Guide: How to furnish your work vehicle

Customizing the service interior to meet your needs

Properly outfitting a service vehicle can greatly simplify one's day-to-day life, and this is something that we at Wallhamn are happy to help with. All occupational groups that use a service vehicle have different needs, but what they all have in common, amongst other things, is that they use tools and materials in their daily work. If you don't design your company vehicle with the thought of what tools and materials you're carrying around with you every day, you could be setting yourself up for chaos.

Many people spend an hour a day on average just looking for the right tools and materials. If you start thinking about the time you spend rummaging for equipment and tools during a work week, month, and year, you'll quickly understand that the investment in a sensible interior of your service vehicle can quickly pay off. And that's not even mentioning the relief of avoiding all the chaos in the back of the car.

With a better-organized work environment, you can also more easily keep track of not driving with an overload (with fines as a result). With a well-thought-out installation, you know what load capacity remains and can more easily plan what you can carry in your vehicle.

In this article, we share our best tips for service interiors for eight different occupational categories—painters, carpenters, electricians, couriers, plumbers, power companies, security companies, and road transport vehicles.

1. Painter - vehicle interior for your company car

As a painter, you may not necessarily need an endless number of tools, and some would even argue that painters can get by with just a brush, paint can, and ladder. Of course, this is not entirely true, and the need for organization and order remains highly relevant. For painters, we typically equip service vehicles with interiors that provide you with the ability to store many small items, such as masking tape, spackling scrapers, roller shafts, and other accessories. We do this, for example, by installing easily accessible drawers.

Likely to be most important for painters is the paint, which must be able to be transported to the customer without the risk of the cans tipping over and accidentally colouring the entire interior of the service vehicle. The question is: how best to customize the interior and floor for this? If it's a big job for the painter, it means a lot of paint, and we often equip the floors with load runners and make sure there is room to fit a pallet. A protective floor mat is inserted to help with stability. In addition, we complement with shelves where the paint stands steadily and safely during the trip.

To take advantage of the entire vehicle space, many painters also choose to install roof equipment to easily bring ladders and long rolls. There is also the possibility to install ladder holders on the inside of the roof and in this way, you still have full overview of the cargo space despite having larger equipment.

2. Carpenter - Vehicle interior for your company car

Is there any profession that uses more tools and that needs to store both large and small items more than carpenters? Maybe there is... but when the carpenter has to go to work, the demands on the service interior is high.

A well-kept and organized work vehicle not only makes you more efficient on and between jobs, but it also increases your credibility with your customers. An organized carpenter is a meticulous carpenter. As a carpenter, you need space for large and small tools, as well as materials. By combining drawers and standing plastic bins, it becomes easy to organize tools and materials. Some of the carpenters we help also have requests for small workbenches where they can perform simple tasks in the car.

Carpenters often use many tools that require some form of power supply to function. We often complement the service interior with a power supply to make the service vehicle complete for everything a workday can throw at you! The best interior for your car depends on the type of car being customized; it may be relevant to have cargo trays, tailgate covers, and locks. With drawers, it becomes easier to access tools or cargo. A customized tailgate lock protects both equipment and materials from weather and theft.

3. Electrician - Vehicle interior for your company car

For electricians, there is often a greater need for many smaller storage spaces to make it easy to keep things organized. We often equip service vehicles for electricians with:

Cable shelf
Floor box
Ladder holder
Storage boxes (large and small with divider trays)
Rubber mat
LED lighting
Screwdriver (preferably with a telescopic solution, so that "junk" stays outside the car. It becomes easier to collect waste and other leftover material - good from both a practical and environmental perspective.)

By customizing the interior to meet the needs of you as an electrician, your workday will become smoother, and you will spend less time looking for tools and cleaning.

4. Delivery - Vehicle interior design for your company's vehicle

The delivery industry is growing rapidly, express deliveries within e-commerce are becoming increasingly important for consumers, and for package deliveries to work, smart solutions are needed in every service vehicle.

The result? Increased efficiency and improved safety for packages. We always customize the service interior based on the type of package you deliver. Of course, there is a difference between a flower delivery, furniture delivery, or for sportswear - and that is why a tailor-made solution may be highly relevant.

Why you should have foldable shelves

Packages come in various sizes and shapes. One day it's four bicycles and another day it's only small boxes with sportswear. It's important to be able to adjust how the cargo space is used easily and efficiently.

In addition, it is also important that the shelves are secure and effective. The dimensions of the shelves should be adapted to the packages being transported. For example, by placing the shelves at an easy angle with a lower front edge, it becomes easier to drop off a package during delivery.

Use the floors in delivery vans

By having flexible and foldable shelves, you have already greatly improved the possibilities of using the entire floor space for loading. Service vehicles for package deliveries are often equipped with floor stop rails, smart tie-down loops, hooks, load bars - and perhaps one of the most important aspects: that the floor is robust and slip-resistant!

5. Plumbing Technician - Car Interior for Your Company Car

As a plumbing technician there is often a certain time pressure to arrive on time to solve a water leak or blockage. There is no time to lose! If time is going to be lost, it should at least not be because of disarray in the car. Just like for painters, it's important to have many small boxes, preferably with ball bearing slides that are fully retractable with a stop function. With this type of service interior, you can easily access consumables and tools.

A service car for plumbing technicians is often equipped with the following:

Step holder
Screw piece holder
Small boxes
Large boxes
Floor box (for long things such as copper pipes)

Ultimately, the service interior is always adapted to your needs, which may differ from another plumbing technician's needs, despite the same job.

6. Power company - vehicle interiors for your company cars

For the technicians who work for power companies, a well-functioning service vehicle may be a big need. Perhaps you are on call during an ongoing autumn storm, and there is no time to lose due to missing tools. Order, neatness, durable and lasting materials and good lighting are important. We often install extra lights both inside and outside that can be remotely controlled - all to simplify things for the technicians on site.

For power companies, we often customize vehicle interiors with the following:

Latch plate - to protect the underbody
Additional passenger seat or administrative workspace
Extra work lights
Long goods box
Winch
Warning lights
Storage boxes - large and small

This is just a selection of options that we usually install for power companies' service vehicles. We always start from your needs to ensure that the service interior helps you during the workday (or evening).

7. Security company - vehicle interiors for your company cars

As a security guard, it is important quickly get to the scene where you are needed. Things can move quickly during a callout, and between alarms. There is a great need to be able to quickly pick up and put away equipment. Unlike, for example a carpenter, the car is the tool for the security guard, and there are some accessories that we install more frequently in security vehicles.

See below for examples:

Work lighting, extra lights/headlight bars
Warning lights & flashing lights
Slide-out boxes
Double floor - depending on vehicle type
Dog cages

For the guard who arrives at a patrol or ongoing alarm, there is a greater need for equipment that can be connected to, for example, fire safety and basic medical care. It's common for the guard to be the first one on the scene and therefore often has great opportunities to help; if you have the right equipment that is stored in a safe way that is. All equipment is placed in suitable compartments or boxes in the car that are securely anchored during the trip and with the help of extra lighting in the car you can quickly see the contents.

Furthermore, the focus is on the driver environment which is complemented with everything you might need to make the car easier to use as a mobile office.

8. Road transport leader vehicles / VTL - car interiors for your company cars

A road transport leader, also abbreviated as VTL, contributes to giving traffic instructions and often escorts long, heavy and wide road transports. A road transport leader vehicle must meet special requirements to be approved according to the Swedish Transport Agency (TSFS 2010:139).

As a road transport leader, you spend a long time in the vehicle. Unlike other occupational groups, the need for storage is not as great but instead the focus is often on prioritizing for example insulation, heat, comfort, and safety.

For a VTL, just like the guard, the vehicle is one of your tools, and it is not uncommon to sleep in the car. Therefore, extra emphasis is placed on making the overnight accommodation well-insulated and installing an air-borne diesel heater. The space under the bed is used for storage and, for example, a microwave oven.

Just like for the guard, we often complement road transport leader vehicles with extra lights such as:

Roof signs
Led light ramps
Flash lights
Rotary lights
Search lights

Safety equipment for fire and medical care is particularly important for a road transport leader vehicle and we therefore complement with safety equipment that is easily accessible and well-lit.

Welcome to contact us!

We hope the article has been helpful and provided you with tips relevant to your occupation. We are passionate about helping you get the best possible mobile workplace based on your needs. Welcome to contact us - we'll find the perfect solution just for you!