leaving and locking up tools on the job

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vilasman

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I am just wondering how many of you leave your tools locked up in a gang box on the job and how many of you take them with you every evening?
They might be safer with you, but you save time leaving them on the job.
 
On a commercial or industrial job, if we are "planning" on being there more than a week - job box, any less the tools go with the truck.

Residential...tools leave every day.

We don't do tract housing, but would treat that as comm/ind. if we did.
 
Tools

Tools

Never had problems w/ job boxes left on the job, you must make sure you use a high grade chain w/ a high grade lock to tie your boxes together and tie them to the steel beam. Nothing is fool proof.
 
vilasman said:
I am almost 100% residential... but do apartment buildings count as residential or light commercial?
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Apartment buildings and condos as new work - commercial, we'll be there more than a week....if the building is occupied - tools leave with us.
 
I did a lot of Residential work so I would always take my tools with me.
I'm still new to electrical and so I only have basic hand tools and some mid. priced meters but to see them get stolen isn't fun...
 
I'm about the same as everyone else. Residential the tools come home and commercial I use a gang box. Hand tools come home every night. Lately though wire has become much more of a concern than tools.
 
Since I do mostly residential work, Ipick up my tools everyday....Seems everytime I don't boss sends me somewhere else in the morning.
 
Personally, I never leave my tools anywhere that I'm not. I have too many years and too much money invested in them to take any kind of a chance of them "growing legs"

J.S.Harvey
 
I usually leave tools all over the place. Meters go with me. I am also the general contractor on most of my jobs. I know who is there and when.
 
Well I usually take my hand tools with me every night because invariably the night the I dont I get a late nite or early morning emergency or quickie service call. But I get residential jobs that are big enough to have all of my power tools in the building, because I am trying to make stuff go where it dosent want to. I small job of this type for me might last 3-4 days. This week we did a heavy up on a 8th floor penthouse condo. It took a day to get the bx feeder cable up the side of the building alone. Building was safe. Exterior doors locked and the door to the unit I was in was locked and we were pretty much the only sub there with between 3 and 5 people there every day.
But it was just a question, I wanted to know how you all would handle it.

I am looking at wiring a few mini to not so mini mansions in the later half of the year and I am really thinking about buying a 60" gang box to store wire in first then plugs and switches and smokes and small lights in after the rough is done. Another one of those on site upright workstation gang boxes to keep the prints in and maybe meters and my radio and the other stuff that I dont want just thrown into a gang box. I have a good mind to set anchors in the basement floor and bolt this one to floor.
Then yet another say 36" gang box for power tools if I couldnt get them in the upright box, chained to the upright box and finally, maybe a 32" box...

The house that has me playing with my tongue is 16,000 sq feet,4 floors and I know the architect

in that house I would want the 32" box with me where ever I am working in the building cable locked to the most secure thing I can find, so that when I drop my tools to run to lunch or to the supply house or whatever the case maybe I am dropping them in that box and locking it.

Now you see why I want a bread truck with a lift to haul all this stuff around.

I have a pretty trusted helper that I could give keys to, who is good at getting to work early so, where ever I am his material and tools would be there and he could go on to work.
 
peter d said:
If the job is "safe" and the foreman lets me, I'll leave them in the box.
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Peter, you know that you are leaving your tools at your own risk.

If the gang box gets broken into or stolen you will be responsible for your own tools.

The company will not reimburse you for the loss.

Also, plans change very fast in our company and you may get reassigned to another job after you leave the site.

Always take all of your personal tools and gear with you every day.
Just because the foreman thinks the job is "safe" should not be a good enough reason to put your tools at risk.

Think about how many people have access to the keys for the gang boxes.
 
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tkb said:
Peter, you know that you are leaving your tools at your own risk.

If the gang box gets broken into or stolen you will be responsible for your own tools.

The company will not reimburse you for the loss.

Also, plans change very fast in our company and you may get reassigned to another job after you leave the site.

Always take all of your personal tools and gear with you every day.
Just because the foreman thinks the job is "safe" should not be a good enough reason to put your tools at risk.

Think about how many people have access to the keys for the gang boxes.
Click to expand...

I know, I am well aware of this. I've chosen to take that risk.

I have only been doing it at one job lately where there is video surveillance and full time security of the building, and I only leave my tools after it's been confirmed that I'm returning to the job the next day.
 
Depends on the job.

I will keep the truck tools with me all the time and bring them in and out of short term jobs.

If I get good size / longer running job I have the shop send a gang box and another set of power tools to keep on the job.
 
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