This issue we join Jasper, a young self-employed joiner to discuss his work, his views on buying tools and his review of the newly launched value pack range, focusing on FEIN’s new Best of Flooring set.

Jasper Cochrane is a 24-year kitchen fitter who last October started his very own joinery business, specialising in flooring. Following years of testing out different careers, he decided to follow in his dad’s footsteps, with him and his younger brother both taking on joinery apprenticeships. “My dad was kind (and patient) enough to put us both through the 4 years of training, creating a family business. After completing my apprenticeship, I worked for bigger joinery firms but decided that I would rather start up my own company, as I wanted to guarantee an excellent finish every time – something which wasn’t possible working for a large firm.”

So it was that Floorcraft was born, which finds self-employed Jasper undertaking all levels of flooring jobs, ranging from small scale domestic, to large scale commercial jobs. “I often work with high quality materials, which can be pretty nerve wracking sometimes, because if anything goes wrong, it’s all down to me. The perks of being self-employed! As well as flooring, I ensure high quality finishings and can extend my work to other aspects of joinery; whatever is needed to complete the space.

Starting out as a new business can be tough, but I have received support from family and firms, which has enabled me to purchase high performance tools. I love researching tools, saving up and buying the ones I think are the coolest, but also have quality and power. Let’s be honest, you get what you pay for in life. Bottom line – If the tool helps me get jobs completed well, and faster, then ultimately I make bigger profit margins, which is good for the wallet, and for a start-up like Floorcraft.

This is why FEIN is now one of my favorite brands because the quality of the tools they produce is excellent and without compromise, something hard to find in modern power tools. Things like the anti-vibration features on the FEIN MultiMaster is world-class, and I jumped on the opportunity to test their ‘Flooring Value Pack’ in the UK, which contains a HSS segmented blade, an E-Cut saw blade and a scraper blade.

I used the pack on-site whilst loading 6 ceilings with service hatches for a hotel based in Glasgow, and whilst delivering new flooring for a property that was experiencing damp issues around the owners UVC front door. For the hotel fit, I used the HSS blade to cut out sections for the hatches in the plasterboard ceiling, before plastering. I then used a round sanding pad on the multi-tool to sand down the heavier bits of plaster, and some of the MDF hatch pieces, before painting. For the property, I used the E-Cut blade to deliver undercutting of the doors, and facings before sliding the flooring underneath. I also delivered some small cut outs on the flooring itself.

Despite putting money down on the machine, I had used other manufacturer blades in addition to FEIN’s, FEIN’s blades clearly being of higher quality. I’ll be filling my toolbox with FEIN Starlock from now on.”

For more information on the Best of Flooring set, or other packs available in FEIN’s value pack range check out https://fein.com/en_uk/news/promotions/the-great-british-value-pack-range-0792/