Do you feed workmen in your house?

[Spedk]

Had a lovely man come in to fix the boiler. Made him a cup of coffee and offered him a slice of cake.

Just wondering what others tend to do.

I offer food and drink to anyone
Even fed a policewoman once who was here for ages, she said the smell of food was making her hungry

Tea, coffee, chocolate biscuits and kit kats usually plus bag of assorted crisps.

Also offer cans of coke which always goes down well in the summer.

Wouldn't do bacon sandwiches or anything cooked. There's a Gregg's about five minutes walk for anything hot.

Yes. So daily breakfast (bacon or sausage sandwich) at the start and coffee tea and squash rounds all day, packets of biscuits. I have also offered lunch with us for any one or two builders I like on a small job but I don’t do that for a big number working on a larger job.

If I was at my office and people were that rude and unfriendly to me I wouldn’t want to be there and wouldn’t do my best work either.

I always offer a drink and biscuits. We had our bathroom completely refitted when I was very heavily pregnant, I was overdue and it was the middle of a heatwave. I made the bathroom fitters a drink on the first day but then showed them where everything was and told them they could help themselves because I needed to just sit on the sofa in front of a fan. On the last day they were here, they went to fetch lunch from the fish and chip shop, they offered to bring me back some food, which I declined, but brought back cans of cold drinks for me because they felt sorry for me in the heat

Yes, tea and biscuits as I would any guest and a bacon sandwich if I'm making some.

I always offer and make tea/coffee. If I know someone will be working in the house for long, I’d have biscuits in to offer as well.

Always offer tea/coffee, maybe a biscuit or slice of cake if we happened to have one on the go. Never in my life heard of anyone cooking meals for people working for them. I wouldn't want that if I was working - it would take longer to eat and mean I had to stay later.

Sure I offer them a cup of tea. If it's someone there for a while (I mean for days or weeks) I may offer them banana bread if I've made some. Otherwise no.

It depends how long they are there. If they're going to be there a few hours I'll offer a drink, but not food. Recently I've only had people in for small jobs and usually they just want to get on with it and get to the next job.

If it's a one off visit I offer tea/coffee and biscuits or a jug of water/squash if it's hot.

If it's a long job - ie several weeks I just tell them they're welcome to use the kettle and store stuff in the fridge. Either I'm in the office and they have a key or I'm WFH and in neither case do I have time to make meals for other people. (I have warmed up leftovers for lunch.) Also it would cost an absolute fortune providing 2 x meals for a team of workmen every day, day after day.

No. I pretend they're not there.

just a packet of biscuits and showing them where they can make tea and coffee, but most of them just make it in their vans.

I always offer them a drink and if they're going to be around for longer than an hour or so, I offer them a snack too. Biscuits or a slice of cake or crisps or whatever. Or I'll leave them a tin of biscuits / box of crisps to help themselves.

When I've had people working in my house for a few days, and I've been working from home, I've often offered them a sandwich when I've gone down to make my own lunch. I don't do it because I feel I have to, but if I'm making a sandwich anyway it's no extra trouble to offer them one.

A while ago I made bacon and egg sandwiches for a couple of people who were working in our living room, and they were absolutely delighted and massively grateful. They actually mentioned it on their Facebook feed when they posted pictures of the work they'd done for us, so it must have been a rare occurrence!

No, they just seem to want to get on with the job and would rather get their own food from a cafe.

I agree. I make sure they know they're welcome to use the loo whenever they need.

I offer one cup of tea when they visit the first time.

then if it’s a sizeable job I have a rough kettle they are welcome to set up. But beyond that no.

Yes always if at home otherwise point direction of kettle and leave out tea, coffee, biscuits and crisps

Given the amount they charge nowadays I assume they only drink champagne.

Depends on how long they're going to be there, we had some lads replacing our fence last summer which was going to take a few days. I made them all bacon sarnies and drinks every hour or so as it was absolutely boiling.

Tea and biscuits.

No. It wouldn't occur to me to feed them to be honest.

I always offer a drink, appropriate to the weather, but if it's just a half day or one-off visit that's as far as I go.
When I was having extensive work done and the same team were going to be on site for about 3 weeks (and it was summer) I set them up under the carport with a kettle, tea coffee etc, 5 litre water bottle and biscuit supply. Put my garden chairs round there, so that they didnt come to rely on me making them drinks but I was showing them hospitality.
Often with tradesmen the quality of the finished job depends on the rapport between homeowner and tradesman as well as their willingness to return.

Yes, we've always offered. We've even fed the window cleaner a few times.

If it's a weekday I'll be working from home. I offer tea if I'm making and cold drinks in the summer if it's hot but that's all. I do recommend the local bakery if they want hot food. It would be different I think if I were retired or just didn't work and had more time available.

Yes. I offer everyone who comes through my door!
I had workmen here for 4 months and still managed a continuous supply when the water was off intermittently
Consequently they were so kind and upgraded the spec planned by the DFG