If you’re taking on a big home improvement project, you need the best tools for the job. Trying to demolish several walls – or even part of the house – with basic equipment won’t just slow you down, but it can make you do a poor job. You need to go all out if you’re planning a big project. While the investments will be on the big side, the cost of using poor kit will catch up with you in wasted time and a poor quality final effect. So, figure out what you’re going to need the best of, and then work down from there. You don’t need the best of everything for all your jobs – just the ones that require heavy lifting or awkward straining.
Knowing what you need
If you’re doing a lot of excavations and demolitions, you’ll need something that can help you and be durable. So, you should put one of these at the top of your list. There’s nothing better than self-dumping hoppers, which can truly speed up your progress, especially if you’re carting around large amounts of debris.
You’ll also need all the basics: from your safety kit to your lighting; you’ll need to make sure that you have every conceivable need covered. This might be an industrial strength vacuum cleaner or an electrical wire detector. You’ll also want a powerful sledgehammer and drill, so you aren’t spending hours on jobs that should take five or ten minutes.
Likewise, don’t be afraid to seek help when deciding on what to buy. If you’re building your home from scratch, or redesigning it, your architect will be able to give you pointers and suggest where to go to buy the right tools of the highest quality. Plus, as long as you have the bare essentials – something to do the work with, and somewhere to put all the debris – you’ll be fine.
Getting a forklift can help with moving heavy items around and will come in handy throughout your entire build, so it’s something you should consider either investing in or renting.
Hire or buy?
If you’re looking through this list thinking that you can’t possibly invest in all of this material, then you need to decide what you’ll need to buy, and what you can get away with hiring. If you’re only going to need certain pieces of kit for parts of the job, hiring is a better idea. Or, if they’re giant, bulky bits of equipment, you probably won’t want to keep them forever. So, for example, like with excavators, you won’t want to buy one – even though you’ll need it. Speak to plant hire firms and see what they can offer you, and what they suggest you hire rather than buy.
Plus, hiring is the better option if you’re deciding whether to invest in a low-budget, lower quality piece of kit, rather than spending the money on the piece you need. If that’s the case, then hire the high end, high spec version, rather than buy the cheap one.
