Paulk Inspired Tool - Work Trailer Build Handyman and Home Remodeling Company

[@miketyler4536]

I too have a handyman and mtnc sompany. I just traded work for a single axle 8x5. I am looking for ideas and yours made a lot of sense. Thx for the video. Cheers from Utah

[@udavidism]

Great to see you using those Gatorade bottles, 3:05, they are strong and thick. I don't understand why people don't wash more items from around the house. I use medium size plastic mayonnaise jars, peanut butter jars, plastic jars that nuts come in and many more. You can clean out and cut the bottom off of gallon and quart oil bottles that are nearly square, they make great dividers inside of drawers. I just drain them out and pass them over my table saw, a quick rinse in paint thinner or gasoline and they work great. No need to always buy something you already throw away. Great trailer!

[@bill5552]

As a part time handyman I constantly load and unload my truck. Often I don't know exactly what I need so I pack in what I THINK I will need. Sometimes it's too much, sometimes not enough. You seem to be prepared for everything with your organized trailer. Your video is very helpful as I am currently looking for a trailer. You are appreciated.

[@R2Customs]

Thank you Sir! Believe me I know the feeling of not knowing if you have all the right stuff with you or if you have to much, I wrestle with that all the time. Over Black Friday I spent some money on setting up a rolling stack system that I can throw in my truck and go do some of the smaller jobs if the trailer is on site at a bigger job, which has been happening more and more this year. So trying to figure out what all to carry has been top of mind this last weekend and I don't know if I will ever get it perfect …… As a company we are doing more and more larger projects and less of the smaller projects which I think is a good thing but we will always have a flow of smaller stuff which helps the cashflow situation. I do think that the rolling stack tool boxes are the best way to organize if your working out of a truck. I just bought a second trailer and will be building it out here when the weather gets nicer. It will be similar to this trailer but it is a bigger trailer and I am going to make some changes based upon what we learned this year so stay tuned for that video …...

[@ToddAndelin]

looking good.... nice setup you have... and your customers and lucky to have someone like you... friendly and organized... Im trying to get to your level not there yet but im trying! shout out from utah...

[@gregsandifer2398]

Great job ! I like this trailor better than all the ocd..trailors out there..built for what you need ,functional and basic..makes sense

[@DeepAboveSurface]

Great setup! I too am a big fan of the crates...

[@R2Customs]

They are very flexible and adaptable and work great don’t they .....

[@thehandymancarpenter9942]

Nice clean setup. Thanks for sharing!

[@R2Customs]

You are welcome sir !!!

[@lcmlcm2460]

Hi I own a home improvement business in CT. USA. with 3 other guys. I ran out of room and have been thinking about a trailer lately. Thanks for the video. Hope everything stays well.

[@RenovationsandRepair]

I applaud you for going with tandem axles on a 6x12. Most would cheap out and do single. Having 2 axles makes the world of difference. I have my trailer built out Ron paulk style as well. Nice to see another trailer in youtube.

[@R2Customs]

Thank You! I have watched most all your trailer build videos while doing my research for my build. I'm about to modify the trailer a bit, I have moved to as much battery operated tools as possible and that includes miter saw and table saw so the big stuff is coming out and a new cabinet is getting built for that back corner. I'm also on Contractor Talk so I have read a bunch of your posts there about your trailer build and other topics. If you don't mind I will send you a PM over there, we are in the process of moving out your way from Illinois so I just picked up a new trailer a 7x16 to build out for the new market so I will be doing it a little different since I have more room and then we are going to build up the company in the new market and keep the existing market growing. So fun times ahead …...

[@robbiejeffrey4618]

Nice trailer set up. Gives me idea's in the near future when I buy a trailer.

[@R2Customs]

Thank you sir! I hope it was helpful.

[@bwojak3226]

Nice set up

[@R2Customs]

Thank you !!! I just picked up a new and bigger trailer today so stay tuned for some build out vids on it coming this spring after we get moved …….

[@commoncents456]

Great job. Good luck with the trailer

[@R2Customs]

Thank you very much sir !

[@willschultz5452]

I have dewalt mainly however I have some Bauer stuff also and I'm very impressed with their tools. I don't use a jig saw much either so I have one in Bauer. Works great!

[@christianbrewer3564]

Nice work on your trailer!!!

[@R2Customs]

Christian Brewer thank you sir ! I appreciate it !

[@miket2172]

Looks great

[@cruisernet]

Very nice!

[@matttang1907]

great setup!

[@R2Customs]

Thank you sir !!!!

[@shawnweaver3955]

Nice build! How is the tool chest holding up?

[@VonBoozer]

Do you ever feel with the 6x12 is too big for several handyman type jobs in a day? I’m considering a 6x10TA, 6x12TA, or 7x10TA. I’m like you a want to be able to fit a small pallet, fridge, etc.

[@brantgarner8535]

Like the set up! I have a new trailer and kinda know how I want it built out. Two things I'm not so sure about. How to safely mount the cabinets to the walls of the trailer? Is yours 3/4 plywood on the back of the cabinets screwed to the 3/8 plywood of the trailer wall? Other big thing, how to wire up the trailer with the marine battery and then also make it to where I can plug it to shore power when back at my shop? Also want led lights at the top, high beam backup lights, backup camera on the trailer and for hitch. Forgive me I'm mostly a wood guy!

[@StormyITO]

I like the tool drawers, it makes better sense than building wood drawers.

[@DanielTojcic]

Gatorade storage is a great idea

[@russalbright4213]

Nice work! I have to ask about the 10 gallon trash can. Does the top work well? What kind of trash bags do you use inside of it? Thanks for the help. I need to get a small trash can for my trailer and I think I like the one you have. Thanks for sharing!

[@R2Customs]

The 10 gallon works well for an “in the trailer” trash can to help keep the trailer clean and neat. I also carry a full size to have our on the job site. I just use 30 gallon bags, they are to big but when I pull it out I can stuff more in it during an jobsite clean up, so it works ok.

[@JoseGarcia-yk9us]

Where is the video of ridgid rolling kit

[@brettfarris5914]

Is your tool box at the rear a 18” deep or the 24” deep ? Thanks !

[@benschmolze1266]

Nice work man. I'm about to build out my 6X10 and have similar chop/table saw setups on big rolling stands. They take up a ton of space and I'm debating whether or not to ditch the stands. Any regrets with your setup? Thanks.

[@jasonsm123]

Cool video. Question for a homeowner that wants to get tools but don’t use them all the time. What brands do you recommend? I see Ryobi and watched reviews since they are good in prices and seem to hold up well. I like Milwaukee and dewalt but I like to get your opinion or a video on recommendations. Thank you for making informative videos.

[@R2Customs]

Jason, Good morning and thank you for the question. Unfortunately there is no right answer for your question. As a brand Ryobi has a lot of positives for certain situations. I break my tool purchases up into a couple of different categories, my first category is the tools that I know I am going to use hard and often, these include drills, drivers, saws etc. for the tools that I know I am going to depend on to do the heavy lifting on a job I will invest good money in those tools. My brand of choice for my go to, these have to work all the time tools is Makita. There always has been and always will be a great debate between who has the best tools between the big three of Milwaukee, Makita and Dewalt. You will find regional differences, I’m in Illinois so around here in the Midwest you see a ton of Milwaukee and Dewalt and not as much Makita, but if you go to California or the east coast then Makita is the bulk of what you see on job sites. The bottom line is that all three companies make great tools and you won’t go wrong with any of the brands I just find Makita to be more comfortable to use for long periods of time because of their weight and ergonomics. My second group of tools is the tools that I think I’m going to use but maybe not quite as often, I use this category as a testing ground I see if I will use a tool as much as I think I will before I go and drop A list tool money on that tool. This is where I will quiet often use Ryobi. Ryobi tools have a pretty good value proposition. They have a big system so you have lots of tool choices, they use a common battery and they are moderately durable. Ergonomics kinda suck, they are heavy and they don’t have some of the nice productivity features you will find in the big three. But for a homeowner they are more than adequate tools. The other brand to check out is Rigid, for not a whole more money you are taking a step up in quality and features so I am personally buying more rigid now days for the tools that fall into my second category of use and so far they have done well. Other brands to consider are Craftsman which are good mid level tools for reasonable money and even Porter Cable and Kobalt fall into that same category of good value for your money tools that have a pretty decent system and variety of tools.

[@TheRealBeardedBuilder]

No such thing as a completed trailer. It will always be 95% because it’ll always be changing! I thought the same thing when I built mine 2 years ago.

[@R2Customs]

FF Barry I know, I’m already making a list of little changes I would like to make now that we have been using it on the job for awhile. Luckily most of the changes are small, for the most part the trailer is working out as I hope it would.

[@TheRealBeardedBuilder]

I’m really thinking about building a second trailer and gutting my current trailer for on site material storage. The next trailer I’m going to spec with heavier axles. My biggest regret was only doing 7000#. Next one will have two 7000# axles. Would rather have the cushion than be overweight all the time.

[@knittwitt]

How many sheets of ply

[@R2Customs]

I believe it was 12 ish with everything.

[@markandtracischuette4224]

Nice set up! Just curious if the DOT pulls you over at all?

[@R2Customs]

I have never had that pleasure, here in Illinois they seem to be mostly concerned with the big trucks. Now they may in the future but I have never seen the DOT guys in my area pull over any contractors, not saying they couldn't do it but I have just never seen it around here. The other thing is I try not to give them a reason to pull me over, when the trailer is on the truck I make sure and do it safely, I don't get in a hurry, I don't do dumb stuff, safety is my number one concern. If I don't get to the job because I got in an accident then I don't work and I don't make money, so an extra couple minutes to get somewhere safely is a no brainer to me.

[@Jeziorski7]

nice setup. anything you would change or want different? Im looking at getting a trailer so Id like to see what people really find useful. Would you prefer it being 7' wide?

[@R2Customs]

Thank you sir! Now that we have used the trailer for pretty much a full season overall that trailer has worked very well for us. There are changes I would like to make but they aren't really big changes, just more I would call it massages to make things a little more efficient. A wider trailer would really be nice to have, I am going to be building out a second trailer his spring and that trailer will be a 7 foot wide trailer and I will be doing a build series on that trailer and I will be incorporating all the changes I would like to make in this current trailer in the new trailer build. What I will say is this, with this trailer being 6 foot wide, yes there are times that I would love to have the trailer be a foot wider it would be more convenient and more comfortable but the reality is that the 6 foot width hasn't hurt us, hasn't stopped us from doing our job. We don't work inside the trailer much it really is a rolling tool box for us. There has been some upside to having the smaller trailer, for example the job we are wrapped up today, the trailer has been onsite for about 6 weeks now parked in the customers driveway. Its a normal sized row house housing addition driveway, it's kinda a smaller driveway. By having the 6 foot trailer I can park in the driveway and still leave enough room for another vehicle to use the open side of the driveway comfortably, if I had the 7 foot wide trailer out there it would be almost to tight to try and use the open side of the driveway. Backing this trailer into tighter places is most definitely easier, I can easily put this trailer in a lot of places much easier than I will be able to put the 7 x 16 trailer. I really sweated the size debate a lot before I bought the trailer, what I can tell you now is that a bigger trailer would be more comfortable and improve our efficiency in some ways a little bit, but we haven't suffered by not having the bigger trailer. One key to making this work is putting in the time and effort to keep the trailer clean and organized. Another thing we have found is that you don't need to have every tool you own in the trailer all the time. We have certain tools that get used very frequently and then we have tools that get used occasionally. So we keep the occasional use tools in the storage shed and just grab them when we know we will need them that day. For example our concrete tools, we use them 3 maybe 4 times a month on average, we know ahead of time when a concrete truck is coming, my storage shed is 5 minutes from the house and most of the time I have to go by the storage shed to get to the job anyway so it takes me five minutes to stop and grab the concrete tools and throw them in the truck. Post hole digger is the same thing, we do a lot of decks and fences, usually though we dig all our holes in one day so I might need the post hole digger for a day and it dosen't make sense to me to drag it around with me to get used 3 or 4 or 5 days a month. Me or one of the guys can grab it on the days we need it. The big thing for us was to get some time under our belt with the trailer and see how we would really use it and what we have found is that we were draggin a lot of tools around with us every day that we just didn't need to have all the time. So the bottom line to me is this trailer does the job, bigger would be nice but not necessary. I have had guys tell me that having a bigger trailer that has everything in it would save me a few 5 minute trips to the shed and that would make me more efficient and there is some truth to that but the flipside is that on some jobsites the guys with the bigger trailers quite often cant get as close to the actual worksite as I can because there just isn't room to put their bigger trailer. That makes a huge difference to me because throughout the course of the day my guys make a lot more trips to the trailer to get batteries and screws and other materials than the number of trips we have to make to the storage shed to grab concrete tools or post hole diggers, so I can see that it saves me time to be closer. If my guys can get to the trailer that is 50 feet away that's a shorter, quicker trip than if I have to park half way down the block. Quite often my guys are working in pairs or 3 together and if one guy runs to get a tool, sometimes the other guys have to wait till he gets back before they can move forward with what they are doing so now I have 2 or 3 guys all waiting that I am paying while one guy runs and gets something, so that's really in efficient and costly. The other thing is like on this current job because the trailer is smaller and can be there with out blocking the open side of the driveway, I don't have to take the trailer out every night when we leave so we don't have to hook up and pull it out and then put it back the next day and re set it up and that saves a ton of time. Hope my rambling thoughts helped, you can make a smaller trailer work very well and be very efficient but maybe your jobsites will allow for a bigger trailer which could be nice as well. There are advantages to both. The hard part about this is that until you buy a trailer and set it up and use it in the real world for awhile your not going to know for sure what the right answer is. My suggestion is to look at the different compromises of each sized trailer and try to figure out which ones are going to cause you the least amount of pain and head that direction.

[@Jeziorski7]

@@R2Customs okay awesome thanks mN. im looking to buy a 7x12 v nose but single axle

[@andrewbieger5004]

Very nice setup on the trailer. Gives me some inspiration for my upcoming fitout on a SA 6x10 trailer. I noticed several brands of cordless tools. Do you find that to be a hassle in the field with four different platforms? I am in the process of upgrading my 18v (old school ) Dewalt tools to a newer platform. I might get a few 20 volt Li-ion batts with adapters to use until those old tools finally die, but would like to only have one or two platforms. What is your opinion so far on the Ridgid line for Contractor use?

[@R2Customs]

Andrew thank you for the comments. When it comes to different battery platforms the short answer is no in my case and there are specific reasons for that. Makita is my primary 18 volt platform and they are just awesome tools, run time, power, weight and ergonomics are as good or better than any of the other choices out there. Makita is my main line for the tools which I consider to be daily use tools, drills, drivers, impact, recip saw etc. The problem with all of the tool lines is that some of the tools each company offers can be somewhat expensive if it is not one of the high volume selling tools like drills and drivers etc. Take Makita for example I needed an 18v jigsaw, the Makita option at the time cost $ 280 for a tool I will use, but not use it everyday. The Rigid Octane jig saw had great reviews an they were running a promo at the time where you bought 2 batteries and a charger for $159 and you got a 6 amp and a 3 amp battery and a free tool. So from a basic economic stand point the Rigid made more sense and it has worked great for what I need it for. They had some great promos going on in May and June and I was able to get an SDS rotary hammer and I needed a big hammer drill and an oscillating tool and one of the kits came with an impact driver and I ended up with the Octane recip saw as well because that gave me 2 recips in the trailer which is handy when you doing a decent sized tear out you can have 2 recips in use. I got all this stuff very reasonably priced with the promos they had going on at the time and most of them are not daily use tools, except for the Circular saw and the recip saw, those do get used more frequently. I also have some DeWalt batteries that I got with my Graco sprayer, so that brought in another platform but I couldn't do anything about that because the Graco only runs on DeWalt batteries. So I have again added a few speciality tools from DeWalt like the Atomic 4" circular saw. What an awesome tool I got it a month ago and it has become the go to tool that the guys grab for most all our circular saw needs, its a fantastic and very useful tool, I do have a video coming on it. I use Dewalt for my table and miter saws, I just this week picked up the DeWalt Flex volt table saw and damn it works great. I picked up the battery powered 7" compound miter a couple of weeks ago and it is just amazing. We just finished a 10x10 porch build with an awning over it and the 7" was the only saw we used and it cut all the pressure treated 2x8's and all the decking on one 4 amp hour battery. Both of these saws are much lighter weight to haul around and take up less room in the trailer. I have a couple of Hitachi batteries for my framing nailer and you saw some Ryobi stuff which is mainly their nailers and the caulk gun and those tools are amazing for the price, they work really well and get used a lot. So I don't have much overlap in my battery powered tools which is why I think having 4 platforms works for us. Each brand I use has specific tools that made economic sense from the business perspective. To answer the question about the Rigid tools being contractor grade. We have been using the tools for several months now and the guys were excited about getting the Rigid stuff, but now after several months here is what has happened. The oscillating tool works great and gets used a lot, the jig saw works great, the SDS rotary hammer works great and the big dog impact drill works great and all these tools get used regularly and we like them. The Octane 7 1/4" circular saw is pure garbage and sits in the corner of the trailer as a last ditch backup tool. My $99 Makita kit circular saw simply destroys the Rigid Octane. The Rigid Octane recip saw sits in the corner with the circ saw, it works ok but some parts have already broke on it and the Rigid tools just don't have the battery life that the Makitas have. I can put a 4 amp battery on my Makita recip and get far more run time out of it than I do with a 6 amp battery on the Rigid. And that's what I have seen with all the Rigid tools, the battery life is not in the same league as my Makitas. I wouldn't even consider using the Rigid drills and drivers, just way to big and heavy, they make you tired by the end of the day. The makitas are smaller and lighter, run longer, Makita's sub compact line is amazing, I use the heck our of their 12 volt line and it works great. I would and do use some specific Rigid tools in my trailer for the reason I shared above, but if your looking for a main tool brand for the trailer stick with the big three, Makita, Milwaukee and Dewalt. If you shop right Makita will be the least expensive of the three to get into their line and they have the biggest line of 18 volt tools. Makita to me has the best ergonomics and that is really important to me because we use them for hours on end everyday and ergonomics and weight effect productivity. When we build a deck and we have 1000's of screws to drive you will notice the weight and ergonomics of the tools by the end of the day, my guys get more work done in a day because they are not as fatigued because the tools are lighter and fit the hand better. Hope this was helpful, again these are just my experiences with my crew, your experience may be different, try stuff out and see what works for you. I'm on a big smaller and lighter tools push, the new 18 volt tools have great power and can get the work done, even the smaller 18 volt compact and sub compact tools are great with todays technology advancements, we don't need the big heavy bulky tools anymore. For me I use the 12 volt tools a lot for all the maintenance type jobs and small jobs and they work great I never have a problem needing more power. We have so many great options available to us today its really amazing.

[@andrewbieger5004]

@@R2Customs Thank you very much for the info.

[@ydnark83]

i came to see the how the saw stands fit.. i left as soon as this was typed.

[@sayhitome8093]

What do you do exactly? Too many different brands, makes no sense

[@commoncents456]

I know you made the video 7 months ago. Any new updates 🤣😛

[@R2Customs]

Ernest Vocell nothing new video wise for this trailer but I will have a series of videos coming soon that will show the planning process and build out of our second trailer. The new trailer is bigger it is a 7x16 and it will be very similar to the existing trailer but since I have some more room I will be able to build in some more storage options because that is the only real challenge that the existing trailer has. Because it is a smaller trailer we have found that storage for things like shovels, rakes, concrete tools like come alongs and bull floats is a challenge, so I will address that in the new trailer. The other items that are challenging storage wise has been things like boxes of nails and screws, sticks of nails for the nail guns, bolts and lag screws etc bigger type items. Again the new trailer will address those issues. Overall the trailer has worked really well for us, it has been a busy season since we put the trailer in service and I had planned on making some modification this winter when things slowed down but it hasn’t slowed down a bit for us, we have been going non stop all year. I will try and do an update here in the next few weeks and talk through in more detail what we have found that worked well and hopefully I will be able to find some time to do the mods to the trailer that I have planned so stay tuned. I will say this that investing in the lettering on the trailer has worked very well for us it gets seen on the job sites and we get many people come talk to us and have hired us because of the lettering on the trailer.

[@commoncents456]

@@R2Customs awe.

[@mauricioguadarrama8842]

How much you spend in material for the shelves aprox is you can

[@Warren3carpentry]

Crazy! Ur trailer is very similar to mine!! I also made a couple video tours of mine! Check them out if you get a chance!

[@adamsgarage2451]

Ssswwweeet! Love your trailer! Check out my trailer video I just uploaded.

[@R2Customs]

Thank you sir !!!

[@bwojak3226]

Please don’t call that rigid box to pack out. No comparison.

[@R2Customs]

Its the same concept but your right its not Milwaukee. I have a video ready to go I have just been so busy and haven't gotten it uploaded, but since I shot that video I have switched to the real Milwaukee packout system and it is better than the rigid in a lot of ways. But I will say this for the money the Rigid is a great value, I like it better than the Dewalt system, the Rigid seems to be better built than the Dewalt and costs less. So while Milwaukee has the most features an options and is a great system not everyone can afford the Milwaukee so in my opinion and your mileage may vary the Ridgid system works well and gets the job done. I got a lot of work done and made a lot of money using the Rigid system, and Milwaukee still dosent have their damn baskets out yet, come on Milwaukee how hard can it be its a damn basket!!!

[@JoseGarcia-yk9us]

Where is the video of the ridgid rolling toolbox