Effective Fleet Maintenance: Keeping Your Trucks Running Smoothly

Every building centre owner knows the pain of a truck down on a Friday morning. A missed drywall drop or a delayed roofing delivery can ripple through the whole day, costing time, money, and customer trust. The truth is, most of those breakdowns aren’t bad luck—they’re the result of skipped maintenance or inconsistent scheduling.

Whether you’ve got two flatbeds and a Moffett or a full fleet of boom and delivery trucks, a proper maintenance program isn’t just about keeping things running. It’s about stretching your investment, cutting downtime, and staying compliant with insurance and safety inspections. Let’s dig into what a smart, realistic maintenance plan looks like for a Canadian home building centre fleet.

1. Start with a Schedule—And Stick to It
Most fleets have some kind of maintenance plan, but not all of them actually follow it. The key is consistency. Create a schedule based on engine hours, mileage, or both. For light- and medium-duty trucks, that usually means:

• Oil and filters: every 8,000–10,000 km or 250 engine hours

• DEF systems and DPF regen checks: monthly

• Hydraulic systems (for booms and forklifts): quarterly inspections

• Full safety inspection: every 6 months (or quarterly if you’re running in tough conditions like salt and gravel)

Use a simple spreadsheet or fleet software—whatever you’ll actually maintain. The best system is the one you’ll stick with.

2. Train Your Drivers to Be the First Line of Defense
Your drivers know the trucks best. Teach them what to look for during daily pre-trip checks—leaks, unusual exhaust smoke, slack chains, or slow hydraulics. A 5-minute walkaround before loading can save you thousands in repairs and downtime.

Make it easy for them to report issues. Even a whiteboard in the dispatch office or a shared Google Form is better than relying on memory. The faster you know about a small issue, the cheaper it is to fix.

3. Seasonal Maintenance: Don’t Skip the Winter Prep
Canadian winters are hard on trucks, especially those running local deliveries on salted roads. Before the cold hits, focus on:

• Battery testing and replacements (don’t wait for it to die on a -20°C morning)

• DEF line and tank insulation

• Underbody rust protection and fluid film

• Hydraulic oil rated for cold weather

• Tire inspection and replacement—grip is your best insurance against winter damage

Come spring, clean the chassis and inspect for salt damage before it turns into a costly frame or brake issue.

4. Keep Records That Matter (Not Just Paperwork)
Maintenance records aren’t just for compliance—they’re your best resale and financing tool. When you can show a bank or buyer a clean maintenance history, your equipment’s value jumps. Use those records to track patterns, too. If your Moffett’s hydraulic pump keeps failing every 18 months, that’s a sign you’ve got a spec or training issue worth fixing.

Pro tip: Most telematics systems or GPS trackers now include maintenance tracking. If your trucks already have GPS, you might have this feature sitting unused.

5. Work With the Right Service Partners
If you don’t have a full-time mechanic, make sure your service provider understands construction material delivery equipment—not just generic fleet service. A shop that knows how to service booms, piggybacks, and PTO-driven systems will spot problems before they become downtime.

It’s worth building a relationship with one or two trusted shops nearby and giving them predictable service intervals. Regular customers get priority when the shop’s backed up—which is exactly when you’ll need them most.

6. Don’t Cheap Out on Fluids and Filters
It’s tempting to save a few bucks with no-name filters or bulk oil, but that short-term win often leads to long-term headaches. Premium filters and OEM-spec fluids protect your emission systems and hydraulics from contamination—both of which are expensive to fix if neglected.

If you’re running newer Tier 4 engines, make sure your DEF is fresh and stored properly. Old or contaminated DEF is one of the most common (and preventable) causes of downtime we see.

7. Review and Adjust Every Year
Your maintenance plan isn’t static. Review your records annually and adjust based on what’s actually happening. If a truck’s running local, you might stretch oil intervals. If it’s doing long hauls or working a crane daily, shorten them. The goal is to build a maintenance plan that fits your real-world operation, not just what the manual says.

Your trucks are the backbone of your business—every hour they spend in the shop is an hour your customers are waiting. A disciplined maintenance schedule isn’t overhead; it’s an investment in uptime and reputation. If you’re not sure how your current program stacks up, I can help you benchmark it and build a schedule that fits your fleet, your crew, and your budget.