It all started with a single chainsaw
Robert (Bob) Schwarzmann grew up in Northern Virginia in the 1930s working hard on his family farm. He learned the value of working with ones hands and the joy of improving the world by moving earth and building structures He left Northern Virginia for a short time to study in Iowa where he met the love of his life, Leona. They moved back to Virginia to start their family and business. In 1959, Bob saw an opportunity to help the growing community of builders in the greater DC metro area by providing tools for construction projects. He told Leona, “If I don’t try this, I will regret it for the rest of my life.” Her support for his idea was baked into countless apple pies during those early years of building a business.
He bought his first chainsaw and began renting it out of his home and since then his commitment to helping others build their own dreams and businesses expanded into three locations in the 90’s. Thats when Bob made the decision to sell two of the stores and hand the business off to his daughter, Robyn and son Bryce leaving them our original location empowering them to focus on the community that we helped build and has supported our business for over 70 years.
We believe in hard work and that a job worth doing is worth doing right—and that means having the right tools. We want to help you build your dream, with your own hands and the freedom of having access to the best tools for the job, for as long as you need them—but no longer.