What gear should a business owner expect to provide and what gear should an installer expect to own for LV installation in a full time employment scenario?

My opinion.
If the employer demands certain types or brands then employer should provide them.
I don’t believe someone low on the pole/payscale should pay for tools.
Employer should also supply them if vehicles are swapped for specific reasons and tools need to be in it. Maybe all vehicles don’t carry trenching tools, wood working tools or heavy duty power tools.
At the very least the employer should provide all and any tools that only one person needs. Why would two employees need to outfit a truck with an SDS set up, circular saw, generator, Dremel, socket set, wrench set, wire tracing/locator, lighting, extension cords, shop vac. You get the picture.
I don’t see a problem if an employee has a small tool bag and some personal hand tools.

Employees need their own hand tools and drill. Everything else you supply

Basically if it fits in a tool bag they should already own it. Employer replaces wearable items, drywall saw etc....

The tools need to be supplied.

The employee needs to pay for any tools lost or broken due to misuse.


Been there, done that.


Worked as a plumber when I was a young man (should have kept on doing that), and every tool needed was provided. Knowing what they cost, I really tool care of them. No way in hell I could have paid for them up front, or if lost.

Agreed, if they are on the payroll, they need to be provided tools. If they are contract, they are on their own of course.

It needs to be expressed that they ARE responsible for them.

In my opinion employer should provide the tools. Installers are limited by their tools. Purchasing gives the employee more range in the work they do. If you force the employee to purchase their own tools they can lack motivation to buy tools that allow them to do more types of work or increase efficiency.

I do believe there are lines of work that you should provide some of your own tools but its hard to tell an employee they need to provide 200 dollars worth of tools and you'll provide the other 2,000. It just seems petty.

general Hand tools and a drill are employees responsibility. this is VERY common in most trade industries.

Specialty tools like RJ45 crimps, Compression Tools, Toners, etc etc are company provided. Replaced if worn out. If lost, Employees responsibility to replace.

Setup an entry level bag. Good to have as a spare, and new techs start with that one.

Then after several months, you also pay for his own new kit with his involvement, it's personal and he'll respect them more. From there any loss or misuse is on their dime.

A couple hundred dollar investment in a new employee is trivial compared to training and acquisition and employee replacement costs today.

Contractor, different story.

Tools can be used as part of their compensation, if they come in fresh and relatively inexperienced. No point in forcing them to use some POS tool set and wasting time when they don't have what they should in order to do the work. Some like their own tools and would prefer to use them, rather than something supplied by the company. Drill bits, hand saws and other consumables should be supplied by the company and if they can be resharpened, do that. It might not be a bad idea to provide Drill Doctors, too- that way, they don't need to struggle when their drill bits are dull.

If work trucks are provided by the company, the tools stay in the trucks.

I can only say what we do. "standard" tools needed to do the job are provided to employees, if they want other "gadgets" it is up to them. If a "gadget" is added to the standard anyone that previously bought one gets reimbursed.

when someone is new we tell them they are resposible for them and if something happens to them they will be charged for replacements.

If we need to sub contract some of the work, I would expect tem to have their own tools.

When I started as an apprentice installer at Tweeter in 2005, I was required to have every tool on a checklist that was reviewed every 90 day’s, maybe it was every 6 months. To move up the pay scale & title structure, the required tool list got longer. I grumbled & complained because I didn’t have a lot of money, and I needed a lot of tools right off the bat. By just the first level after apprentice, I had been required to purchase all the typical hand tools, along with ones I haven’t even carried in years: chisel set, box wrench set, nut driver set....4-foot & 6-foot ladders, 18v drill w/ hammer, jigsaw, circular saw, corded recip saw, 4’ level, sledgehammer, trenching shovel....

Anyways I hated spending all that money on my own tools, and I got good at my job & was thrown into quite a bit of work so I had to buy more at a pretty fast rate. However, once I left Tweeter and was able to bring all those tools to the table, it’s been very easy to land a job when I feel like it’s time for a change.

All that being said, I have come to expect my employer to provide things like glow rods, large expensive drll bits, saw blades, kerosene heaters, hole hawg, etc.

Yes.

Not exactly. I think someone should provide the most basic tools, say, a Phillips and a Slot Drive screwdriver, a wire cutter and/or stripper, a tape measure, perhaps a drywall saw (depends on the business).

One reason the employee should have these is that things are less likely to get lost or stolen if they BELONG to a person. Ownership is a strong magnet!


Employees may prefer certain tools over others, and they have the privilege of buying and carrying their own. I work with a guy whose drill I don't like, so I carry my own.
And he doesn't carry all the tools I carry. He's okay using some of my tools, and he's responsible with them, so that's okay with me.

There are no hard and fast rules here.

What's an SDS Setup? And I haven't required a Dremel in more than twenty years.

In my opinion, specialty tools like scanners/ test sets, hole hawg, etc should be provided by the company, unless the employee is a contractor. Small stuff like drywall saw, snips, drill kit, level, screwdrivers, etc should be the employees responsibility. If it's a new kid with no money, help him get the basics, maybe do a weekly paycheck deduction until they are paid for to help him out.

If you provide everything, they won't respect it and will destroy your property.

SDS hammer drill & compatible bits. We just got a new Bosch last week 😁

We allow people to use their own tools, but I do find there is an advantage with standardizing them. If a truck has an issue, it is easy to switch to a different one,
if every guy uses the same brand of power tools it is less trouble and cheaper to manage batteries and less likely of it being an issue.



you know what I find ironic in this statement? it appears as if you care if the employee "won't respect and will destroy" your 2$ screw driver but you don't care if he "won't respect and will destroy " the customers priceless one of a kind vase. The way I see it that 2$ screw driver is easily replaceable, but anything that goes wrong in an install can cost me millions (in lost future jobs) so why would I want an employee that does not respect something just because he did not pay for it.