Back in to the fold

Hi Bez and welcome to the trade!

Sounds to me like you have most of the tools covered but there are a 2 pieces of equipment I would advise u to take a serious look at. The first one is a saw by *******. It is a

mitre saw on legs that flips over in seconds to become a table saw with an adjustable fence. Handy for cutting fillers and ripping things to an accurate straight width. I have used

mine to cut 100mm strips of a 8′x4′ sheets of 18mm mdf (2 man job though). you can pick these up for aprox £650 new or around £300 for a good second hand one. The other tool is a

******* saw and. The model I have is *******. This has to be probably the best piece of kit I have ever bought! Say for instance you want to cut 1600mm piece of a work top – you put

you pencil marks 1600 in for the edge of the top, place the right edge of the “saw guide track” on your marks , put your saw on the track pull the trigger and slide it up the track

.This saw is so good if you keep your blades sharp ( I have mine reground every month for all my power saws £5 each better than £35 for a new one )you can cut worktop or furniture

board laminate side up without it “spelching” you can then laminate the cut end with no need to clean up the edge with a router , you can cut custom build unit panels in mins e.g.

wine racks , tray spaces ect. All with clean cut square, straight edges. The downfall is expect to pay around 400 quid! I would also advise to get 110v tools rather than 240v because

you probably will work on sites and as you will be aware most sites have an 110v power tool rule in force.
As far as jobs go I can only advise on the way that I approach my jobs,
if you do fits for kitchen sales companies I always insist on looking at the site even if they have their own surveyors, I have had my fingers burnt a couple of times, they tell u you

only minor electrics need doing, you turn up on site and the kitchen has no ring main in and you have to put one in, lead pipe work and stop cocks that don’t work is another thing

they “forget” to mention. Plastering! The list goes on. If the customer has supplied there own kitchen ask to see the plans and the component list check the plans first to make sure

the kitchen fits the dimensions of the room. As strange as this may seem I have been given plans on a few occasions and the proposed kitchen didn’t fit the room! then check the

component list to make sure everything has been ordered and the right amount, the customer tends to get a bit brassed off when they have to fork out another 20 quid for a length of

plinth after just spending in most cases a few thousand on their new kitchen because not enough was ordered, it creates a bad vibe all round and you are the one who is stuck in middle

of it. And finally just good business practice but you sound like you have been in the construction game long enough to know that!

Good luck!
Paul

Ps. keep me posted!