What brand power tools do the pros use in your area?

[javyLSU]

The company that renovated our kitchen this past summer had about half of their guys using Bauer power tools from HF. No joke. Their work was definitely no joke either. Just goes to show that tools do not make the tradesman...

 

[southalabama]

Dewalt

 

[GRB]

Corded drills DeWalt spins faster. 1/2" 1,000 rpm.

Massive oversimplification indicating no knowledge of what it takes to drill holes properly. I must have more than 20 drills for different uses.
Specific drills are targeted to specific uses. It just isn't that simple to say one is faster that the other. I have 4 different corded 1/2" drills. Sure, one of them is 0-1200rpm but I wouldn't want my 0-500rpm or 0-600rpm Milwaukee D-handles or my 0-300rpm Milwaukee Hole Hawg to only have that speed even though the high speed mode actually does do 0-1200.
Also have Milwaukee 0-1200 and 0-2500 3/8" corded and 0-4,000rpm 1/4".
I actually have a Dewalt 1/2" that is about a 0-1000rpm or so, similar to the Milwaukee but actually don't use it. No particular reason.

 

[Ton ton]

I use the corded drills for running a geared winch. My DeWalt is made in USA. The Milwaukee is made in China. Both 1/2" run them about 30 ft. apart from each other. Similar loads. DeWalt is expensive though.

 

[Ton ton]

Thanks for taking time to comment, GRB.

 

[Bob-B]

My younger son is a superintendent for a large construction management company in NYC. I asked him this question yesterday when he came for a visit. He says the carpenters and what he calls "dry trades" use mostly Dewalt, while the "wet trades", plumbers, HVAC, steamfitters, and electricians, use Milwaukee. He does see some Makita, but the other 2 are most common.

 

[CGarage]

My younger son is a superintendent for a large construction management company in NYC. I asked him this question yesterday when he came for a visit. He says the carpenters and what he calls "dry trades" use mostly Dewalt, while the "wet trades", plumbers, HVAC, steamfitters, and electricians, use Milwaukee. He does see some Makita, but the other 2 are most common.

How are dry trades and wet trades defined? Thank you.

 

[AKJeeper]

The power tools we use at the electric utility I work for are overwhelmingly Milwaukee.

 

[81turbota]

I see Milwaukee mostly.

 

[Bob-B]

CGarage, I don't think it's a formal definition, but quick and dirty one. He referred to the "wet trades" as the "systems", sprinkler, plumbing, HVAC, electrical. He's a site super on that side, dealing primarily with the HVAC and plumbing trades. The dry trades are the carpenters, structural steel, masonry, sheet rockers / plasterers, and cabinet installers.

 

[xela456]

What brand power tools do you see contractors and other professionals using in your area. If you are a contractor or professional yourself what brand tools do you use? Also note what part of the country you are from.

There's no rhyme or reason for this question other than my general curiosity. I got to thinking about this yesterday when I noticed an electrician on a job I was working on with a Makita 18v drill. I hadn't seen any makita cordless on a jobsite in probably 10 years.

I'm a general contractor but most of my work is kitchen and bath remodels and hardwood and tile flooring.

Eastern KY area about dead center between Lexington and London.

Cordless I'm about 75% Dewalt and 25% Bosch

Corded I'm about 50% Dewalt and the other half is a bit of everything. Bosch, Makita, Metabo, Hitachi, some old Porter Cable still kicking around. I have one Milwaukee 4 1/2" grinder and a detail sander from WEN I use once or twice a year.

In this area Dewalt dominates with a strong second going to Milwaukee. Porter Cable is fairly popular with the handyman types.

I'm in the Kansas City area. Around me it seems to be trade specific. I'm a millwright and it seems like most millwrights, pipe fitters, and sheetmetal workers seem to have Milwaukee.

DeWalt is often seen here used by Carpenters and Electricians.

Doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it but that just is what I usually see. I know I've left out some trades but those are just the ones I'm usually around.
I seldom see any Makita, though Home Depot in my area has their rental department stocked with Makita cordless tools and corded, and they don't even sell Makita in the store.

I'm probably close to 3000 invested in Milwaukee now. I'm not a fanboy or anything but why would you have multiple batteries when they mostly all have the same lineup.

In my opinion for general contractor use being drills, impacts, saws, non specialty tools like that if you stick with DeWalt, Makita, or Milwaukee you can't go wrong. I'm sure each has the edge in certain areas but for the normal stuff they are all fantastic.Im not super familiar with Bosch's lineup of cordless tools but I think their corded stuff is top notch. Hands down my favorite worm drive is a Bosch. I just don't their cordless lineup is as vast as the other three.

 

[ChaseDE]

In Delaware here, I had a Verizon tech at the house Monday to install new service, TV and high speed 1GB internet.

I figure this would be easy but it was not, the dude really knew what he was doing and routed stuff all over the house the right way, did a damn fine job.

I think they have an allowance and buy their own tools, he was using a very nice Milwaukee M18 Fuel drill.

 

[TheGr8erG00d]

I used to do construction work (primarily carpentry) for a small outfit in the St. Louis area and we used Dewalt.

 

[Hammer1963]

I live in Jefferson co. Ky and I see about everything. It just depends upon the field of work. Snap-on and Milwaukee dominate the automotive repair shops with a smattering of Matco. Most of the construction/builder people are split between DeWalt and Milwaukee. Occasionally I will see a few older guys using Makita and some new entry level people using anything they can get to start with even Kawasaki. Where my son works, they have a battle going on between DeWalt, Milwaukee and a Harbor Fright-Bauer guy fanning the flames. It's quite humorous. I am in the automotive/fabrication world and I am pretty much married to Milwaukee though I was previously a Snap-on guy

 

[CGarage]

CGarage, I don't think it's a formal definition, but quick and dirty one. He referred to the "wet trades" as the "systems", sprinkler, plumbing, HVAC, electrical. He's a site super on that side, dealing primarily with the HVAC and plumbing trades. The dry trades are the carpenters, structural steel, masonry, sheet rockers / plasterers, and cabinet installers.

Thank you. Congratulations to your son as well and your good parenting.

 

[toolmutt]

Plumber that was at my house last week used Milwaukee cordless stuff.

 

[warrens]

Mostly Milwaukee and Makita.

 

[Bolster]

Almost all my housing subcontractors use Milwaukee. My auto mechanics also use Milwa. Just one sub uses the compact black Makitas. Cordless rules, seldom see a corded anything. One sub owns a Bosch portable table saw, but seeing any Bosch is rare. This is So Cal.


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[magicrat]

Mostly Dewalt and some Milwaukee. I do feel like eight years ago Dewalt was better but I think Milwaukee closed the gap. I recently switched. And of course all the heavy construction guys are using Hilti or other brands I’ve never heard.

 

[platypus20]

Milwaukee drills and Metabo grinders

 

[dwilson7725]

1. Porter cable belt sanders, random orbit sanders, routers, and circular saws.
2. Bosch saber saws
3. Milwaukee Sawzalls
4. Makita cordless tools, miter saws, and portable table saws.
Since then while I no longer do trades work professionally (unless virtual building counts) I still only buy pro quality tools.

 

[walrus]

I use Milwaukee but see both Milwaukee and Dewalt for the most part

 

[mc4life27]

1. Porter cable belt sanders, random orbit sanders, routers, and circular saws.

2. Bosch saber saws

3. Milwaukee Sawzalls

4. Makita cordless tools, miter saws, and portable table saws.

Since then while I no longer do trades work professionally (unless virtual building counts) I still only buy pro quality tools.

Where are you located...never seen a list in that order on what the pros use lol


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[Stick-man]

I see the majority Milwaukee, followed by Hilti, then DeWalt. We use Milwaukee and Hilti the most. That said, they are both high quality and I would go with Milwaukee for everything but hammer drills, based on cheaper price. The Hilti hammer drill motors take a beating. We will use a TE6 cordless to drill 80-100 5/8" holes in concrete per day, for maybe 3-4 days straight. The Hilti sawzall bit the dust way too early. The chucks on both brand drill motors are better than others, but still break. Once again, Milwaukee Fuel would be my choice for overall.

Area is downtown chitcago high rise construction.

 

[kctyphoon]

Milwaukee......

 

[Sloper0204]

Milwauke for general use, Hilti for the civil guys, and Hytorc for torquing up 1-1/8"+ studs.

 

[Robinson1]

So I saw a first today.

Direct TV installer with a Festool drill.

 

[Robinson1]

Where are you located...never seen a list in that order on what the pros use lol


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I don't know that I've ever seen a makita table saw on a jobsite period. Jobsite saws here are always either Dewalt or Ridgid

 

[jeffmoss26]

at work we have 2 Milwaukee guys, 2 Ridgid guys, and 1 Ryobi guy (who gets picked on all the time)
I have a mix of Dewalt and Milwaukee.