The tool you need is probably three streets away.
Rent from neighbours by the day, instead of buying something you will only use occasionally.
Browse freely. Join free to plan projects, create wishlists and borrow tools when you're ready.
How borrowing works
- 1
Search your postcode
See what is available near you, and how far away it is.
- 2
Book the days you need
Pay in the app. Nothing changes hands in cash.
- 3
Collect, use, return
Log the condition with photos at both ends, so there is a record.
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More than just borrowing
Plan your next project
Use DIY Job Kit to work out the tools you'll need.
Build your tool wishlist
Keep track of tools you need for upcoming jobs.
Test your Tool IQ
Play our weekly quiz and pick up useful DIY and tool facts along the way.
Borrow when you're ready
and request them directly from local owners.
Questions borrowers ask
Book first, then talk. Pick the dates you need on the listing calendar, which already shows what is free, and add your payment details. The lender reviews the request, and when they accept it the payment is taken. From there you arrange collection in the booking messages. It is tempting to message a lender first to check, but there is nothing to arrange until a booking exists, and doing it the other way round is how people end up agreeing a time for a booking that never got accepted.
You agree that in the booking chat. We never publish anyone’s exact address, so it reaches you only when the lender sends it. Once your booking is accepted, ask for the door or flat number and not just the street, and say roughly when you will arrive. Some lenders would rather meet somewhere public or drop the tool round to you, which is their call to make. Sort it before you set off rather than at the kerb.
The dates you book set the price and the period. The times are between the two of you, so agree them in the booking messages and get them confirmed. If neither of you minds, collecting in the morning and having it back by early evening suits most people, and it is only a starting point: whatever you agree between you beats it. What does not work is assuming. A booking that runs until Sunday does not mean the lender expects a knock at midnight on Sunday, and turning up unannounced is how people end up waiting on a doorstep.
No. Once the booking period ends the booking completes on its own. There is no button to press, no form to fill in and nothing to upload, and if you are asked to "complete the return" there is genuinely nothing there for you to do. The one thing worth doing is optional: attach up to three photos or a short video to the booking messages when the tool changes hands. Nothing waits on it, and it is what settles a disagreement quickly if one ever comes up.
Worth doing, never required. Up to three photos or a short video attached to the booking messages, when you collect the tool and again when you hand it back, is the simplest record of the condition it was in. It is not a step in the booking, nothing is waiting on it and the booking closes without it. It is there for you, so that a claim or a disagreement is settled by what the tool looked like rather than by who remembers it better.
Your card is authorised when you request a booking and charged when the lender accepts it, so a request that is declined or never answered does not take your money. The lender is paid after the booking period ends. None of it waits on you confirming anything, so nobody is left out of pocket because a step was missed.
Message in the booking chat rather than driving around or knocking on doors. It is the fastest way to reach them and it is the record of what you agreed, which matters if the booking is ever looked at by us.
No. Browsing is open to anyone and you only need an account when you book. Before your first booking you will be asked to verify your identity, which takes a couple of minutes and is what lets lenders see they are handing their tools to an ID-verified borrower.
Please do, and most are glad to be asked. Lenders can list the DIY skills they have on their profile and you will see them on the listing, so if you are borrowing a tile cutter from somebody who tiles, ask them how they would do it. That is rather the point of borrowing from a neighbour instead of a hire desk: the two minutes of advice is often worth more than the tool. Keep it in the booking messages and keep it friendly. Almost everyone here is somebody who lives a few streets away.
Tell the lender in the booking chat first, as most things are settled there in a message or two. If the two of you cannot agree, escalate it to us and we will decide on the documented record: the chat, the photos and the booking itself. That is the reason to keep it all in one place.
How we handle damage, disputes and the checks on both sides is set out on Trust and Safety. The full FAQ goes further on bookings and payments, and if your question is not in either, get in touch and a person will answer it.
Got a garage full of tools yourself?
The ones you are not using could be earning while they sit there.