Half of diligence happens in the data room. The other half happens on the yard.
The financials get months, and they earn it. But ten minutes on a yard tells me things no statement can.
How the trucks are parked at the end of a shift: nosed in straight and washed down, or dropped wherever the day ended.
Whether the maintenance bay runs on a system or a pile.
The dispatch board, and whether it matches where the trucks actually are.
And the one that matters most: how the crew acts when the owner walks by. Whether they look up. Whether they look him in the eye.
None of it has a line item, but all of it lands in the numbers eventually. Repairs. Utilization. Turnover.
The books tell you where a business has been. The yard tells you where it is going.
First published on LinkedIn.