The question everyone starting out asks: what do I buy first? The short answer: what shows up on every job, not what looks good in the aisle. A serious starter kit for handyman work in Florida runs $800 to $1,200, and it covers 80% of the jobs that will call you in year one: hanging, repairing, adjusting, sealing, mounting.
The first block: what you use every single day
- 20V drill/driver with two batteries ($99 – $159). This is the tool that works every job, no exceptions. Two batteries isn't a luxury: one charges while the other works.
- Drill and driver bit set ($30 – $40): wood, metal, and masonry — in Florida, always masonry, because exterior walls here are block.
- 25 ft tape measure ($15 – $25), 48" level plus a torpedo ($35 – $75), speed square, utility knife with spare blades, carpenter's pencil. Measuring is half the trade: whoever measures well, quotes well.
- Hammer, screwdriver set, pliers, adjustable wrench ($60 – $90 for the whole block if you buy the sets).
The second block: cutting
- 7-1/4" circular saw ($70 – $130). Plywood, deck boards, shelving, doors.
- Oscillating multi-tool ($60 – $120). The handyman's Swiss army knife: flush-cuts drywall, installed baseboard, hidden nails, tile grout. On repair work — which is the bread and butter of year one — it gets more use than the circular saw.
- Drywall saw and hacksaw ($15 – $25 for both).
The third block: access, sealing, and cleanup
- 6 ft Type II ladder or better ($70 – $110). Don't buy the cheapest one: the ladder is the tool where a failure costs you your body, not the job.
- Caulk gun ($8 – $15) and an assortment of caulk. In Florida, sealing is a trade of its own: windows, tubs, exterior joints — humidity finds everything you didn't seal.
- 5-gallon shop vac ($60 – $90). Leaving the site clean is the difference between "some guy who came to fix something" and a professional who gets called again.
- Protection: glasses, gloves, sanding mask, ear plugs ($40 – $60 for the block). With the sun here, add water and an early start — you don't buy that, you plan it.
What Florida does to your tools
This climate doesn't forgive neglect:
- Humidity and salt air rust everything. Tools that sleep in a truck box near the ocean last half as long. Dry box, a rag with light oil on anything metal, and batteries stored indoors — summer truck heat kills them.
- The afternoon rain is a schedule. June through October, the 3 pm downpour is nearly guaranteed: exterior work gets planned for the morning, and tarps live in the truck.
- Demand spikes after a storm. Fences, soffit, patio screens, doors that won't close. You don't need a generator to start, but once a big job pays for one, it's the first "seasonal tool" that pays for itself.
What you do NOT buy at the start
Table saw, compressor with a nail gun, scaffolding, demolition hammer: you rent them until a specific job pays for them. A one-day rental ($40 – $80) is always cheaper than a $400 tool collecting dust. The rule: a tool gets bought when the third job asks for it, not when the first one hints at it.
The full budget
| Block | Range |
|---|---|
| Power tools (drill, circular, oscillating) | $230 – $410 |
| Measuring and hand tools (tape, levels, hammer, sets) | $140 – $230 |
| Access and cleanup (ladder, shop vac) | $130 – $200 |
| Sealing, fine cutting, and consumables | $60 – $100 |
| Personal protection | $40 – $60 |
| Total | $600 – $1,000 |
With margin for bits and first-month consumables, the real range lands at $800 – $1,200.
And the tool that weighs nothing
The other year-one tool is knowing what things cost today. In Cotiza, the Materials tab carries prices from your area by category — tools, hardware, materials by trade — with the price source on every row, so you quote with today's number instead of a memory.
