To not give builders food

Would always do tea/coffee, never have biscuits in the house. We use the same builder all the time so would probably offer a slice of cake etc if it had been a birthday. That’s our limit.

Your DH is a knob.

Please let them know they can use the downstairs loo and provide a tea tray, that's much more civilised!

Your husband is not a kind customer. Most trades will not use your toilet, but would love a cup of tea/coffee biscuit, or cold water, that's being kind. They aslo don't want to many breaks as they want to get on get finished and paid, a kind working relationship goes far.

On a very hot day, I offer the Amazon man water. It never hurts to be nice

Your h sounds a bit selfish and thoughtless. Is he always like this??

My DH is self-employed in construction and I know he definitely has a bottle in his van, but I wouldn't dream of not allowing any workers to use our toilet. I also offer intermittent cups of tea/coffee if I'm about, and would allow them access to the kettle if I wasn't. I use plant-based milk though and the majority decline. No bacon butties either sorry 🤣.

DH is saying they'll have a bottle in their van if they need a wee, and they will be driving off for breaks and can go in supermarket around corner. 😩

Does your husband piss in a bottle at work himself when there is an adequate toilet nearby? Fuckin hell.

That is a last resort for someone working on the move/on the road, disgraceful to even think about having someone step away from your perfectly available toilet in order to piss into a bottle in the back of a van.
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Seriously? These workers are human beings, not animals, who can go wee in a bottle in their van if they need to. What if they need to go for a poo? I suppose they should carry around an ice cream bucket for that?I can’t believe your DH actually said that. I’d be totally embarrassed if I were married to such a turnip of a man.

@Mig25 - I was following from another poster further up that found 'in general' the British workpeople would have tea/coffee/biscuits, whereas Eastern European workpeople 'in general' thought it odd and always bought along their own. Apologies I didn't link their post to add the context and didn't mean to cause any offence.

They usually bring their own thermos/water/food.

What does the fact that they’re Romanian have to do with anything? Why can’t you just say two workmen clearing the garden took the biscuit pack with them. What does their nationality have to do with anything?

What if the cafe hates workmen using their loo too? What if they don’t buy anything from the cafe and just waltz in to use their toilets. Is that acceptable???

If you book tradesmen to do work on your property you should have some common decency to allow them to use your toilet. Jesus wept.

Yes. The job will either take longer or be left unfinished because they will be committed to the next job. They will add the cost of buying food and drinks to the bill as well.

You just have to suck it up for the sake of a few days.

Sounds far more economic to provide tea, biscuits and access to the loo instead of having them wandering off to a local cafe two or three times daily.

You seriously expect them to go trooping off to a cafe to use the toilet?

They are far more likely to "water your hedge" than go off in search of a cafe. You are massively unreasonable.

Do you expect to have to go off and find a cafe for a loo visit when you are working?

I gave mine free access to the kitchen for drinks and left them a big tin of biscuits. They'd make me a coffee sometimes. I also made them bacon sandwiches if I was around. They did a few odd jobs for me, put some furniture together and some shelves up that were nothing to do with the build, and also fed my cat when I was away a couple of days, so I was glad I'd made them welcome.

When I have had builders in I’ve always given them free access to the kettle with tea coffe milk and biscuits
along with some cold bottle of water /sqash

we had builders build a huge deck a few years ago in the middle of summer it was boiling hot
I was horrified to see that all they had was a bloody pot noodles on the first day

I went to our local bakers and got them a pasty each
( they are huge ones ) and a box a cakes each day that they worked

I didn’t have to do it but they were building a deck that I was going to be walking on so I wanted it done properly 😂

They were a lovely bunch of blokes 2 brothers and a son and they did a cracking job of my garden

Ive used them several times since for other stuff and they always do a great job
I have given there details to friend and family as a good builder / tradesman is like winning the lottery ticket

I do biscuits in a tin handed over with the first round of hot drinks. Offer another mid morning and maybe an afternoon one, but theyll probably be gone by 4 anyway. And only if it's convenient for you to offer! Top up tin every so often after they've left (but I wouldn't do this on a 2 day job).

We've had a ton of works done (months); always get some biscuits and sweets in to keep them going. The odd pack of donuts or whatever, and sometimes a bottle of beer on a Friday.

I have never cooked breakfast or made a sandwich etc. I do know others do though, as a treat, especially when you've had the same team for weeks, but I don't think it's expected (not are the biscuits etc but I do think it's nice).

Oh and the loo - yes I would let them use my loo!! On big jobs they usually order a portaloo but I would never expect someone to piss in a bottle or drive to a public loo instead of using mine.

If I've got people working outside, then I'll set up a wee area in the utility room with a kettle, tea and coffee and biscuits etc, and there's access to a cold water tap to refill water bottles.

We have a 'garden loo' which means that people can use the toilet without having to come into the main house or having to remove their shoes (it is a proper nice clean indoor loo with loo roll etc, not an outhouse or anything!).

But I do expect professional tradespeople to provide their own lunch: I'm not feeding them, I do have my own actual job to do.

Haven't RTFT, but does your DH have a bottle in the car to wee in when he's at work? If not, why on Earth does he think it's OK for workmen to do this? Oh, don't tell me, workmen are 'only' workmen and don't deserve to get treated with any sort if decency and dignity in their working day. 🙄

Yeah agree. But it’s not a tea party!! And they aren’t guests or visitors to my home. They’re at work. In my work place, no one gives me a filled roll/stew/bacon butty/individually wrapped biscuit. Honestly, I am blown away that people do this!!! 😆

that's why I would do the help yourself setup. I find acceptance/ non acceptance to be about 60/40.

I can never understand why people on here seem so reluctant to let tradespeople use their loo. How would you like it if your boss decided that you can't use the loo at work,and expected you to piss in a bottle or find the nearest cafe or supermarket? Are we a lower form of life,good enough to do the jobs that you can't or won't do,but not good enough to be shown common human decency?
I'm very thankful that none of my customers have ever had this attitude. It'd be the last time I worked for them if they did. Plus most trades have a blacklist of people with bad attitudes, non payers and people that no one wants to work for,and word gets around.

This is the fucking wildest thread I’ve read in a while. Does no one here have a job? Who has time for this? How are you even home all the while?

Agree with some other posters saying that it’s very unusual for tradespeople to even accept a snack/drink.

I’m not a total arse but I’m not sitting around waiting to make the next hot drink. I’ve left tea bags and coffee on the side before. We don’t ever have biscuits though - and they’ve been almost universally refused previously so I don’t buy them now.

The Russian guys who did our kitchen - lovely, but they wouldn’t even take a glass of water. Even if I was out or working upstairs, they’d still go sit in their van and eat their own packed lunch. In winter! I said sit in but they wouldn’t have it.

The toilet however, sheesh, yes of course they can use the toilet.

I tend to do a setup because I am not a regular break taker or hot drink drinker.