[MNWC]

Question for all you multi van companies out there.

Is it more beneficial to have a 2 man van set up or 2 men in single vans ??

I know how much one man can earn on his own as i employ already but will two men earn double in one van ? No i dont think so. Extra chats and longer breaks etc . On the  other hand you have extra insurance and running costs of the extra van......decisions decisions.....

[nathankaye]

I helped my friend out once a week (2 men one van) trad work, we covered some ground. Anyway it came time for him to sell work as he was moving away, i bought a section of it.
Reason for the waffle........on my own it took me a day to do only a small section of what we did together in about half a day.
So 2 men in one van sounds the best set up in my head.

Ive had people help me on wfp, one did all upstairs whilst the 2nd followed doing downstairs, slightly behind. We flied through the work and because one was infront it stopped the talk time on each house.    So ur earning well without the running costs of a 2nd van and all that comes with it!!

Lol, not that it matters but they would be my take on it depending how big your growing at the moment

[Tosh]

2 vans.

[P @ F]

If you can trust the man in second van to graft , thats the battle won , (I lost that one ) 

[Soupy]

2 vans.

Opposite.

[Ian Lancaster]

As far as time is concerned:

Depends on proximity of jobs.  Two men on one house - hopeless, will take far longer than half the time it takes one man on his own. A few houses close enough to do without moving the van - each man does half the jobs available - bit nearer the 'half the time' target but still wouldn't match two men working separately in a van each.  One man would always finish before the other and then have to wait, losing production time.

As far as profitability is concerned:

Spread over a year I don't think the savings of running one van would be greater than the loss made by two men falling over each other etc working from one van.

Could work with WFP but we tried it years ago when we were trad, two men one van was a complete waste of time,  hardly did more than 140% of one man on his own

[Steven Biggs]

2 men working from the same van on compact work on separate houses has got to be the most profitable . There's only one vans running costs . Not much chatter as you are on separate houses . If you work it right you should finish roughly the same time . If not one starts siding away and ticketing up .

[jo5hm4n]

I don't have 2 vans but just on face value i have to say 2 vans sounds better than 1.  Let's say you have 1 man in a van doing £250 a day WFP, you need 2 man in 1 van to do £500 just for it to be equal compared to having 2 man in 2 van doing £250 each.  Yes there is more costs but i think if your limit was usually £250 per man in a van then 2 men might do £350-£400 in a day together.  It would more than outweigh the costs over time.  Personally i would always go for 1 man per van if i was given the choice.

[SB Cleaning]

2 vans would generate the better income.

[dazmond]

you ve got to get the work first though!

[Susan Dean (1stclean)]

2 men working from the same van on compact work on separate houses has got to be the most profitable . There's only one vans running costs . Not much chatter as you are on separate houses . If you work it right you should finish roughly the same time . If not one starts siding away and ticketing up .

this guys bang on the money but if you havnt got a lot of work  in the same street its not as good

 I friend of ours as gone from twoX2 2 guys set ups too 4 vans and he making a lot more money after the costs are took out , and as now more room to take on more work as well

[Og]

2 men in one van will not earn as much as two men in two vans. Unless you're parked up all day smashing a big job. Then it's cheaper with less running costs.

[Steven Biggs]

Parked up all day smashing a big job is virtually  the same as working the same street and smashing loads of smaller jobs .

[Splash & dash]

Depends on the type of work if large commercial 2 men per van works best if small domestic one man per van is more profitable, we have two men per van as we have a big mixture of work and it workes well for us but not as profitable as it could be I accept that as it makes life easier

[KS Cleaning]

2 men working from the same van on compact work on separate houses has got to be the most profitable . There's only one vans running costs . Not much chatter as you are on separate houses . If you work it right you should finish roughly the same time . If not one starts siding away and ticketing up .

This works for me

[8weekly]

2 men working from the same van on compact work on separate houses has got to be the most profitable . There's only one vans running costs . Not much chatter as you are on separate houses . If you work it right you should finish roughly the same time . If not one starts siding away and ticketing up .

This works for me

Having done both I can tell you that two men in one van doesn't get near two vans in terms of turnover. Not too bad if one of them is disciplined and leads, but generally two vans will do 20% more easily.

[KS Cleaning]

2 men working from the same van on compact work on separate houses has got to be the most profitable . There's only one vans running costs . Not much chatter as you are on separate houses . If you work it right you should finish roughly the same time . If not one starts siding away and ticketing up .

This works for me

Having done both I can tell you that two men in one van doesn't get near two vans in terms of turnover. Not too bad if one of them is disciplined and leads, but generally two vans will do 20% more easily.

I have also done both and as I said one van with two men works best for me as it produces more profit for me than two vans with 1 man, bear in mind I am working on the 2 man van and delegating. I tend not to comment too much on what works for others as I simply don't know their round. What I will say is 20% more turnover with an extra van will in a lot of cases mean less profit.

[Steven Biggs]

Come the kids 6 weeks holidays . I'm gunna have 3 men working one van . My youngest son 15 is dying to come out and earn some more cash . I know exactly how I'm gunna work it . Drop my other lad off with a trolley full and 3 barrels on one cul de sac . And me and the young un get stuck into the next street . I only have a spare 4 foot pole , so I have no option to get him doing the downstairs. I will fly through the tops  and work back to him . I don't expect to earn any more money as my round is full for 2 people . But I will finish earlier and learn the young un the value of hard work and money .

[8weekly]

2 men working from the same van on compact work on separate houses has got to be the most profitable . There's only one vans running costs . Not much chatter as you are on separate houses . If you work it right you should finish roughly the same time . If not one starts siding away and ticketing up .

This works for me

Having done both I can tell you that two men in one van doesn't get near two vans in terms of turnover. Not too bad if one of them is disciplined and leads, but generally two vans will do 20% more easily.

I have also done both and as I said one van with two men works best for me as it produces more profit for me than two vans with 1 man, bear in mind I am working on the 2 man van and delegating. I tend not to comment too much on what works for others as I simply don't know their round. What I will say is 20% more turnover with an extra van will in a lot of cases mean less profit.

If you are working in the van it is better I agree because you are managing it. 

Here is an example of a typical day with two men sent out. Given £650 to do, return with £580 done. Two vans though will do £680 to £750 every day. That's an extra £2,000 over 4 weeks at least. Worst case the ongoing cost of another van is going to be £800 a month.