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Thread: Do you have an inventory of your tools?

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
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    Duvall, WA
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    706
    As already covered, it would be smart to create an inventory for both insurance purposes and for those left behind to pick up the pieces should you depart the world unexpectedly. The "fair market value" is all you can ever hope to recoup from reselling any item in your inventory, so I'm not sure that holding on to receipts is of any value except in the case of warranty claims or ownership authentication (yes, it's really mine and yes, I bought it). Other than that, a description of what each item is and it's present fair market value are really all that's needed. Photographic evidence supports any claims made in the absence of other physical evidence, and video would be even better if you need to show an item in working order (parts moving, lights blinking, etc.).

    Having said all that, I myself haven't done this yet. I've been so busy accumulating stuff over the last several years that I haven't done anything more than to hang onto purchase information (mostly research info and receipts) and owners manuals for the larger items, or store the smaller items in boxes and bins and on shelves.

  2. #17
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Upland CA
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    5,547
    One thing to mention about insurance. I have REPLACEMENT value insurance. It costs a little more than normal DEPRICIATED value insurance, but imagine what my depreciated value of 20 year old name brand tools would be.

    Hate to mention it, but another scenario is divorce. I went to see some advertised tools once. The lady said her hubby had left with his new girl friend, and asked her to dispose of his complete shop in the garage. I bought over 50 woodworking books and a dozen videos for $50. My buddy snuck around behind me and found 24 True Grip aluminum bar clamps in a corner, and she asked her 16 YO son how much. $5 each bought them all. I asked her several times if she was sure he would let items go for such low prices, and she was adamant that he wanted to sell them. Guilt assuaged, we cleaned out the place.

    I have often wondered what happened if and when hubby came home.
    Rick Potter

    DIY journeyman,
    FWW wannabe.
    AKA Village Idiot.

  3. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Rick Potter View Post
    One thing to mention about insurance. I have REPLACEMENT value insurance. It costs a little more than normal DEPRICIATED value insurance, but imagine what my depreciated value of 20 year old name brand tools would be.
    That's the only way to go. I've got almost $398k in equipment that I've paid $216k for. I bought a lot of it when the economy was down and cabinet shops were going belly up all over the place. I would have to spend a lot more to replace it, and significantly more to replace it quickly.

  4. #19
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Las Cruces, NM
    Posts
    125
    Just do a Google search for "Home inventory app". I found numerous comparisons of different apps for both IOS and Android. Most were free or cost very little.

  5. #20
    As the guy who scored at the estate sale i can tell you one of the first things I did when i got home was make a spreadsheet of all the tools I scored! Definitely a great idea for insurance purposes as well as knowing what you have if you happen to have too many tools to remember whats in each drawer! (good problem!!)

    Note: I was as shocked to score those tools as you guys, the crazy part is I asked him the price on the hand tools and clamps and he set it, I didn't haggle those at all. For the bandsaw he suggested $300 and I said $200 so we settled on $250. This was the moment I knew I should invest more time in woodworking and stop trying to get by using my old construction tools to do everything!

  6. #21
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Location
    El Dorado Hills, CA
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    1,311
    It is on my to-do list, both for insurance and in case I die early. I should walk through the shop with a camera or camcorder and record a quick image.

    Most of the tools in my shop were purchased from CL at less than half of the new price, so they should still be worth about what I paid for them. I should create a spreadsheet to help my wife out. It would list the major items, new cost, what I paid (even though it is irrelevant), and expected sale price.

    Steve

  7. #22
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Winterville, NC (eastern NC)
    Posts
    2,360
    I work in insurance claims, property claims. From personal experience in dealing with total losses, an inventory of personal property, including your shop inventory, would be in your best interest. Too many folks have to use memory to compile a list of items lost in a major fire, and some items will be lost in this memory. An inventory, with photos, is the kind of documentation that insurance companies love to see.

    You could begin by lining up your arsenal of routers on the bench and listing model numbers, age and cost. I currently have 10 routers and 5 laminate trimmers so an inventory and photos would be ideal in the event a UFO crashes into my shop.

    It would be helpful should the unthinkable happen and you have to make a trip to that great workshop in the sky and your loved ones have to deal with disposing of your stash. You would rest easier if your estate sold that Holtey plane for something higher than $20.00.

  8. #23
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
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    SoCal
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    Quote Originally Posted by Samuel Green View Post
    As the guy who scored at the estate sale i can tell you one of the first things I did when i got home was make a spreadsheet of all the tools I scored! Definitely a great idea for insurance purposes as well as knowing what you have if you happen to have too many tools to remember whats in each drawer! (good problem!!)

    Note: I was as shocked to score those tools as you guys, the crazy part is I asked him the price on the hand tools and clamps and he set it, I didn't haggle those at all. For the bandsaw he suggested $300 and I said $200 so we settled on $250. This was the moment I knew I should invest more time in woodworking and stop trying to get by using my old construction tools to do everything!
    No need to apologize. I think you did great. I would have stopped at every 7-11 on the way home and bought a lottery ticket if my luck was running that high.
    "A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".


    – Samuel Butler

  9. #24
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    San Francisco, CA
    Posts
    1,408
    So in response to this thread I decided to check out what the current state of the art is on apps for this purpose. I decided to try out an app called Sortly. Looks pretty powerful both for keeping a shop inventory as well as a location tracker. Also can generate bar codes for moving purposes. Not a bad set of features for $10 for the premium version.

    No affiliation by the way.

  10. #25
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    DFW, TX
    Posts
    176
    Yeah, I need to go through and do some sort of inventory as well, for all the reasons cited.
    It'll be hard to come up with the values however. A lot of my things were purchased decades ago.

    My one fear in life, is that after I pass, my wife will sell all my tools for what I told her I paid for them.
    It's never too late to have a happy childhood.

  11. #26
    Join Date
    Sep 2013
    Location
    Carrollton, Georgia
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    Quote Originally Posted by Patrick Walsh View Post
    One thing that stops me is the fear that if i share with my insurance company that i have a fully operational shop in my homes basement they may not want to insure me or may raise my rates to some kinda commercial rate.
    This happened to me with Farm Bureau but, fortunately, I found another insurer who, not only insured my tools and inventory but, insured my business under my home owner's policy, for a very reasonable rate, as well. It was the best insurance move I ever made.

  12. #27
    Join Date
    Sep 2013
    Location
    Carrollton, Georgia
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    1,815
    Quote Originally Posted by Marty Schlosser View Post
    I'd like to add that the list needs to be placed somewhere where it may be readily accessed and your loved ones know where it is.
    Yes, I have all my inventory, including pictures, not only of tools but everything in the house, on a thumb drive I keep in a building away from the house, in case the house burns down.

  13. #28
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    NW Indiana
    Posts
    3,078
    Would someone like to share their spreadsheet? How do you index photos or other documents to an item. Do you use a link or index number of some kind.

    There is also a home inventory program called Homemanage.

  14. #29
    An inventory certainly is a good idea for insurance reasons. My wife also asked me to give her the names of a couple of my friends who are knowledgeable about tools to help her in case she needs to sell them off and I'm not around. She is much more likely to hand that task off to a trusted friend than try to sell them herself.

  15. #30
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Southwestern Penna.
    Posts
    329
    I made a video of my equipment just for insurance purposes. When I go I know my wife will not sell them she told me the new young guy knows how to use them.

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