Warning: cheap brad nailers will cost you big time

I bought a no-name brad nailer off Amazon for about 40 bucks last spring. Worked fine for a few weeks on small trim jobs around my house in Nashville. Then on a big crown molding install for a customer, it jammed up every 5 minutes. I spent more time fighting the thing than actually nailing. Lost almost 3 hours total on a job I quoted for 2 days. Customer got mad when I had to cut extra pieces because the nailer kept shooting nails crooked. Finally threw it in the trash and bought a brand-name one for $120. That first cheap nailer cost me probably $200 in lost time and wasted wood. Has anyone else had a cheap tool wreck a job like this?

3 comments

3 Comments

noahmartin10d agoTop Commenter

The real hidden cost nobody mentions is the damage to your reputation with customers when a cheap tool fails on their job. They don't care about your equipment budget, they just see you running late and messing up their nice trim work. One bad experience can lose you a repeat customer and every referral they would have sent your way.

wesley18110d ago

The line about losing 3 hours hit me hard. I used to be the guy who thought brand names were just a waste of money. Figured a nailer is a nailer, right? Then I had a similar thing happen with a cheap brad nailer on a baseboard job. Nails started shooting out the side, splitting the wood on a $200 piece of oak molding. Had to completely replace it. I was a believer in cheap tools until that day. Now I get why people say buy once cry once.

thompson.reese10d ago

Man, that oak molding story is rough. Same thing almost happened to me with a cheap framing nailer on a shed roof. Nail bent inside the gun, jammed it up, and I spent a good hour trying to get it unstuck while the wife was yelling from inside about the rain coming in. Ended up having to borrow a neighbors Paslode to finish the job. Never went back to the low end stuff after that.