GETTING STARTED
Deciding where to begin can be a confusing part of the truck building process. You may wish to start with an engineering consultant, whether this is one of your staff or an outside contractor (much more on this later). A good analogy would be consulting an architect before you hire a building contractor for your house.

The first step in this process is to have a clearly defined purpose in mind before you begin talking to outside contractors. Will the truck be used mostly for sports, news, entertainment, or post production, or all of these? In other words, does it have a primary purpose, such as in-house production needs? A TV station needing to cover all the home NBA games is a good example of this, (although perhaps not this season). Or is this a generic truck, which will be marketed to outside program suppliers.

Next, you will need to know the size of the truck you need. Is a 24' or 32' straight truck big enough for your needs? Or will you need a 42', 48', or 53' rig. Is an expando desired or required? If so, how much of the truck will need to expand? Single or dual expando? While an engineering contractor will be of great assistance in deciding these questions, you will need a rough idea of the direction you're leaning before hiring one. (how big is your 'house'...is it one story or two....how many rooms.....)

Another large question for you to address before spending your time and money on consultants is "what equipment will this truck need". This simple question is, in fact, far more complex than may at first appear. Part of the question relates to issues such as how many cameras, tape decks, and monitors are needed. A parallel question is what format to use. Will this be an NTSC analog truck, a "digital" truck (perhaps 601), an HD truck, or some sort of hybrid, which is most likely and perhaps necessary in the transitional world of today's broadcaster. The engineering contractor will assist you with these issues, but you will have to have a general idea of what direction you're headed before a consultant can be of much real assistance.

And finally, costs. You must set rough initial guidelines before expecting a contractor to provide you with meaningful help. It is important for you to match your needs with your budget in the early planning stages. There are huge differences in the costs of, say, a straight 32' truck and a 53' expando, even if you were to install exactly the same equipment in each. And those additional costs go far beyond the difference in price of the basic "box". Also worthy of consideration are the operating costs of the unit....the expando requires a tractor and CDL driver, the straight truck needs no tractor, and may or may not need a CDL driver depending on several factors.

Occasionally, I'm asked by a client how much it costs to build a truck. My favorite response is ..... "just how much does it cost to build 'a house?'" Of course, you need to know how many stories, how many rooms, carpet or hardwood, shades or drapes, brick or aluminum, and on and on.

All the above factors are heavily interdependent. Vehicle type and size and equipment compliment and format and cost and schedule.....the impact of each of these major building blocks on each other is considerable. Your engineering contractor can help a great deal with these decisions. If you can make a few preliminary decisions before bringing the contractor into the picture, you'll go far toward smoothing and hastening the entire design process. And, of course, the smoother the project proceeds, the happier your accounting department will be.

YOUR CONTRACTORS......WHO DO YOU NEED?
OK. You've made it through the initial decision making process. Now it's time to begin looking at the contractor or contractors necessary to get this truck on the road. In the mobile world, there are four major "building blocks" to consider. These are ENGINEERING, MECHANICAL construction (which includes the body and all within), TECHNICAL construction, and EQUIPMENT suppliers. There are companies or contractors that specialize in one, several, or all of these building blocks. You need to sort out how you want to proceed. Do you want a "turnkey" approach, where you hire just one company and they provide all services including financing, or do you wish to control the individual portions of the project more closely? Part of this decision obviously has a lot to do with the level of expertise you already possess......do you have staff personnel willing and able to be involved with some or all of the 4 major areas? If so, do they have the time available to devote to this project?

Let's take a moment and explore the four major contractor groups a little more closely from two different perspectives.......number one, a turnkey approach and.....number two, an individual contractor approach.

TURNKEY
Turnkey.... In the turnkey approach, you will contact a full service company, probably a fairly sizable corporation, and be put in touch with their in-house financiers, engineers and tradespeople. Simple. The rest of the decisions you need to make will be brought to your attention by the turnkey contractor. Remember the BIG 4? Engineering, mechanical, technical, and equipment will ALL be supplied by this one turnkey contractor. It's a fairly uncluttered way to go, but there are some areas where you may need to pay careful attention. As with most large corporations, you may lose some of the individuality or personal attention that you'd get from smaller independent contractors. Your project will not be the only one they're working on. You may be steered towards goods and services (equipment and construction practices) that this contractor is used to providing, which may or may not be what you expect or need. Keep in mind that, while a turnkey contractor will make suggestions to you based partly on what they supply, they're usually more than willing to accommodate your specific needs and requests. Don't be afraid to ask.

NON-TURNKEY
Engineering...the glue that binds...... In the individual contractor approach, the engineer or consultant is probably going to be your initial and primary contact for the project. Regardless of who builds your truck, or how, the importance of sound engineering cannot be overstated. The 'engineer', be it one of your in-house staff or an outside contractor, will ultimately be responsible for whether your truck works properly or not. There is a mysterious attitude loose in some quarters that engineering is a necessary evil....a cost that serves little purpose. Nothing could be further from the truth. An experienced engineering contractor, if employed early enough in your project, can guide your project through all the labyrinthian details, help with your equipment decisions, cost analysis, schedule, and selection of the remaining contractors......in short, the ARCHITECT. As with a home construction project, the engineering contractor is experienced in evaluating ALL components of the project to present you, the buyer, with sensible choices tailored to your needs, and to analyze the interdependencies and interactions of all systems and components. The engineer will work closely with your staff technical and production people, your marketing department, even your ultimate clients, AND the other contractors, to design a truck that fills all of your needs. It is this contractor's job to make sure ALL THE PIECES FIT TOGETHER PROPERLY. The engineering contractor can save you time, headaches, and money.

Mechanicals.......nuts'n bolts The mechanical contractor is responsible for the trailer body and running gear, the environmental systems, power systems, racks, consoles, lighting, walls, floors.......in short, the "empty house". Presumably you've already begun engineering, and should have at least a rough floor plan before you sit down with the mechanical contractor. You and your engineer (contract or otherwise) will need to go over every detail of the physical truck with this company. The idea is to make sure that when you start to install equipment and wiring, it all fits. Lighting needs to be over the consoles where it belongs. Switches should not end up inside racks. There needs to be enough power and cooling in the proper racks depending on what's in them. The power system needs to be large enough for the truck as presently conceived, and for the future. The racks need to be tall enough for what you plan to install. Raceways and conduits need to be installed where needed before walls and ceilings are closed up. These are all INPUTS that the mechanical contractor needs from your engineering contractor. Potential problems are much easier to fix before they become actual problems.

Technical Systems......installation and commissioning This contractor must take the empty physical truck and turn it into a television truck, by following the plans drawn up by the engineer. Specifically, this 'building block' will begin by studying the engineering drawings and discussing the project with you and your engineers (or contractors). This contractor actually makes the cables and cable harnesses, wires the patch panels, puts connectors on all the wiring, installs the wiring and equipment, and coordinates the entire installation process to get your truck out the door on time. This will also include what's known as 'commissioning', or making each piece or equipment, and the entire unit as a whole, work properly. Programming the routers. Setting up DA levels. Testing each and every wire and system before the truck rolls out. There is usually a great deal of pressure on this contractor, since, as the 'last link in the chain', you'll be expecting all the delays to date to somehow vanish, and try to keep your original schedule. Allowing enough time up front in the project can make this contractor's job easier, and will usually end up providing you with a better built truck. Any installation contractor will have stories for you about the 12 week project that HAD to be done in 6 because accumulated delays.....opening day at the ballpark won't wait, after all. While you'll probably get your truck in time for the first pitch (and not much before!!), you won't get the same quality installation that the full 12 week build would have allowed. And you won't know what got left out until you try to use it.......and it's not there!....allow ENOUGH TIME for the whole project.

Equipment Suppliers..... You've chosen the independent contractor route. You (and your engineers) must now decide exactly what you need and where to purchase your equipment. Selection of equipment in the industry's present state of format transition is a difficult and complex issue. Not only are you faced with the "how many ______ do I need now and next year," but also what format(s) they'll need to be. The format issues are beyond the scope of this article, encompassing questions from HD/DTV?/NTSC and all the variations therein, to the crystal ball issue of what's needed for tomorrow. Your equipment suppliers will need to help you determine, on a piece by piece basis, what is good for you now and will it still be good tomorrow. They should work closely with your engineers. Hopefully, the supplier will have highly technical salespeople to assist in sorting out the complex issues.

WHICH CONTRACTOR-THE SELECTION PROCESS
OK. Now it's time to hire the specific contractors for your project. This selection process will be similar regardless of your decision to use a turnkey contractor, or individual contractors. The easiest way for you to begin locating contractors for consideration will probably be word of mouth. There are lots of trucks on the road today, and someone built each and every one of them. Contact your peers in the industry and ask about their experience with one approach vs. the other (turnkey vs. individual), one contractor vs. the other. Keep in mind, however, that simply because one company had a good or bad experience with a particular contractor, there may have been some specific reason. Don't be hasty to either accept or rule out a specific contractor based only on one referral. Ask around. Keep careful notes. Word of mouth IS your best tool for this task. Unfortunately, there's no http://www.trucksareus.com/build on the net just yet.

You should lean toward a contractor that has built TRUCKS. There are a great many companies that have vast experience in fixed facilities, both small and large. However, once you put wheels under this facility and start moving it around on a daily basis, the needs of the facility change in almost every conceivable way. Make sure that the experience level of your potential contractor is up to the task of the needs of a truck.

Ask the contractors for a list of trucks they've built, for whom, some leads as to contacting these people for a referral. In short, try to interview your prospective contractor's past clients. Hint: Don't just talk to GM's or VP's....you'll also want to talk to the people who have to USE the truck every day. Try to get in touch with the field engineering personnel and production people. They can tell you if the finished truck lived up to its promise, whereas the management personnel usually just see the bottom line......is the truck making money. The field personnel will tell you if things flow smoothly on any given shoot, or if each day is a struggle due to some failure of design or construction. Again, remember that just one opinion should not a decision make. Ask as many different companies and people as you're able to. Don't overlook asking your competitors for their opinions. In this small world of remote production, competitors will at some point also become clients You will be renting their truck(s), and they will be renting yours.

SIDE ISSUES
In evaluating contractors for selection, there are many specific items that lead up to the final decision to hire. Sometimes overlooked are seemingly small items that in reality are much larger issues. Conversely, what may look like a huge issue may in fact be relatively minor when weighed against all other factors in the project. Documentation, training, warranty, and support are often overlooked.

Ask for samples of documentation. Sometimes, you can actually have too much of a good thing. If you have to weed through 200 pages of drawings to find where VTR C's digital super output is, you may want to re-evaluate this contractor. On the other hand, no drawings or inaccurate drawings are just as bad. In a truck, in the real world, you need to find information in a hurry.

Training should be provided by one or more of your contractors. MAKE SURE. The last thing you need is a truck on it's first shoot, and no one knows how to configure the intercom software. It's helpful here if your truck-engineer-to-be is available to work with the installation contractor during the commissioning and testing phase of the project.

Warranty is another important and often neglected issue. You'll need assurance that the truck, the installation, the equipment, and the system will all be covered against the usual "defects in materials and workmanship" that any warranty provides. If you've used a turnkey contractor, this will usually be your first contact for warranty problems. You'll probably be directed to the vendor in question for specific equipment or other troubles. If you've used independent contractors and suppliers, you'll need to make sure that they are capable of warranty support in their own areas. Again, your interview process with the prospective contractors will be helpful. System problems are a more difficult issue. The biggest problem here is usually determining what is the problem really. Is it the equipment? The way it was installed? Or the way the system was designed? Is one of your contractors willing and able to tackle issues such as these?

Support....after the ship sales, so to speak, is also an important issue. There are not many trucks on the road today that are the same as when they left the shop. Needs and equipment change. Can your contractor(s) step in and assist you with changes dictated by your clients or the marketplace? Past performance is your only guide to contractor selection here.

ENJOY THE RIDE!
Well, hopefully you've now got some additional tools to assist you with deciding how to have your truck built, and evaluating the prospective contractors for getting the work done. If correctly done, your truck will serve your immediate needs, and allow for future growth, format changes, new clients....whatever may come. As with all projects, sound engineering and construction practices implemented from the beginning will serve you well throughout the life of the truck. Selecting the proper contractors will go a long way towards a satisfying end result.....properly constructed and equipped, on time, and on budget.

Barry H. Bennett