Tool Inventory Tracking System: Stop Losing Tools on Every Job Site
Construction tool theft costs the industry over $1 billion per year. Power tools account for 41% of all job site thefts, and the recovery rate is under 7%.
But theft is only half the problem. Tools walk off sites in crew trucks, get left at the wrong location, or sit in a gang box nobody checked for three weeks. Most contractors lose $500 to $3,000 per year in tools that are not stolen — just lost.
Current Tool Tracking Options
| System | Works With | Tracking Method | Cost | Limitation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milwaukee One-Key | Milwaukee tools only | Bluetooth (phone range) | Free app + Milwaukee tools | Brand-locked, short range |
| DeWalt Tool Connect | DeWalt tools only | Bluetooth (phone range) | Free app + DeWalt tools | Brand-locked, short range |
| ShareMyToolbox | Any tool | Manual check-in/out | $29-99/mo | No physical location tracking |
| Hilti ON!Track | Hilti + tagged assets | RFID + gateway | Custom pricing | Expensive, Hilti ecosystem |
| AirPinpoint | Any tool, any brand | Apple Find My network | $11.99/mo flat | Requires nearby Apple devices |
Why Brand-Locked Systems Fall Short
Milwaukee One-Key and DeWalt Tool Connect only track their own brand. If your crew runs a mix — which most do — you end up with two apps that each see half your tools and neither sees location beyond Bluetooth range (about 30 feet).
That is not a tracking system. It is a proximity alert.
The AirPinpoint Approach
Stick a beacon on every tool worth more than $50. Our NRF52810 beacons have a 7-year battery, so you attach them once and forget about them until the tool is retired.
How it works:
- Attach beacons to tools, cases, batteries, or gang boxes
- Apple Find My network detects beacons passively — no crew action needed
- AirPinpoint dashboard shows tool locations across all your job sites on a single map
- Alerts and history tell you when tools leave a geofence or go missing
No per-tool subscription. No brand restrictions. No phone pairing required.
Real Cost Math
A typical crew runs 50-100 tools worth tracking. Here is what the numbers look like:
| Approach | Year 1 Cost | Year 2 Cost | Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Do nothing | $500-3,000 in losses | $500-3,000 in losses | None |
| Milwaukee One-Key | $0 (Milwaukee tools only) | $0 | Milwaukee brand only, 30ft range |
| ShareMyToolbox | $348-1,188/yr | $348-1,188/yr | Check-in/out only, no location |
| GPS per tool | $18,000-42,000/yr (50 tools) | $18,000-42,000/yr | Full location, but absurd cost |
| AirPinpoint | ~$143/yr + beacon hardware | ~$143/yr | All tools, all brands, network-wide |
At $11.99/month for your entire organization, AirPinpoint pays for itself the first time you recover a single misplaced rotary laser or transit level.
What Contractors Actually Need
Forget features lists. Here is what matters on a job site:
- Works on every brand — mixed fleets are the norm
- No crew compliance required — tracking happens passively
- Survives job site conditions — beacons are sealed and durable
- Shows location, not just last scan — real-time map, not a spreadsheet timestamp
- Affordable at scale — tagging 100 tools should not cost more than the tools themselves
Our 12-Month Minimum (Because We Know It Works)
We require a 12-month minimum. The beacons are purpose-built hardware, the rollout takes one afternoon, and the results show up within weeks. Most contractors start with their highest-loss tools — lasers, transits, generators — and expand from there.
Our Solution