FleetStock blog
Truck inventory writing for HVAC, appliance, and plumbing shops
Fifty long-form guides on van stock, scan-to-job, restock, and software that is not a folder tree. Written for owners and dispatchers who still lose parts between the warehouse and the driveway.
Software · 7 min
A Sortly Alternative for Service Fleets (Trucks, Not Folders)
Sortly is good at photos in folders. Service companies do not have a folder problem. They have a truck problem.
August 8, 2026
Appliance Repair · 7 min
Appliance Repair Truck Parts Tracking for OEM Boards, Pumps, and Cores
Appliance parts are expensive, brand-specific, and easy to orphan in a van. Tracking them like a hardware-store bin does not work.
August 4, 2026
Plumbing · 7 min
Plumbing Van Inventory Software: Track Fittings, Valves, and Water Heaters by Truck
A plumbing van is a hardware store that drives. If you only count the shop, you are counting the smaller warehouse.
August 1, 2026
Guides · 7 min
An Inventory SOP for HVAC, Plumbing, and Appliance Companies
If the inventory process lives in one person’s head, you do not have a process. You have a single point of failure with a pickup truck.
July 30, 2026
HVAC · 7 min
How Much Inventory Should an HVAC Truck Carry?
An overloaded van is a rolling warehouse. An empty van is a rolling apology. The right HVAC truck inventory sits between those two mistakes.
July 28, 2026
Fleet Operations · 7 min
Service Fleet Inventory Software: Warehouse Plus Every Van
A service company does not have one inventory. It has a warehouse and a fleet of smaller warehouses that drive away every morning.
July 25, 2026
Appliance Repair · 7 min
How to Manage OEM Boards and Cores on Appliance Vans
Control boards are the high-dollar items most likely to “be on a van somewhere.” Treat them like cash with a barcode.
July 21, 2026
Software · 7 min
FleetStock vs Sortly: Which Inventory Tool Fits a Service Company?
Sortly organizes what you own. FleetStock organizes where it is and which job used it. Those are different products that get compared because both have photos.
July 18, 2026
HVAC · 7 min
HVAC Van Bin Organization That Techs Will Keep
A labeled van is faster than a smart tech in a messy van. Organization is inventory control you can see with a flashlight.
July 14, 2026
Plumbing · 7 min
Tracking Fittings and Valves on Plumbing Trucks
Fittings are death by a thousand cuts. You will not feel one elbow. You will feel a year of elbows.
July 11, 2026
Fleet Operations · 7 min
Barcode Scanning for Field Technicians (Phone, Not a Gun)
Techs will scan if it is faster than writing. They will not scan if it is a warehouse gun they left in the cup holder.
July 7, 2026
Appliance Repair · 7 min
Appliance Parts That Walk Off Trucks (and How to Stop It)
Not every missing part is theft. Most of it is an unused extra that never came back to the bin. The fix is the same either way: a count that updates in the kitchen, not next week.
July 2, 2026
HVAC · 7 min
Tracking Capacitors and Contactors on HVAC Trucks
If you only track two families of parts this quarter, track capacitors and contactors. They close tickets, they disappear, and they rarely all make the invoice.
June 30, 2026
Software · 7 min
Why Folder-Based Inventory Fails for Service Trucks
A tidy folder tree is a screenshot. A truck count is an operation. Service companies need the second and keep buying the first.
June 28, 2026
Fleet Operations · 7 min
How to Transfer Parts Between Service Trucks Without Losing Them
“I gave it to Mike” is not a transfer. It is how a $200 part leaves the universe.
June 24, 2026
Plumbing · 7 min
Plumbing Specialty Parts: What Stays on the Van vs the Shop
If every specialty part rides every van “just in case,” you have a museum. If none of them ride any van, you have a supply-house addiction.
June 20, 2026
Appliance Repair · 7 min
The Saturday Appliance Call Stock List
Saturday customers pay for speed. If the on-call van is a random leftover week, you are selling a promise you cannot keep.
June 16, 2026
HVAC · 7 min
Seasonal HVAC Inventory Planning for Trucks and the Warehouse
HVAC inventory is a calendar problem. The shops that treat every month the same end July with ignitors and January with a pile of dual-run capacitors.
June 12, 2026
Fleet Operations · 7 min
Warehouse + Fleet Inventory: One System, Two Worlds
The warehouse is not a big van, and a van is not a tiny warehouse. They share parts. They do not share workflows.
June 8, 2026
Guides · 7 min
Preventing Technician Parts Hoarding Without Starting a War
Techs hoard when the official system has left them empty in front of a customer. Fix the system before you hunt the tote.
June 6, 2026
Plumbing · 7 min
Best Inventory Software for Plumbers and Plumbing Companies
Plumbers do not need a warehouse WMS. They need to know which van has the 3/4" ball valves and whether the water-heater kit is actually on the truck.
June 3, 2026
HVAC · 7 min
Tracking Refrigerant and Regulated HVAC Parts on Service Trucks
Refrigerant is not a capacitor. It has weight, paperwork, and rules. Your truck inventory system still has to know which cylinder is on which van.
May 27, 2026
Fleet Operations · 7 min
Offline Van Inventory When There Is No Cell Signal
If scanning only works on Wi-Fi, you do not have a field process. You have a shop process that pretends to travel.
May 25, 2026
Appliance Repair · 7 min
Best Inventory App for Appliance Repair Companies
Appliance repair does not need another folder app. It needs a phone that knows which van has the right pump and whether the core came back.
May 20, 2026
Software · 7 min
Per-User vs Yearly Fleet Pricing for Inventory Software
Inventory software that charges per user is priced against the one behavior that makes it work: putting it on every tech’s phone.
May 18, 2026
Plumbing · 7 min
A Practical Plumbing Truck Stock List (Residential Service)
You do not need 800 SKUs on a service truck. You need the 80 that close the calls you already run.
May 14, 2026
HVAC · 7 min
HVAC Job Costing for Parts: Match the Van to the Invoice
Labor is visible. Parts are sneaky. HVAC job costing that ignores the van will tell you every ticket was profitable while the warehouse quietly empties.
May 9, 2026
Fleet Operations · 7 min
First-Week Setup: From Empty Account to First Job Scan
The shops that fail at inventory software try to load the entire Ferguson catalog on Tuesday. The shops that succeed scan a real job on Friday.
May 6, 2026
Guides · 7 min
Parts Used vs Parts Billed: Closing the Gap
Used-but-not-billed is a donation. Billed-but-not-used is a future callback. Both show up when scans and invoices share a job number.
May 2, 2026
Appliance Repair · 7 min
Tracking Warranty Parts in an Appliance Repair Business
Warranty is not “inventory that does not count.” It is inventory that counts twice: once off the van, once toward a claim.
April 29, 2026
HVAC · 7 min
How to Stop HVAC Supply-House Runs Mid-Job
A mid-job supply run is a second dispatch you did not charge for. Most of them are preventable if someone looked at the van before the truck left.
April 22, 2026
Fleet Operations · 7 min
How to Import a Parts List from CSV Without Making a Mess
A bad import is worse than no import. You will spend a year merging “CAP 45/5” and “45-5 CAP” while techs scan the wrong cousin.
April 20, 2026
Plumbing · 7 min
Water Heater Job Kits: Stop Forgetting the Expansion Tank
The second trip on a water heater is almost never the tank. It is the $40 part nobody put on the list.
April 17, 2026
Software · 7 min
ServiceTitan Inventory vs Dedicated Parts Software
A full field-service suite can track parts. That does not mean it is the best place to run a van catalog, a scanner, and a nightly restock.
April 11, 2026
HVAC · 7 min
Best Inventory Software for HVAC Companies in 2026
The best inventory software for an HVAC company is the one that knows Truck 101 is out of 40/5s before you dispatch. Folders and per-user SaaS bills do not do that.
April 6, 2026
Fleet Operations · 7 min
Min Stock and Reorder Points for Service Vans
Min stock is a promise to the future. If every min is 1 “just because,” the reorder report is a novel nobody reads.
April 3, 2026
Guides · 7 min
Dead Stock on Service Vans: Find It, Move It, Stop Buying It
Dead stock is a van paying rent to carry a part nobody will use before it corrodes, expires, or goes obsolete.
April 1, 2026
Appliance Repair · 7 min
Organizing an Appliance Repair Van So Parts Are Findable
An appliance van is a rolling hardware store with brand politics. If the bins do not match the app, neither one is true.
March 31, 2026
Plumbing · 7 min
A Nightly Plumbing Van Restock Workflow That Takes 30 Minutes
Restock fails when it is a scavenger hunt. It works when it is a route: list, bin, scan, close the door.
March 24, 2026
HVAC · 7 min
HVAC Dispatch: Check Truck Stock Before You Assign the Call
Dispatch is inventory’s first customer. If they assign work by geography only, you will keep sending the closest empty van.
March 18, 2026
Fleet Operations · 7 min
Tracking Cores and Returns on Service Trucks
A core in a cup holder is a vendor credit you decided not to collect. Treat it like cash that happens to be greasy.
March 15, 2026
Guides · 7 min
Integrating Truck Inventory with QuickBooks (Without a Science Project)
QuickBooks is the books. The van is the truth of the parts. Let them meet on a schedule. Do not marry them on day one.
March 11, 2026
Software · 7 min
How to Choose Van Inventory Software for a Service Company
Most inventory demos look fine on a webinar. Very few survive a wet van and a dispatcher with twelve open calls. Choose for that Tuesday, not for the webinar.
March 8, 2026
Appliance Repair · 7 min
Billing Every Appliance Part That Left the Van
Appliance margins die in the gap between the kitchen floor and the invoice. Closing that gap is a scan habit, not a new price list.
March 5, 2026
Plumbing · 7 min
Charge Every Fitting That Left the Plumbing Van
Labor hours get argued. Fittings get forgotten. The forgotten ones are why a “good week” still feels tight.
February 26, 2026
Fleet Operations · 7 min
Truck Inventory Audit Checklist for Service Fleets
An audit that takes all Saturday will happen twice and then never again. An audit that takes 40 minutes can happen every month.
February 18, 2026
Guides · 7 min
What Inventory Software Costs for a 10-Truck Service Fleet
A 10-truck shop does not have a software problem first. It has a math problem. Per-seat tools turn ten phones into a second rent payment.
February 8, 2026
Fleet Operations · 7 min
Nightly Restock Workflow for HVAC, Plumbing, and Appliance Vans
Morning chaos is usually last night’s restock in a costume. If the vans are wrong at 7 a.m., the night process failed — not the techs.
January 28, 2026
Fleet Operations · 7 min
How to Train Technicians to Scan Parts (Without a Mutiny)
Techs do not hate scanning. They hate slow software, surprise crackdowns, and tools designed for office managers.
January 12, 2026