911

[bczygan]

Actually, this is a good opportunity for the two of you to do something together that may bring you closer together, or.....well, let's not think of the or.

Here's what I suggest.

Get him to join Garage Journal.

Both of you together, start a thread about your cleanup and organization project. Give the garage/shop a name and begin by taking lots of photos and making a list of goals and needs.

People on here will jump in with lots of suggestions and ideas.

That's what we do here on GJ.

It's perfect for your project.

And both of you can look around GJ for ideas from the other garages and shops.

As far as buying him something. Give him a promissory note, guaranteeing you will purchase an item of X value for the garage organization project, item to be determined later. Make it a gift card from you.

The real gift you are giving is your time and effort and love, by joining him in this.

You can teach him about how to be more organized, and he can show you the tools of his trade (No puns intended).

Sound good?

Bill

PS, You two MUST do this together. He needs to learn organizational HABITS and skills. And you cannot organize what you don't understand.

 

[alexandria.r.moo]

DON'T do it FOR him, DO IT WITH HIM. My shop was in great need of organization so I took my wife (she's good at organizing) out there with me and let her help. The end result was fantastic. She learned about some tools and I learned how to keep things neater in the shop.

I've tried to get him out there with me but bc he's so busy he rather me do it during my spare time, I know how it likes everything.... I just need to know what all the tools are and the categories.

My wife uses Siri to send texts all the time. They're like reading something from mad libs. Always a good laugh. This isn't unusual to me at all.

I keep reminding her that Siri and I have reached a detente. I don't speak to her, and she doesn't speak to me.



Ouch. Yeah, I'd agree that trying to clean up some else's shop (or desk for that matter) is a VERY delicate matter and generally not something to be taken on as a "surprise".

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[alexandria.r.moo]

Here's a thought more focused on a GC. Instead of "tool" organization, I would think about "material" organization. Maybe a way of organizing pneumatic nails, or screws, tubes of adhesive, etc. That's often the bulk of stuff that accumulates in the worst way. As a GC, he needs this stuff to be portable, and easy to find.

Perhaps some travel cases that hold these things, and some work with a label maker?

I hear that he's asked for help organizing tools, but I'd still say don't surprise him with that. Time spent with him understanding how they're used will be well worth it when the time comes to organize. Imagine someone who put the dishwasher in the furthest location in a kitchen from the utensil drawer.

I hear ya! I'll take you're advice. Thank you

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[alexandria.r.moo]

Actually, this is a good opportunity for the two of you to do something together that may bring you closer together, or.....well, let's not think of the or.

Here's what I suggest.

Get him to join Garage Journal.

Both of you together, start a thread about your cleanup and organization project. Give the garage/shop a name and begin by taking lots of photos and making a list of goals and needs.

People on here will jump in with lots of suggestions and ideas.

That's what we do here on GJ.

It's perfect for your project.

And both of you can look around GJ for ideas from the other garages and shops.

As far as buying him something. Give him a promissory note, guaranteeing you will purchase an item of X value for the garage organization project, item to be determined later. Make it a gift card from you.

The real gift you are giving is your time and effort and love, by joining him in this.

You can teach him about how to be more organized, and he can show you the tools of his trade (No puns intended).

Sound good?

Bill

PS, You two MUST do this together. He needs to learn organizational HABITS and skills. And you cannot organize what you don't understand.

Very helpful. Thank you

Sent from my SM-T560NU using Tapatalk

 

[619DioFan]

First off , welcome to GJ. second I would say to take a series of pictures and post them here so that we can see what you are dealing with and then be able to offer organizing advise.

 

[RECox286]

Now, with more input, I can see my post is entirely off-

base and undeserving. I see a lot of trucks that contractors

use in their line of work. Knowing what type of vehicle your

BF uses would be helpful to say the least. I might suggest

either a system of shelving and tool box like I had in my business

if he uses a van, or a pickup style tool box if he uses a pickup.

Ratcheting things up several notches, perhaps it is time to think

in terms of a different vehicle; High Cube and Bread delivery style

trucks give worse mileage, but can haul your entire business around

in one fell swoop, with the added feature of walk-in comfort and the

room to install tool boxes, work bench, as well as shelving, an air

compressor, etc. OR, it may be time to think in terms of a big boxy

trailer like I see is becoming popular in the contractor community.

The obvious pro for them is to drive it to the job site, unhook and

have everything locked up on site, leaving the truck free for material

forays, which is great if he has employees waiting for a tool while the

truck is away on errands. We used all the above over the course of

35 years so I know what I'm passing on is all viable information.

Sincerely

Uncle Bob

 

[ssdave]

From my personal experience, the most useful thing that you can do with the large amount of stuff a GC uses is get good shelving, and work out an organizational routine to use it effectively.

I bought out a K-mart warehouse that was going out of business. 18" x 48" rivet lock shelving, 10 feet high. Installed it in rows, and got 2500 sf of stuff put away neatly and easy to get to in about 250 sf of space, and had room left over.

The key to having it useful long term is to come up with a scheme for things, and stick to it. Put like kind materials in one place. Screws and nails? in one area. Tools: Group by type of work, and keep them together. Items to return for credit or warranty: Have an area for them. Items to be repaired or modified, etc: have an area for them. Things to get rid of: Set aside an area for them, and empty it regularly.

Put a 4x4' or 4x8' layout table in a good spot, that you can walk all the way around. Use it to organize stuff when packing or unpacking for a job, or to hold thing while being sorted out into their correct places.

Don't fill all the shelves 120% full. Aim for 60 to 80%. Having space to sort and organize is what makes this system work. If it becomes storage for dead stuff that will never get used it is just clutter and not organization. If an item is really useless, throw it away. If it's too unique to be used again on another job, sell it if it's worth the time, or donate it to the Restore or such and take a tax writeoff. The big thing is to take the tag ends of fasteners or materials that we all accumulate, and really use them up on another job. If you don't do that well, then skip the step of saving them, and just put them in the "donate" area, and get rid of them once a week or twice a month.

The problem with most GC storage is that the good stuff gets removed and used, and the space fills up 90% with totally useless junk, broken tools, things needing repairs, things needing parts ordered for them, lots of stuff that are too small to use. Keeping from saving that 90% the first time is the ticket to success. Or, come up with a scheme to make you do the needed repairs, buy the parts, etc. That's why I set aside a warranty and repair area, as well as a partial box of fasteners area.

 

[ZRX61]

I second the request for photos of what you're dealing with.

& I agree with the previous post.

 

[TK-421]

If you don't know what it is or don't know how he wants it organized, then the best advice I can give is to leave it alone and let him do it however he wishes. Your ideas of best, and his ideas of best, will generally differ quite a bit, and his ideas will work best for him, so let him do it.

Actually just watched an episode of Berenstain Bears that had this very subject come up: Mama Bear helped Papa Bear by organizing the garage for him and then Papa Bear had no idea where anything was and had to constantly visit Mama Bear at her quilting shop to ask her where stuff was. At the end of the episode Papa Bear redid everything and did it his way so that he could find stuff.

 

[nadogail]

IMHO, I suggest you do not surprise him by moving anything. My wife has over the years assisted me by emptying buckets of stuff and then sorting it out into small containers of like items for me to deal with.

She also scrubbed out my work truck after the tools and parts were removed.

Because of that help, I now have a better organized shop and van. The

 

[rsnip988]

I just need to know what all the tools are and the categories.
/QUOTE]

Pictures will help categorize and tell you specifically what tools are what...

I suppose you could just scroll through the Harbor freight website comparing his tools to pics to figure out what is what, but that would take a lot longer...

 

[gnpenning]

The fact that he has asked you to do it and he trust you say's a lot. The fact that your willing to and asking for help say's even more. Good for you.

As mentioned it would help to know what he is using to carry and store tools and equipment now. It's not very hard to post pics here. If I can do it anyone can.

As suggested grouping like tools and trade items is a good start. I keep painting stuff (brushes, rollers, tape, tarps,etc) in a couple of boxes and drywall items in others. Totes can work as well, they need to be strong and durable to handle the weight. . Power tools corded such as drills and saws can have a spot for each. Cordless of the same make and voltage can be grouped. Put accessories together that go with them, like saw blades, drill bits,etc. I group my holes saw's together. In the case with my right angle drill I keep the most common auger bits I use. My finish nailer's , and pin nailer's with oil and nails together in a box. I divide the nails up by length. I use large carry bags to put the framing nailer's in. The same for jigsaw and accessories.

Do a few items and ask him for feed back before going to far. Maybe while driving with him he can give you a prioritized list. Take notes as he's talking.

 

[Ducatisoc]

Well, to start with.

Hand tools:
Spanners.
Pliers
screw drivers
etc etc etc

Power Tools:
- Sort by brand.
- Sort by type.
- Tools for cutting
- Tools for drilling
- Tools for Metal
- Tools for Timber

Materials:
- Metal
- Steel
- Aluminium
- Sort by thickness?
- Timber
- Sort by type or thickness.


You could have a look at this for kitchens (I have this poster in my kitchen) and see where this thought process leads.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/f4/cf/1d/f4cf1d7463f495a9c0740ea27d4a2803.jpg

 

[Blazinzuk]

The fact he asked for your help makes me think of one of two things.

He is desperate for help. In this case anything will help. Or you know more than you think you do.

In all honesty I reorganize every couple of years.

Shelves are good. It makes things visible.

Go to the shop/ garage/ whatever you are organizing. Get a good idea visually of the different tools. Then go visit several hardware stores. Stores he frequents are good. Organize stuff how the store has them.

It's far from ideal but it will set you on a path. Once things start to get organized you can move and change to suit.

A picture of the space though is worth a thousand words