Time for a complete tool gathering and reset.

[ArcReactorKC]

In the past few decades I have amassed quite the collection of tools, similar to most everyone else here I've got hundreds maybe thousands of sockets, easily over 100 ratchets, not to mention the screw drivers wrenches and other mechanic style hand tools.
Beyond that I've got enough electrical tools to outfit a small union shop, and then there's the specialty stuff that maybe will get used again.

The gist is that I have **** scattered across two workshops, 8 trucks, a storage unit, the two car garage shelves, the sidebyside, and then of course the ever elusive junk drawer in the kitchen.

I have been seriously considering gathering every tool that fits in a truck bed toolbox into the main shop floor space just to catalog what I do and do not have. I couldn't tell you right now what may or may not be lost because I've become so scattered.

Has anybody gone through a complete gather and rescatter? Some of this stuff needs to live in the trucks for emergencies, some of it needs to be put in long term storage and of all the things I'm good at, planning organization isn't one of them.

 

[racecougar]

Sounds like it's time to catalog, just as you're thinking to do. I'm guessing you're running a business if you're outfitting 8 trucks plus a shop.

 

[LXCam]

I had to do this with my electrical contracting business. It was almost overwhelming and it didn’t come without a cost.

What drove this - I’d send a team and more importantly a truck to perform a task knowing such n such was supposed to be on that truck. Only to find out that some speciality piece of whatever wasn’t on it and they couldn’t complete the whatever.

So I took several days and brought everyone and every truck into the shop. Shredded them, restocked specific trucks with specific equipment/tools and made a list complete with serial numbers of all the expensive ****.

Then I made each individual who was responsible for that truck (yes I allowed all those guys to take their trucks home) sign that list with the statement that they were responsible for all the assigned tools.

Was that legal n binding, not a chance but I fn did it anyhow and it ended a lot of my misery.

I know what you do but not how you equip you guys and trucks. But for me when I sent out my rig equipped for coring/bending/threading and wire pulling I knew everything needed to complete those tasks was there. Or the same thing for testing/ troubleshooting/ utility tracing, etc. I had a half dozen F450’s with 12ft utility beds for the big **** and a few half ton pickups for general installations and miscellaneous tasks. Man was there a lot of stuff to deal with cause it wasn’t just tools it was also material and hardware.

So dump the junk and give away the 3rd level redundant ****. It’s worth the effort Arc.

 

[Rst277]

In the past few decades I have amassed quite the collection of tools, similar to most everyone else here I've got hundreds maybe thousands of sockets, easily over 100 ratchets, not to mention the screw drivers wrenches and other mechanic style hand tools.
Beyond that I've got enough electrical tools to outfit a small union shop, and then there's the specialty stuff that maybe will get used again.

The gist is that I have **** scattered across two workshops, 8 trucks, a storage unit, the two car garage shelves, the sidebyside, and then of course the ever elusive junk drawer in the kitchen.

I have been seriously considering gathering every tool that fits in a truck bed toolbox into the main shop floor space just to catalog what I do and do not have. I couldn't tell you right now what may or may not be lost because I've become so scattered.

Has anybody gone through a complete gather and rescatter? Some of this stuff needs to live in the trucks for emergencies, some of it needs to be put in long term storage and of all the things I'm good at, planning organization isn't one of them.

Don't put it in "long term storage" sell it or give it away. I can almost guarantee you that if it goes into storage you will never use it again. There is no sense in having "stuff" you don't use and tools are cheap these days so no sense hanging onto "100 ratchets".

 

[willf650]

I’m probably not to the extent you are but I’m trying to gather up all my **** and figure out what I have, fill in the gaps and probably give away stuff to friends. I’m stashing stuff in a chest in the warehouse at work to get it out of my garage and pole barn.

It’s not worth having so much **** that it makes working a pain as it’s spread all over and sets being incomplete.

Whats frustrating is the price it costs to complete sets of stuff. In the past couple weeks I bought several individual extractors, screw drivers and other individual pieces of a set of something. The individual pieces are 1/5 to 1/2 the price of a complete set. I just can’t bring myself to buy another set of X as it will be more extra **** to store.

I think I’m up to about 12 of the 11 in 1 screwdrivers I found scattered and threw in a box.

 

[ArcReactorKC]

Don't put it in "long term storage" sell it or give it away. I can almost guarantee you that if it goes into storage you will never use it again. There is no sense in having "stuff" you don't use and tools are cheap these days so no sense hanging onto "100 ratchets".

I'm talking about putting the $100k breaker testing equipment in storage. We use it 2-3 times per year now. We used to use it once a month but it's less common now than it used to be for most of our customers.

 

[Snapped-off]

I'm talking about putting the $100k breaker testing equipment in storage. We use it 2-3 times per year now. We used to use it once a month but it's less common now than it used to be for most of our customers.

Why is that? Change of customer base?

We still injection test all of our switchgear breakers annually with a 3rd party.

 

[PoorUB]

I had to do this with my electrical contracting business. It was almost overwhelming and it didn’t come without a cost.

I worked HVAC for years. What pissed me off is we had a mix of our own tools and company tools. Other workers would just help themselves to other worker's collection and take stuff out of the truck without asking and management did nothing. I tried to keep my truck locked, but guys would still grab stuff.

I drove 100 miles to do a job and needed a tool that was some how missing from my truck. No bid deal, call the office and run over to a hardware store and buy another. Funny thing was I got chewed out for not having the tool!

Another time I noticed my garden hose was missing. I figured out who took it and got it back with the ends all beat up. I complained to management and got, "it is just a garden hose, lighten up!" I tossed it in the tool room and bought another with company money, and when they got the bill I got chewed out by the same manager. I told him "It is just a garden hose, lighten up!" and walked away.

I tried to take care of my tools and the tools assigned to me. Other guys couldn't care at all and just beat **** up. Some tool would disappear from my truck and come back with caulking all over it, or parts missing, or broken.

 

[willf650]

I worked HVAC for years. What pissed me off is we had a mix of our own tools and company tools. Other workers would just help themselves to other worker's collection and take stuff out of the truck without asking and management did nothing. I tried to keep my truck locked, but guys would still grab stuff.

I drove 100 miles to do a job and needed a tool that was some how missing from my truck. No bid deal, call the office and run over to a hardware store and buy another. Funny thing was I got chewed out for not having the tool!

Another time I noticed my garden hose was missing. I figured out who took it and got it back with the ends all beat up. I complained to management and got, "it is just a garden hose, lighten up!" I tossed it in the tool room and bought another with company money, and when they got the bill I got chewed out by the same manager. I told him "It is just a garden hose, lighten up!" and walked away.

I tried to take care of my tools and the tools assigned to me. Other guys couldn't care at all and just beat **** up. Some tool would disappear from my truck and come back with caulking all over it, or parts missing, or broken.

Why is that? Did you guys have to drop off your trucks at the shop everyday and people could freely go into vehicles?

I’ve had a company vehicle for 30 years and aside from getting it serviced it was always in my possession.

 

[PoorUB]

Why is that? Did you guys have to drop off your trucks at the shop everyday and people could freely go into vehicles?

I’ve had a company vehicle for 30 years and aside from getting it serviced it was always in my possession.

We took our trucks home, but I would be at the shop loading up, or cleaning out the truck, walk away for a minute or at a job site and guys would just take stuff.

I hate to start a union versus non-union discussion, but the HVAC side of the shop was not union and the plumbing side was union. The union guys were the worst, but then the union contract required the shop to supply all their tools. The HVAC side all the guys owned a good portion of their smaller hand tools. The shop bought all the power tools. It showed to as the HVAC side took better care of their tools. I remember helping plumbers load or unload their trucks and tools would be strewn all over. They had sockets sets in blow molded cases and the case would be torn apart and sockets all over the back of the truck. They wouldn't clean them up and al least put them back in a tool bag. Instead they would request a new socket set and throw away the old one or what ever was left of it. I still have my socket set that I bought when I started that job, over 25 years ago. The plumbers couldn't make it a few months.

 

[willf650]

We took our trucks home, but I would be at the shop loading up, or cleaning out the truck, walk away for a minute or at a job site and guys would just take stuff.

I hate to start a union versus non-union discussion, but the HVAC side of the shop was not union and the plumbing side was union. The union guys were the worst, but then the union contract required the shop to supply all their tools. The HVAC side all the guys owned a good portion of their smaller hand tools. The shop bought all the power tools. It showed to as the HVAC side took better care of their tools. I remember helping plumbers load or unload their trucks and tools would be strewn all over. They had sockets sets in blow molded cases and the case would be torn apart and sockets all over the back of the truck. They wouldn't clean them up and al least put them back in a tool bag. Instead they would request a new socket set and throw away the old one or what ever was left of it. I still have my socket set that I bought when I started that job, over 25 years ago. The plumbers couldn't make it a few months.

That’s explains a lot.

 

[ArcReactorKC]

Why is that? Change of customer base?

We still injection test all of our switchgear breakers annually with a 3rd party.

I am pivoting to using a 3rd party for the heavy hardware stuff (HP&D) and our business is becoming more and more data analytics for customer gear.

 

[Houdini5150]

Yeah maybe gotta catalog what you have and organize it based for where so you have an idea.

 

[Steve from Socal]

Long term storage? ON site? Off site storage is IMHO a short term situation. The site access and travel to/from alone is an issue. We had a shop that was two seperate units in the same building and it sucked. I would do a container on site before sending stuff to off site storage. Perhaps an enclosed trailer that moved in/out of the shop as needed?

 

[ArcReactorKC]

Long term storage? ON site? Off site storage is IMHO a short term situation. The site access and travel to/from alone is an issue. We had a shop that was two seperate units in the same building and it sucked. I would do a container on site before sending stuff to off site storage. Perhaps an enclosed trailer that moved in/out of the shop as needed?

Long term storage is a sea container on property, just requires the off road forklift to get the heavy stuff in and out.

 

[Ohio Andy]

I created a document but as easily could have used a database or spreadsheet.

You can be as detailed as you like. I enumerate my tools, if I have a socket set I when enumerate the sockets and what is included in the set +a but excessive). I then indicate where that tool lives.

 

[rancherbill]

I gathered and organized and wondered where the heck some of the singles came from. I never got a good answer, and I alson couldn't figure out why I bought 35+ ratches.

 

[Nobody-named-Olli]

If you’re serious about cataloging/ setting up a comprehensive inventory you will have to bring it all together one way or another.

Crates, lots of crates … and then start sorting. Wether that’s set building or by style/type (hand tools). Wether those are worth the time and effort to create comprehensive spreadsheets, taking pictures, (…), or not, only you can decide. … Then you can allocate them to the different workshops & trucks. That’s what I would keep track of, sets allocated to the different locations - not necessarily every single tool.

Obviously, if you must know that the ”Set of general hand tools” allocated to truck 1 has a 3/8” Snap-On ratchet, but basically the same set allocated to truck 2 has a 3/8” SK ratchet instead, this will result in a “gazillion” of extra hours and effing big spreadsheets, with probably little to no real benefit unless the whereabouts of every single tool is of incredible high importance to you. And then again, for the sake of spotting missing tools fast, you’d need some sort of “tool control“ anything from foam/ shadow board in toolboxes to a simple picture showing the boxe’s content/ what a specific set should look like and everything that belongs to it. Last but not least, a process for regular inspections and again some sort of log file, otherwise it’s pointless.

I’d probably really trim that down to speciality tools that you don’t have double digit duplicates of, and that can make or break a job when not available/ missing vital parts.

The big ticket items going into longterm storage, like the afore mentioned tester, I would attach QR codes to and definitely keep a record/ spreadsheet that includes storage location, set’s content and a log for signing the tool in & out.

At the end of the day, it’s a do it once and cry once job. Couple of days work for you as the business owner, probably best done when you’re closed for the upcoming holidays, maybe in between Christmas and New Years. …

Another critical part will be getting your employees on board with the new system and to follow it.

My inventory for quick reference is entirely picture based. Every kit, every drawer. I try to keep it up to date on a more or less quarterly interval. Then I have spreadsheets keeping track of ”investments”/tool costs and other information that is of value to me.

A special case are the tools I have on “fleet service/ management“, as those need to be returned eventually matching the original scope of delivery. Those kits are documented down to each battery’s serial# and every accessory.

Hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Olli