Hi all,
My little business has been growing and so have the number of jobsite tools boxes. I have 3 now ranging in size from 30″ to 48″ long.
They are great but tend to get cluttered up with tools,cords,fasteners,mauls, prybars etc,etc…
So, I’m trying to work out ways to better organize the boxes, divide up different tools or fasteners,cords, airhoses into different boxes.
Will make some trays and am trying to figure out a good way to use the inside of the lid as well.
Have any of you worked out some good solutions to the typical mess of a job box?
Thanks!
Tom
You Don’t Know. You Don’t Want to Know. You Aren’t Going to Know.
Replies
I have the same problem, I've had a couple of ideas but I don't know if I have the self discipline to put everything back in the right place in the right box, especially after a long hard day when all I want to do is pack up and drive home.
I look forward to reading some solutions.
John
Count your lucky stars. Time will come when those job boxes are the organisation. One box is the cord splitters, one is small hand tools, one is clamps, one is , ok, you get the picture. Most of us probably look at your post and sigh, ah, those were the days. Now a shop, a garage, a truck, a trailer, and a jobsite all have more in them than we can organise. And we keep buying stuff!
Anyway, I do use boxes like that to keep groups of things together. I have hoardes of toolbags just for holding the corded power tools that didn't come with a case of their own. The big rolling Stanley type boxes hold short clamps up to 2ft. Cords all get wraps and hang on a series of hooks at the front of the trailer, as do vac hoses. Zip wall poles, 3rd hand, etc have a niche they all stand up in. When I remember to put a bungee across the face they stay there. I've tried a lot of types of storage containers for fasteners and stay away from the plastic ones now. The metal cases with plastic inserts hold up better, and I have several of those for just the little punch list stuff. The rest of the nails, screws, bolts live in cabinets that line the top of one side of the trailer. I think the guiding principle that helps is get a container or case for every tool, and get one big enough to put all the accessories (and allen wrenches, etc) for that tool with it. Other stuff bulk together in a way that makes sense to you.
"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man." - Mark Twain
I have a new addition coming up and a bit of time to work on these boxes. Here are a couple pics. The big GreenLee already has a nice storage tray in the back.
I have screwed some oak rails into the JoBox to hold some trays for fasteners or small tools.
The inside of the lids would be good for flat items like squares, maybe chisels. I'm thinking of using rare earth magnets and/or elastic cords there. The one item on the lid of the Jobox is my magnetic sweeper for nail pickup.So thats what I'm working on!By the way I've given the boxes names in order of size, Fat Man, Little Boy and Sheila. Those of a certain age will now who the first two are.TomYou Don't Know.
You Don't Want to Know.
You Aren't Going to Know.
we just gotta guess at who Shelia is?
I think the others came from Manhattan :-)
"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man." - Mark Twain
Can't guess huh?Sheila was "da bomb".... ;-)You Don't Know.
You Don't Want to Know.
You Aren't Going to Know.
Blue eyes and a pony tail?Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
Blue Eyes and Jet Black Hair, killer combo imho.You Don't Know.
You Don't Want to Know.
You Aren't Going to Know.
I was thinking about
Sweet little Sheila, you'll know her if you see herBlue eyes and a ponytailHer cheeks are rosy, she looks a little noseyMan, this little girl is fineNever knew a girl like-a little SheilaHer name drives me insaneSweet little girl, that's my little SheilaMan, this little girl is fine
different girl I guess, but I gotta agree with you.Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
Tommy Roe. Snappy little tune, but of course this belongs in another thread...
Regarding Fat Man and Little Boy. I was just talking to a buddy of mine and he told me that his grandfather's brother (great uncle?) was the one who flew the plane. He apparently named the Enola Gay after his mother.
Now on to Job boxes, I have had some limited success with drywall buckets in the job box. But of course you still have to put the correct tools in the correct bucket. I've found that, as with anything, the more guys on the job, the harder it is to control the organization.
Actually, I'm not unimpressed with the canvas totes idea. They would certainly be more space efficient than buckets. " If I were a carpenter"
I've pretty much given up on the Bucket Boss approach. Too difficult to find items and too many pockets means things just disappear.But,I will keep two buckets. One will have the plastic stackers with a variety of screws and nails aside from the pneumatic nails used for framing and trim.
The other will just hold a few oddball items. The center will be for a roll of contractor bags, those can't get lost in the bottom of a bucket!I'm working on making a couple pull out trays for Little Boy and Sheila.
Of course I'll post some shots when I'm done for critiqueing by youse guys.Fat Man was picked up just recently (150.00 bucks on craigslist.org) as the other two were just too full. So now, I have more room to spread out which should mean that things are easier to find. But you have to keep more stuff from coming in and filling that void. Discipline is what it's all about I guess!You Don't Know.
You Don't Want to Know.
You Aren't Going to Know.
My experience is: just when you get a plan on how to better organize those boxes, a thief will keep you from having to worry about it and you can focus your attention on picking out new tools and boxes.
Birth, school, work, death.....................
Just be sure to lock up your sledges and gorilla bars too, It sucks to show up on monday and find your boxes beat to hell, tools gone and realizing that you left the thief the tools for the job right there... Yeah, that sucked.I cut the board twice and its still too short ! ! !
Do you have a twin brother named ORANGEJELLO?Birth, school, work, death.....................
Ha, Ha! LOL It's a funny story, actually a callsign from my Air Force days. And yes there is an OrangejelloI cut the board twice and its still too short ! ! !
First step is to remove those tools you don't need for the stage of construction your in. Until you get a handle on the number of tools it won't matter how many gang boxes you buy or how well, or often, you organize them. Without limiting the number of tools the collection will fill all available space. You will be standing in front of an avalanche.
A popular view is that 'I need all of them all the time'. Sounds good and it feeds the ego. Needing more tools implies more work done and more toys are viewed as a mark of prosperity and importance. Also the it implies being able to 'do anything'. Get over it. This simple minded, but popular, view holds you back. Anything that gets in your way, like that cord you sometimes use but you have to move to get to the stuff you use all the time, has to be moved away from the work site until needed.
Odds are the majority of tools and equipment doesn't get used for weeks at a time. These can be left at home. Don't make the mistake of repeating the situation on the truck. So many tradesmen do. They put every conceivable tool on the truck. And when they can't find it because it is buried under the stuff he doesn't need he buys another. It is also a ego boost when you 'need' a bigger truck.
I once cleaned out a service truck that had nine manual conduit benders: three half-inch, two 3/4", two 1", one inch-and-a-quarter and a honking inch-and-a-half. Inconceivable that we would need more than one of any size. The 1-1/2" I left back at the shop because it was so rarely used. A Chicago bender was also far easier to use. Losing the redundant benders and the largest one and loads of room opened up.
Efficiency improved because we could find what we looked for and putting tools up at the end of the day went quicker when we didn't need a shoe horn to get everything in.
Most overloaded gang boxes suffer from the same sort of 'stuffed garage' syndrome. They are loaded down with tools and equipment that might be needed or could come in handy. And this stuff gets in the way when getting to storing and finding the 'absolutely have to have and use every day' tools.
This takes some planning, having a lock box full of every tool that might be needed in a career of building eliminates the need to plan what is needed when, and a ruthless attitude toward tools, a difficult stance for any tradesman. Most tradesmen have never met a tool they couldn't love, even if they complain about it.
As 4lorn1 said, it's been really important for us to sift out the stuff that isn't really needed. Also, cords and hoses cause so many problems mixed in with other things that putting them in their own box helps a bunch.
Crime, even in locked buildings, made it necessary to condense things from a large pile of Contico plastic tool boxes into three job boxes that are bolted to something. What a painful transition. Taking a system from a guy who stored every tool he had in his trucks job box, each tool or group of tools is put in it's own zippered bag.
As you can imagine as much money is spent on the fabric bags as on the job boxes, but it does cut down on clutter a great deal and that mess of small tools that seem to mesh together into what looks like a spoiled child's toybox. Each fabric bag gets labeled with a magic marker and as many different bags as possible are used to tell them apart. Throwing out the plastic box that comes with tools and replacing it with a fabric bag drives up the cost of each power tool by $25 or so, but the bags do seem to last.
It also makes sorting out what is really needed that week easier, as well as moving those things to and from storage as required. Larger items with few loose accessories like wormdrives or framing guns don't need a bag. If something is buried in the bottom of the box, it's now easy to lift off a few bags to see clear to the bottom and the bags don't snag on each other like loose tools do so it's many times easier to sort things out.
Fasteners are constantly a problem since they litter job boxes and are of limited value to a crook so they are kept in 5-gal bucket organizers. Drywall tools are kept in a 3' long Contico plastic box and are kept in storage until punchlist time. The same box is used for dozens of clamps, one for worklights, one for painting, and another for drop cloths, etc.
Having said all that, this system only seems to work well if things are put back in the right place and those items that don't get used once a month are stored.
:-)
I definitely agree with you and 4lorn,
starting to organize must start with only having what is truly needed and no more than that.
I have started putting some small tool groups in there own bags and fasteners in parachute bags that are labled on the outside. As much as I hate rummaging for a fastener or driver bit, I hate it even more when I see a helper doing it (money wasted!)Organization is always a fight against entropy but most of life is.About the jobsite security issue. I'm lucky to work in really safe neighborhoods,hopefully "knock on steel" I'll continue to be ok in that arena.TomYou Don't Know.
You Don't Want to Know.
You Aren't Going to Know.
Our boxes are usually a mess. in fact, I'm hauling my own personal one to the jobsite and I'm going to have the only key! Mine will be organized.
I agree with 4lorn1. Only keep the necessary items.
I'm going to add some site built bins in mine. I'll screw through the back side and mount the storages shelves/racks.
I might even use an old Polaroid trick that I once used to keep my workvan organized. I took snapshots of each wall of the truck. I then stapled the picture to the wall and the guys had to look at the picture to find out where each tool went. That actually worked very well and the truck stayed organized for a very long time.
blue
Blue, Now THAT is a great idea !!
I wish I had thought of that one.
Although I do use a similar method whenever I attempt to repair something I've never tackled before, I always take digital photos of everything during the "dismanteling" stage of the project. This proved invaluable when I repaired my CD player a few months ago." If I were a carpenter"
bump
Here are a few shots of some things I'm trying.I glued a plywood panel inside Fat Mans lid and then attached the first aid box to it so it opens up like a shelf.Have done a lot of labeling of small cases for the tray.
Sheila is holding the cords and hoses and pneumatic tools.
Little Boy is holding 4 tools boxes for now with tools that usually work together for demolition for instance.The pullout shelves are beveled on the ends so they can be lifted completely out of the way.Whaddya tink so far?TomYou Don't Know.
You Don't Want to Know.
You Aren't Going to Know.
I would put a small dry erase board next to the first aid kit and tell my crew if there is anything we need to write it on the board then at the end of the day while I was packing up the tools I would know what to stop and get on the way home.
ANDYSZ2I MAY DISAGREE WITH WHAT YOUR SAYING BUT I WILL DEFEND TO THE DEATH YOUR RIGHT TO SAY IT.
Remodeler/Punchout
Great minds must think alike!Yesterday I epoxied some rare earth magnets to the back of a clipboard.
The clipboard can stick to any of the box lids and work as central notepad (hopefully).This whole effort can be over produced much like a hollywood movie but it feels good to at least try for order instead of clutter and chaos!TomYou Don't Know.
You Don't Want to Know.
You Aren't Going to Know.
One thing that has helped me is to get nylon 'stuff sacks' from the camping section of the local big box, $5 or $7 gets you four in various sizes, small or large, also zipper sacks, the Klein bags, heavy duty cotton canvas or leather, if you go high dollar, from the supply house.Bags help organize. Cords and hoses in larger stuff sacks help a lot. Keeps tools and materials from being intertwined in the hanks of cord. I keep all my nylon 'tie-wraps' in a long thin sack. Nut drivers go into a Klein bag but that is on the 'tools' side. Pays to segregate tools from materials.I pays to color code and/or clearly mark, both sides, of the bags to tell you what is inside. The white cotton Klein bags and similar can be dyed. Orange is for hot work in my case. Red is First Aid and burgundy general safety gear, goggles, safety glasses, leather gloves. Key is to develop a system.I have found that other than very small parts, which go into flat tray type organizers meant for fishing, sacks and bags work far better than boxes, cans or hard containers. I do a lot working out of small job boxes and cross-bed tool boxes and soft-side containers fit into the tight spots while conserving space. A half filled coffee can takes up as much room as a full one. A half filled sack takes up only the volume of what it contains.
Duluth trading had their master series bags and parachute bags clearanced and I bought a bunch of them so I could organize my small fasteners and tools better.
ANDYSZ2I MAY DISAGREE WITH WHAT YOUR SAYING BUT I WILL DEFEND TO THE DEATH YOUR RIGHT TO SAY IT.
Remodeler/Punchout