Buy in this order
- 9-inch side-cutting pliers. Daily cutter and grip. Buy these before any power tool.
- Tongue-and-groove pliers, 10 inch. Connectors, locks, and anything the nines will not hold.
- 12-inch adjustable wrench. Hardware that is not a socket job. One good one.
- Skinning knife, glove-friendly. URD jacket and rope. If it will not open with gloves, leave it.
- Headlamp plus spare batteries. Spare rides in the bag, not the truck.
- Voltage tester you trust. Prove it on a known live source before a cabinet.
- Marker, tape, and paint. Name the pliers the day they come out of the package.
- Boots for a 10-hour day. Cheap boots come off by lunch. Break them in off the job.
- Rain shell and a second light. The first light gets buried. The second one is the one you find.
Pad-mount tools, after the hand tools
- Penta socket. Most cabinet doors use a penta head. A regular socket will not turn it.
- Klein Tools 66090 1/2-Inch Impact Socket Set, 2-in-1 Slotted Design, 12-Point Deep Sockets, for Impact Wrenches, Includes Tool Case, 6-Piece. Six sockets, twelve sizes, in a case. The 1-1/8 x 15/16 and 3/4 x 9/16 have the alignment slot for pole and cabinet hardware. Half-inch drive. This is the only socket set. A mechanic set does not replace it.
- 1/2, 3/8, and 1/4 ratchets. Half-inch runs the 2-in-1 when the impact will not fit. Smaller drives for cabinet hardware.
- Spare penta and a door pin. A rounded penta or a missing pin ends the job.
- Padlock and hasp hardware. Company lock stays on the company ring. Yours is the spare, marked.
- Insulated nut driver. Secondary compartment hardware. Hand tool, not the impact.
- Wire brush. Ground pads and lugs that will not take a connection until they are clean.
- Elbow puller, only if issued. Do not buy one until the contractor tells you it is yours to carry.
Leave these at the store
- A mechanic socket set. The Klein 2-in-1 is the set. Extra sockets sit in the truck.
- Cheap lockback that needs two hands. Gloves make it a pocket weight.
- Second impact before the hand tools are marked. The wrench does not replace pliers or a penta socket.
- Your own grounding set or live-line tools. Those come from the contractor. Do not freelance them.
Before the first call: boots, glasses, gloves, knife, tape, headlamp. On pad-mount: penta socket, Klein 2-in-1, 1/2, 3/8, and 1/4 ratchets, spare penta, marked lock.