Your business is always on the move and life is non-stop so with such a busy lifestyle its difficult to find time to get everything finished on time. Often your ute, van or 4WD becomes a second home and potentially even your main office.
It can be easy to lose things in this second home of yours, but even worse than those vehicles that can be easy to break into. Tools and equipment are frequently targeted because the work car usually sits in a driveway or on the street at night. Everybody wants to make safety as your priority while on the road, right?
Storage Drawers not only keep your tools and equipment safe, it can help you organise the week ahead by using the slide-out drawer compartments & maximising the amount of room in your cabin so you can fit extra equipment.
And, whether the drawer comes with the vehicle or it’s built and installed separately, there’s an increasing attention to the sort of terrain that the user will be driving over. This consideration tends to determine the material used to make the drawer. Bare metallic material is definitely likely to make a lot of noise which is one of the key reasons we use material to quieten down the sound and make it more user friendly.
If your are driving consistently over bumpy terrain, this should play a role in your choice for storage drawers and identifying the best points to secure the 4wd drawers.
Here’s what not to leave out in a typical tradie’s drawer.
Fridge
This will be a lifesaver. You can have all your drinks and quick snacks well preserved to keep you going through the day. There are lots of camping refrigerators that will serve you just perfectly. They are designed for use on the go and are optimised for energy saving so the usage won’t take a toll on your battery. Having a slide out fridge option is also really important for accessibility.
A custom drawer will accommodate the full size of the fridge and keep it safe and unaffected by any form of impact.
Tool boxes
There are a couple of new range of standard slide drawers which regular tradies find really exciting. They come with various partitions that are great for the normal day to day carriage needs. You can allocate different partitions for different classes of tools and we make ute boxes for every make and model.
They make organisation much easier with virtually any utility vehicle. These drawers for tradies have been designed to fit most of the makes and models of utes and commercial vans.
Drawer features to look for
Depending on your storage requirements, the material used to make the drawer matters. A typical tradie is likely to carry a few tools and a couple of other things that will need a sturdy drawer material for longevity and for specific jobs.
Drawers made from quality powder coated steel with well rated heavy duty slides make quite a lot of sense. Such drawers often come with superior stainless steel lockable handles – particularly T handles.
Whether to have the drawer fitted on its own or for a full organisation of your ute or work vehicle is your choice. A common practice is to add a false floor with racking fitted above it for keeping more loose items.
Drawer Sizes
The size and capacity of tradie’s drawer are important to keep in mind. Regardless of the type of trade you are into, there are always new tools and inventory you acquire, so it only makes sense to leave yourself plenty of room in anticipation of these.
A very tiny drawer may not be exactly what you are looking for, unless it’s meant to carry a single fixed item such as your fridge. Otherwise you need to always choose your drawer size with future needs for expansion in mind.
The bottom line is, if you can get the right combination of features for your drawers then your ute will be a perfect workshop on wheels.
Benefits of storage drawers
Drawers allow you to organize your things. You can keep all tools needed for the same purpose together to save you the last minute headache of turning over piles of tools to get what you are looking for, when you urgently need it.
The importance of time couldn’t be more emphasized when you are working. As a tradie, every minute you save as a result of a well-organized drawer system translates to more income for you.
Drawers also help you save on space. Overcrowding can make a big space look really small for anything. Your ute can seem too little to carry all the stuff you need at work or as you hit the road. However, keeping things neatly inside drawers reduces crowding and ensures maximum utility of every inch of space in your car. This way, you can use the limited space to carry unusually more items.
You won’t have to stop in the middle of your work to go looking for food either. With your fridge in your vehicle you can carry enough drinks and snacks to take through the time you are out working. This helps reduce downtime and makes you more productive overall.
The fact that drawers enable you to carry all the items you may need for your work cannot be overlooked either. You able to really work on any job-site anywhere because of the drawers that place everything you need within reach.
Wrap up
Drawers make you a true tradesman. If you haven’t installed one on your ute already then you won’t know what you are missing until you do. Time to consider getting some drawers for your van or ute.