There’s more to value than just the headline price of a tool or piece of construction equipment. At a time when construction margins are tighter than ever, it’s important to spend every penny wisely to achieve the greatest impact.

That means looking beyond the up-front monetary cost and understanding the full value cycle of a tool. Cheaper tools can be a false economy that ends up costing you more money in three key ways:

• Substandard performance which slows down the work.

• Less durable tools will need replacing sooner.

• Inferior features which lead to less safe and less productive work.

When you buy a cheaper tool, the money has to be saved somewhere. Most often you will find that cheaper tools have weaker motors and less efficient power transmission – sacrificing performance to get the up-front price down.

In contrast, while you may spend more up front on a top of the range tool from Hilti, you will be rewarded with enhanced performance. For example, the Nuron SF 4-22 cordless drill driver which delivers up to 2,100 RPM and 62Nm of torque in a compact shell.

That sort of power enables faster, more productive work that increases profits and saves time one every job. It means you can get to the next job quicker. Over the course of a tool’s lifespan, that leads to superior financial impact when compared to a less expensive tool.

Speaking of lifespan, the useful life of a tool is also a key consideration when discussing value. As well as inferior performance, a cheaper tool will often also sacrifice durability, tying you into more spending on replacements sooner.

If you buy a cheaper tool but it only lasts half or a third as long, you will need to buy it twice or three times to get the same use as you would get from one slightly more expensive tool. In effect, a shorter useful lifespan means you are just paying the first instalment of a total cost which will end up being much higher.

Hilti tools are built with the opposite design philosophy. Our tools feature…

• Robust bodies

• Reinforced internal components

• Advanced cooling system

• Sealed electronics

• Shock absorbers

…and other features designed to keep your tools operating at peak efficiency for longer, no matter what the working conditions – the definition of spending smart and working smarter.

Finally, cheaper tools will have fewer features and therefore less utility on the job site. At the core of Hilti’s ‘spend smart, work smarter’ philosophy are features which allow our tools to contribute to more than just the job at hand. Tools are part of the overall productivity picture on site, and we design ours to support working environments where people can be efficient and healthy.

At the heart of this are advanced safety features including:

• Active Torque Control (ATC) – Stops the tool spinning uncontrollably if the bit gets stuck.

• Active Vibration Reduction (AVR) – Reduces vibration by up to two thirds compared to conventional power tools for greater comfort and reduced downtime.

• LED lights – Our tools which are designed for working up close include LED lights to help you avoid mistakes and work safely in all lighting conditions.

• Virtually dust-free operations – Hilti builds in systems which reduce the amount of dust on site for healthier working environments. Tools can also be combined with vacuum systems for further safety improvements.

These features and others like them are the additional touches you don’t get with cheaper tools. Spending smart means more than simply finding the lowest price. It means buying tools which offer the best value across every stage of the tool’s use and lifecycle. Finding the best value, rather than just the lowest up-front price, is the key to working smarter and more productively on the job site.