If an employee does not care about the tools, that employee should probably not be in your customers home. We don't typically work in scrap yards.

Our guys have virtually everything they need, and they prefer to have the tools that they like to use. We do give a quarterly stipend for tools, and we always have specialty tools and testers onsite in the trailer/van.

I’m a tool ho, and most of my freinemies in the biz are too. Have been in “kitty” scenarios where employer throws about $5 a week into a tool account for techs. Only tools I can see being provided would be fish rods, vac, and heavy SDS style drill.

This is a great thread. My initial response was going to be that the installer pays for all his hand tools and battery drill and the company provides everything else. After reading the comments i was reminded of all the times i had a specific tool that the other guys/tool bags didn't. I'm not talking about expensive testing kits..just random stuff like security bits or rack leveling pins.

I think the ultimate goal would be to have vans that have all the same parts and tools on it. Any truck/tech could be sent to any project and they would have what they need. Obviously in this scenario the tools and parts stay on the truck. If techs want to work on their house they buy tools of their own.

That’s interesting you had to buy all your own tools. I started there the same time as a crew chief and we had an I-Parts account where we could purchase pretty much anything we needed including tools; even Dewalt power tools, testers, label makers, etc. I thought is was the same for apprentices, maybe not? I already had all my own personal set when I started so I didn’t buy much right away. A year or so later all our vans were broken into and we were able to purchase everything we needed again.

I treat it like a mechanic.
Portable or hand tools are on employee.
Major tools are on employer.

Thats just been my experience. I can have the same set of glow rods for 8 years with no issues. I lend them to an employee for a day or 2 and I get them back, broken. WTF.

I tend to agree with the "mechanic" scenario.

Do you want to make a living working on things?
You better be ready to invest in the tools you need to accomplish the job at hand.

I take pride in the work I do and the tools I own that enable me to get the job done.
I'm not sure if any employer would/should be willing invest in the same quality of tools just to have the new hire toss them in a bucket and throw it in the truck.

The only "major tools" I use that I don't own are the van and ladders.

Until the tech that used the van last misplaced the T-8 security torx bit and the next guy expected it to be there and he couldn't service the camera!

People tend to be more responsible with the things they own!

How would you bore 1" or larger holes in concrete?

My dad had an upholstery shop in the '50s and he provided hand tools, for a while. Once he saw that he was reordering, he made the others buy their own- he paid for them and took an agreed upon amount of money out of their pay every week, whatever they could afford. Funny, how the tools were never lost after that started.

I worked for another contractor in '05 and the first day I worked on a rough-in, the outside temperature was about 20F and we had no heat or electricity. Since we needed to install a lot of 2" smurf tube, a lot of large holes were needed and I was handed a Milwaukee 2-9/16" self-boring bit. I made all of the holes needed using one battery- I had recently bought a Milwaukee 18V hammer drill and it really tore through the studs and wall plates like butter. We got back to the office and the first thing everyone else did was go to the owner's office to tell him they wanted drills like mine, which became the standard issue for the company until LiIon came out.

I had collected a lot of hand tools when I did car audio and have been a woodworker for a long time, so I have a lot of tools that make life as a CI much easier and when it came time to leave the other place, I didn't need to lose anything because I provided my own.

If new employees come without tools, the company can pay and have the cost returned by the employees, weekly. It would be like having a SnapOn truck account. They own the tools and if they leave before payment, they don't get their last check.

The answer to "what's an SDS setup" is not "SDS hammer drill & compatible bits." That just tells me that "setup" means "hammer drills and bits." It doesn't answer the question "what's SDS?"


THIS is the difference between supplying tools for employees and having them buy their own. Of course tools get broken sometimes, but somehow a person's personal property has a greater life span than someone else's.


You know, when you quote an entire friggin' post that comments on several different things, and then ask a question about one subject without identifying the topic, you don't help at all.

I would bore 1" holes in concrete with my masonry bits. I have up to 1 1/4" bits that fit into my Milwaukee Hole Shooter with its 1/2" chuck.

I finally looked it up and found that SDS means Slotted Drive System or Slotted Drive Shaft. I almost think you guys did not know that's what it means, or you would have said that's what it means.

It is not necessary to have such a drill to bore 1" holes in concrete, and I've never had to drill larger than 1 1/4" holes. It was MUCH cheaper to buy the bits I needed 12 years ago, which was the last time I had to drill such a hole, than to buy a new drill PLUS new bits.


My point exactly.


An unrelated reason why everybody should own their own tools is other subcontractors who don't own their own tools.

The only time I've lost tools on the job other than by forgetting them on my own, another contractor was on the job and left before I did. They were electricians and they had a kid who did the grunt job of putting the tools away. He went through the site and took all the tools that looked like electricians' tools. This included several of my tools. The kid had no idea whose tools he was picking up, since he didn't own ANY of the tools. I don't think he stole anything -- he was told to pick up tools and he picked up tools.

If each electrician had had his own tools and had been responsible for putting them away, none of my tools would have been taken. It's just not reasonable for me to use a tool and then take it back out to the van, and would not have been reasonable for the electricians to do the same.

Blah, blah, blah. I did that for you. No gratitude, I tell ya.


Maybe, we assumed others already knew what SDS is. It's not a new thing.

If you're using bits as large as 1-1/4" in a hole shooter, you're abusing it- it wasn't designed for those and "because they fit" is not the proper reason to use them. Masonry bits are supposed to be used with hammer drills.



You have obviously not used an SDS drill, often called a 'rotary hammer'. You can't drill holes with your hole shooter as quickly as with an SDS or hammer drill- it's not possible. The SDS can also use a chisel, a spade and other bits- it's pretty versatile without the need to go all out with the expense of the larger industrial ones. YOU may not need to drill larger than 1", but many others do. If you need to install larger conduit, you would be forced to hire someone else who has core bits. What if you needed to make a large hole in a concrete floor that's not Span Crete or pre-stressed concrete?

"Not necessary"? Bull crap. You're in California- many parts of the country have homes and other buildings that use brick or block for foundation walls- I had to punch a 3" hole in brick last Summer, to get cabling from the AV system in the basement to the Den- that WAS necessary and even with my SDS, it was a PITA. 


That's a good reason to mark your tools clearly, so there's no mistake about who owns them. 

That would prepare an installer for almost nothing unless they're a total grunt.

If a company has deep pockets, they can provide all of the tools, if they choose- I would want people who are mature enough to not steal them.

One of my pet peeves is people borrowing tools when they already have their own, or they want to use mine because they're better than the tools the other guy has, especially when I'm using those tools at that time.

Employees should have their own hand-tools (strippers, compression, RJ45, screwdrivers, hammer, etc). It's amazing how much better care they take of them when they purchased them and have to replace them when they go missing. "crawl back up in the attic and look for my missing multi-tool, or just grab a new one off the shelf at the shop......."

We have a check list when they get hired, and we will buy them and let them pay them off over time if necessary.

We provide the drill kits, corded tools and network scanners and computers. We also replace all the consumables, like drill bits, saw blades, punch down tips, etc.

You have accurately perceived my point, but you seem to misunderstand it and think that's not enough.

I mean to say that a person must have their own most basic tools and the company can provide beyond that. And I say "can" because situations aren't all the same. I've worked with handymen who did not have the tools needed, but were good with the tools once I loaned them. But I'd only work with a rank beginner who did not have the tools I listed.


I don't think the problem is stealing as much as it is not feeling the loss of a tool if you don't own it yourself. And yes, now I'm arguing for the worker owning all of his own tools. You see, this is very variable from situation to situation.


Ditto ditto ditto! Those people are rarely standing next to me when I need the tool!