A Day in the Life of a BVL Truck Driver

The Brand Vaughan Lumber company has grown exponentially since it was founded in 1946 and learned valuable lessons along the way. One of the key learnings is that it takes commitment from the entire company — every team member — to keep an operation running smoothly. Every employee at Brand Vaughan works to deliver quality building materials to our customers in the metro Atlanta area and the surrounding regions, and the Brand Vaughan standards for excellence are a part of every job role. That’s especially true for Brand Vaughan’s truck drivers, who work directly with customers and their orders. Here’s an inside look at just one way BVL keeps its operations running smoothly: a day in the life of a Brand Vaughan truck driver.

The Logistics team at Brand Vaughan handles all of the orders and shipments for its customers. The Tucker, GA location is the home of our largest fleet of trucks, with seven drivers going out five days a week. Because Brand Vaughan promises same-day delivery for all orders that come in before 8:00 a.m., the day starts extra early for truck drivers: at 5:00 a.m. The process starts with loading up the truck. Because of Brand Vaughan’s high standards for quality, there are specifications for every aspect of the loading process, including turn times on the yard. “The goal is to be in and out in 45 minutes,” explains Chris Ketchum, head of Logistics at BVL. “That’s loaded, strapped, checked and out the gate.“

To keep the process moving efficiently, drivers work closely with the team on the yard to load materials on their trucks. BVL drivers get a chance to double-check their shipment orders for accuracy (shown above), to prevent delivery delays or any backtracking. All of the orders for that run are loaded onto the truck strategically, to make unloading at each job site as efficient as possible.

The driver’s truck is loaded up with orders, then he’s off to make his rounds. Often Brand Vaughan’s truck drivers arrive at their first job site before any contractors or work crew are there.

Once the driver is at the job site, the process of unloading the truck begins. In the picture below, the driver is on a Princeton lift.

The driver gets to work once they’re at the construction site, using the lift to unload the order.

The driver unloads all of the materials at the lot where the framers can access the lumber easily (seen above). “Once our drivers are out there,” explains Ketchum, “they’re the only representation we have, so we have to communicate that we’re professionals.” When the driver finishes unloading, they confirm with the builder that the shipment is complete. When they deliver an order, whether the workers and builder are at the job site yet or not, drivers will snap a picture of the order and send it to the builder, so they know the order is there on time. “It has a huge impact on customers; some of them will call a request certain drivers because the experience was so positive,” says Ketchum.

After finishing up the delivery, the driver heads to their next shipment location and repeats the process until they have delivered all of their loads, and then it’s back to Tucker to get loaded again for their next run. The workday is done when the orders are fulfilled — and during busy seasons, that might be after 5:00 pm. The legacy that Brand Vaughan has built over the years was made possible through the dedication of all of its employees. And the commitment to service that Brand Vaughan instills in its drivers has kept customers everywhere happy.