Your First Tools for Day Labor, and What to Skip

The entry fee is smaller than people think

Boots and gloves get you onto almost any site. Everything else on this list is something to add when the work you are getting starts asking for it.

Buy in this order, and let the jobs pay for the next thing rather than buying a kit you have no use for yet.

Day one, before your first job

This is the whole list to start.

• Work boots. Not sneakers, and not new the morning of. Break them in a few days first.
• Gloves, and a second pair, because one pair gets soaked.
• Safety glasses, which cost a few dollars and save an eye.
• A refillable water bottle, and a bigger one for hot days.

After a few jobs

Once you know which kind of work you keep getting, these start paying for themselves.

• A tape measure and a utility knife, which come up constantly.
• A hard hat and a hi vis vest, if you are getting site work rather than house work.
• Knee pads, if you are doing flooring or anything on the ground.
• A dust mask rated for the work, not a cloth one.
• A hammer and a set of screwdrivers, or a decent multi tool.

What to skip at the start

Do not buy a cordless drill set, a saw, or a big rolling tool box before somebody has asked you for one. On day labor the employer supplies the power tools far more often than not.

The other thing to skip is anything you cannot carry on a bus or fit in a back seat. Tools you cannot get to the job are not tools.

Where to buy it

Boots are the one thing worth spending on, because they hold your feet together and a bad pair ends a week. Everything else can be the cheap version first and replaced when it breaks.

Pawn shops, thrift stores, and the clearance rack are all fine for hand tools. So is asking around, since most people who have done this a while have a spare of something.

Say what you own in your profile

The line most people leave out of a message is the one that gets them hired. Boots, gloves, hand tools, a truck. Every one of those is a problem the employer no longer has to solve.

As you add gear, add it to your profile. It is the cheapest way to move yourself up the list.