A prospective customer recently told me “You’re a contractor, get a Truck!”
Well… I’ve thought about it… quite a lot actually. I would do it in a heartbeat if it made good business sense. But at the end of the day my Jeep has a V8 engine that pulls my trailer with ease, gets better gas mileage than most large trucks, can fit into smaller spaces, and can be unhooked from the trailer at the end of the day to become a convenient grocery getter and camping rig for family trips (while getting even better gas mileage than it does when I’m towing the trailer).
A couple of times a year I bemoan the fact that I can’t haul heavier loads… and then instead of going to the lumberyard and spending my afternoon loading up the load (that my Jeep can’t tow) I place a call to a local lumberyard who loads, delivers, and unloads all of those materials for free with a forklift and a flatbed truck.
I have been forced to wait for materials to be delivered.
I have gotten used to ordering materials ahead of time.
So, while I sometimes worry that my prospective customers won’t take me seriously when I show up in a Jeep, I remind myself that I’m consuming less of the earth’s resources, saving money, maximizing the usefulness of my vehicle, and saving energy for my family when I get home every evening. Meanwhile I accomplish the same things every day that contractors with full size trucks accomplish, minus the loading and unloading lumber part.
At the end of the day I have more money left to spend providing for my family and taking those camping trips in the same Jeep that serves myself and my customers so well.
So, until I identify a truly good reason to purchase a truck I will happily remain “that contractor who drives a Jeep.” Those other guys don’t know what their missing!
-Gabriel Duke
