I got to thinking about this the other day when my other half was *****in' about how much money I've spent on tools in the last few months. It never occured to me so I started looking at receipts and realized it was time to get a rider put on my insurance policy. I know I don't have anywhere near what some of the other guys on this board have, but it would kick my *** big time if something happened to them. A friend of mine has a KILLER shop with a Bridgeport, lathe, mig, tig, plasma and everything snap on offers and just about anything else you could ever need, and he was saying he has close to 200k invested in his stuff. Anybody else ever put pencil to paper and thought WTF? I'm not talking about the shop owners, but the fellas who just do this for a hobby. Nik
When I was a renter, a contractor or whatever, I always had insurance on my tools. It's pretty cheap really. Some of the outfits I worked for in the past offered it or provided it as a benny. I didn't have receipts for everything so my agents said take photos and list everything. Huge PITA but worth it. Never had a claim but gave me peace of mind. Kinda hard to make a livin without em. Put all your stuff on a CD and bury it in a jar in the backyard.
i'm more scared of what i'm going to be spending in the next year! need a complete second set of hand tools since mine stay at work drill press... tubing bender... table/belt sander... bench grinder... etcetera, etcetera, etcetera
Yeah, it ****s to think that I could've been close to paying off the mortgage!!HAHA. I never really did add it up on paper. I think I'll do that now that you brought it up. I have a regular day job at a GM dealer and prolly have 30K or so sitting there. Hell maybe more! the boxes alone are over 10K. Then I have 4 more boxes at home in the shop with every concievable tool. Engine tools, Trans tools, Paint and Body. Then all the fabrication stuff, mill, lathe,band saws, tubing bender, migs, tig, shear,And not to mention all the tooling that goes with them. The list goes on and on and the price goes up and up. I guess I am investing in the future as I want to go into the Fab./welding thing full time soon but for now it is just a hobbie. I'm prolly around 120K or so. Don't tell the old lady, she'll kill me if she found out what it all costs! MIKE.
if I had in cars what I have in tools...lets just say a new escalade would not be outta the question.
know your felling, since the family shop is so far away and my garage is behind the house i had to go an buy a larger toolbox. some of my tools came from my grandpa so that means alot. but wtf would happen if some got in the garage and took it all? even though the door's are always locked its still possible
I think some "car guys" are really "tool guys" Its the tool guys that are the builders and the innovators.
I think after spending 30 minutes drilling a hole in my new brake rod adapter . . . I'm going to throw this Chinese $40 drill press FAR FAR away . . . hopefully not thru the garage door or ontop of my daily drivers. Ugh.
Ive got a little over 10k in just my hand tools. I know this cause they were all stolen 2 decemberas ago and insurance replaced em all. Dave
I had to actually stop buying tools so I could start buying parts to build my hemi...and now I've gotten into MAKING my own tools because I can't afford to buy the fabrication stuff I want and also buy hemi parts...so I made a bunch of stuff and I'm itching to get a new compressor and a bunch of other stuff...I even have part #'s written down of what tools I want next after I'm done buying hemi parts...*sigh*...we're all just tool junkies...or maybe just a few of us...and I like what nrfleming said, I think that's true...
Hah! I'm building my first rod in a one-car garage, I don't even have room to store $10k worth of tools! I probably have less than $3k worth of stuff out there INCLUDING the truck and all the parts Have to beg and borrow or make the tools I can't afford. Just recently built a mini shop press from a s**** piece of I-beam and a $6 rummage sale bottle jack so that i could get the wishbone bolts out of my axle. It takes longer but time I've got, money I don't
I don't know how much money it is, but I know I won't last long enough to replace them all. That's why we put an alarm on my shop and the house.
.....so the neighbor kid walks into our little two car garage and says...."wow, you guys have enough tools and stuff in here to build a space shuttle". I kinda doubt it but if we did it would be COOL looking. I could have paid off the mortgage a few years ago with what I've spent but that wouldn't be any fun at all.
I'm actually looking at buying a shop away from my house to keep cars and have a place to work on them without trashing my house and yard up. So far the most suitable place is going to cost 50k, so I'm figuring with some other tools that I need and an alarm set up on the place I'm going to be over the 100 mark, just to have a place to work on stuff and keep the cars safe. If I was single I'd just live there and call it home. If my wife founds out how much money is really involved I just might be again. Nik
I have woodworking tools, mechanic tools, body tools, power and air tools, not to mention the homemade tools. I have the shop that is all tools and the Dodge House which is really an enclosed car port off the Shop for the work on the Dodge. I also have the concrete and brick tools. Grange Insurance came out and took photos of everything when they did our rider and they have a cd of the tools and building in there files. The rider is for $145 K for the buildings and contents. Gumpa
Oh boy -- hope this doesn't go into the "I'm an engineer looking for ideas for a 6-7 figure" garage thread . . . on the other site.
I work on cars because I like working with tools! I'd have taken up woodworking, but the problem with woodworking is there are no sparks. Between all the hand tools (does anyone else have two full sets of ratchets/sockets so you and a buddy can wrench on both sides of the car and not have to hand tools back and forth? Plus another full set for the junkyard/portable set? Plus two sets of wrenches in the tool box, a set of stubbies in the tool box, and a row of wrenches on the pegboard with each size 5-9 wrenches deep?) drill press, power saws, etc. etc. etc. I really wonder how much I have sometimes. I've bought almost everything second-hand, and have refurbished much of it. All my wrenches but the basic starter set, and the second set of sockets and ratchets all came piecemeal from garage sales and swap meets. My hydraulic press was a $40 turd that I spent another $60 and a couple dozen hours on, and it looks like a tool 5-6 times more expensive. And I've made a lot of stuff, too. I shudder to think what the new, replacement cost would be. I probably need to get the insurance guy out there and have them take some pictures. -Brad
Yea -- do***ent in pics. I was thinking this the other night when I was staring at a (potential) funnel cloud circling dead above the house. Pics and do***entation on your stuff is always helpful to have.
wow, i dont even want to add up my top socket drawer. even in some craftsman tools i have a lot. i got a deal on my box a snap-on roller, i paid 900 for a well over 3k box....new would have been around 5k....i figure i have about 5k worth of tools in it. that doesnt count things i dont have in the box like air tools, power tools some bigger "specialty" tools.
I've been thinking about an insurance rider on the homeowners policy for some time. Besides the tools, I have the camera gear to take the pictures the insurance company will want. Plus my wife has her Dept. 56 houses ($$$) and her cello and pianos. Hey, a guy could start a second business doing insurance photos of people's stuff for insurance companies. Oh ****, MORE work!!!
"Z"; last night, just for giggles, I counted the number of 9/16" and 1/2" combination wrenches in my tool box - around it - under it - on top of it - inside the latest project - upstairs in my "storage dis-***embly area" - in the ba*****t; and I have enough of them to at least buy a Fiesta!! And then; there are the sockets .... !!!
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