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When we first started working with Home Hardware over sixteen years ago, most stores relied on used cube vans coming off lease. They were solid, dependable trucks — sixteen feet long with about eighty-four inches of interior height — but they were built for moving boxes, not building materials. Every few months, someone from the Home Hardware group would mention the same thing: "we just need a little more length and a little more height."
That feedback sparked what would become the foundation of The Home Hardware Truck Program.
Working directly with the Home Hardware team, we developed a new “Building Centre Spec” body design — sixteen and a half feet long on the inside (seventeen and a half feet outside) and ninety inches tall inside. That small change opened up major advantages in usable space and loading flexibility. We offered options for either roll-up or barn doors, with the barn doors providing an eighty-eight-inch opening to handle taller materials.
From there, we started upgrading everything that mattered most to building centres — heavy-duty floors, reinforced plywood linings, and three rows of E-track to secure product to the sidewalls. The structure was stronger, the floor tougher, and the design more practical for the day-to-day demands of construction materials delivery.
Over time, that design evolved into what many now know simply as the Building Centre Spec — a truck built by Home Hardware, for Home Hardware. We even introduced a curtain-side option for stores delivering oversized products like bay windows, allowing teams to slide the side curtain open and offload directly from the side instead of the back.
One of the earliest and most loyal supporters of the program has been Port Elgin Home Hardware Building Centre. Peter Gauthier was one of our first contacts years ago, and today his son Jeff continues the relationship. Port Elgin is a long drive from London or Kitchener — easily a full day lost just to meet with a truck dealer. But with The Home Hardware Truck Program, they don’t have to.
Most trucks in their fleet for the past five years has been supplied through the program — built to spec, delivered ready to work, and designed for their exact needs. No dealer visits. No wasted time. Just reliable trucks that fit their operation perfectly.
Sixteen years later, that original idea — listening to what stores really need and building around it — is still what drives the program today. Because when your trucks are designed specifically for your business, you get more done, with less hassle, every single day.
