For a professional homeowner it’s important to have all of the tools you need. This isn’t something you’re making a living on, so the time you have to do this work is limited, and you shouldn’t waste it trying to work with the wrong tools
By “Professional homeowner” I mean someone who does the majority of the maintenance and enhancements on their own home. Not just a DIY’er who’s doing a project here and there. This is a tongue-in-cheek term that one of my favorite YouTube channels came up with. It’s funny, but expresses a real concept.
Assertion: Staying in a single high end brand will be costly over time, which will either result in a reduced size of your tool fleet, or a much higher overall tool cost.
You could end up with the wrong tools because they are inadequate for the job, or you could end up lacking a tool because your tool budget is used up.
Splitting two brands can balance cost and need.
But the batteries!!!
Take a deep breath. Having two battery systems is not as bad as it sounds. I have three, and it’s fine. Is it ideal? No. Is it realistic? Yes. Letting go of this “one battery system” standard has allowed me to be more effective with the money I’m spending on tools.
Assertion: Ryobi tools are dramatically less expensive and most of the time, they’re totally adequate for the work required.
As support for this assertion, one of my favorite YouTube creators, Colin Furze uses Ryobi tools and he does ridiculously intense builds. Works with metal a lot. He abuses his tools. When he’s riding around on a 60mph drift trike he just built with “toy” tools, he’s not sad that his tools are green.
What I noticed is that since he can buy 2 or 3 ryobi cordless angle grinders for the price of one Dewalt or Milwaukee, he does, and puts a different head on each one so he’s not spending time swapping them out. Very lean: he’s staying focused on the work, avoiding context switches as much as possible. Think about that. That’s a very effective strategy.
It’s going to happen, sometimes you’ll determine that a tool is worth spending extra money on to have a more robust, or better functioning tool. Where the Ryobi tools aren’t adequate is a good place to buy the high end brands.
Side note: don’t confuse “contractor grade” or “pro image” for adequate. I don’t know about you, but I tend to want the pro stuff because it’s awesome, and the big boys use it. They tend to elicit a certain image. You see Kyle at RR Buildings cranking out huge Post and beam barns with small team, look at his tools, and feel the pull. I want to be like him. Far better to emulate his drive, his work ethic, his pursuit of excellence than to attribute his success to his tool choices.
Adequate means it will do the work with a high enough level of precision, and not break for the usage you’re realistically going to put it through.
As a professional homeowner I don’t believe you always need the durability and quality of the high end tool makers.
By high end I mean Dewalt, Milwaukee, Makita. In ascending order of cost.
I would assert that a pro homeowner uses in a year what a pro contractor would used in a week, which is one reason we don’t need the extra durability.
I would also assert there are some tools that function significantly better in a higher end brand, and you need to be aware of what those tools are for you.
I’ve found success splitting between Dewalt and Ryobi.
The Dewalt tools have been fantastic. Ryobi tools have been good.
I tend to want to buy the nice thing. Just to have it. And because it’s more enjoyable to use it.
we should be enjoying the work. If it’s not pleasant, you should fix what bugs you, and if it’s a tool, level up that tool, or buy the right one.
I won’t begrudge you if you stick with one tool brand, but if you’re struggling because you can’t afford to buy the right tools, think hard about splitting your tool brands and picking up some ryobi tools.
Ryobi is great for those tools you know you won’t use a ton, but you know you need to have. Reciprocating saw is a good example for me. I use it a couple times a year, and it works great for those times. But I don’t use it every day so I elected to pick up a Ryobi on one of their insane sales.
Ryobi is also great for outdoor tools because none of the tool brands are particularly good at yard maintenance equipment. Blower, string trimmer, etc. in fact, Ryobi had way more options for those things. If you want to level up go with an EGO brand cordless version.
Here’s my current list of tools
Low end (Ryobi) tool list:
String Trimmer (brushless, and amazing)
Blower (the smaller sweeper. Not very powerful, but great for the garage)
Reciprocating saw (it’s good, it has worked fine for years. I’ve never had an issue with it)
15ga nail gun (this I think would have been better in another tool line. However, I just finished redoing the trim on our entire first floor and The main downside is that I have to set some of the nails. To level up: Milwaukee makes fantastic nailers, and so does Dewalt)
Drill (adequate, I tend to use this as a secondary when I want a drill and a driver)
Hammer drill
Work-light
Inflator (love this thing, it was $40, and works great)
Here’s my high end tool list:
Drill (it’s brushless, so it’s better, right?)
Jigsaw (amazing)
Circular saw (amazing)
Oscillating multitool (life changing)
Cordless shop vac (it’s amazing, get one)
Table saw (corded, and amazing)
Random tools:
Bosch 12v impact driver and drill (these are amazing, and easily worth the $100 they often go on sale for. This is my easy recommend for the first purchase for any homeowner)
Cheap (metabo) corded angle grinder
Menards brand (cheap) corded oscillating multitool
Dewalt corded drill (when I need some big guns, but I haven’t used it in a long time)
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