After doing plenty of diy I'm now refurbishing houses on a full time basis. Although I'm much better than before I still haven't worked out how best to organise my tools on site. Bear in mind I'm working on a number of different trades i.e. plumbing, electrics, building etc so I've got a number of different sets of tools and associated bits and bobs i.e. pipe fittings, electrical back boxes etc. How do you professionals do it?
Organising Tools on Site
- Thread starter samnash1
- Start date
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One thing that helps is to put tools back in the toolbox when you have finished with them. This means that when you need the same tool 20 minutes later you know exactly where it is.
However this is not the method I use. After years of practice I have perfected the technique of putting a tool down in the most convenient place as soon as I have finished with it. This means that not only at the end of the day you have to go all over the place collecting them but also if you need a tool more than once you sometimes need to retrace your steps back to where you think you last used it, and both of these are very good exercise.
It is even more fun when you have strapped the ladders onto the roofbars and realise you have left your hammer in the gutter, or you have glued and pinned a plinth onto a piece of fitted furniture and an hour later you realise you have left your favourite chisel behind it.
And I'm sure that many people, like me, have had those amusing moments when a tool has simply disappeared off the face of the earth only to turn up two days later wrapped in a dustsheet! Oh what a laugh this can be when you think about the 20 minutes you spent searching for it.
However this is not the method I use. After years of practice I have perfected the technique of putting a tool down in the most convenient place as soon as I have finished with it. This means that not only at the end of the day you have to go all over the place collecting them but also if you need a tool more than once you sometimes need to retrace your steps back to where you think you last used it, and both of these are very good exercise.
It is even more fun when you have strapped the ladders onto the roofbars and realise you have left your hammer in the gutter, or you have glued and pinned a plinth onto a piece of fitted furniture and an hour later you realise you have left your favourite chisel behind it.
And I'm sure that many people, like me, have had those amusing moments when a tool has simply disappeared off the face of the earth only to turn up two days later wrapped in a dustsheet! Oh what a laugh this can be when you think about the 20 minutes you spent searching for it.
I too suffered from the same problems, where is that...........?etc.
Now I have a number of different tool boxes carrying, electrics, plumbing and plastering bits and bobs. Problem is the woodworking power tools- they take up the rest of the van space.
Just found a spirit level behind a boxed in vanity unit.very useful
Now I have a number of different tool boxes carrying, electrics, plumbing and plastering bits and bobs. Problem is the woodworking power tools- they take up the rest of the van space.
Just found a spirit level behind a boxed in vanity unit.very useful
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Hmm, humerous perhaps, but, although I'm no plasterer, I'm sympathetic to their cause.
Plasterers work incredibly hard, and exhibit the kind of craftsmanship that I'll never achieve, doing something fairly mundane that the human body can't sustain for forty years. Therefore their labour rates have to take into account the fact that they will have to either retire early, or retrain in later life, either of which is expensive.
This is why I have no problem paying the plasterer I use more money that I would earn in a day and a half, for merely half a day of work (plus time to collect materials etc.).
Plasterers work incredibly hard, and exhibit the kind of craftsmanship that I'll never achieve, doing something fairly mundane that the human body can't sustain for forty years. Therefore their labour rates have to take into account the fact that they will have to either retire early, or retrain in later life, either of which is expensive.
This is why I have no problem paying the plasterer I use more money that I would earn in a day and a half, for merely half a day of work (plus time to collect materials etc.).
petewood said:
how true
i have seen tools vanish before my eyes and where do all does pencils go get a pouch, they are like the magic hat trick, things just disappear. sort the back of you van into sections and buy tools that have more than one use, ie a chop saw that cuts every angle and thickness, a palm lazer lever,nail gun,cordless hammerdrill,double transformer,dewalt radio all these things will save space and time, even the radio. i must of bought 25 radios atleast and my mates had his dewalt for years.if your gonna do every trade or craft you will find yourself snowed under with tools so maybe stick to one or two and buy quality, believe me you pay for what you get with tools.
oh yes the infamous dog chasing its tail syndrome. Doing some work kneeling down. now wheres that tool gone i had it just jnow and i havnt moved from here.......where is it.......where is it as you start to turn around in circles. get up walk around think you are going mad, only to find to your standing on it!
i have one toolbox for all my reliables, a trug for all my wet work stuff ie trowels etc, couple of boxes for screws/nails/fixings etc and the power tools. ive started sticking a load of power tools in storage boxes now, keeps em tidy and less attractive to nosy parkers. all other stuff like plumbing/electrical fittings etc go into big storage boxes. all i have to do is take the storage box i want and i know the bits i need will be in there......somewhere im sure they will!
whatever you do though, there always seems to be somethiong that wont quite go into any storage method you use!
i have one toolbox for all my reliables, a trug for all my wet work stuff ie trowels etc, couple of boxes for screws/nails/fixings etc and the power tools. ive started sticking a load of power tools in storage boxes now, keeps em tidy and less attractive to nosy parkers. all other stuff like plumbing/electrical fittings etc go into big storage boxes. all i have to do is take the storage box i want and i know the bits i need will be in there......somewhere im sure they will!
whatever you do though, there always seems to be somethiong that wont quite go into any storage method you use!
Reminds me of my former partner. He made boxes to fit all our camping gear in and he had made it into an art to fit everything into the back of the car.Thermo said:
Great. Untill he changed cars
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