Most-used Tools

As an owner-builder, I'm not doing the intensive hands-on work myself. That's for the professionals. My work has been limited to running structured wiring, site clean-up, and miscellaneous things like putting the wood blocking in the walls for hanging stuff later. That said, here are the tools I've found to be most useful:

• My mobile phone with all my subs and suppliers entered as contacts. I use a Motorola Q. That's a Windows Mobile smartphone which is more like a pocket computer than a phone. This is overkill for the most part. You can use any phone that stores contacts. I also add reminders about tasks I need to get done and meetings I have. All this synchs with my computer at home when I plug it in. It's a life saver to have all the contact info handy when I'm on site and, say, need to call Lowe's to see what time they close.
• Paper and a pen or pencil. You always need to write stuff down or draw a diagram. The one time I go to the house without it is the time I'm sure to need it.
• Digital camera. I always take pictures along the way to document the process. Later, I want to be able to see things like how the underground plumbing runs, or what's behind that wall that I now need to cut into.
• A Leatherman Wave multi-tool. I try to keep this in my car. That way, when I stop at the house, I have what's needed to take care of something unexpectedly that requires pliers, a screwdriver, a knife, etc.
• Garbage cans. I have not had the need for a dumpster at my job site. It's an added expense, and it's been unnecessary as long as I've stayed on top of things. I have two garbage cans that I use my dad's pickup truck to rotate out when they're full. I consistently spend time picking up trash and debris and filling the cans. The parish won't pick up garbage cans from a construction site. So we take them home and put them out with the garbage here.
• A tape measure. There's always something to measure. Maybe you're cutting a piece of wood to a certain length, or maybe you need to measure the dimension of something to take home and research prices. Always keep a tape measure with you.
• Extension cords for power. It seems like you can't have too many of these. One cord plugs into the temporary pole outside. Inside, we've got a 3-way adapter that we plug other cords into. So far, three power cords have been enough for the most part.
• A hammer. Now we get into the traditional tools. A hammer is good for a thousand uses. Where there's a hammer, you should always have nails. But I've found that subs leave a lot of nails left over.
• Drill and screw gun. The electric drill (that we use for pilot holes) and battery-powered drill (that we use for screws) are the most common power tools we've been using. Mostly for mounting the wood blocking that's going behind the sheetrock to hang things on later. Of course, you could always use a hammer and nails for this, and I have in some places. But I find that using screws makes it easier to adjust the wood up or down later when I determine that I need to move it.
• Circular saw and chop saw. We've used the chop saw (a circular saw mounted on a small table with an arm) to cut wood to size for installing blocking. We've also used the circular saw for this and other things.
• A chisel and file. Occasionally, we've had to file a rough edge off a piece of wood or something. And the chisel is good for the times when an electrical wire loops over a joist and you need to notch out a channel so that the wire will be recessed. This has been the case when installing plywood decking in the attic. You don't want to pinch the wire between the joist and the plywood. So you create a slot for the wire to pass through when the plywood is screwed down.
• A shovel. This also has a thousand uses. We've moved sand around, broken up excess brick mortar, cleaned the sand that's run off the lot into the street during a rain, and many other things.
• A wheel barrow. Again, the uses are limitless.
• A vacuum cleaner. This is a must if you like keeping things relatively tidy. We have a small wet/dry vac that we've used for isolated messes and a full-size vacuum claener for broader jobs. Another good thing to have around is a broom.
• A fan or blower. If you're going to build in the south during the summer, you'll definitely want some way to keep a breeze blowing as you work inside. I don't have my insulation in yet, and it's in the 90s every day now.

That's all that comes to mind right now. This covers a great majority of what we've needed on site. I hope this helps someone out there planning for their build!