Thought my cheap corner tool was saving me money. Nope, lost $200 on a hotel job in Nashville.

I bought a $15 plastic corner trowel from a discount store thinking it'd do the same thing as a good one. First day on this hotel hallway in Nashville, the blade popped off halfway through the second corner. Had to scrape off the mud and redo it, which ate up about 3 hours of my time. Then the next day the handle cracked and I had to buy a $30 steel one anyway. Wasted $15 on the first one plus the extra time cost me around $200 on the job. Anyone else get burned by cheap tools thinking you're being smart?

2 comments

2 Comments

dakota_rivera3d ago

Bought a plastic corner trowel from a big box store once. Same thing happened to me on a small bathroom job. Blade popped clean off and I spent an hour scraping and refloating. Learned my lesson the hard way. Now I just buy a midrange steel one from a supply house and it lasts me years. That $15 "savings" cost me way more in frustration and lost time. Sometimes the cheap stuff just isn't worth it.

ben4363d agoProlific Poster

Right? That exact thing happened to me with a plastic one on a small patch job. I thought I was being smart saving a few bucks, but the blade snapped on the second pass and I was so annoyed having to redo everything. Now I just stick with a basic steel one and it's never let me down.