A friend has been rehabbing a beautiful brooklyn house.
Lots and lots of work needed, from some new floors (and underfloor and, oh, I should replace a couple of those joists...).

Needed a SawAll at some point. Usually gets his stuff from a locally owned place. That's pretty good. But he was getting something at the Depot and saw the Milwaukee SawsAll (there is just one) for a really good price. Got it.

Fast forward 2 years. Moderate use. Not contractor use, but use of an active home hobbyist. Thing eats it. Motor works, blade doesn't move.

"Lifetime warrantee" to the rescue.

Except this apparently is the "home depot" model of the SawsAll.
Slightly different model number. It's mentioned that it's a 1 or
2 year warrantee in the 8-point font paper work that he dutifully ignored (you read that stuff for tools you know?).

Seems the gears are plastic, not metal.

Milwaukee and most other tool makers are getting tremendous pressure from HD to really low prices. Such that they end up making a "special version" for HD from cheaper parts.

Porter/Delta, AFAIK, just stopped sending the smart trainer/sales support folk -they haven't compromised. Yet.

You know who offers tools? ****** . I'm looking at a really good price for a porter router/router table. Free shipping (handy with 50lbs of stuff).

I will get craftsman screwdrivers and such. I bent them, they replace them. That works out. My philips awls become screwdrivers again.

I have a makita screw gun I love (~$150, but I used to build sets all the time).

A couple hammers (tack, a 12 or 16 oz for lighter work or for the girl, and I have a 20oz one (stage work)).

A GOOD level (long) and I have a cheapo short level (pictures - good enough).

Skil Saw. (ok, I have a craftman 10". craftman isn't really good quality, but garage sale deals suck me in and I don't use it hardcore).

Mitre box and a mitre saw and cross cut saw (I like hand cutting somethings some times, old habit from a dad who never let me near the big tools until I was 10).

Couple wrenches.
A tool box or two (I have a BIG one that holds all and a "portable" on when I'm using it a lot at a friends or out. I also have the car tools and electronics tools in different boxes).
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Lawn Mowers: Technology has changed. The ads tell us two want a big one stroke gas mower. My dad has a 40' x 30' yard. His mower finally would take no more fixes.

He got a light weight push mower. No gas, no noise, it's not those rusty heavy mosters of the 60's and 70's that we all feared.

I used to hate saturday in the suburbs with huge gas mowers at 100 decibels. (there were obese guys mowing 1/2 acre on riding mowers - quite the image).
Do you really need to make that much noise and smoke?
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An electric chain saw is usually the most you'll really need.
I can and have rented a gas chain saw.
As a kid, we had a big chainsaw, but we were trimming forest of dead trees and using wood heat. It saw LOTS of use (and dad has a notch in his hearing right at that frequency).

hedge trimmers (electric if lots of hedges).
Anvil lop shears (up to 1 1/2" branches)
hand bypass trimmers.

A shovel,
a small shovel with a handle
BUCKETS. (those 5gal paint cans are really handy).

I have a 50' coiling hose (purple for the girl) and a couple
100' hoses.

A ladder. Perhaps an extension ladder.

Drywall Saw and spackle.
Paint stuff (rollers, drop cloths, etc).
A tarp (see also bucket .

I had to run wire. My phone took 6 days to install (buried cable
they couldn't find). I got to play with the toner/inductive amp and trace cables. Enjoyed it so much I went to buy. Oh. $150 for the amp. Hmmm, only $40 on ebay

A friend has a fish tape (metal line to pull wires).
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What does the house need? That drives the deeper list.

A table saw seems to be the first hardcore tool that guys get.

Does your area have a tool library?
I can go "check out" (for free!) a table saw, a router, etc.
Not great condition, but good enough when I need it for a couple days. If I need it for weeks, I can justify buying it.
I need a shredder for a while. Rent, mooch, pay someone to haul?
Buying it is silly to store it for use once a year.

Pegboard and workbench is the first project to do.
I got some scrap cherry flooring bits from a neighbor
building a house. It's the very hard top of my workbench
(2.5-3' bits).