High Value With Used Tools

There is something great about the feel of a brand new power tool right out of the box. In many ways new tools today are built more for convenience and ease of use than for lasting value. Sure, they are lighter, tighter, and more ergonomic. They even come with a few bells and whistles that we usually don’t even need and of course it feels great to know that it’s there if we need it. It just feels soooooooo good! Unfortunately though, it seems like every time I really put a reasonably priced new tool to the test it ends up disappointing me.

New tools just aren’t built like they once were. They bog down, overheat, or just plain stop working at exactly the worst time. As much as I’d like to blame the manufacturers, we are the ones who voted with our wallets and elected the cheapest and most convenient tools. Every time we purchase a $99 cordless everlasting gobstopper, we are telling DeWalt or Rigid or Milwaukee that we prefer cheap good looking tools over quality rugged tools.

So what is the solution? In my opinion it’s time to start really asking what purpose our tools serve and spend our money on the ones that solve our problems most efficiently. For me that means selectively purchasing some tools new and other tools used from pawn shops, yard sales, and thrift stores. Here is a good lineup of a few 30 year old tools that in my opinion are superior to most of what you can buy off the shelf at your local hardware store.

1. Belt Sanders - I grew up in a custom cabinet shop where we had plenty of old tools simply because nobody back then wasted money on new stuff if the old stuff wasn’t broken, and the old stuff never broke! Old Porter Cable or Craftsman belt sanders can be bought for $10 each and will likely last you for the rest of your life. They use the same belts sold for modern sanders, are oftentimes more adjustable than modern sanders, and are insanely more powerful. Even if you accidentally buy the rare 30 year old Porter Cable belt sander that does break, you’re out 10 bucks. Just buy another. You’ll still save hundreds! The picture above is of my two belt sanders, each cost $10. One from Goodwill and one from a random yard sale. I’ve abused them both for more than 10 years and they still act like they’re brand new!

2. Routers - Same as the belt sanders, an old Porter Cable router will outlast anything you buy new off the shelf today at Home Depot. If you’ve watched any of my videos where I’m replacing an interior door you’ve seen mine. It stays in the truck or van, with all the other tools, and gets used constantly. The worst case scenario is that some day you need to replace $1.50 brushes, or just buy another used one if you don’t want to take the time to replace the brushes. You can’t beat these old tools!

3. Pneumatic Nailers - Whether it be finish nails, brad nails, framing nails, or crown staples, these old nailers seem to never fail and never jam. The technology hasn’t changed much. You load up a string of fasteners glued together, use a spring to push them up to the front, and hammer a pin down on the head of the first one. Todays are half plastic, or cheap metal. A few years of usage and suddenly there are grooves worn into the aluminum body causing jams, or the piston just loses compression. As above, get yourself an old Senco or Porter Cable nail gun and you’ll be passing it down to your grandkids. Also as above, they can be had for as little as $10 each at thrift stores, yard sales, and pawn shops.

4. Skil Saws - This is where old tools can really shine. Granted, I prefer a cordless skill saw when I’m just making a few cuts in some half inch plywood but when I’m ripping a hundred feet of 2X8 lumber I’ve found that nothing beats an old heavy clunky Skil Saw! With a fresh blade on they will rip through lumber like a hot knife through butter.

As with anything else in life, buying used tools is the luck of the draw, but my luck with them after 43 years has been a winning hand 99% of the time. Like I said, even if you happen to get that one rare lemon out there, you can just buy another for an additional $10 and still have saved hundreds.

This newsletter is generously sponsored by Next Insurance

I’d like to take a moment to thank NEXT Insurance for generously sponsoring this newsletter. Next is the trusted leader in small business insurance in the construction trades and home services industry. I personally insure my own actual Handyman Business with NEXT and I think you should too. Insurance is basically mandatory in our field. You can get a free quote from NEXT by clicking the link below.

Flat Roof Patching

Down here in the south we don’t do a lot of pitch on our roofs since we don’t really need to shed any snow. One of my most common jobs in the summertime monsoons is patching flat roofs. I learned the hard way (because I was too lazy to do the research and assumed that I already knew everything) that most roof patch materials on their own will eventually crack in the sun and your leak will reappear. Below is a description of how I handle flat roof patches, or at least how I did before I removed roofing from my list of jobs that I would do. Currently I’ve removed roofing from my tool belt due to the higher cost of insurance and not having enough roofing jobs to justify the price.

If it’s pouring outside and (worst case scenario…inside…) and you have to get the rain to stop coming into the house ASAP you can definitely apply some wet patch. This comes in a gallon can and can be forced into the damaged area even when it’s under two inches of rain. It’s not a permanent fix, but it usually stops the faucet coming through the ceiling so that you can come back when it’s all dry to do the real repair.

If it’s dry by the time you get there refer to the photo above and then the real fix is as follows…

1. Remove any delaminated material and clean the surface thoroughly. Make sure it’s dry before proceeding.

2. Coat the surface to be repaired as well as a few inches around the edges with a siliconized roof patch material or a 100% silicone material. YES… This is more expensive. It’s up to you to decide if you would rather save $23 in materials or guarantee that your patch holds. You don’t want to be financially responsible for the drywall repairs after your patch fails.

3. Apply a sheet of fiber tape made for roof patches over that first layer while it’s still wet.

4. Apply another layer of siliconized roof patch.

5. Apply another layer of mesh.

6. Repeat this process until you have 3 layers of mesh sandwiched between 4 layers of siliconized roof patch.

And my final secret, I always follow up at the end of the invoice with my recommendation that they send a professional roofing company out to inspect the entire roof. This removes their ability to blame the next leak on your company. It’s not common for them to do so, but I’ve had them try to pin old leaky roofs on my company before and the only thing that saved me was having everything in writing along with plenty of high resolution photographs and that disclaimer at the end of the invoice suggesting that they send a roofing company to do an inspection of the entire roof for general condition.

Disclaimers On Quotes And Estimates

It’s sad that this is necessary, but you should ensure that all of your quotes, estimates, and invoices have disclaimers where necessary. I could write a book of disclaimers here, but I’ll just give you the ones that I think have been most useful for me.

1. For those clients who want to nickel and dime you into doing more than what was in the original scope of work. Example: You provide an estimate to install 3 ceiling fans that the client has purchased or picked out. You install the fans but because of the different base on the fan, there is now a 1” circle of non-matching brown paint all the way around the perimeter of the base of each fan because the new fan has a smaller base than the old fan. You may now have a client who thinks that your estimate should cover taking a paint sample, driving to Home Depot to get it matched, purchasing the new paint, and painting all 3 ceilings. Here is the line included in my estimates to make sure the client has to pay for work that is above and beyond the original scope. ***”No Work Not Specified Here Is To Be Assumed To Be Included”*** Now… you can still be a nice guy and touch up the paint if it’s already on site. You can choose to do anything you think is fair. The purpose of this disclaimer is to prevent them from trying to dictate additional work that wasn’t in the scope so that at least it’s up to you and not up to them how much extra you are going to do before getting paid.

2. Another example is going to apply quite frequently to plumbing, but can be used in a variety of circumstances where your job cannot be completed without another job being completed first. An example would be when you go to replace a faucet but the shutoff valve is broken. You’ll need a new shutoff valve and the client might try to guilt you into believing that you should pay for it since you already gave an estimate. Here is another line you can include in your estimates to ensure that you’re covered. ***”Any additional unforeseen tasks required to complete this job on site within the agreed upon appointment window will be immediately performed on site and billed additionally at fair market value with additional materials billed at cost”***. Feel free to play around with the wording, mine isn’t set in stone. It’s just better to have some disclaimer rather than none.

3. Missed appointments!!! Nothing is worse than missed appointments. We schedule our days tightly and without a backup vacant property to go work, we’re out that trip fee if the client isn’t home when they agreed to be there. Take the following steps to make sure you’re not left unbillable when this happens. First, make sure you have let the client know in writing that missed appointments will be charged a missed appointment fee. Second, make sure that your arrival window has been made clear in writing. Third ARRIVE ON TIME AND STAY AT THE PROPERTY THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRETY OF THE ARRIVAL WINDOW. Fourth, document your arrival and departure with time stamped photos, screenshots, text messages, and phone calls.

Jobber Approved The Campout!!!

It took a while, but Jobber has agreed to sponsor our first All-Inclusive Handyman Oasis Project Campout! This campout is 100% free to attend for subscribers of The Bulletproof Handyman YouTube channel.

I want to give a special thank you to Jobber for taking a leap of faith and agreeing to invest themselves in our community. This first campout (hopefully the first of many) wouldn't be possible without their support.

The campout will take place on September 20, 2024 - September 22, 2024 at Pena Blanca Lake south of Tucson. All campsites will be set up and equipped with enough gear for 4 people including tents, air mattresses, sleeping bags, chairs, lanterns, etc... Guests will be provided with dinner on Friday, all 3 meals on Saturday, and breakfast on Sunday. We'll also have enough firewood to keep a fire going throughout the entire event and there will be a fishing pole and bait ready to go for every guest. All you'll need to do is show up!

You will need to provide your own transportation to and from the event. Please come prepared with your own pillows, toiletries and personal grooming items, rain gear, etc...

We will have a professional videographer on site all day Saturday and attendance will require signing of a model release form which will allow us to create a final video of the campout to be published on the Bulletproof Handyman YouTube Channel.

-Toilets are available on site. Showers are not.
-Cell service is available but sporadic.
-I will connect Starlink a couple times per day briefly for everyone
to check in with family and friends.
-Thanks to Jobbers support, we'll also be reserving improved campsites that come with a metal covered roof and concrete picnic tables.

We will update this event with more and more details as we get closer to the kickoff date. Click the button below to grab your spot.

Click Below For A Free 14 Day Trial Of Jobber

FREE Bi-Weekly Personalized Webinars Starting August 18

Beginning August 18, I’ll be hosting a free webinar bi-weekly. These webinars will be private and not published anywhere and you’ll be free to ask as many questions as you need in a smaller group setting. Each webinar will start with a basic workflow process for creating estimates, converting estimates to jobs, and invoicing within the Jobber software. Once we finish the basic workflow, I’ll be taking questions specific to the Jobber platform. Once all of the Jobber related questions are completed, you’ll be free to ask anything you need to get help with starting or running your handyman business. I’ll also be available to review your website along with the rest of the group for design feedback. I built my Bulletproof Handyman website with Wix and highly recommend them for website building and domain hosting due to their intuitive ease of use platform for building without sacrificing functionality for simplicity. You can build yours here https://wixstats.com/?a=89872&oc=129&c=2244&s1= 

I’ve been using Jobber to run my entire business for 4 years now so there aren’t many features I haven’t thoroughly explored and used. I usually either have the answer or can find it quickly. Refer to the link above for a free 14 day trial if you’d like to coordinate your trial with the webinar to see if Jobber is right for you.

Register For The Webinar By Clicking The Link Below

This Is Your Competition - Broken Drawer Boxes

The image below is an actual drawer box that I’m about to rebuild for one of my clients. This, gentlemen, is your competition. This is a fine example of what to strive to be the opposite of. If you can do that, you’ll succeed.

As you can see, this drawer was either “repaired” twice by two different handymen already, or it was “repaired” once by a handyman who didn’t even have 3 screws that match each other.

I see work like this all the time. Usually it comes along with some foamed out gorilla glue and a few additional pieces of random hardware. Our job isn’t to find the quickest and cheapest way to hack a problem back together, but to find the most efficient way to do a PROPER fix. I currently receive pretty much all of the broken drawer jobs from all of my property managers all the time now, despite being very expensive compared to others. The reason for this is because when I receive these jobs, I just immediately build a new drawer box from 1/2” birch plywood, guaranteeing that my new box will outlast the cabinets rather than becoming another job that has yet another handyman fixing the exact same problem again.

To rebuild these I usually use my Table Saw. I disassemble the old box and make a carbon copy of each piece and then assemble it with Titebond 2 wood glue and pneumatic 1/4” crown staples.