I was going to hire a 3 inch diameter diamond core drill to install a few fence posts. Quote was about $250 for 24 hours.
Instead, I ended up buying one off eBay for $268. ($199 for the drill, and $69 for the 76mm x 450mm diamond core bit.) Drilled 8 cores so far through concrete and reo, and it works just fine. Soft start, 3 speed gear box, release clutch, 12 month warranty in Sydney.
How do they work out the hire prices?? Used to be worth hiring something if you only needed it once. But now, seems it's not even worth that anymore. And the big bonus is I haven't had to rush the job.
The quality of these cheap Chinese tools has improved a lot recently, and they seem to be pretty good for the home handy man who is isn't going to be flogging them to death.
Hire shops generally use top quality brands for longevity of hire life for maximum return on there investment before they need to replace the tool. Cutting bits are charger buy how much of the cutter you wear away.
I agree with you that you can buy a cheaper tool for your one off job and your in front, but quite often a tradie will need sever toosl for a one off job so it is not worth his out lay to purchase them, let alone the time to find and buy, then store, maintain etc. as they do flog them to death
Hire works for some, not for others,
Hope that not too much of a coring reply
Some of the cheaper tools are great, heaps of guys have the Ozito hammer drill/chipper, they go unreal
So does the Ozito rezip
Tools that don't need precision, just ready to be used and abused, blow em and throw em !
ozito all they way, 3 year walk in walk out warranty with zero down time. I even took a 3 year old bench grinder back with no receipt, they changed it after some umming and aaaahing.
I think some of the bigger hire companies have got complacent. I hired a demo saw from one of them a year ago and they charged something like $250. Plus they wanted to charge me for a new blade (up front) and you don't even get to keep it after the job.
I recently asked a smaller hire place about hiring the same saw and they were much cheaper plus they include a certain amount of wear of the blade in the rental price before you have to pay more.
So, my thinking is that the bigger places don't need to compete or they have their heads stuck in the sand. There are a lot of cheap tools coming out from China and the quality is improving enough where it can be better to buy them than rent.
Is that the same brand that sells a lot of their own branded stuff on ebay? I saw an article about the guy who does that and is making a fair bit of money. I bought a giraffe sander from them and its decent enough quality. The only let down were their delivery times and customer service. They seemed to want to jump through hoops to prevent me leaving a negative report, but weren't too keen on actually delivering the tool I ordered within their promised time frame, or even the following week.
You could have probably got a fencer to come & core drill all the holes for you cheaper than the hire or the cost of the core drill you now will be tripping over for the rest of your life..
And as its so cheap it is not really going to have any resale value now its used .
But i do think the quality of the cheap tools has improved dramatically .
If its a limited use i go with them i can flog them to death just like ever other tool i buy & there usually heaps better at replacing with no problems than expensive tools that seem to want to be sent away for repairs so you don't even have the tool for a month.
Which is a total pain . You paid more & can't get the job finished no loan of a replacement while yours is in for repair.
One thing I'm not really understanding on these threads about tool is people saying cheap tools are not as accurate . I actually think thats a bit of crap a tools only as good as the operator . A trade who knows all the tricks of the trade can do the job the same no matter what tool you give them a not very handy man with limited skills will still do a crap job no matter what tool they have.
Select to expand quoteactiomax said..
You could have probably got a fencer to come & core drill all the holes for you cheaper than the hire or the cost of the core drill you now will be tripping over for the rest of your life..
And as its so cheap it is not really going to have any resale value now its used .
But i do think the quality of the cheap tools has improved dramatically .
If its a limited use i go with them i can flog them to death just like ever other tool i buy & there usually heaps better at replacing with no problems than expensive tools that seem to want to be sent away for repairs so you don't even have the tool for a month.
Which is a total pain . You paid more & can't get the job finished no loan of a replacement while yours is in for repair.
One thing I'm not really understanding on these threads about tool is people saying cheap tools are not as accurate . I actually think thats a bit of crap a tools only as good as the operator . A trade who knows all the tricks of the trade can do the job the same no matter what tool you give them a not very handy man with limited skills will still do a crap job no matter what tool they have.
Nah,the cheap tools are not as accurate at all. Drop saws. Circular saws in particular have crap bearings and do not run "true".
Agreed the cheap hammer drills can be great but the saws just don't make the grade.
Select to expand quoteactiomax said..
You could have probably got a fencer to come & core drill all the holes for you cheaper than the hire or the cost of the core drill you now will be tripping over for the rest of your life..
And as its so cheap it is not really going to have any resale value now its used .
But i do think the quality of the cheap tools has improved dramatically .
If its a limited use i go with them i can flog them to death just like ever other tool i buy & there usually heaps better at replacing with no problems than expensive tools that seem to want to be sent away for repairs so you don't even have the tool for a month.
Which is a total pain . You paid more & can't get the job finished no loan of a replacement while yours is in for repair.
One thing I'm not really understanding on these threads about tool is people saying cheap tools are not as accurate . I actually think thats a bit of crap a tools only as good as the operator . A trade who knows all the tricks of the trade can do the job the same no matter what tool you give them a not very handy man with limited skills will still do a crap job no matter what tool they have.
This might be true if you are a tradesman calling another tradesman, probably one that you know, but its not the same for everyone.
It is more likely to be 'hey, can you come over and drill some holes for me?' with the answer being 'mate, that jobs too small for me, I can drop over next month, possibly on a Tuesday, and it'll be $100 a hole.... plus GST'.
Seriously, getting small jobs done is difficult or can cost the earth.
I don't agree with your idea that its the operator at fault. There are cheap tools, and they do have poor alignment and bearings. The difference is that a decent tradesman would say 'this is a piece of crap' and throw it away.
I have a drop saw that is not accurate, but as long as you calibrate it every now and then its good. I am sure that a decent name brand would not have this problem.
All these people that regurgitate the saying 'a good tradesman never blames his tools' has never used crap tools and/or has no idea of what it involves. I think the saying should be 'a good tradesman recognises quality tools and knows when the tools are to blame and when its their fault'.
Select to expand quotekiteboy dave said..
" I even took a 3 year old bench grinder back with no receipt, they changed it after some umming and aaaahing. "
That would take an exceptionally hard neck . J
sotired
You contradict yourself a bit saying you have to calibrate your saw & allow for that because that is exactly what a good tradesmen does to get the job done right.
Its true better quality can make life faster & easier but even expensive tools wear out and disrepencys have to be factored in.
You don't get to be a good tradesman just because you started an aprenticeship the apprentice gets the **** jobs & the **** tools & they learn how to use them properly.
Then when they get the good tools they know how to use them properly no matter what. They take all the variables that they have learned into account. They have learned to set up tools properly.
A good tradesman never blames his tools is a thousands of year old saying because its true.
So if your drill bit is blunt do you say its a crap tool or do you actually learn how to sharpen them properly. sure cheap drills are crap but because i know how to use them properly & sharpen them i can get the most out of them for example i know they will be more likely to burn out so i adjust my speed & pressure to suit i never just go i can't do the job this drill bit is cheap.
I can guaranty a good tradesman will do a better job with cheap tools than a weekend renovator using the most expensive tools on the market.
Its like windsurfing you can go and buy all brand new gear but without the time taken to learn how to use it properly it won't make any difference than sailing with cheap stuff.
Tradesman buy the best its tax deductible for them they have to use then all the time but for most people cheap with a bit of time & care will sort out the problems .
That said 8 holes for $270 probably what a core driller would charge $35 per hole but say harrow core drills through his water or gas mains does he have insurance .
Unlikely so trying to do the job cheap can result in some very expensive mistakes for people i know that for a fact. And at the end of the day he could have gone windsurfing & left it to somebody else & won't have a core drill to trip over & if something went wrong well they are insured so thats covered .
The influx of diy shows & the cheapness of tools is a gold mine for trades coming to fix up mistakes the job will cost twice as much with the traddie thats without the time & expense of buying the tools & stuffing the job up.
I saw a van advertising we will come & fix the renovations your husband stuffed up the other day.
And thats not because they have expensive tools but because they know how to use them
Actiomax, sometimes using a tradesman can be a better idea, but sometimes its not. I wouldn't be surprised if the guy doing the core drilling has a waiver saying that he has no responsibility at all for the holes he drills and what he might hit. I would be absolutely amazed if he took responsibility for something he had no control over. So that argument is moot. Who ever drills the holes is going to pass the problem back to Harrow.
I have had some quotes done recently for electrical work and they all include waivers for things that they cannot know and any problems found become my problem no matter what. The interesting thing about this quoted work was that the exact same work started at a couple of quotes at $1600 and up to a quote for $3800. So, I based on that variability, I am doubtful that Harrow would be able to find a guy to drill those holes at a cheap price.
The point about calibrating my drop saw is valid. Even though I calibrate it, the cut is not as reliable as a name brand saw. The bearings appear to be a bit dodgy. If I care about the job I am doing I calibrate it, but I wouldn't expect to have to do that with a name brand saw each time I used it.
If you think the quality of tools makes no difference, I would ask you to compare a name brand lithium ion drill with a no name nicad drill and see which one drives you crazy first.
In my own experience I could happily cut timber to size with my dad's no name circular saw, but I would much prefer to do it with my 7.5" light-weight makita with a decent carbide blade in it. One is like cutting through butter with a hot knife, even in hardwood, and the other is like hacking into a bit of cardboard with a steak knife. Both will get the job done, but I know which one I like to use.
I grew up using blunt drill bits and absolutely hate using them. Now I would rather pay for a decent new bit and do the job properly and easily the first time. On the other hand I would happily use a cheap tool if its a one off job.
Blow em and throw em….20 years in the trade, have a cheap china grinder, can't kill it, 6 years strong, we call it the anti-christ
hey ill give you $100 for that drill set up…..
I still remember something my old trade school teacher said to me in '86
"Son, sharp boys have sharp tools", always held me in good stead
Select to expand quoteactiomax said..
You could have probably got a fencer to come & core drill all the holes for you cheaper than the hire or the cost of the core drill you now will be tripping over for the rest of your life..
And as its so cheap it is not really going to have any resale value now its used .
You could get someone to come and drill 8 holes for $250? And he's going to accept all liability for unknown services under the slab? Phone number please!!! 
Anyway, I know what's under the concrete, I poured the 20 cubic meters myself.
Why would I worry about resale value? I'm already at break even, but I get to keep the tool for myself....and now all my friends can use it for free as well.
And then what about the next 20 holes I want to drill? I have at least two more jobs in mind that I'm going to use it for over the next 12 months, so that's all for free.
And don't worry, I've just decided to put it on a shelf in my garage instead of the middle of the lounge room floor, so I'm not tripping over it anymore. 
Select to expand quoteHarrow said..
Anyway, I know what's under the concrete, I poured the 20 cubic meters myself.
You poured 20 m3 yourself? Way to go!
Have you been taking Pmac's stories seriously and building a bunker?
I'm not saying that the quality of tools makes no difference . The better the quality the easier it is that's a given what I'm say is that skills overcome these problems . The old quality tools of say 40 years ago Are the same as the cheap tools we have now people weren't doing inferior work then . I mean my dad had a drill solid metal body was heavy and bearings weren't great by today's standard but that was the best then & tradesmen didn't do inferior jobs then.
When I am in a hardware store looking at tools and cheap ones made in China, I always have this vision of the tool company designers laughing at their design of cheap measuring tape that are 99 cm long per meter and squares that are 89 degrees.
They sell that all around the world so we are all annoyed at our crooked and bent project without knowing why...
And why can you only find a good screwdriver or spanner at $15/$20 or a cheap set of 8 for 5 bucks ?
I sometime would like to have just one OK one for $5.
Select to expand quoteactiomax said..
I'm not saying that the quality of tools makes no difference . The better the quality the easier it is that's a given what I'm say is that skills overcome these problems . The old quality tools of say 40 years ago Are the same as the cheap tools we have now people weren't doing inferior work then . I mean my dad had a drill solid metal body was heavy and bearings weren't great by today's standard but that was the best then & tradesmen didn't do inferior jobs then.
I agree, new good sharp tools make the job easier for any and every one, but ......
If you cant use a hand saw, brace and bit, water level, mitre box, block plane, chisels, oil stone or swing an 20 oz estwing or the like it doesn't matter what power tool you use as you properly don't know the difference between a tradie and a craftsman's finish.
Some of the younger guys would have no idea of the above tools or that they can be sharpened over and over as they are not a throw away item.
Select to expand quotesotired said..
Harrow said..
Anyway, I know what's under the concrete, I poured the 20 cubic meters myself.
Have you been taking Pmac's stories seriously and building a bunker?
Ha, ha, afraid not. Just a 100m2 slab, a foundation for an 18 meter long retaining wall, and three short sets of stairs. I got a guy to come and help install the reo (starter bars as thick as my thumb) for the retaining wall foundation.
Like everything else, it's not so hard as long as you plan well and pay attention to the prep work. Besides, it was all going to paved so it didn't need to be pretty. 
