From Chaos to Cash: The Van Inventory Fix Every Tradie Needs

Andy
Two $50 notes. 

Ange
And when you’ve got multiple vans on the road, that’s happening every week. You might not feel it straight away, but it adds up. 

Andy
But here’s the truth, most tradies miss. You’ve got cash sitting in your vehicle right now doing nothing or worse, getting ruined. And if you are buying too much stock or not returning what you don’t use, you are literally losing money every week without even realizing it. 

Ange
And tying up much needed cash flow. That’s why in this episode, we are going to show you the simple system we used in our plumbing business to fix this and how it immediately put 24 grand back into our bank account, no extra hours and no extra jobs.

Andy
You are listening to The Tradie Show. This is the podcast for trade business and contracting bosses like you who wanna lead with confidence, make more profit and create a better lifestyle. 

Ange
We’re your hosts, Andy and Angela Smith, husband & wife team and co-founders of Lifestyle Tradie. Are you ready to have some fun?

Andy
Hell yeah! Alright, let’s cut to the chase. When was the last time your business worked for you instead of running you into the ground? If you are sitting there thinking, yep, that’s me, then we need to talk. I’m Andy Smith and I’ve been where you are. Long hours. Cashflow nightmares, no control. Does any of these sound familiar? But here’s the thing, you don’t have to keep living like this. There’s a way out, and it starts with a game plan call. It’s just 10 minutes. We’re going to identify the bottlenecks holding your business back and map out a clear, straightforward plan to get you moving forward. Think of it as your shortcut to make more profit, more control, and more time to actually enjoy your life. And if you are stuck with cashflow issues, team headaches, or just feel like you’re drowning in endless work, well guess what? I’ve got you back. So here’s what you need to do. Head to lifestyletradie.com.au. Hit the big green game plan call button or just scroll down on your phone. Listen, if a 10 minute call could save you hours of headaches and give you a real shot at turning 2025 into a breakthrough year, why wouldn’t you take it, make the move. Let’s turn things around and get your business working for you, not against you. Hell yeah!

Alright. It’s time to kick things off with some Hell yeah wins from our amazing Lifestyle Tradie members. Hell yeah! These are the legends who’ve been smashing it in their businesses, proving that small changes can lead to massive results. And hopefully these give you some inspo on what you can do in your business. Ange, what do we have this week? 

Ange
Okay, we’ve got some great hell yeahs to share today. First up, a big shout out to John who owns a plumbing company with his partner in WA, and he writes, I just got back from the UK from my brother’s wedding. First time I’ve ever been away and had the business continue operating without me. Natalie and our apprentice had it all under control and kept it all going with no issues. Very happy. 

Andy
Hell yeah, mate. And this is what happens when you structure your business the right way. So what’s next, Ange? 

Ange
Next up is Simon who runs a heating and cooling business in Sydney, and he writes pretty cool that when I asked chatGPT for help to find a fault code, it recommended me to use my own company. Buckle up peeps. Here it comes.  

Andy
Oh, that is absolutely amazing. And it’s crazy, isn’t it? With chatGPT and AI and everything happening. What else have you got, Ange? 

Ange
All right. This one’s pretty cool. This is Simon who runs a solar company with his partner near the Queensland border, and he shares, we have sold an entire year’s worth of revenue just in solar and batteries within the last six weeks.

Andy
Wow. Sig energy is going absolutely nuts. If you are using it at the moment, you know you’re struggling to get your hands on it. Maybe it’s Simon that has it all up there.

Ange
Exactly.

Andy
Up there on the border of New South Wales and Queensland. That is a big hell yeah!

Ange
All right, so one last one for today. This is from Jared who runs a painting business in Perth, and he writes, I caught up with another Lifestyle Tradie member who owns a really established painting company here in my city, and I walked away feeling totally fired up, fresh inspiration and a clearer direction. Grateful for the insight and support that this group brings. 

Andy
Yes, I absolutely love that. Our community at Lifestyle Tradie, definitely next level, that’s what it’s all about here. Helping tradies take control, make changes. And see the wind roll in. All right, let’s get into it. Now, when it comes to inventory or materials or stock, whatever you call it, most tradies end up in one of two camps. 

Ange
Yeah. You either don’t have enough materials or you’ve got way too much. 

Andy
Let’s start with the first one. Two little materials. You rock up to a job and you are missing a vital part, a random fitting. The next thing you’re doing, a quick run to the supplier. 

Ange
Ah, no such thing as quick, this trip turns into a 30 or 40 minute trip with traffic, maybe longer if you stop for a chat or grab a meat pie. 

Andy
Yeah. And the boys are definitely gonna grab a pie if they can. I mean, when this happens a couple of times a week that each tradie on your team and suddenly you’re lost half a day. And if you’re quoting upfront, you’re not getting paid for any of this time. 

Ange
Exactly. Then on the other hand, too much stock in your vehicle is just as bad. We’ve seen vans packed the rafters with gear that hasn’t been touched in weeks. You’ve tied up cash. The van’s a mess and you can’t find anything.  

Andy
And let’s be honest, there are loads of tradies that are really highly unorganized. You open the side door and half the van falls out onto the ground. They call it organized chaos. But seriously, I’ve got no idea how these people operate like that.

Ange
Yeah. And it takes ’em like 10 minutes to locate a pack of smoke detectors.  

Andy
Yeah, and another 10 minutes to push all the content that’s fallen out of the van. To put back inside.  

Ange
Yeah. Well, you all know one of those tradies, right? Actually, maybe you are one of those tradies, no judgement. 

Andy
Yeah. There’s judgment. I’ve got judgment. 

Ange
So the point is whether you are under-stocked or overstocked. Either way, you are leaking money and time, and most of it goes unnoticed because it’s just how it’s always been.  

Andy
But today, we are gonna show you what we did in our business that sought this out, and how it saved us a bucket load of cash. This whole thing started simply because I borrowed one of my tradies’ vehicles to do a job one day. And seriously, it was an absolute joke. There was shit everywhere. I couldn’t find anything. I came back to the office. I said to Ange, I’ve just wasted so much of my time trying to find materials in this vehicle. God knows how these tradies can work like this. This has to change. 

Ange
Well, it was also at a time where we had eight vehicles on the road at this point, and each one had about Eight grand’s worth of stock in it.

Andy
That’s $64,000 worth of stock throughout those eight vehicles. But seriously, we didn’t even know what was inside them. It could have been a hundred thousand dollars. 

Ange
That’s a problem, right? So this is why we decided that we needed to stock the vehicles only with the items that we used every week, and then make this standard across the fleet. That way it didn’t matter if the apprentice floated between tradies. He always knew that the B press fittings were in the second draw on the driver’s side.

Andy
It sounds crazy, right, but it saves an incredible amount of time. Every one of your staff doesn’t matter what truck they’re driving, everything is in the same place. And you know when you’ve got a ute and you’ve got heaps of doors to open and you’ve gotta open it with a key that can seriously take some time.

Ange
So we built what we now call a standard materials list. Basically, we figured out what we actually needed to do the work we had booked over five to seven days. It turns out we only needed about five grands worth of stock per vehicle. 

Andy
Which meant we’re carrying $3,000 too much in every single vehicle. Eight vehicles. $24,000 of extra stock just sitting there doing nothing or even worse getting damaged. 

Ange
And we weren’t even using most of it. There were double ups, triple ups, stuff buried in drawers. No one had touched for months. 

Andy
And one of our blokes had 10 sets of mixer taps stuffed in the back of the vehicle. 10. I asked him, why have you got 10 mixer taps? He goes, well, I wanna be organized and I don’t wanna run out. And guess what? They were scratched to the hill, totally ruined, couldn’t use them, couldn’t return them. We literally had to chuck them in the scrap bin. 

Ange
Oh, that’s the thing. If you’re overstocked and unorganized, you’re not saving time, you are wasting money.

Andy
This was literally the start of a frenzy. We went deep on everything to do with our inventory, and soon we were operating a super type ship. Let me share with you what I mean. 

Ange
So at Lifestyle Tradie, we teach a four part system to get control of your inventory and stop the time and money wasted. That’s happening in most tradies businesses.

Andy
We call it the inventory consolidator. It’s broken down into four parts where we go really deep in sharing the steps to manage each part. Number one is manage excess. Number two is spend less. Number three is audit usage. And number four, improve processes. 

Ange
But we don’t wanna overload you with all four today.

Andy
No, we don’t. We want you to actually do something with this episode, not just listen and forget about it. 

Ange
Yes. So today we’re focusing on just the first one, manage excess. Because it’s the easiest place to start and it gives you the fastest results. 

Andy
Even if you’re sitting there saying, but I’m a one man show, there’s no benefit to me doing this. Well, guess what? I’m here to tell you. This is even more important for you to get this right, right now before you decide to scale your business, buy more vehicles and even double, triple the issues you are facing with just one. 

Ange
Yes. This is how you’re going to save time, save money, and probably uncover stock you didn’t even know you had.

Andy
Alright. So if you’re in the maintenance game, you’ve gotta sort out your standard materials list. It’s your go-to top 100 items you use regularly in your business. It’s the staff that should be in your vehicle to get through the next five to seven days. 

Ange
Now for the record, it’s not a full hardware store, not a just in case stash, just what you actually need.

Andy
And I’m even talking about how many of each item is the right amount so you aren’t over and you aren’t under. Now listen, you don’t need 10 mixer taps. You don’t need five boxes of three quarter saddles. And these are the things that we found in our trucks. When you’re highly unorganized, the guys can’t see them, don’t know where they are, so what do they do? They just buy more and start piling things up. 

Ange
Yeah, that’s true. And every trade business will have a slightly different list with different quantities. It’s got to be tailored to your business, your job types, and even your team.

Andy
The point is, when you know what you use most and how much of it you can stock your vehicles properly. 

Ange
You can avoid panic supply runs. You reduce damage from overstocking, and you create consistency across the team. 

Andy
And look, a lot of tradies do resist this at the start. They reckon it’s too hard or they just like being flexible. But let me tell you this, having a standard materials list doesn’t slow you down, it speeds everything up. 

Ange
It sure does. You spend less time digging through your van, that’s for sure. You stop double buying materials you already have, and your team knows exactly what’s expected to be in the vehicle. No more guessing. 

Andy
And here’s the key, you restock that standard material list at the end of every week and it becomes part of your weekly rhythm. Just like doing time sheets or scheduling jobs, no thinking, no drama, just a system that works. 

Ange
Now, here’s the part we didn’t expect when we first set up our standard materials list. 

Andy
Imagine it’s a year from now, you wake up, the sun’s out and instead of rushing out the door stressed, you are taking your time and enjoying your coffee. Your business is running smoothly, your cashflow is steady, and your weekends are actually yours. Sounds good, doesn’t it? But if you like most tradies I’ve met, that feels miles away from reality right now. I’m Andy Smith, and I know the grind. I know the late nights, the endless stress and the feeling that your business owns you, not the other way round. But I also know what it takes to turn that around, and I want to show you. Let’s jump on a game plan call. It’s just 10 minutes. We’re gonna cut through the noise, figure out what’s holding you back, and build a clear roadmap to get you to that better place. So go to lifestyletradie.com.au. Tap the game plan call button or scroll down and lock in a time that suits. You are closer than you think to building the business you’ve always wanted. One core can change everything. Let’s make sure that 2025 isn’t just another year of struggling, but the year that everything clicks, let’s make it happen. 

Ange
It wasn’t just the money we saved. Or the immediate cash flow that was injected back into the business. There was a heap of other benefits. 

Andy
The whole team moved faster, jobs ran smoother, and there’s far less chaos and trips to the suppliers. 

Ange
Think about it, when every van is stocked the same way. Everyone knows where everything is. No more digging around from a random part. No more wasting time calling each other asking, Hey mate, you got a spare flex in your van? 

Andy
And no more constant supply runs. We weren’t chasing our towers every week. Instead, we had a proper rhythm. Vehicles got restocked once a week and that was it. 

Ange
It made training new staff way easier. They jumped into a vehicle and straight away they knew exactly where to find what they needed.

Andy
Less stress. Less wasted time and a team that just got the job done quicker and cleaner. Honestly, it changed the way our whole business felt. 

Ange
Alright, so if you are sitting there wondering, but how do I actually get one vehicle looking so tidy? You literally have to start by stripping a vehicle onto a drop sheet.

Andy
Yes. And we did exactly this at Dr. Drip, and now you restock the vehicle exactly the way you want it so that the stuff you use all the time is within reach. Stuff that was rolling around loose isn’t rolling around anymore, and now the temple of one vehicle is ready to duplicate to the rest of the fleet.

Ange
So let me ask you this, Andy, what about all that excess stock that you still have sitting on the drop sheet? That didn’t actually make it into your van because it wasn’t in your top 100 items. 

Andy
Great question. Yeah. You’ve got two options here. You could return it to your warehouse or your store room if you’ve got a decent system in place, or better yet, send it back to your supplier and get that cash back into your accounts.

Ange
Ah, do you really think most tradies think like that? 

Andy
I mean they should, but if I was honest, it normally gets thrown into some Milk Creek somewhere for later. It sits there for weeks, months, years, and eventually.

Ange
Yeah, it ends up down the side of the house. 

Andy
Well, you know, everyone knows a tradie has their best storage down the side of the house in the carport, under the house. You know the one, a bit of plywood leaning against the fence, cracked flexes in one bucket, a bag of half open tap washers. Cobwebs, rusted out fittings, sitting in piles of water. It’s good stuff. 

Ange
We laugh because it’s true. Every tradies knows someone who does this.

Andy
That’s not stock. That is a dead set landfill. You’ve already paid for it. You can’t return it, you probably won’t use it. So it’s taking up space down the side of your house.

Ange
Yeah. This is why it’s so important to return stock properly. It’s not about being neat, it’s about getting your money back in your bank account so that you have it for cash flow and clearing space for the gear you actually use.

Andy
You wanna know how to do this the best possible way?

Ange
I think everyone is all is. 

Andy
It is an incredible relationship with your supplier. 

Ange
Oh yes, I love this. Here’s the thing, your supplier isn’t just a place you pick up gear. Your contact there is actually a key financial player in your business. 

Andy
Exactly. Think about it. They control whether you get stock on time, whether you can return unused gear, and if you jump to the top of the priority list of a delivery on that day, guess what? It comes to you first. But if that relationship’s bad, it can cost you money. It’s as simple as that. 

Ange
But when you’ve got a good relationship with your supplier, it’s a game changer. Returns no dramas. Deliveries, bumped up the list, urgent gear, they’ll track it down for you first. Stock gets packed and labeled right, so your team isn’t wasting time. 

Andy
And here’s the mistake I see all the time. Tradies can be a bit arrogant. They walk into the supplies with attitude, treat the counter staff like crap, and then they expect the world in return. If you’re doing that, don’t be surprised when you’re at the bottom of the pile. 

Ange
Yes. We had ours so dialed in. They used to deliver weekly top-up bags to the office. Each one labeled by its vehicle rego. Monday mornings during our toolbox meeting, every tradie would restock their vehicle from their bag. Done. No more supplier runs and no more wasted time. 

Andy
No more quick stops. No more sausage sangers, a remote pie. And how did we set that up? Simple kindness goes a long way. Be decent. Show respect, build trust. Because when things go wrong and in business they always do, it’s your supplier who can save your ass.

Ange
So if you take nothing else from what we’re talking about now, remember, your supplier isn’t just part of the job. They’re part of your financial team, so treat them like it. 

Andy
All right, let’s quickly recap what we’ve covered today because this only works if you actually do something about it. 

Ange
Exactly. So number one, too little stock or too much stock, both cost you money. You’ve either got vehicles bleeding cash with unused gear, or you’re wasting hours on supplier runs. Either way, you lose. 

Andy
Number two, learn from our Dr. Drip story where we save $24,000 across our fleet just by cutting out excess and setting up a standard material list. 

Ange
Number three, a standard materials list is simply your top 100 items, enough to keep each fan going for five to seven days. Nothing more, nothing less. And here’s the key. You restock to that list every single week.  

Andy
Number four. If you’ve got excess, return it, don’t leave it to rot down the side of your house in a milk crate filled with water. That’s not stock. That’s landfill. 

Ange
Yes. And number five, your supplier is a key financial player in your business. Treat them well, build the relationship and they’ll look after you when you need it most. 

Andy
So here’s your action step. Pick one van this week. Strip it out. Build your standard material list, restock it properly, and return what you don’t need. 

Ange
Do just that one thing, and you’ll not only save yourself time, cash, and a whole lot of stress, but you’ll also create a far more efficient working day with your team. And that means better control of your time. 

Andy
It’s tradie dilemma time brought to you by Buy4Tradies. The buying group, helping tradies like you save serious coins on materials, fuel, vehicles, tools, finance and other services. If you’re not using it, you are probably paying too much. This is our Q&A segment where you let us know what you’re having trouble with in your business and we’ll give you our best advice to sort it out.

Ange
So today we have a question from Jeff who’s a plumber in WA, and he writes. Hey Andy and Ange, I’m super keen for your help. I have a team of five and recently gave my lead plumber a pay rise. He’s been with me for three years and is working well. That said, he has started to slacken off since the pay rise. How do I manage his performance? 

Andy
Yeah, I’ve heard this time and time again from different tradies over the years and you know, when people want a pay rise, they really wanna step up. Sometimes they get the pay rise and they step up for a little while and then they slack in off again. And what normally happens is you haven’t set any KPIs, you haven’t set any expectations of them, so there’s nothing you can go back to to talk to them about. Now, I’m a real believer that if you’re gonna give a tradie your pay rise. You need to be asking them and you need to have in your mind, what is it that you are expecting for them to make it worthwhile to do this pay rise? Because you can go back to them then and say, Hey, listen, we agreed on this, this, this, this, and this and this, and you are not doing it now so you got something to fall back on.

Ange
Oh, great advice. I’m sure Jeff gained heaps from hearing that response. So remember, if you have a question or dilemma in your business, reach out to us and let us know how we can help.  

Andy
Alright, that’s a wrap for today’s episode. 

Ange
So remember, don’t just listen and nod along. Pick one vehicle, strip it out, set up your standard materials list and take back that excess stock to your supplier. That’s how you see results.  

Andy
And If you’re ready to go deeper, book a Gameplan Call with me. It’s a one-on-one strategy session where we look at your trade business, map out a plan to help you make more profit, and streamline your business. And basically get your life back.

Ange
Thanks for tuning in. We’ll catch you next time. 

Andy
Subscribe to The Tradie Show, wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Rate and write us a review or for more information about Lifestyle Tradie, head to lifestyletradie.com.au.