The Starter Handyman Tool Kit: 12 Tools Worth Buying First

By Mick — IDIY’s lead handyman.

“What tools should I buy first?” is a question we get asked at parties, at the pub, and by relatives who’ve just bought their first house. Hardware shops will happily sell you a 200-piece tool set for $300 — and 80% of it will sit unused for the next 20 years. The real handyman starter kit is about 12 tools that earn their keep on the first weekend and last decades. This is what our team would buy if we were starting from scratch in an Aussie home today.

Why the cheap mega-set is a trap

The big sets pad out the count with stuff you’ll never use — sockets that don’t fit anything Australian, a hundred screwdriver bits where you only need ten, plastic pliers that bend on the first tough job. Better to buy ten good tools than a hundred bad ones. Every tool below is something we use weekly.

1. A cordless drill/driver — the single most valuable tool in any house

Pick a 12V or 18V drill from a brand whose battery system you’ll stick with (Makita, DeWalt, Bosch, Milwaukee). Skip the cheap supermarket drills — the chuck wears out, the battery dies inside two years, and you’ll buy a real one anyway. Budget around $200 for a good kit including two batteries and a charger. With a drill you can hang shelves, build flat-pack, drive screws into hardwood, drill plastic, and stir paint.

2. A 5m tape measure

Stanley FatMax, Lufkin, or any quality 5m. Cheap tape measures’ blades buckle on long pulls and the blade lockup wears out. A real tape measure lasts a lifetime.

3. A 60cm spirit level

For shelves, pictures, doors, anything that needs to be horizontal or vertical. 60cm is the right size — small levels lie because you can fit them across a high spot. Get one with a vial at both ends.

4. A claw hammer (450g/16oz)

One hammer is enough for 90% of house jobs. Estwing if you can stretch the budget ($65), Stanley if not ($30). 450g is the sweet spot — heavy enough to drive nails, light enough to use one-handed for an hour.

5. A set of screwdrivers (Phillips and flat in 3 sizes each)

Six screwdrivers cover 99% of jobs: PH1, PH2, PH3, and three flatheads in small/medium/large. Avoid the cheap “100 bits” sets — they’ll round out screw heads. Buy actual screwdrivers, not bits, for hand work.

6. A utility knife with replaceable blades

For opening boxes, cutting plasterboard, scoring, cutting carpet, and a hundred other tasks. Stanley or Olfa retractable. Spare blades — buy a 100-pack, you’ll use them.

7. Multi-grip pliers (Channellock-style)

Adjustable jaws for plumbing, gripping awkward shapes, and removing stripped screws. Channellock or Knipex if budget allows; Stanley if not. 250mm is a good general size.

8. A stud finder

$25 electronic stud finder. Magnetic ones work too but require slow sweeping. Bunnings’ own brand is fine for occasional use; if you’re hanging things weekly, spend $80 on a Zircon. Without one, every TV mount and shelf install is a guess.

9. An adjustable spanner (250mm)

For tap fittings, garden hose connectors, and whenever you don’t have the exact-size socket. Bahco is the gold standard but cheap ones work for occasional use. 250mm covers most domestic fittings.

10. A handsaw — 550mm with hardpoint teeth

For cutting timber, plasterboard, and small jobs where pulling out the circular saw is overkill. Hardpoint teeth (factory-sharpened, throwaway) are fine for a household saw. Spear & Jackson, Bahco, or Irwin.

11. A digital multimeter ($25)

Tests batteries, checks if a power point is live (don’t touch the wires — use the prongs), confirms a fuse is blown. The cheap $25 ones from Jaycar are perfectly adequate for household use. Note: this doesn’t authorise you to do fixed-wiring work — that’s still licensed-only in Australia.

12. A torch (and headlamp) with USB charging

For under-sink work, in roof spaces, and during outages. A USB-rechargeable headlamp keeps both hands free — once you’ve worked under a sink with a torch in your mouth, you’ll never go back. $40 spent here pays back the first time the power’s out.

What we’d add later (in order)

1. An impact driver (lighter, more powerful than a drill for screws — about $150 if you’re already in a battery system)
2. A jigsaw (curved cuts in timber, plasterboard, plastic — $100)
3. A circular saw (straight cuts in timber, sheet goods — $150)
4. A set of holesaws (round holes in timber and plasterboard — $50)
5. A multitool (oscillating tool — flush cuts, grout removal, scraping — $150)

The Mick rule

Buy good, buy once. Twelve real tools beat a hundred plastic-handle mystery tools every day of the week. Our handyman tool kit at home is essentially the list above plus the “what we’d add later” set — about $1,500 in total, accumulated over years, still going strong after a decade of weekly use.

Have a tool that’s earned its keep that we missed? Tell us about it — we love a good recommendation.