I Hate Thieves

JLTrim

Just had about $3500 worth of tools stolen from a jobsite Friday night. Locks were on all the doors and windows so I thought I'd be fine leaving them in a closet... came back Saturday morning to find a door wide open and pretty much everything gone. They didn't completely clean me out but they took enough to keep me from working for a while. I'm never leaving tools on-site again. Thank god I've actually had some steady work lately or this would've damn near put me out of business.

I know it's a longshot, but if anyone happens to see a bunch of used trim carpenter's tools come up on CL or Ebay or whatever please give me a heads up, here's some of the stuff that was taken:

Rol-Air "Bull" 2 HP twin tank compressor, DeWalt DW716 12" miter saw w/ DeWalt stand clamps and Diablo blade, Porter-Cable 2 1/4 hp plunge router (new), Porter-cable 12-piece Forsner bit set (new), Hitachi 15 ga nailer, Senco 15 ga nailer, 2 Senco 18 ga brad nailers, Grex 23 ga pinner, Bosch powerbox radio/cd-player, Bosch digital angle finder, Ryobi biscuit cutter, Dewalt 18v cordless drill, Ridgid 18v cordless drill and jigsaw, carryall full router/drill bits, lots of handtools, etc.

Just a reminder to you guys not to get careless, damn crackheads will get you when you least expect it.

WarnerConstInc.

Damn, that sucks.

loneframer

Been there my friend, and it blows. Hats off to NJ State Troopers, who recovered every tool, not before many were replaced and put into service though. Good luck, hope they are covered by builders risk or your contractors policy.

SDC

Here is one, looks like he is packing it in...http://nh.craigslist.org/for/1043008674.html

Sorry to hear your loss.
It happened to me back in 1990, (wow, I'm old), stole my whole truck...on Thanksgiving, while visiting my in-laws

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mickeyco

Check the closest pawn shop and watch the local craigs list. I too hate thieves, years back I had a van and all my tool stolen, the cops found the van, empty, ignition destroyed, a few blocks away (near the Cabrini Greens) in front of the house of known criminals, nothing they could do beside write a report.








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Some people climb mountains. I take out the trash. But we both do it for the same reason.

ChrWright

Sorry to hear that.

Reminds us all not to get complacent. I've had it happen twice in the last 6 years and it f-ing sucks.

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mdshunk

About 1-1/2 years ago I had some random items taken out of the truck while I was in a diner having lunch. It was weird, the stuff they chose to take. Not necessarily the expensive things or the things you could sell easily. Just some random tool items. Only came to a few hundred bucks (enough to tick me off), but sure could have been worse. What made me the most mad was the fact that that I had just stocked up the right angle grinder box with a whole compliment of new wheels, and they took that. I don't often use that kit, but I needed it later that day.

loneframer

If it's not practicle to pull out every day, at lest protect the small, high dollar stuff with one of these KnacK boxes, they are really well designed against break-in. Unlike the 20 year old model that this replaced.

JLTrim

Thanks, it's a relatively small loss, could've been much worse. They left me a few good tools, just really didn't want this expense right now. I was planning on picking up a Festool track saw and vac setup but I guess that'll have to wait a while.

Pisses me off, I have 3 fixed base routers but they had to steal the one brand new plunge router that I never even got to use... damnit.

JLTrim

Definitely a good idea, from now on my tools are either coming with me or getting locked down in something like that. I just got careless and assumed since the doors were locked my stuff was safe, but like they say locks will only keep the honest people out.

loneframer

Can you collect being that the house was secured? Look into it if you're not sure. I know it doesn't help the fact that you are loosing production.

firemike

Sorry to hear that, like some of the others, I have been there.... Several times

Had my entire van stolen right out of my driveway while we were on vacation.

Had a Stihl 14" gas cut-off saw and big Bosch hammer drill/demo hammer with all the bits stolen right out of one of my gang boxes on a job. There were 14 people working in teh building, plumbers, electricians, and us. Black guy walked right in the front door, down the hall, and took them out of the box and walked right out the front door with them to his van parked right on the street in front of the door. Right across the street was a city crew working on the water line for our building, they saw him but didn't think anything of it.

Same job our vehicles were parked in a securely gated fenced in area. We were up on the 2nd floor, heard my vehicle alarm go off, ran down teh stairwell to the outside, less that 30 - 40 seconds to get down. By the time we got there they smashed the windows and got into the electrician's and my van. He lost quite a few tools, I lost a sawzall and case (full of blades), 2 drills, a canvas tool bag with tools, a saber saw, and a circ saw. Never saw anyone, they had to have a large group to carry everything they took. The only way to get in was to climb the fence of force their way behind the gate.

It truly sucks, you loose all the profit from a job just to replace what was stolen......

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-Mike-

irockwithdirt

Sorry to hear that, but with the state of the economy I fear you'll see more and more of this.

I NEVER leave small expensive items, nail guns, drills, stuff easy to grab and sell. Will leave my table, horses, cords, fasteners, and maybe a cheapo table saw. Everything else goes with me.

Hope they find your stuff!

mdshunk

By the time a house gets to trim stage, there's a heck of a lot of people who have, or have had, the house key; not all of them necessarily honest. On a lot of jobs around here, they just hide the key in a place where everyone knows where to look, including thieves. I leave material, and chain up ladders, but not tools. The exception is an occupied house.

JLTrim

Not sure, I'll look over my policy but I'm pretty sure I'm not covered for any theft... but the GC said there was a good chance his builder's risk policy would cover it, I will definitely find out tomorrow. If not it's not the end of the world, but I am losing time I could be working... I have one house sitting half-finished that the painter was supposed to start tomorrow plus a lock-out I was supposed to do tomorrow. I'm not slammed, but I'd rather be finishing those up and getting paid than out wasting money on replacement tools. Hopefully something will come out of the insurance companies, I'll be checking CL and pawn shops in the meantime.

Jayrek

Please tell me that you have permanent markings on all your stuff....

Did you register any warranties???
If you did they manufacturer has your serial #'s on file, if you have misplaced them. Will help the boys in blue track down your stuff.

Do what mickeyco said, check out the local pawn shops crackheads dont go far.

I was "fortunate" enough to see this happen to other people, I learned from their mistakes. I always say, "I want and like my tools, so will someone else."

Sadly your job is hard enough, now you need to load and unload all your equip everyday, and lose time.

Good luck.

P.S.- Obama wants to take away your guns, these theives are bold enough when the population is armed, it will be out of control if he and Holder get their way.

threaderman

Sorry about your loss.I have 25,000 in tools,probably another 10,000 or so in inventory,my truck is worth about 25,000 now.I have alarms on my home/office/warehouse/van and I live in the country kind of.You're not safe anywhere.I pay dearly for an inland marine policy that covers my tools no matter where they are ,since the tools are always being rotated for the specific job to keep weight down on my rig.The Inland Marine may be a policy you can look into,not every ins. agency offers it though.Hope you find them.

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JLTrim

Nothing worse than working for free and buying the same tools twice. That sucks about the van theft, my van was broken into years ago also but I had left it unlocked in my driveway. That's the kind of mistake you only make once... I locked this house up tight and figured that'd be good enough, but one of the deadbolts didn't throw all the way and I think they managed to pry it open. I guess that's how they got in, the key was still in the same spot and there were no broken windows or anything.
Hell, I'm tempted to go get steel grilles installed on my van windows now, if that's what it's going to take to keep my gear from getting stolen again.

greg24k

Can't leave anything out today, especially when economy drops. These bums are out looking to rob something.
Also if any of you guys working on the track jobs, have to watch for these bums who pull up on jobs dressed like contractors with tool belts and they run in to the building and borrow tools and take off with what ever they can get.

To the OP I hope you be able to recover all.

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basswood

There were some young, unemployed guys in my neighborhood and rumor had it that they were linked to some theft and vandalism in the area. My novel approach the situation was to hire them to do some odd jobs for me... the first task i gave them was to engrave my ID number and name on all my tools. When I handed them the engraver, the look on their faces was a contorted combination of an "ah hah" moment, surprise and embarassemnt--they knew, I knew...(my place had been abandoned, before I bought it, and they used to hang out, breaking windows, shooting off fire extinguishers,partying and stealing some stuff).


They never caused me any trouble, and after I put them to work--cleaning up my property, doing landscaping, building saw horses, etc--they actually felt some pride in the place and they became my eyes and ears. They weren't hardened criminals, but I think I helped them steer clear of that path. One young man in the group spent his first paycheck on a toolbelt and a few hand tools, he was really proud of that. He became an apprentice for a season.

Theft sucks! I had my van cleaned out, while it was in my own driveway (I slept right through it)--that was before I moved here. Part of why I worked with the local riff raff, in my town, was to try to enlist them in my own "neighborhood watch". Even bringing tools home is no guarantee.

All the best,

Bass