How often has it happened you drive 45 minutes to your customers location and the first hole you drill or board you cut something happens that kills your favorite tool.
Everyone has been there, but what can you do to get your work done?
Here are a few ideas that might help.
First understand that every tool has a lifespan and one day or another there is going to be a need for Repair or Replacement.
If you purchase big name tools Milwaukee, Dewalt, Makita
with decent repair contracts you can usually get your tool back in about 2 weeks.
A few weeks or 2 at best is way too long to wait so Google the area you are working in and have a list of local tool suppliers.
Even if the store is close you will have to spend an hour running down to the nearest big box store to purchase either a bottom end tool or endup forking out more money then you should for an exact replacement.
One way to cut back on the Sticker and Emergency shock is to keep an extra Drill or Saw in your truck. It can be your old one or it can be a really cheap knockoff that should last those couple weeks until you get your good tool back from the factory repair shop.
Another Idea is
if you have the habit of cutting off your circular saw cord ask the repair center to send you out an extra one when they do the repair.
It might also be a good idea to ask them to send you an extra set of Brushes for the tools motor. Brushes only cost about $5 so if you can put them in a safe place and change them quickly you can be back up working in just a few minutes.
Most tool manufacturers now provide full exploded views of their tools and repair comment pages that will let you know what part goes where and how to replace and order it online.
And the final Idea has to do with keeping an extra tool with you.
At one point in time it was my job to keep the warehouse up to date for a contracting company. This meant that I was keeping track of hundreds of tools and thousands of parts including shipping out tools to authorized repair shops.
If you can find a tool that may need some repair on Ebay or locally then pick it up. Parts are often very cheap in relation to the tools retail cost.
Again you only want to do this with name brand companies but for maybe half or 1/4 the cost of a new tool you can buy a used one and rebuild it.
This is not something you can do quickly when you are setting up your business but it is something that you can do on a weekend when you have a little time to get on the internet.
Again your best bet if you NEED to have reciprocating saw is to buy a good one with a good contract. Then pickup one of the garbage $20 ones from COUGH www.HarborFreight.com It will get you through a tough situation at 3am when all the stores are closed and you are an hour away from your business or home.
Good luck
and be nice to your tools.