This week we had my buddy Joel in the shop, who is a one-man electrical contractor here in Moscow, ID. Joel’s originally from Texas and came up under those old-school guys so he’s got kind of a classic load-out for sparkies.
We gave him a bunch of gear and talked through how it would change his workflow. Some interesting thoughts came out.
Joel's old setup.
Weight distribution - Joel said that one of the problems with tool bags for electricians is that they pretty much all load out a right hand (dominant) bag with all their tools and the left hand with supplies like fittings, wire nuts, etc. This imbalance causes a lot of fatigue by the end of the day. We set him up with a ModRig to get some of that tool weight off the hips and onto his chest. He also likes the improved economy of movement when working overhead.
Left-hand bag - We set Joel up with the new LowBoy Double-Wide as a left hand bag. He liked having two Joeys at the bottom and a MagMaster Pro and TapeMaster Pro up top.
Troubleshooting bag - Joel spends a lot of time tracking down faults with just a few tools. He was excited to ditch his big bags (which he said he carries everywhere) in favor of just a Joey Pro with a few tools - screwdriver, multimeter, volt stick, and a few others.
Romex stapler - This is a silly one, but Joel’s been using the new Milwaukee M12 Romex stapler for a while now. It’s WAY better than hammering in staples all day with your linesman pliers. The DriverMaster Pro gave him a quick spot to hang the stapler or drill instead of on the edge of his bags.
Hardware organization - Joel is still working out of his pickup (saving up for a van), but he’s got a set of hardware drawers where he stores fittings and other stuff. He loads what he needs into his left hand bag. The problem is that at the end of the day you have a bunch of mixed up hardware in the bottom of your bags that just goes in a coffee can and never gets sorted. We set up a few different Joey bags on Wally’s attached to the side of the drawers. Right away he lit up when he realized he could use those bags for certain hardware and just grab them off the truck when he needed them without sorting through drawers.
Working on a lift - Likewise, he realized he could just grab the Wally and Joey combo and slap it onto a lift to work from.
Improvements for us: right-hand bag - One thing that became clear to us in talking with Joel is that we don’t have a good solution for the typical electrician right-hand bag. Joel really liked all the little pockets in his bag that were made for specific tools like long screwdrivers, dykes, or strippers. That’s got us thinking more about how we can make a right-hand bag that really works for electricians but also brings that Holstery simplicity and modularity.
We’d love to hear your ideas!