BALLARAT builder Gary Cleary has been left angered and out of pocket after thieves stole his ute and trailer with $12,000 worth of tools at the weekend.Mr Cleary's ute and trailer were parked outside his Lydiard St home on Friday night.He returned home on Sunday to find them gone, with his trailer later found emptied and dumped at Miners Rest.His ute was recovered yesterday morning at Dowling Forest, with minor damage to the bullbar.But Mr Cleary's biggest frustration was losing his many tools including quality power tools, which had been accumulated over 20 years.Others were only bought last week.A sub-contractor, Mr Cleary had to tell his employee yesterday that he would be out of work for part of the week."It's left me out of pocket, just the little bits and pieces you accumulate over the years, and without them, you can't go to work," he said."They (the thieves) don't understand that they're playing with your livelihood."The tools included nail guns, cordless drills, routers, leads and power saws."It's very frustrating as I have to wait until Wednesday or Thursday (before the tools are ordered in) before I can restock," Mr Cleary said."And there's that much work on at the moment that you can't afford to sit at home for a week."Police are investigating.* Most of Mr Cleary's tools have his name engraved on them, and he has appealed for anyone who finds them to call him on 0417 474 994.