Where to buy your construction tools

The importance of buying your tools from a tool dealer.
Most construction companies are guilty of walking into the big box store and spending hundreds of dollars on a tool. We do this because it’s simple, everything is on display and the big box store has the cheapest price.
What you don’t realize is that you shouldn’t shop for your tools by price. Sure price is always a factor when you are buying tools, but it shouldn’t be the only factor.
A few things you should look for when buying tools;

• Warranty service or after warranty repairs. You want to buy your tools from a place that has the ability to fix your tool regardless if it’s under warranty or not. You should look for a place that has the ability to fix the tool in house or at least send it to someone locally. This will cut down on the amount of time that you are without your tool. Every day that you are without that tool, that’s a day the tool wasn’t able to make money for the company. If you buy a tool from a big box store and they send it to another part of the country to be fixed then you could be without the tool for months. You also want a place that will tell you if the tool is worth fixing or not. It might be cheaper to just buy a new tool instead of fixing an older broken one.

• Tool knowledge. The salesmen in the big box stores might sound like they know everything about the tool that they are selling you, but do they really? If you asked them what was the rate of return for warranty or after warranty repair was would they know? Probably not, they don’t work in that department. If you go to a tool dealer who wants your repeat business he will be able to give you advise on what tool brands will work for your needs and how the repairs are compared to the price you have to pay for it. It might be that buying the cheaper table saw will cost you money in the long run because it’s not built to survive a lot of abuse. So spending 50 dollars more on a table saw that is a better quality might allow you to own that tool repair free for a longer period of time.

• Bulk buying. If you buy a large amount of tools at once you should be able to get a better deal on the entire package from a tool dealer. If you go to a big box store, it wouldn’t matter how much money on tools you spend, the price will never change.

• Delivery. Most tool dealers will deliver large or oversized tools to you instead of you rounding up a couple of men and a truck just to pick it up. It’s all about repeat business; they want you happy and coming back for more tools.

• Tool dealers are usually able to get you almost any tool brand that you need. They don’t carry exclusive lines of tools, or exclusive models of tools that are only made for them like a lot of the big box stores. I have brought in a portable table saw that was purchased at a big box store to a CERTIFIED repair person for the big box store to get new brushes for the motor. This is a very simple thing, it’s a repair that most people can do themselves. Except I was told for that table saw (because it came from that big box store and it was all of 5 years old) that you couldn’t buy just brushes for it. You had to buy a whole new motor to get the brushes. It worked out that it was the same price to buy a new motor versus buying a whole new table saw. So I ended up throwing away a perfectly good table saw because I couldn’t get brushes for it.

• Look for a tool dealer that will do onsite delivery and pick up of tools. This will save you having to haul tools to them every time you need a repair.

• Most tool dealers will record the serial number of every large tool that they sell you. This is good for you because it allows them to access your account records for warranty. It also allows them to check to see if the tool that someone brought them for repair is stolen. I have known tool dealers to not give a tool back that came in for repair because it had been reported stolen by one of their other clients. It’s a great way to deter the underground economy in stolen construction equipment and might even allow you to get your stolen tools back.

When buying your tools in the future if you take a little time to look around for a tool dealer that you can build a relationship with it can save you money and time in the long run. Don’t just wander in to the big box store and think that you are getting a great deal. Remember you get you what you pay for!

Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc.

Stanley Fat Max tape measures

Fat Max tape measures

If you work in the construction industry you already know that the one piece of equipment that you use the most is your tape measure. It is also the one piece of equipment that you will have to replace more often than anything else. There are all kinds of tape manufactures and in those manufactures there is almost an unlimited amount of different lengths, styles and sizes.

The most common length for tape in the residential construction industry is the 25 ft tape. The most common tape that is bought and used is the Fat Max made by Stanley. There are many different lengths but the most standard is the 25 ft tape. The most common measurements are imperial (feet and inches), most residential plans are issued in imperial, where most commercial or government plans are in metric.

There are some simple reasons that the Fat Max tape by Stanley is the most widely used, even though it is one of the most expensive tapes to buy;

·         Stand-out. The Fat Max seems to have the largest stand-out of all tapes. Stand-out is when you extend the tape out into the air and you keep extending it out until the tape collapses. Depending on the type of Fat Max you have it usually has 11 to 12 ft of standout. This comes in handy when you are standing on a wall, or a roof and you want to take a measurement. You should be able to extend the tape out 11 or 12 ft to the other person so that you can get a measurement. This will save you valuable time because you don’t have to climb all the way down and climb back up to hand the end of the tape to the other person. Also if you are trying to measure the height of something like a wall, then you will be able to slide the tape up the wall without it falling back on you before you reach the desired height.

·         Twisting. The Fat Max tapes seem to be made wider and slightly more curved to stop the tape from twisting. The reason you don’t want the tape to twist is because then you will not get an accurate measurement. If it’s windy, you want your tape to be able to be slid across the floor to take a measurement without the wind twisting it, forcing you to start again. When the tape twists in mid air the tape collapses. So it doesn’t matter how great the standout is on your tape if at 8ft the tape will twist and collapse.

·         Size. A lot of tape manufactures have made bigger and bigger tapes, so has Fat Max. But the difference between Fat Max and the others is that Fat Max has built there tapes wider instead of making the tape reel taller. This allows you to hold the tape more easily in your hand. It also allows you to get the tape in and out of your carpenter’s pouch. There is nothing more frustrating than trying to pull out a tape that is so large that it is wedged in the front tape holder of your work belt.

·         Longevity and durability. The Fat max tapes seem to last longer on jobsites then other tapes. One reason for that is they are thicker tapes so they can handle more abuse and regular wear and tear. The worst thing you can do to your tape is get it wet. Because the tapes are made of metal, they have a tendency to rust. Cleaning the tape with your shirt as it is retracted or using a glove will help extend the life of the tape. Fat Max tapes seem to last longer in the wet conditions than most other types of tapes.

·         Ease of use. The functioning end of the tape, the lock and feed seem to be always easy to use. The numbers are also easy to read and a good tape doesn’t have too much writing on it. Most people in the construction industry do not need the tape to tell them what a ¼”  and 1/8” is on the tape. They just need the little mark that shows you were it is relative to the ½” mark and the 1” mark.

The only down side to Fat Max tapes is that they are one of the more expensive tapes on the market. But remember YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!            The Fat Max tapes might cost more but they will last you longer and make you faster and more productive at work.

Rob Abbott

Operations Manager

Village Builders Inc.

Why you should buy tools from Hilti!

Why you should buy Hilti tools!

As the operations manager at Village Builders Inc. I buy all the tools for the company. The busier we are the more tools that require for the growing number of employee’s. The busier you are the more your existing tools get used and abused, thus you have to repair and replace them more frequently.

If you have ever been in a big box construction store you would know that the verity of tools and tool companies has exploded in the last 15 years. Other than the price for a lot of people it’s really hard to tell what good tools are and what are cheap handy man tools. In a business that relies on their tools to bring in the money, buying the wrong tool or tool brand can cost you a lot of money.

The next time you are in one of these big box stores and see dozens of different tool brands, look closely and you will see a lot of similarities in the tools. Parts on one drill look like they’d fit on another that is a different brand, the reality is that they probably would. Those dozens of tool brands are actually owned by only a couple of companies. I will give you an example; if you buy Dewalt tools you are actually buying from Bosch. Bosch bought Dewalt in the last couple of years, Dewalt was owned by Black and Decker. Which means Bosch now also owns Black and Decker. There are other tool brands that Bosch also owns, more than you would think.

All these companies have one thing in common, volume sales. If you buy these brands they come with a warranty of about a year. If you want that warranty the tool has to be sent to facility that repairs them. The average turnaround time to get your tool warranted is about a 4 to 6 weeks. To people that just use their tools on the weekend that probably doesn’t sound like a long time. To a construction company that is an eternity. If I have to lose a tool for 4 to 6 weeks, that means I have to go out and buy a new tool to replace it for that month. Then when the tool returns I have two of them, when I might only need one. If you have ever rented a tool for a week or longer from a rental store you would have realized that for the price of the rental it’s actually cheaper to buy the tool outright.

So for construction companies like Village Builders I found the solution, it’s a company called HILTI. You probably have heard of them, they are the company that pioneered the powder activated nail gun the “HILTI GUN”. It basically uses a 22 gauge load of gun powder to shoot nails into concrete and steel, saving you the time of having to drill a hole and drive or screw a faster in. They are also famous for their large breaking hammers and drills.

Hilti sells a wide variety of tools now days. They are heavily invested in the cordless tool market. Hilti is a company that is constantly striving to perfect their tool and are never afraid to reinvent a tool or tool design. Hilti tools are known in the construction industry as an extremely well built tool. But where Hilti stands head and shoulders above the other tool companies is there customer service. I will give you an example, if you send in your cordless hammer drill on a Monday by Purolator, they will assess the tool and if it’s under warranty still fix or replace the tool and have it back in your hands for Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning. If it’s under warranty even the shipping back and forth of the tool is free. I the tool is not under warranty, they will call you on the Tuesday and tell you the price to fix it. If you agree to the price of the repair then you will still have the tool back to you by Thursday morning. This allows companies like mine to have tools repaired or replaced in less than 4 days instead of months.

A lot of the tools that Hilti sells come with multiyear warranties, so there are a lot of times when the tool is a year and a half old and it is fixed or replaced for free. This comes in handy for cordless tools because the warranty applies to the batteries and the charger as well.

If you send them a tool no matter how old and the cost of the repair is too high for the age of the tool. They will offer to buy the broken tool from you if you buy a new tool to replace it. That’s right Hilti will pay you for the broken tool!  There are a couple of reasons for this;

·         Hilti wants to encourage you to buy more of their product

·         Hilti believes that happy customers will spend more money with their company, recreating customer loyalty.

·         Every Hilti tool that is bought from Hilti has a serial number that is recorded in their computers. This helps them track your warranty, it also helps stop theft. If you take a tool you bought to Hilti, they will first check to see if the tool is stolen or not! If it is they will give the tool to the police. So they don’t want you selling Hilti tools to other people that aren’t in there system.

·         The bigger Hilti tools have a record of use; this will give Hilti valuable information on how the tool performed in its life time and changes that need to be made in future models to extend life.

·         Hilti doesn’t want you selling a tool to someone else if it’s faulty because that can reflect negatively on Hilti.

To add to the customer service of Hilti, they have reps that service the area in which you run your business. Once the rep gets to know your business, he will stop in and let you know of any deals or sales that are happening. He also carries around in his red truck all the latest Hilti tools, big and small. So if you want to try out a tool for a couple days before you buy it he will lend you that tool. He will also be able to give you the Hilti catalogue. Hilti doesn’t just sell tools; they also sell a wide verity of construction materials, such as spray foam and different adhesives. They sell blades for every cutting and grinding tool that they make. The Hilti rep can also show you how to properly care for and proper operate your tools, to extend the life of the tool. I am on a first name bases with my rep, his name is Chris and I’m pretty sure he has me on speed dial these days for the amount of product and tools that I buy off him.

Hilti also allows you to buy anything you want from them on their website, allowing you to purchase anything they sell hassle free, shipped straight to your door.

So the next time you are looking to buy a tool, try looking at Hilti, you will be surprised!

Rob Abbott

Operations Manager

Village Builders Inc.