To not give builders food

My DH is a tradesman. He absolutely doesn't expect drinks and especially food but some people do make them drinks and offer a biscuit and occasionally a filled roll and they absolutely love and appreciate it when anyone offers anything. They don't always accept depending how busy they are and what they took themselves that day.

I had a loft conversation which took a couple of months and I used to buy the odd pack of doughnuts, biscuits, Ice creams etc for the builders depending on the weather. It’s not obligatory but they seemed chuffed when I did!

I've had quite a few men working in the garden at different times.

I always offered them drinks, most have declined as they seem happy to go to a local café during their breaks and otherwise bring their own drinks.

During a particularly hot summer, the only request I had for drinks was one of the young men asking if I'd mind filling up his water bottle.

And regarding the use of the loo, something else I always offer and never been taken up on, because, as your DH said, they have a bottle in the van, or so one man told my neighbour, who was also having work done by the same men.

Can't see that you need to provide them with an endless supply of biscuits. They're there to work, not eat biscuits all day.

Just a thought to put you off supplying "breakfast"..,,
What if one or more of them are vegetarian/vegan?
Nah, a two day job fencing, I would think that hot/cold drinks, the biscuits you describe.., the choc bars are a very generous addition, but I must admit is thoughtful and will probably be very much appreciated by them.
With the loo situation, you can't tell what weather conditions will have been like, so even if it's not raining on the two days, the ground may be muddy..,
Just lay some old worksheets on the area from entrance door to the convenience, and all should be fine.
Hope they do a good job for you, and that you (and your worried husband) will be more than satisfied.,,,

Biscuit tin outside and offer a hot drink morning and afternoon - I usually offer at 10am and 3pm, as that's when I tend to have my coffee break when I'm wfh.

Of course they need access to the loo.

Your DH is totally unreasonable for thinking/expecting tradesmen to wee in a bottle 🤢
I’ve had a basement conversion done this year and was happy for everyone to use the downstairs loo inside, though the builders offered to hire a portaloo. (not all have hand basins) They kept it immaculately clean and even supplied their own loo roll.
Hot drinks and a tin of biscuits are both an icebreaker and a way to show your appreciation. You don’t need to go over the top baking homemade cakes- but do if you want to.
Your idea to set up a drinks station is great & exactly what I do, though on a bigger job we’ve also made the first cup of the day so that we can talk things through if we need to. It’s so much easier to have a (difficult) conversation about progress, costs etc over a cuppa!

@ThiswillDoItsfine OMG a pee bottle hahaha. Maybe you need to be out and DH can stay home showing himself up. I always offer tea/biscuits/loo break. Last person didn’t use any which is his choice. But most do. And yes, if you don’t want to keep offering, a kettle and stuff outside is also fine …

Treat others as you would like to treated yourself.

I would always leave tea and coffee and packet of biccies out on the side and tell them to help themselves as and when they wanted. And of course let them know where the loo is if they need it.

Respect your trades and they will respect you.

I let them help themselves to tea and coffee and would provide sweet treats. I put some sheets down so they can get to the loo without taking boots off

Looks like you’ve just been unlucky, thats not been my experience at all

My dad always made tea for builders 🤷‍♀️ it’s just polite imo

I can't imagine having anyone round and not offering a hot or cold drink. Even the window cleaner if I'm in. It's just common courtesy. Maybe biscuits. We've had a lot of tradespeople recently doing a fairly big refurb so I bought some cheap chunky mugs that I wasn't bothered about breaking. And of course they can use the loo. Honestly how inhospitable must you be to lock them out

Wouldn't provide anything else usually although when we had the same team for several weeks I did a Greg's brekkie run a couple of Fridays. They were lovely workers and deserved a treat

I'm a hot drinks and snacks but no meals person with people in for the whole day.

People just in for an hour or two will only get offered tea/coffee because I can't keep biscuits in the house because I just eat them.

good grief. Tradesmen are people you know. Not some seperate lower race. The ones I have had I habe always been fortunate they have been polite and clean.

the last bloke I had in left the loo spotless and used the airfreshener.

I provided tea, coffee and orange squash, plus digestive biscuits. On the final day I went to local creamery and bought a cream tea for six, two scones each, clotted cream and jam. I didn't do it every day of the six weeks they were working.

They used the cloakroom with no problems. But a recent visit by an engineer to have DH's stairlift serviced was awful. Grim BO and peed over DH's elevated loo seat and dribbled on the floor. Disgusting.

I do the outside setup thing if they are going to be there for more than an hour or two. Definitely biscuits and I make sure they are the good biscuits. If the job is a grubby one, I get individually wrapped ones so none get wasted. I have found that all the people I have had in to do work notice and are appreciative.

They probably went in the garden!

Good job they weren’t building walls, might have ended up like the wonky pub!

Other posters back me up! For whatever reason, most do not follow decent toilet etiquette at work. My toilet is clean, I expect it to be left like that. If I was having major work done, they’d have to arrange and clean their own portaloo!
In Spain, many years ago, builders shit in the wardrobe( empty!) of the new build. It was common practice to pee against the garden wall as well. Dirty sods!

I once offered workmen, my cleaner and gardeners a piece of cake which dd's friend had made for her whilst recovering from an op.

Fast forward a couple of hours and they were all talking gibberish. Turns out it was a 'magic cake'. After a lot of pearl clutching I was just happy no one died and we weren't sued..