Tools and
what you need
You do not need a van full of tools to start. You need about thirty things, most of which cost under twenty pounds, and the discipline to add to them steadily rather than buying a shiny power tool you will use twice. This unit is the honest list, with prices, and a builder so you can see what your own kit would cost.
Who buys what
Ask before your first dayHand tools
Spanners, cutters, pliers, levels, screwdrivers, your torch. These are personal tools and they follow you from job to job and employer to employer.
Plant and power
SDS drills, pipe freezers, press tools, pressure testing kit, wet vacs, drain rods, ladders and anything that needs testing or calibrating.
PPE
Where personal protective equipment is needed for the work, the employer must provide it free of charge. That includes boots, gloves, eye protection and hearing protection.
“What am I expected to turn up with?” is a completely reasonable question and no employer will think less of you for asking it. Some hand you a starter kit. Some expect a basic bag. Nobody expects a first-year apprentice to own a press tool.
Build your kit
Tick what you would buyEverything marked Core is something you will reach for in your first fortnight. Everything marked Later can wait until you know you need it. Start with the core, and watch what the total does.
£50 to £100 a month
Most apprentices build a kit over six to eight months rather than in one trip. Buy the core list first, then add the thing you had to borrow this week. A tool you have borrowed twice is a tool you should own.
Cheap where it does not matter
Buy quality on the things you hold all day and the things that will ruin a job if they fail: pipe slices, water pump pliers, a good level, your boots. Buy cheap on the things that get lost: tape measures, pencils, bleed keys.
PPE and the law
Not optional, not yours to pay forPersonal protective equipment is the last line of defence, used when the risk cannot be designed out. The employer must assess what is needed, provide it free, keep it maintained and make sure it is used. On a construction site you will not get past the gate without the basics.
| Item | Protects against | When |
|---|---|---|
| Safety boots | Dropped fittings, nails through the sole, crush injuries | Every site, every day |
| Safety glasses | Hot solder, flux spatter, drilling debris, system water under pressure | Soldering, drilling, breaking into a system |
| Gloves | Cuts from cut pipe ends, hot pipework, contaminated water | Most tasks, off for fine work |
| Knee pads | Bursitis — a genuine career-ending injury in this trade | Anything at floor level, which is most of it |
| Ear defenders | Hearing loss from SDS drilling and cutting | Power tools in an enclosed space |
| Dust mask (FFP3) | Silica dust from chasing walls, old insulation | Chasing, drilling masonry, lofts |
| Hard hat and hi-vis | Site hazards and being seen | Commercial sites, as a condition of entry |
Knees. More plumbers leave the trade because of their knees than for any other physical reason. Knee pads cost about twenty pounds and a working pair of knees is worth the rest of your career. Wear them from your first week, not from the week they start hurting.
Looking after it all
Tools, vans and theftMake it identifiable
Paint mark, engrave or UV-mark every tool. Stolen tools are almost never returned without a way of proving they are yours.
Nothing in the van overnight
Most tool insurance policies exclude theft from an unattended vehicle overnight, or cap it at a few hundred pounds. Read the wording before you find out the hard way.
Keep a record
Photograph the kit, keep the receipts and serial numbers in one place. It turns a painful insurance claim into a form-filling exercise.
Blades and batteries
A blunt pipe slice crushes copper instead of cutting it. Wheels are a couple of pounds. Change them before the joint you make with a crushed pipe end starts to weep.
Check what you have taken in
8 marksAn employer tells an apprentice to buy their own safety boots and glasses out of their wages. What is the position?
Why does a worn cutting wheel on a pipe slice cause leaking joints?
A kit totals £520 and the apprentice can put £75 a month towards it. How many months does it take to buy the whole kit?
Why do experienced plumbers empty the van every night?
Produced for EAL Learn+.
Introduction to Plumbing — a 30-hour pre-apprenticeship short course.