The best vans for gardeners and landscapers

The best vans for the job have to cope with weight, mess and awkward loads and actually, that weight adds up faster than you’d expect. A single bulk bag of topsoil can weigh close to a tonne on its own, which is enough to put a smaller van straight over its limit before you have even added a mower and two people in the cab.

What to look for

• Work out your payload first. Soil, slabs, aggregate and turf are heavy and it is really easy to overload a smaller van without realising. Look for a payload that covers your heaviest regular load with room to spare.

• A tipper or dropside if you move loose material. Being able to tip a load rather than shovelling it out by hand will save you hours over a week.

• A hard-wearing load area. Mud, wet grass and sharp tools ruin a nice interior fast, so ply lining and a tough floor really are worth having.

• Easy access. Barn doors, a low load floor and a dropside body make loading a mower or a wheelbarrow far quicker.

Van types that suit the work

The classic landscaper's vehicle is a dropside tipper: open sides for easy loading, a tipping body for loose material and a proper payload underneath it. A large panel van suits anyone carrying a lot of kit and keeps everything locked away and dry. And a crew cab tipper works well if you run a team, so people and materials can travel together (as long as you keep a close eye on the payload once everyone is in).

Buying tips

Check the tipping gear carefully on any tipper, since it takes heavy use and is not cheap to fix. Look at the load area too, because a hard worked van shows in the floor and the corners first. And match the van to your heaviest week so you are never caught short.

On Vangoo's platform you can see the condition upfront so you can buy the right van for your work.