During Johnny Johnson’s years of working in a hardware store, he learned that although many people want to tackle projects themselves, they often lack the knowledge and the appropriate specialty tools necessary for those projects. So Johnny founded Shop Drop, a local tool rental company that offers specialty tools and equipment for home improvement projects, vehicle maintenance, and lawn care.
Customers can rent individual tools such as a miter saw, woodchipper, air compressor, carpet extractor, or pressure washer for specific tasks or rent a trailer full of tools and specialty equipment to take on larger projects. “If you are working on rebuilding a car, you can rent a trailer that comes with a toolbox, floor jack, engine crane, and all the different stuff to work on a car,” says Johnny. “If it’s home maintenance, the trailer comes with saws, drills, a shop vac…. things like that, and the same type of thing for yard maintenance. So you can rent this whole trailer full of tools and equipment for you and your neighbors, or you and a group of friends, to do a project on the weekend and have everything you need without having to run back and forth to the store. Plus, we bring it all to you and drop it off, then pick it up when you’re done.”
By making the tools available to rent, Johnny is addressing the problem of having easy access to specialty tools. However, his heart behind the business is to help people learn how to tackle projects themselves. So now he is taking on the educational aspect of DIY projects by offering classes that cover basic skills that relate to vehicle maintenance, home improvement projects, and lawn care.
For example, vehicle maintenance classes will cover topics such as how to change oil in a vehicle and plugging a leaky tire, which includes what materials drivers need to keep in their vehicles to plug a tire and how to successfully plug the tire, even on the side of the road. Home improvement classes will provide hands-on instruction for skills such as sawing wood at an angle, putting up trim, and installing cabinets.
“I want to help you learn how to do things you can have fun doing yourself but that you may not know how to do,” explains Johnny. “I hope that when you start having an appreciation for doing stuff on your own and doing some projects yourself, that will make you branch out and do other projects you haven't done before. Once you have a knowledge base for one thing, you can figure out another thing because you know the basic concept of tools, how they work, and what you need to do.”
Another educational resource Johnny is developing includes creating videos on best practices for using each type of tool or piece of equipment, and linking the videos to the tools using a QR code. These tutorials will provide valuable insight into using each piece of equipment effectively, which leads to successful projects.
“I want people to know that we are here to help because you can never have too much knowledge about how to do things,” shares Johnny. “Even if you want to pay somebody to do it for you, it's good to know how to do it yourself just so you know you're not being overcharged. Or maybe you just want a fun project to do with the family and spend way less money than having a professional come and do it. We can help with all of that.”
For information on classes or to give suggestions on topics for classes or tutorials, email Reservations@shopdrop.com and follow @shopdropllc on Facebook. For more information on tool and equipment rental, visit www.shopdroptexas.com or call 940-441-3770.
"I want to help you learn how to do things that you can have fun doing yourself but may not know how to do."