August 27, 2025

Equipment: Planning Your Purchases & Managing Your Fleet

28 minutes

Team Grunder works on multi-year plans so that they can project growth and know what investments are needed now for it to be possible later. In this episode, the team talks about what goes into making equipment purchase decisions.

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00:00 - Introduction & Welcome

02:18 - Introducing Bill Rosell - Grunder Landscaping

02:55 - Managing the Fleet with Aspire

04:06 - Equipment Purchasing & Insights

05:57 - Truck Types and Their Uses

08:07 - Box Trucks for Mowing Crews

08:58 - The Benefits of the Box Truck

10:28 - Land Keeping Trucks

13:27 - Heavy Construction Trucks

15:20 - The Switch to Isuzu Trucks

16:43 - Training and Maintenance Procedures

17:11 - Monday Morning Truck Checks with Aspire

21:17 - Sales Vehicles & Their Importance

22:56 - Mini Skids and Loaders

23:40 - Mower Brands and Outsourcing Repairs

25:02 - Stihl Products at Grunder

25:19 - Final Thoughts on Fleet Management

Show Notes

Always Look Forward, Not Backward – Bill's philosophy: "You always have to look forward and see what you need to change... what we did three years ago is not gonna work for us next year." Growth requires constant adaptation, not rinse-and-repeat approaches.

Test Before You Invest – When considering new equipment, "we will at least bring in one as a pilot and put it with one of our experienced crews to get the feedback before we go and make a big purchase."

The Box Truck Revolution – Switched from pickup trucks with trailers to self-contained box trucks. Benefits: mobile billboard, storage, no loading/unloading, better maneuverability, first in/last out efficiency.

Aspire Integration for Fleet Management – Using Aspire software to track maintenance, mileage, and vehicle status in real-time. Enables immediate access to fleet data and automated maintenance scheduling.

Monday Morning Truck Inspections – Mandatory weekly inspections using Aspire tablets. Team leaders check fluids, lights, tires, etc. Issues automatically report to fleet manager for prioritized repairs.

Specialized Trucks for Different Functions:

Group Leaders: Ford F-250 4WD with toolboxes/winches

Mowing: Isuzu box trucks (18-20 feet) with fuel tanks, air compressor

Land Keeping: Specialized trucks with enclosed storage and dump beds

Heavy Construction: Kenworth trucks with aluminum EV beds

Landscape: Isuzu cab-over trucks for maneuverability

Sales: Black Toyota Corollas for reliability and efficiency

Road Testing Every Driver – Zach conducts thorough walkthroughs and road tests for anyone assigned a new truck, regardless of experience level.

Change Management Philosophy – "People don't fear change as long as there's direction... if you can show the direction you're going and get everybody to buy into it, then change is exciting."

Buy vs. Lease Strategy – Purchase all vehicles rather than lease because "they are specialty trucks" that will be kept 15+ years. Leasing doesn't make financial sense for specialized equipment.

Cleanliness Equals Safety and Pride – Lorenzo's wisdom that "cleanliness is safety" combined with daily cleaning routines using provided supplies (cordless vacs, cleaning kits) builds ownership and professionalism.

Outsource What You're Not Expert At – Grunder doesn't employ mechanics, instead using mobile fleet services, local tire shops, and dealer relationships. "We wanna be in the landscaping business, not the truck repair business."

Resources:

Virtual Sales Bootcamp

Grunder Landscaping Field Trips

The Grow Group

Grunder Landscaping

Marty Grunder LinkedIn

Stihl

...more

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By Marty Grunder

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