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Not having the right tools to handle things that go wrong and need repairing around the house can quickly make a small problem much more stressful, especially when it’s something you know you can handle yourself. Instead of having to make outcalls to get problems fixed, having high-quality, reliable tools on hand can help you save plenty of time and money in the long run. And there are very few brands that fit this bill better than Milwaukee. 

Competing with the likes of Ryobi in just about every category relevant to homeowners, Milwaukee’s smaller, more affordable hand tools are often the most well-reviewed across the board. Many of them are designed to be as practical as possible, combining multiple tools into one compact unit or just taking extra care with the simplest tools. Alongside fixing things, Milwaukee has no shortage of options to help put things together to make building and DIY as easy as possible. Here’s a look at five tools that every homeowner should consider investing in.

Whether you’re moving into a new home or are just looking to make some additions, there’s a strong chance you’ll be building things. And to do that, a screwdriver will almost certainly be needed. Furniture sold in pieces is often much cheaper than pre-built items, so having the tools to build it all will make a massive difference. Unsurprisingly, Milwaukee offers plenty of screwdrivers, but this 11-in-1 combination screwdriver is useful for putting furniture together, but its use doesn’t end there.

If you feel confident that you can handle various electrical issues that often come up in a house, one of the eight bits included with the driver can take out the bolts used on power outlets and their cases, as well as things like light switches. This screwdriver comes with two Philips, two slotted, two square, and two Torx bits, alongside the three nut drivers, to help cover all bases with your home electronics. While it’s a professional-grade tool, its versatility is what makes it worth the $11.97 it’s sold for at Home Depot, where over 900 user reviews give it an average of 4.5 stars out of five.

Another tool that’s geared towards professional use but will still prove massively useful is the combination electrician’s 6-in-1 Wire Stripper and Cutter Pliers. Similar to the combination screwdriver, this is another Milwaukee piece that prevents you from having to buy multiple tools, ultimately saving you money while being more practical.

If you do have the skills, there isn’t much in regard to small electrical installations and fixes that this tool won’t be able to help out with. The wire stripping element has the ability to strip solid wire between 8 and 18 AWG for solid wire, and between 10 and 20 AWG stranded wire. The wire cutter itself has a slight curve to it, making it more adept at making clean cuts on stranded pieces as well as the standard solid wire. The tip of the pliers doubles as a reamer and a regular grooved plier head, ideal for gripping and shaping. The price of $19.97 on Home Depot is pretty good for how much you can do with this tool.

This next product from Milwaukee is a little more standard of a tool than others here, and there’s a good chance you already have a few lying around the house. However, if you ever decide to renovate your home, whether that’s something major like a new kitchen or you just want to move things around, you’ll quickly appreciate how useful a reliable tape measure can be. Milwaukee again has many different options, but based on reviews, this 25-foot magnetic tape measure more than stands out.

While having a magnetic tape measure isn’t essential, having the ability to easily latch onto hard-to-reach places could easily come in handy at some point down the road. The blade itself falls in line with a few other options from Milwaukee, having a maximum reach of 15 feet. The more important rating is the 12 feet of standout, though, making this a great option for a one-person job. Owners note how sturdy the tape measure is. At Home Depot, this Milwaukee magnetic tape measure goes for around $25.

While a nut driver can easily handle smaller external fasteners that are common throughout most homes, they don’t always provide enough leverage for more demanding jobs. Whether it’s building or maintenance work, having a solid wrench on hand will never be an inconvenience. Similar to the tape measures, Milwaukee offers plenty of different sizes for its adjustable wrench, ranging from six inches up to 15 inches, for when you’re working with extra stubborn fasteners. The smaller sizes are affordable, but the larger ones do climb up the price ladder quite quickly.

This is an inherently simple tool compared to others, even on this list, doing one job and one job only. Milwaukee still makes sure all areas are optimized, however, no matter what size you go for. Measurements are lasered on to create a ruler below the jaws. The screw itself uses a proprietary system to keep the jaws firmly locked onto fasteners, and the smooth, slightly curved handle is designed to be as comfortable as a wrench can be. Reviews of all adjustable wrench sizes from Home Depot confirm how effective these tools are, with the bundles of different sizes being quite a popular choice. Going down the middle for an eight or 10-inch wrench should be more than enough for tightening external bolts around the house, though.

If you want a tool that can be applied and be useful in so many different jobs around the house, Milwaukee’s Fastback Folding Utility Knife can be one of the best time-savers you can buy from this brand, for a few different reasons. This specific knife comes with a general-purpose blade pre-installed, but it also has the ability to hold different compatible blades if you want to buy them as well. But even with the standard blade that extends 1.27 inches from the body can help you with all sorts of DIY projects and repairs. Simple tasks like opening well-packaged boxes also become a breeze.

While having a high-quality blade is worth it alone, this Milwaukee knife has other features that help it earn a $21.97 price tag at Home Depot. You get a small wire stripper built into the blade guard, making it even more useful for electrical work. The folding screwdriver is also a neat addition, and it’s always there in case you need it. It comes with a reversible Philips #2 bit and a slotted 1/4-inch bit. You also get a built-in bottle opener, saving you from needing another item with you, even for something as minor as this. This is unsurprisingly one of the most reviewed Milwaukee products we included on this list, with almost 2,000 reviews averaging 4.4 stars out of five.

When selecting Milwaukee tools for this list, we first made sure that they were readily available from The Home Depot, the biggest hardware store that sells Milwaukee tools. Then, we checked that each tool had at least 100 reviews averaging a score of at least four of out five stars. We only selected tools geared towards general DIY and repair jobs that can come up in any home, nothing too specialized, and made sure to find some user reviews mentioning how useful they can be around the house.