On Tuesday, December 23, 2014 8:11:08 AM UTC-6, Leon wrote:

I believe you have hit the nail on the head. I do however think you can
still buy the common and less expensive brands of power tools through WC
but in many cases you have to order them. Probably from the WC central
ware house.

Tough to be CPO and Amazon when it comes to online sales, though. And when CPO has one of their seasonal sales, they are almost impossible to beat.


But once I experienced the quality and time saving features, adding
sanders, a drill, a saw, a work bench and assorted clamps and tracks was
not quite so difficult to swallow.

There is no doubt about the quality of the Festool products. And let's face it, if they didn't deliver in spades, they couldn't sell their products at those prices. The market wouldn't bear it.


I absolutely understand why contractors like yourself don't use Festool.
You provide, share, and often loose sight of your tools on a job site.
Since Karl and I are basically the only ones that touch our Festools we
don't so much fear some one breaking the tool or that tool walking away.

And that is a huge consideration. I used to buy only top line tools, but between tools being abused, neglected, left out to be stolen, stolen by employees, carelessly misused and broken, left on job sites, stolen from my truck or company trucks by break ins, pawned by employees, I quit. I buy enough tool to get the job done these days as I know I might have said tool 2 to 3 years, or 2 to 3 days.

Things are different on the job site as well. When I started, you saved your money and bought tools for your own use. You bought a good saw, a good drill, a sander, router and all the other tools you needed on the road to being a professional woodworker. You invested your own money into yourself, and by doing so showed your commitment to your craft. Your level of commitment and self investment determined not only how seriously you were taken on the job, but how much money you made.

No longer so. Most employees won't buy any tools more than $100. If they do, they leave them at home so they don't suffer the fate described above, and they only see the light of day on a moon light job they contract. Their tools are valuable, mine are not.

When I had employees, I bought saws, drills, nailers, compressors, paint machines, saw blades, extension cords, ladders, and on an on. Now I use almost all sub contractors, and although I will lend a tool to some of them, they are required to have all the tools needed to complete the job. If I had $700 tied up in a drill, I doubt I would leave it on the job for anyone of them to use, though.

I remember when I changed my business model and got rid of almost all employees.
The tax prep folks I used called me after the first year and quizzed me about my "consumable" tools and equipment and why they had dropped by about 90%. I remember telling them, "it's easy. I just quit buying San Antonio's work force new tools".

Robert