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Buying a work van just got a lot more efficient–and fun.
We haven't seen much lately about the cordless race for higher voltage, since tool companies started realizing what contractors have known for years: If you're going to work with a cordless tool all day, 18 volts gets the job done–but 24-volt tools are too heavy. 'The breakthrough,' tool experts...
Sometimes when I look at the pressures encroaching on jobsite performance, I wonder how construction crews and their companies can even come close to succeeding. It's no wonder that quality levels can come into question: Time constraints, physical barriers, jobsite politics, technical issues, and...
Before I became a field-training consultant for builders, I was a builder and remodeler. Even then, long before mold was a hot topic, it bothered me how many different methods were used to install windows. Stucco guys did it one way, East Coasters another, and production framers in California had...
Ed Williams is a one-of-a-kind carpenter who does one-of-a-kind work in one-of-a-kind houses near Dallas. His business, the Great American Carpentry Co., is a full-dress cabinet shop and 24-man custom trim crew. But his real job description–other than payroll conduit–is problem solver.
The cordless jigsaw category is open for business. We compared five models for power, performance, and convenience. Eight years ago, I tested one of the first cordless jigsaws to hit the market, and it was awful! It had the power of a dull handsaw and the maneuverability of a concrete block...
When I started in construction, I pilfered a bunch of tools from my father, among them his old fixed-blade utility knife. After about six months, the blade made its way through the bottom of my leather tool pouch and into my leg. (I guess I deserved it for raiding my father's tools without...
Building a high-quality house has never been easy. But with houses that are required to perform better than ever before combined with ravenous demand and a shifting labor market, it's harder than ever to please customers, go fast, and keep the bottom line black. This dynamic has tested how we...