Update trailer inventories and maintenance

It can be easy to forget about logistical details like trailer organization when focusing on big picture tasks. But one quick way to stall progress is to get to a project site and not have the equipment needed to get the job done. For many contractors, keeping a routine inventory of trailer equipment is a necessity to prevent those kinds of slip-ups.

“It’s one of those ‘inspect what you expect’ things,” says Travis Jinright, general manager for Russell Landscape in Sugar Hill, Georgia. “As a management team, if you’re not keeping your eyes on the crews on a daily and weekly basis, that’s when things start to slip.”

Keeping tabs.

E.A. Quinn Landscape in Glastonbury, Connecticut, utilizes a numbering system to keep tabs on its 12 trailers and equipment. Each truck or trailer has a unit number, and each piece of equipment has the truck or trailer number printed on it or etched into the plastic. Periodically, the management team checks in with the foreman to make sure all of the tools are in their possession, says Scott Pinney, landscape maintenance manager.

Read the full story from the May issue here.