Growing side business, need nail guns. Used pneumatic or Milwaukee cordless?

[LumberJesse]

I’ve been working construction with the goal of getting my contractor’s license here in CA for about 8 months. I need 2.5 years working for a licensed contractor. He’s 66 and I told him day one what I wanted to do, and he encouraged me to pick up as much side work as I could to learn on my own and get a feel for having all the responsibility on me.

I’ve done that, and there is a LOT of work. I work every weekend if I want to. Because I’m getting a lot of offers for work, I’m now getting to be pickier, ie LESS LANDSCAPING (thank god) and MORE CARPENTRY. So far I’ve been framing small stuff the classic way: a hammer and nails. It’s good practice, but I need to be faster.

Right now I’m making between $1000 and $1500 in side jobs per month. I’d say currently about 15% of that is work where nail guns would make me faster.

I’m already invested in the Milwaukee M18 line of tools, so I’m interested in their cordless electric framing nailer, finish nailer, and Brad gun. They would cost me a total of about $1200 to get all three plus two HO 3.0 batteries to cover my capacity needs.

I could however go old school pneumatic (which we use on the job site) and spend about $800 on an air compressor, framing gun, Brad gun, and hoses (already have an OK finish gun). I could also dig around the marketplace and probably get some OK used guns and compressor for around $500.

Which way do you think I should go? Cordless is definitely the future, and not lugging a compressor and hoses around really saves space and time. But can I make sense of those purchases right now? TIA.

[Jon Bon]

A decent framing nailer and pancake compressor should be what <$500?

I mean I get your using it more than me, but they usually warranty their tools for at least a few years, so it wont be complete garbage even if you go cheaper than that.

There is also Paslode, never used them but they lookl cool.

[Taranis]

I'm no contractor (just a home DIY hack), so keep that in mind. I think you're right that battery is the future. However the current issue is battery degradation and replacement cost. So I think what you need to do there is find out what the expected life of the batteries are (might be hard to find, not sure what data is available) and then see what the battery replacement cost would be over some given lifetime.

I.e. for the pneumonic setup you'll spend $X amount for the gun and compressor, both of which will last a certain number of years and then need to be replaced. But for the battery setup, you'll spend $X for the gun and initial batteries, but then also $Y for replacement batteries over some period of time plus replacing the gun eventually as well. Then you have to weight the convivence of battery vs the long term cost of both setups. May be that the battery setup is more expensive over time, but the added convenience (and increased productivity maybe?) would more than make up for it.

Not sure if that helps, but that's how I'd go about figuring it out anyway.

[sonofsven]

I haven't tried any of the new nailers, but I am sold on Makita cordless and am slowly switching to all cordless so I understand the attraction of cordless (or hoseless, in this case) but I have yet to make the plunge. I'm old school when it comes to nailers. I frame, side, and trim houses.
When I tried a Paslode years ago I found it too heavy and too much lag time between pulling the trigger and shooting the nail.
For big jobs, old school all the way. For small jobs it's a little different as it's often as much (or more) set up than job.
Having pneumatic guns is the standard, as you said you already use them at work, so I think if you get the cordless set up you'd eventually need to get your own air set up as well.
I know when you're starting out it seems like every job you buy more tools with the money, it's fun, and expensive.
Also, I use my impact driver and torx head construction (and trim head) screws for way more than I used to, so that's another option, screw it! Basically every bit of exterior stuff I do is screwed, except for siding and t&g ceilings. Decks, railings, corner boards, casings, etc, even small amounts of framing. Like, if I'm doing dryrot repair and I remove some plywood and cut out some 2x's I'm not getting my compressor and guns to put it back together, just use screws, instead.

[srad]

You need to get some tools.  I personally like air compressors, they never run out of battery power..   I do have a lot of cordless tools too.  But for framing, I'll probably always use a compressor.  I'm also not a pro, but I do a lot more than the average weekend warrior, I have several rentals and I continually buy houses to do live in flips.

As you business gets bigger then you can start to buy the expensive stuff. While you build it I'd say shop every day for quality brand tools on Craigslist, fb mktplace etc.  That's where I try to buy all of mine.  Quality tools will last.  Lots of times you can buy them barely used from people who purchased them for one or two projects.  Last summer I picked up an older model Senco framing nailer for $90 on CL,  the guy used it to build a deck and then put it on a shelf till he decided to sell it.  That thing works like a champ. Two weeks ago I grabbed a near perfect Dewalt Hammer drill for $60.  In fact, I get a little disappointed when I can't find the tool I want and end up buying it at a big box.

Anyway, congrats on getting this thing going! 

[trollwithamustache]

how much faster would you finish the side jobs with Pneumatic? and does finishing faster change what you charge or not? This will tell you how many projects/months it will take YOU to pay back the cost of the compressor.  which matters more than how long it would take some dude on the internet to pay back the cost of the compressor.

If its borderline, I wouldn't sweat it, since there are probably other uses for the compressor.