Building projects in rural areas- where do the tradesmen sleep?

[Meadowbreeze]

Excuse my ignorance. Have never lived outside a huge city and this thought is really annoying me. I've been watching grand designs and I've just had this thought, where do all the workers on these random, middle of nowhere locations stay? They can't all be local. The local town or village will only have so many tradesmen all available at once, with the knowhow of building this strange design.
I guess the same goes for drastic building work in small towns and villages. Do you contact a local architect and they source all the manpower?
Do they all sleep in local hotels? Caravans? How does it work?
Or am I just being blind to the obvious surplus of tradesmen in rural areas.

I’ve done some major renovations always in rural areas and the tradesmen have always been local. Occasionally if a specialist is required they stay in a hotel whilst they do their bit.

Tradespeople

@Swampthing55 Unfortunately for the most part it's tradesmen but I appreciate the correction. Tradespeople it is.
Hopefully women in trade will carry on picking up in popularity. I wish I trained as a carpenter.

B&B's or travel.

@Orangesare interesting. Is it quite difficult to get availability or not really?

Usually at their homes!

I'm rural, family are tradespeople. There are loads of trades local to me, lots of farmer kids are builders / electricians / plumbers / chippies - uses skills they've initially learnt at home and the farm can't support a whole family of adults.

Also people in the countryside are used to travelling for everything. So trades are willing to go further afield to a job. You don't have to find an electrician from your village - one of the many from the nearest 3 town area would be realistic.

Big / national company sites - like if a bank or something is being refurbed and they use someone they have a national contract with - they stay in hotels and B&Bs nearby.

@GrannyAchingsShepherdsHut That's really interesting. Thank you!

And specialists are used to travelling for jobs. A friend has to get a thatcher from eighty miles away. I put up a stonemason up in a BnB near me for a few nights while he built a wall.

Home or air bnb. I live in a remote area of Highlands, most are local and go home at night even if its a decent journey away or for more hard to get trades, staying somewhere.

I'm in Cumbria and tradespeople round here tend to advertise that they cover large areas. For instance they might say they cover all of Allerdale and Copeland which is an area about 60 miles long. It's just part and parcel of rural life.

@BooksAreSaferThanPeople That must cost an absolute fortunate in fuel. Can't imagine having to drive all that way after a hard day's physical labour.

Out of season caravan parks, Premier Inns, on site caravan. Yes we do have trades nearby but sometimes we have to hire more specialist/numerous teams

People tend to stay in B&Bs four nights a week or commute. The furthest I've regularly commuted is 1.5 hours each way for 5 months, other times when it's been more than a 2 hour drive, I've stayed at an hotel paid for by whoever wants me on site. For a very large project (eg the largest construction project in Europe at the time...) the site has a dedicated accommodation team who can find digs by having local contacts who rent out rooms on an ad hoc basis

Why assume they want to be identified as tradespeople? As a female, I am secure enough to be referred to anything ending in 'man/men' (chairman, for example). Annoys me when people try to correct in on my behalf.

I'm not a tradesperson, but do work on construction sites. As an industry we are used to traveling. Anything within an hour each way for me is local. Only after an hour and a half would accommodation start to be considered. It's a hard drive home after a physical day.

@Svalberg so you were driving 3hrs a day for 5 months? I know lots of people in my old office in London have crazy train commute times but I feel like driving doesn't let you turn off so it just sounds so much more exhausting.

@BringOnAutumn I had a very brief stint supporting a women into construction charity and I don't remember hearing anyone call themselves a tradesperson. All called themselves tradesmen and all were women. But I understand it's the internet and many will have other opinions.

My dd works away occasionally on some of the islands off the west coast of Scotland , he has stayed in hotels, B&Bs and also caravans while doing so. Depends on the time of year.

My family built and ran a campsite in the late 80s, we would often have workmen bringing cheap caravans to stay during the week then they'd drive home for weekends

Yep, my social life went to zero and the journey back on a Friday could take up to 3 hours. I also put on a ton of weight

DH works in an allied trade to building. Big national projects provide digs, generally in local b&bs or occasionally rentals. He particularly liked the out of season holiday camp they got once! The portacabin was a low point. It got chilly.

@Svalberg my goodness. Hope you have a better set up now.
I'm glad I asked this. I have a lot of respect for you all. It doesn't sound easy by any stretch. Aside from how gruelling it clearly is physically, the fuel prices must be a huge mental worry too.

@Meadowbreeze oh yes, don't tend to travel more than an hour each way, apart from occasional site meetings - mostly been WFH for the last 10 years!

Correct. Not come across a female tradesperson myself yet though.

Totally agree with you. But sometimes the 'people on the internet' need a reminder that their opinions aren't necessarily the only one.

Anyway, sorry to hijack your thread.