps got its own place i got three caddies along the front i've got drawers at the back
everything about it and then i put drawers on top of my water tanks as well and they've been
cable tied in trust me honestly i know it sounds ridiculous but it works it really does work so i
might even put some more like footage in my van out because i love it i know it's a bit of an
old dog but it does the job i can pull up anywhere and i've got everything all set up just pull the
pressure washer out lovely jubbly if i haven't got a long enough hose to reach around the car
i've got an extension hose which will then pull out from the water tank everything works and i
keep things as simple as possible i don't carry half the stuff that i used to now i just make that
extra effort of every night just making sure all my chemicals are topped up and everything's all
clean and fresh ready for the next day i even have a bucket to put all my dirty clothes in
and when i get a new van whenever that whenever that day comes when my van dies that's going to
be the first place i'm going to go to get my van properly kitted out get rid of the pallets get rid
of the silly carpet that i've got in mine i'll get it done properly by then and also make sure
you stick around because we've got more videos coming in a few days time i'll see you later bye