Where did the kit go?
A job needs the thermal camera. It is not in the store. Someone thinks Mark had it last month. Mark thinks he gave it to the other team. The other team's van has two drills that belong to someone else and no thermal camera. Eventually a new one is ordered, and the old one turns up in a site cabin three weeks later.
It is not only tools. Spare laptops, test meters, ladders, access equipment, loan phones, projectors and the good extension lead all drift around the business with nobody quite sure where they are.
There might be a spreadsheet asset register, last updated when the auditor asked for it.
Why equipment walks
People rarely lose equipment through carelessness. They borrow it for a good reason, in a hurry, and there is no quick way to record that they have. A sign-out book in the store works only if people go to the store, and nobody signs out a tool they are handing directly to a colleague on site.
The asset register, where one exists, records what you own, not where it is. It is updated occasionally by one person, so it drifts from reality almost immediately.
The same gap affects servicing. PAT testing, calibration and inspections are due on equipment that nobody can find, so they are missed or done late, which is a compliance problem as well as a practical one.
What missing kit costs
- Replacement purchases for items that are not lost, just misplaced.
- Jobs delayed or rescheduled while people look for equipment.
- Time spent ringing round and driving to other sites or vans.
- Calibration, testing and inspection dates missed on items nobody can locate.
- Laptops and phones with company data whose whereabouts are unknown.
The last point is easy to overlook. A missing laptop is not just a cost, it is a possible data protection problem.
How SpiderHunts tracks equipment without slowing anyone down
- Build the register: list each item with its type, serial number, value, home location and any service or calibration schedule, starting from whatever records you have.
- Label each item with a durable QR code or barcode sticker, or an NFC tag where stickers will not survive.
- Make check-out and check-in a few seconds on a phone: scan the item, and it is recorded against the person, with an optional job or site. Handing to a colleague is a scan by the person receiving it.
- Show a live list of where every item is and who has it, searchable by anyone who needs to find something.
- Send reminders when items are overdue back to the store, and when service, calibration or PAT test dates are coming up, with the current holder named.
- Record faults on scan, so a broken item is flagged for repair instead of going back on the shelf.
- Connect to your job system where it helps, so equipment needed for a job can be reserved and appears on the job.
| Question | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Who has the thermal camera? | Ring round | Search on a phone |
| Is it due calibration? | Check the spreadsheet, if updated | Reminder to the holder |
| Is it broken? | Found on the next job | Flagged when returned |
| What do we own? | Asset register from last audit | Live register |
For laptops and phones, we can connect to your device management, such as Microsoft Intune, so IT equipment appears in the same register with its assigned user.
Knowing where everything is
Anyone can find an item in seconds without a phone call. Equipment gets returned because the system knows who has it and politely reminds them. Service and calibration happen on time because the reminder reaches the person holding the item.
Replacement buying drops to items that are genuinely lost or worn out, and when an item does disappear, you know who had it last and where it went.
The register also becomes useful for insurance, audits and budgeting, because it is actually current.
Is your kit wandering off?
- Staff regularly ring round to find a tool or piece of equipment.
- You have bought replacements for items that later turned up.
- Your asset register is a spreadsheet updated occasionally.
- Calibration or testing dates have been missed on items nobody could find.
- You are not certain where every company laptop is right now.