The honest starting position
Most trades expect you to build your own tool kit. Some employers give you a starter set or a tool allowance; plenty do not. Ask at interview — it is a reasonable question and the answer tells you something about the firm.
What your employer must provide free, by law, is personal protective equipment: hard hat, hi-vis, gloves, eye protection, ear defenders, and any respiratory protection required for the work. If you are being asked to buy your own PPE, that is not normal.
Year one: the principle
Buy cheap, buy the essentials, buy the rest when you know what you want.
You will be told to buy an expensive brand on day one. Ignore that for anything that is not safety-critical. In year one you will lose things, damage things and discover that the tool you thought was essential is not the one your trade actually uses. Mid-range hand tools are fine to learn on. Replace them with good ones when they break, because by then you will know which ones you reach for.
The exceptions, where you should buy properly from the start:
- Boots. You are standing in them for ten hours a day. Buy good ones, with the right protection rating for your trade.
- Anything sharp that must stay sharp — chisels for a joiner, scissors for a hairdresser, knives for a chef. Cheap versions are actively worse than useless.
- Measuring and marking tools. A tape that reads wrong will cost you more than a good one.
- Test equipment for electricians. Calibrated, certified, non-negotiable.
Rough starting budgets
These are indicative and vary a lot by trade and region:
- Carpenter / joiner — £250 to £500 for a basic hand tool kit. Power tools come later, usually second-hand.
- Bricklayer — £100 to £200. Trowel, level, line, pins, jointer, bolster.
- Electrician — £200 to £400 for hand tools; test equipment is thousands, and employers normally provide it during training.
- Plumber — £250 to £500. Pipe cutters, wrenches, pliers, torch.
- Mechanic — £300 to £600 to start. Many dealerships run tool purchase schemes deducted from wages — read those terms carefully.
- Hairdressing / barbering — £150 to £400 for scissors, clippers and a kit bag.
- Chef — £100 to £250 for a knife roll.
How to buy well
- Second-hand hand tools are often better than new cheap ones. Car boot sales, auctions and retiring tradespeople are how a lot of kit changes hands.
- Trade counters beat DIY sheds on price once you have an account.
- Buy into one battery platform for cordless tools and stay in it. Mixing brands means three chargers and no spare batteries.
- Mark everything. Engrave or paint your initials. Tools walk.
- Insure them once the kit is worth something. Tool theft from vans is endemic, and a stolen kit can end your ability to work overnight.
The thing nobody mentions
Keep your tools clean and put away properly. It sounds trivial. On a site, the apprentice whose tools are tidy and whose van is organised gets trusted with more work sooner, because it is the most visible proxy for whether you are careful. Tradespeople notice it immediately.
Last reviewed 25 September 2026.