JohnJ0906
Senior Member
- Location
- Baltimore, MD
loaning tools to other trades ?
- Thread starter Short.Circuit
- Start date
- Status
Rampage_Rick
Senior Member
- Location
- British Columbia, Canada
My Little Giant 22' Fiberglass is 53lbs. Nobody borrows it... I rarely use anything else. Also get the bonus upper-body workout humping it around the room.
- Location
- Massachusetts
Pullnwire
Senior Member
- Location
- Surrounded by Oranges
- Occupation
- Electrician, Business Owner, SME and Trade Instructor
My sharpie is now a dully
My sharpie is now a dully
I used to work with a small GC and the owner would come out and spend alot of time on the job. He always did the layout as he was the architect also. He was notorious for borrowing a tape measure and a sharpie. He would then do layout on the concrete floor with my sharpie. I am anal about my sharpies, and I would always get it back mangled. about after the 5th time of this, I kept the mangled dully and taped it red and kept it for him in my pouch. He always seemed upset when he kept getting the same crappy sharpie over and over.
My sharpie is now a dully
I used to work with a small GC and the owner would come out and spend alot of time on the job. He always did the layout as he was the architect also. He was notorious for borrowing a tape measure and a sharpie. He would then do layout on the concrete floor with my sharpie. I am anal about my sharpies, and I would always get it back mangled. about after the 5th time of this, I kept the mangled dully and taped it red and kept it for him in my pouch. He always seemed upset when he kept getting the same crappy sharpie over and over.
electricalperson
Senior Member
- Location
- massachusetts
i hate it when my sharpie gets like this
whillis
Member
- Location
- Vancouver, BC
Bike U lock. When you do a parts run lock the ladder closed so nobody can use it. It also works to keep it on the roof rack.
bjp_ne_elec
Senior Member
- Location
- Southern NH
1) My Skytrak came back from a job (twice) with a bent ram and nobody knows how that happened, but we are pretty sure it was the Mechanical guy both times. The third time they dropped a chiller with it and then tried to sue me?yeah I am slow to learn some lessons. The same contractor on another job refused to let us use his skytrak to unload a truck because ?the last electrician who borrowed our skytrak tipped it over while standing up pole lights and cost us a lot of money.?
2) I got an ?emergency? call one Saturday morning at 7am from the GC who it turns out just needed the key for the chains on my Skytrak so he could unload a truck. What started out as a favor, became an entitlement and they were pissed that I would dare to lock up my own tools.
3) On Friday one of the safety guys for the GC pointed out one of my bakers scaffold had a bad wheel, so we stopped using it, took it apart and locked it up for the weekend ready for a truck to pick it and a bunch of other material and tools up that Monday. Well on Saturday the plumber cut the chain, and put it back together and started using it in an area we were not working anymore. My material handlers showed up Monday picked up everything in the staging area with my name on it and left. On Wednesday the scaffold fell over with two plumbers on it, cracking one guy?s skull and breaking the other guy?s arm.
Everybody remembers the safety guy warning us about the wheel, and how I had promised to remove it from the job. Nobody (except the foreman and me) remembered we had taken it apart and locked it up. We even found the cut chain with my lock on it but that did not seem to mean anything. Later it turns out they were using it on some stairs where they had built a ramp and the ramp had collapsed but the lawyers locked in on the bad wheel and how I had been ?ordered? to remove it from the job and hadn?t.
This story is a lot longer, I will skip the rest you get the idea?it cost me some money.
4) One of my electricians borrowed a forklift from the GC to move some light poles, 4 months later I get a bill for forklift repair. The GC claims the electrician used the forklift as a battering ram to beat the pole sections together. The problem was that particular electrician no longer worked for me and I had no real defense? and I really could not say that he did or did not do it, because the guy was an idiot and may have done it. I ate the repairs, only to find out much later the forklift was damaged by the GC long before we ever touched it.
5) One of my top ten pet peeves, is when the GC decided to work the painters, dry wallers, or finishers on third shift and those contractors because they are working at night don?t feel the need to rent their own lifts and just use everyone else?s lifts all night running out the batteries and then not even plugging them in to charge. The same applies when they work all weekend and we show up Monday and all the lifts are dead.
Yeah borrowing tools does not seem to work out so well for me.
2) I got an ?emergency? call one Saturday morning at 7am from the GC who it turns out just needed the key for the chains on my Skytrak so he could unload a truck. What started out as a favor, became an entitlement and they were pissed that I would dare to lock up my own tools.
3) On Friday one of the safety guys for the GC pointed out one of my bakers scaffold had a bad wheel, so we stopped using it, took it apart and locked it up for the weekend ready for a truck to pick it and a bunch of other material and tools up that Monday. Well on Saturday the plumber cut the chain, and put it back together and started using it in an area we were not working anymore. My material handlers showed up Monday picked up everything in the staging area with my name on it and left. On Wednesday the scaffold fell over with two plumbers on it, cracking one guy?s skull and breaking the other guy?s arm.
Everybody remembers the safety guy warning us about the wheel, and how I had promised to remove it from the job. Nobody (except the foreman and me) remembered we had taken it apart and locked it up. We even found the cut chain with my lock on it but that did not seem to mean anything. Later it turns out they were using it on some stairs where they had built a ramp and the ramp had collapsed but the lawyers locked in on the bad wheel and how I had been ?ordered? to remove it from the job and hadn?t.
This story is a lot longer, I will skip the rest you get the idea?it cost me some money.
4) One of my electricians borrowed a forklift from the GC to move some light poles, 4 months later I get a bill for forklift repair. The GC claims the electrician used the forklift as a battering ram to beat the pole sections together. The problem was that particular electrician no longer worked for me and I had no real defense? and I really could not say that he did or did not do it, because the guy was an idiot and may have done it. I ate the repairs, only to find out much later the forklift was damaged by the GC long before we ever touched it.
5) One of my top ten pet peeves, is when the GC decided to work the painters, dry wallers, or finishers on third shift and those contractors because they are working at night don?t feel the need to rent their own lifts and just use everyone else?s lifts all night running out the batteries and then not even plugging them in to charge. The same applies when they work all weekend and we show up Monday and all the lifts are dead.
Yeah borrowing tools does not seem to work out so well for me.
electricguy61
Senior Member
Don't loan a tool unless you can afford to replace it.
(I hate it when sheet rockers, tapers or painters "borrow" ladders, as they always come back trashed. I make them clean them up.)
(I hate it when sheet rockers, tapers or painters "borrow" ladders, as they always come back trashed. I make them clean them up.)
acwservices
Senior Member
- Location
- Eastern NC
Speaking of Green Bull ladders, I priced a new 10' step ladder this morning with my supply house, and they gave me a better price than the big box stores are selling them for. When I asked what kind, I was told Green Bull. I have always used Werner, which the big box stores sell, but have never heard of a Green Bull until reading it on this site. Other than the weight issue, I assume from reading this thread that this is a good ladder?
JohnJ0906
Senior Member
- Location
- Baltimore, MD
I've always thought they were good, solid ladders - my only issue was the weight.
On topic, I have generally loaned tools with no issues on damage or loss.
I am also very nice to the sparkies on my job sites as I have to work closely with them and to get the circuits and placement I need.
I also treat the HVAC guys well , if they follow my exhaust specs for the projectors. If not it can get a bit ugly as they are the most difficult when it comes to change orders.
I am also very nice to the sparkies on my job sites as I have to work closely with them and to get the circuits and placement I need.
I also treat the HVAC guys well , if they follow my exhaust specs for the projectors. If not it can get a bit ugly as they are the most difficult when it comes to change orders.
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jeremysterling
Senior Member
- Location
- Austin, TX
I have mixed feelings about loaning tools. Loaning my employer's tools is off limits due to liability reasons as others have spoke to. I try to be flexible with rental lifts, even though liability exists there as well.
With my hand tools, I try to pin down the borrower's true tool need. If they ask for a screwdriver are they actually going to turn a screw? I have punches and chisels and prybars and etc., if that is what they truly need.
With my hand tools, I try to pin down the borrower's true tool need. If they ask for a screwdriver are they actually going to turn a screw? I have punches and chisels and prybars and etc., if that is what they truly need.
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"If they ask for a screwdriver are they actually going to turn a screw?"
True dat. A "screwdriver" is a multi-function tool. It is also known as "a electrician's chisel", It is a paint can opener. It is a doorstop. It is a prybar. It even operates those old fashioned, obsolete screws which have a single, longtitudinal slot in the head.
As for the subject: Often this is a two way street. Some other trade may have a tool on site which you could really use. We humans have a tendancy to help each other out, lawyers be prevented from flooding.
A plumber came up to me and asked to borrow my utility knife. Since he used the proper term [not razor knife], I loaned it to him. A couple of hours later, I needed it and tracked it down to the rest room he was working in. I should mention that it had a new, sharp blade in it.
There it was, laying in a puddle of water. He had used it to try to cut some grout [hardened]. It didn't work. The formerly sharp blade was like a butterknife.
When I was an apprentice, a journeyman asked to borrow my long nose pliers. I inquired why he didn't have a pair. He said he broke his three months ago. I said no.
In cases like this -- where you don't really trust but still want to help -- the solution is to offer to go along with him and do the task yourself.
~Peter
True dat. A "screwdriver" is a multi-function tool. It is also known as "a electrician's chisel", It is a paint can opener. It is a doorstop. It is a prybar. It even operates those old fashioned, obsolete screws which have a single, longtitudinal slot in the head.
As for the subject: Often this is a two way street. Some other trade may have a tool on site which you could really use. We humans have a tendancy to help each other out, lawyers be prevented from flooding.
A plumber came up to me and asked to borrow my utility knife. Since he used the proper term [not razor knife], I loaned it to him. A couple of hours later, I needed it and tracked it down to the rest room he was working in. I should mention that it had a new, sharp blade in it.
There it was, laying in a puddle of water. He had used it to try to cut some grout [hardened]. It didn't work. The formerly sharp blade was like a butterknife.
When I was an apprentice, a journeyman asked to borrow my long nose pliers. I inquired why he didn't have a pair. He said he broke his three months ago. I said no.
In cases like this -- where you don't really trust but still want to help -- the solution is to offer to go along with him and do the task yourself.
~Peter
iaov
Senior Member
- Location
- Rhinelander WI
One of my pet peeves too. There are a couple of contractors that I work with on a regular basis. We both show up with ladders and use wichever one is closest.
jaylectricity
Senior Member
- Location
- Massachusetts
- Occupation
- licensed journeyman electrician
I've had good luck trading/loaning tools with other trades. I'm small time, so everybody can get personal. I met a guy who will cut stuff for you with his diamond blade, just because he wants to make your life easier.
quogueelectric
Senior Member
- Location
- new york
If they break your tool it will be the cheapest lesson you will ever learn. What if they got hurt by your tool?? Guess who is liable??? I loaned out a bosch 4"angle grinder to the brickey once and he darn near cut his thumb off with it. If he wasnt a decent guy I would still be paying for that idiot move on my part.
quogueelectric
Senior Member
- Location
- new york
Everyone is your friend until they get hurt and sue you. Treat it as such when they ask to borrow your tools. Owner or employee answer is NO!
- Location
- Windsor, CO NEC: 2017
- Occupation
- Hospital Master Electrician
You just reminded me of an occasion where a foreman tended to leave his tools in the van and borrow others' tools for quick tasks. When we'd ask "Where are your tools?" he would quip "I get more done if I leave my tools in the van."
A couple days later he borrowed something of mine, and I had to go track it down at the end of the day to retrieve it. That settled it for me. The next day, he reached toward my bags that were laying on the floor to borrow something and I unloaded on him. He carried his bags in every morning after that.
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