Guide to Ladder Buying for a New Crew

Guide to Ladder Buying for a New Crew

The first ladder purchase a new crew makes tends to be whatever is on sale at the nearest store, and it tends to get replaced within a year. Buying the right four ladders once costs about the same as buying the wrong ones twice and spending a season working around gaps.

The Four Ladders That Cover Most Work

A commercial crew needs a short stepladder for low interior work, a taller stepladder for ceilings and racking, an extension ladder for roofline and exterior access, and a step stool for the small jobs nobody wants to fetch a full ladder for.

That set covers the vast majority of general construction, service and maintenance work. Everything beyond it is trade specific - a platform ladder for sustained overhead work, a twin for two people on one job, a scaffold for runs.

Buy the sizes your work actually uses. Most crews run a 6 foot and an 8 foot stepladder rather than owning one size, because the 8 foot is too much ladder to move around a finished room and the 6 foot does not reach a ceiling.

Standardize on One Brand and Material

Standardizing matters more than which brand you pick. One brand means the same parts fit, the same duty ratings are comparable, and the same rope and cover spares work across the truck.

Fiberglass across the board is the simplest policy for a new crew. It costs more per ladder, but it removes the question of whether this ladder is the one you can take near a panel, and it does not have to be replaced when a job turns electrical.

Our Louisville Type IA fiberglass stepladder starts at $133.91 and the Werner Type IA fiberglass stepladder covers the same ground, so a crew can pick a lane and stay in it.

Duty Ratings Before Size

Ratings are the decision most new crews get wrong. Type IA at 300 pounds is the commercial minimum for a working crew with tools, and Type IAA at 375 is what industrial and heavy-tool work needs. A 250 pound Type I ladder is not a site ladder once a person and their kit are counted.

The rating is separate from the material. An aluminum Type IA ladder is still rated for 300 pounds, and a fiberglass Type I is still only 250 - the material decides conductivity and weight, the rating decides what it holds.

If you are buying once and want to stop thinking about it, Type IAA across the set costs a little more per ladder and removes the question permanently.

Where the First Money Should Go

Equipment that stops a fall is cheaper than equipment that reaches higher. A fall protection kit and a properly rated ladder come before the extra two feet of reach that a bigger ladder would buy.

Buy the ladder you will use every day before the ladder you will use twice. Our full ladder range covers both ratings across Louisville and Werner, and the extension ladder range is where most crews start when they add the second piece.

Tell us what work is booked for the next six months and we will keep the kit matched to it rather than to a wish list.

Outfitting a Crew From Scratch

A new crew's ladder purchase should be boring: rated for the work, one brand, the sizes used daily, and parts that stay available.

Bring us the work you have booked and we will build a starting kit and a plan for what to add next.

Everything ships from 5030 Dexham Rd. Ste. 103 in Rowlett, TX, and local crews can pick up the same day. Call 972-331-1090 and we will tell you what is on the floor right now.