Garyj
After following the thread on Groupon and taking time to think about the whole thing from a more rational business point of view i would say that given the person starting the thread (jasonl) was moving to a new area and wanted to build a customer base fast i suppose under those conditions it could have its benefits, lots of work, vans on the road in the city/town/local villages giving you a presence and helping make your company name comonplace in the area. Not sure if you would benefit from a loyal customer base in the long run but then that would depend on how you manage your customers.
To sum up i can see some benefits but would I do it...............probably not.
I use a porty, a powrflight at the moment, must say its a top machine and is the best portable I have used.
Do I think its better than a truckmount? I couldnt say for definate because I have never used a truckmount but I would say that it has a lot to do with the operator and the equipment although very important is secondary.
The areas I work I dont think I could run a truckmount, working in london with lots of house conversions, everyone with cars, parking is really a premium so sometimes i can be parked half a street away from my actual job. Also most people are paranoid about being robbed and unless i am working downstairs or on the bottom flight of stairs I always bring everything inside and close the front door. Most thieves are opportunists and an open front door is an opportunity that they would find hard to resist.
There, nothing too controversial
Tony