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

[Robinson1]

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.

 

[Psychwarfare]

The contractor that handled my roof and hardieplank siding used mostly Dewalt.

The GC that does a ton of work for my company uses a fair amount of Ridgid 18v but you see a variety of drills sprinkled in.

 

[Negen]

Depends industrial stuff I see hilti and snapon. General construction I see dewalt and Milwaukee. Every osculating multi tool I seen here has been fien. Rarely see bosch.

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[seber]

The two contractors I have hired both used Dewalt. One of them was transitioning to Milwaukee. I asked both of them what drove their choices. The first said power tools last an average of three large jobs before they disappear and Dewalt was the cheapest that was good enough. The other was a three man shop. He was going to Milwaukee for the better battery life and tool choices.

 

[BroncoAZ]

Auto techs in AZ are using Milwaukee, Snap-On, or some other truck brand. I see the occasional Dewalt or Makita, very few Bosch. Some guys have a mix of both, but they had the truck brand first. When asked they say that if they were starting over it'd be all Milwaukee. Milwaukee is taking over the auto tool market.

 

[TrailHawkZ71]

On the repair aide, i've seen primarily Snap-On and Milwaukee. My old Matco guy sold Milwaukee off his truck and pushed it more than the Matco stuff. I personally use Snap-On, with some Dewalt thrown in (drill, jobsite blower).


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[Jigstick]

DeWalt chop, circular, and table saws. Bosch jigsaws. Makita drills, impact drivers, and multitools. Milwaukee sawzall.

 

[cderalow]

In the commercial construction industry in dc, it normally varies by trade.

I see a lot of makita with the millworkers or carpenters. A lot of Milwaukee with the electricians and mechanical contractors.

Dewalt with all of them.

I’d wager most of them go with what they could find on sale when they first started or what their cousin foreman or friend recommended when their tool died.

Not sure there’s really any loyalty beyond electricians swearing by Klein or Fluke when it comes to meters.

Me personally as a homeowner/diyer

I swear by ryobi. Generally well rated, relatively inexpensive and readily available. Also have a ton of different tool offerings similar to Milwaukee the only thing I’m not hugely fond of is the color. But I’ve learned to live with it.


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[ChrisLS8]

Mostly DeWalt and Milwaukee. Then after that is Ridgid

 

[dfittizzi]

I'm a laborer on water utilities crews in Northern NJ and all our power tools are Milwaukee. On a daily basis we use a sawzall and a 4.5" angle grinder, but we also use combo drill/drivers, impact drivers and impact wrenches. In my opinion, for professional use, and for the abuse we put these cordless tools through, the Milwaukee's are beasts and worth every penny the company spends on them.

For my personal use, around the house, and small woodworking projects I have Ryobi. Ive never had an issue with the line and I take pretty good care of my stuff so they do just fine for me for the bargain price they're at.

 

[El_Guapo]

About 50/50 between Dewalt and Milwaukee around the mines.

 

[PhysicsDude]

I'd say Dewalt is most popular, Milwaukee 2nd most, and Makita 3rd. Sometimes you see some Hilti, Bosch, or Ridgid.

 

[Farmall450]

DeWalt, then Makita, don't really see much Milwaukee minus corded stuff and techs.

Festool too occasionally, and the Ridgid stuff.

PC makes sense for handymen - the massive kit is under $400.

 

[Farmall450]

The two contractors I have hired both used Dewalt. One of them was transitioning to Milwaukee. I asked both of them what drove their choices. The first said power tools last an average of three large jobs before they disappear and Dewalt was the cheapest that was good enough. The other was a three man shop. He was going to Milwaukee for the better battery life and tool choices.

That's interesting, Milwaukee kinda lags DeWalt and Makita for contractor stuff. Nailguns come to mind. Tho ig a few Paslodes mitigate that

 

[cgrutt]

I'm relatively new to game but been buying tools all my life. Currently most of my cordless tools are Milwaukee. I do have a Bosch cordless impact driver that I like fit and feel of but it just doesn't hold any ground against the Milwaukees. For corded tools, most are older Porter Cable, Bosch and some Milwaukee. I do have a Fein Supercut which is awesome and I use it on almost every project, but blades are expensive and hard to find. I just bought a Festool extractor and a few sanders. Probably going to be transitioning to Festool over next year or so for everything except cordless (just because I have so many relatively current Milwaukees it doesn't make sense to change them). I'm in NY and work predominately in Lower Hudson Valley area. General carpentry, bathrooms and kitchens...

 

[fourjeepin]

I see Milwaukee, Ryobi, and Ridgid. The Ryobi always surprises me, but they are inexpensive.

 

[fordgasm]

At my work it’s all Makita.

 

[poppakap]

Mostly Hilti

 

[jd_1138]

Mostly Dewalt for the carpenters and GC's, and Makita for electricians and also some Milwaukee to a slightly lesser extent. Ridgid and Bosch are rare but I have seen pro's use them.

 

[Slinger646]

Milwaukee 18v Fuel

 

[davethorik]

When I worked construction, I used Milwaukee M18 brushed drill, impact, flashlight, and oscillating multi tool.

One guy I worked with had the same, but Dewalt. Another guy, same but Porter Cable. They all did fine.

Between the 3 of us we had various corded tools, most brands but it was a mish mash. I own a Milwaukee sawzall and circular saw, and a Rockwell saber saw.

We worked with an Amish crew on one job, they all used Makita.

 

[rsanter]

Dewalt and Milwaukee are the most common I see.
Next would be makita

 

[Yarpo]

I've been in three separate industry's and I've gotta say around here in Central Minnesota Dewalt seemed to be number one, but hard to quantify I suppose.

As an Emergency Vehicle technician my coworker had all dewalt and the other one had all rigid, before then transitioning to dewalt.

After that I was a plumber for 8 or 9 months, and we had Rigid and Milwaukee, but as I was headed out it sounded like my coworker wanted to bring up switching to more Milwaukee tools and dropping rigid too. We also had a corded Dewalt Sawzall and hole hog that got used a fair amount. The other contractors (electrician) had dewalt, and then one of the GCs who did remodels less the plumbing, he had all Milwaukee cordless tools and then corded dewalt tools.

Now that I moved back into automotive Milwaukee is back on top 2:1 with me and my coworker having Milwaukee everything and then the owner has Snap on cordless tools, but he wants out of that....unfortunately hes far to invested.

 

[be0tch]

I see more Makitas than anything in BK. Maybe a few pieces of yellow or red but its mostly Makita.

 

[anndel]

I see lots of contractors with DeWalt, Bosch and Makita. Of course there's the usual Festool and Fein. Hardly see any using Milwaukee.

 

[Mr Ratchet]

Milwaukee is the most popular by far. Second would be between DeWALT and Makita. I see Bosch and Hitachi from time to time along with misc others. This among General, electrical, plumbing, and heating/cooling contractors.

 

[code4pay]

Hitachi here where I live on the south coast nsw Australia. Mainly becuase we have a owner operated distributor who can do repairs etc.

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[jhrodd]

I'm a General Contractor I have a lot of M12 Milwaukee; hackzall, PEX expansion tool, drills, drivers, stapler, caulk gun, multi tool. I have 18V Makita drills and drivers, 36 V Makita circular saw, Makita chop saws, compressors, planer, routers, angle grinders, biscuit joiner, sanders. I have one Dewalt table saw, one Bosch jig saw, Senco finish nailers and staplers, Bostich floor nailers, framing nailer, Strapshot nailer, finish nailer

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I've been a new construction sider and exterior renovator for ~ 35 years. I started out with Makita corded and cordless. I switched my cordless to Ryobi when you could buy the tool separate. At the time I couldn't find any other manufacturer doing that. Corded is a mishmash now. Ryobi drill and driver have been great. Everything else is meh, the grinder is ****. That may have changed in the last couple years with their upgrades.

 

[dutchgray]

Where I am in the UK its more Makita than anything else, then DeWalt.
Makita is available pretty much everywhere so prices are usually pretty good and the range is huge.
I have seen trades using pretty much all of the brands you can get though.

 

[finn]

Has been primarily Mikita for residential builders here, probably because that’s what the local lumber yard handles, but I see a lot of Milwaukee. Dewalt has a strong presence too, especially miter saws.

Heave commercial construction uses Hilti

 

[LawnBoy-5247]

Its almost all Milwaukee where i'm at. The plant I work in also uses primarly Milwaukee stuff on the assembly lines.

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[laddy]

I'm a GC I have mainly ridgid 18v cordless with 12v milwaukee. For corded mixed bag but generally dewalt for miter/ table saws and milwakee for the rest. Ive had good luck with my ridgid tile saw however.

As for what I see around its a mixed bag I would say predominantly dewalt and Milwaukee with ridgid and mikita rounding out the 'usual' tools. Occasionally you see festool, hilti or bosh but not often.

 

[MBfreak]

BFH and the universal two hose spanner

Ola

 

[Rarified27]

My normal existence is between north central PA and southern NJ.

I really don't see any general contractors using things not available at the box stores. When I'm closer to Lowe's (mostly PA), everyone's using Hitachi miter/table saws, DeWalt cordless and Kobalt compressors. When I'm near HD (mostly NJ), it's DeWalt saws, Milwaukee cordless and husky compressors, although there's likely a closer balance between red/yellow cordless than I notice because a lot of guys have older DeWalts from when their 18V was king, but are transitioning.

Oddly enough, dang near every hvac or electrician has Makita cordless drivers and Milwaukee cutting tools the one guy who did repairs at our home after a storm who swore by Ryobi, like on a disturbing level. I have Ryobi at home, but definitely prefer my Milwaukee stuff I use on the job.

Granted, I'm not in the trades, but I'm around them almost daily and my observations are consistent. Funny thing is I never hear anyone complain about their brand unless they don't make a specific tool. Everyone seems to think their stuff works just fine.

The exception to this would be security system installers. These guys buy whatever with no rhyme or reason. One told me he bought Makita because he likes blue

 

[JBH]

Around here I’ve seen mostly Ridgid and Dewalt.

 

[f121]

Auto techs around here generally use milwauke or snap on.

Construction trades mostly use Makita, but milwauke is starting to creep in as a couple of UK chain stores have just started selling milwauke.

Corded stuff is a right mix, dewalt, bosch, festool are probably most common, with a lot of throwaway stuff for sanders etc.

 

[Crazyjake8493]

I mostly see Milwaukee and Dewalt, with some Bosch rotary hammers. I've also seen a few Ridgid and Ryobi mixed in.

 

[greg13]

Mac, Dewalt, Milwaukee and Snapon bringing up the rear.

 

[Robinson1]

My normal existence is between north central PA and southern NJ.

When I'm closer to Lowe's (mostly PA), everyone's using Hitachi miter/table saws.

i

Hitachi makes a damn nice miter saw. Their 8 1/2" slider is the best hardwood flooring saw I've ever used. Nice and light but still plenty powerful. Enough capacity to handle 1x12s which is icing on the cake for me because I usually wind up doing closet shelves on every job I do