Building a house from scratch is arguably one of the biggest financial commitments you will ever take during your adult life. While applying for a loan, getting the necessary documents and permits and buying the plot of land are vital tasks themselves, the real work starts once you accomplish these essential steps and you have to build the house.
House building is an entire process with many variables and things to take into consideration, from spacing, design, utilities, materials and, last but not least, tools and equipment. As for the last part, your first impulse might be running to the nearest store and buying whatever you need. But what if we told you that by renting the tools rather than buying them, you can save a lot of your hard-earned money? For a better understanding of this method, renting guides and general house-building tips, you can check EquipmentRental.org. There, you can find a lot of useful information related to renting services and how you can properly manage your personal project. Here is a short guide to renting tools for house building.
The case for renting tools
First off, let’s consider why renting the necessary tools is generally a better idea than purchasing them permanently. Firstly, let us take the most pressing issue out of the way: the money. While you do not need a special, dedicated storage space to store basic instruments that you can find in a regular toolbox—although there is a case to be made about renting these as well—large-scale tools that are almost vital to proper house building need separate rooms.
This brings us to another issue, and that is the quality of the storage space and maintenance costs. Tools, especially the expensive ones, need to be stored in large, properly ventilated spaces to counteract the effects of rust and corrosion. And as expected, these special storage rooms do not come cheap. And if you do decide to buy the tools and rent a cheaper storage space, you will spend more on maintenance due to the bad conditions, triggering a Catch-22 at the end of which you only end up losing money.
These are only a few reasons why renting tools for a big building project is a better idea than buying them. If you are not sure about the validity of this method, there is an easy workaround, which is what contractors and DIY builders call “mix and matching.” This involves renting niche, expensive tools with limited future utility, and buying the equipment pieces that you know you will be using in the future.
Renting gives you access to high-performance tools
House building is a complex process, and as a result, you will need a wide assortment of tools that will not only help you solve any unforeseen situations, but also save up precious time. To give a brief example, let us assume you want to set up a fence, for which you will need to dig post holes. While you can easily accomplish this banal task by using basic tools such as shovels and pickaxes, you can spare yourself from a lot of work by getting a hole digger.
From here, you have two options: you can pay between $300 and $900 to buy it or rent it for a measly $10 per hour. Since this particular job will take only a few hours of your time if you get your act together, renting this equipment piece is obviously, in this case, the more sensible option.
This same principle applies to other large-scale tools, such as jackhammers, shredders, automatic saw, chainsaws and so on and so forth. Renting these tools from the major hardware chain stores (Home Depot, for example) can give you access to a wide assortment of powerful, top-of-the-line tools that you would otherwise have to spend a lot of money to own permanently.
Basic house-building tools and equipment
When it comes to house building, there are simply too many tools to cover in a single article. Still, here’s a general list of multi-purpose tools that will help you get through all the steps of the house-building process:
- Quick-grip clamps: good for crafting and smoothing out wood.
- Circular saw: sturdy, medium-sized apparatus that will save you a lot of time and effort. You can use it to cut thick pieces of plywood in your preferred shape. It is quite an expensive of equipment, but you can rent one from any hardware store.
- Level: it will help you discover slopes and uneven surfaces.
- Speed square: easy, cheap to rent and will help you make 45-degree angle marked squares.
- Adjustable wrenches
- Excavators for digging and clearing the work site: you can rent one from Home Depot for roughly $70 per day.
- Utility knives
- Tape measures
While these tools are just the beginning, they are more than enough to kickstart your project. Their main advantage is their high portability, ease of use and availability in almost any hardware store.
Final thoughts
Building your own house from scratch can be one of the most exciting but intimidating prospects. After buying your plot of land and finishing all the paperwork, you’ll want to save as much money as possible, so one great way of cutting down on the final costs of the project is renting the tools to build your new home. Finally, renting will not only spare you of many logistical issues (transportation, maintenance, storage), but will also give you access to the latest, top-of-the-line tools without making big financial commitments.
About the Author: Len McCluskey is a technical writer and genuine handyman. Join him at EquipmentRental.org, where he reviews various top tool and equipment rental companies and their services. The main goal of the website is to help construction workers or DIYers to choose the best tools for their needs.