To be worried about leaving builders in my house alone.

[Teapotqueen]

We are thininkg about having our loft converted into a bedroom, it is the first time we have had " the builders in". Both me and DP work full time and I don't know what is normal when it comes to leaving builders in your house un supervised. Am I being paranoid about strangers in my house alone or is it just what you have to do. Help.

I would like to point out that after much difficulty with our builder I took the decision to change the locks, 3 months after they had finished (they hadn't finished it to the spec they said they would ) they didn't inform me but just turned up and let themselves in. That is why I changed the locks. Apart from their appalling attitude and interesting approach they didn't do anything "illegal" they just made me feel uncomfortable as they hadn't returned the keys to us and so I made the decision to change the locks.

However I should have known as they were a conversion company that were the cheapest not necessarily the best and in our naivety we paid the deposit in cash and the arsehole sales man ran off with it as he hadn't been paid.............we should have realised.

Since then I have gone with personal recommendations rather than internet ones and have had no problem whatsoever and left them alone on many occasions in my house. Don't let one persons experience put you off, don't use your annual leave, if you are concerned be vigilant.

I have since learnt that most great builders don't ask for large sums up front.

We had builders in for 3 months to build an extension. We had a choice of 2 firms - one was a building firm employing a number of staff - the other a 'one man band'. Although the larger firm could do the job sooner, we decided to wait for the chap on his own as he came recommended and we knew who was ultimately responsible for our door key. Although I am a SAHM I was rarely in whilst the work was being carried out and in fact we went on holiday for a week so he delayed knocking the wall through downstairs until we were away.

He rang me on my mobile when we were on our way home to ask if we were back in the country yet - but we had been delayed by a few hours. The next day I saw a neighbour who said "your builder was working late last night!" (was 9pm on a Sat). Turns out he had come back to do some more cleaning up before we got home!!!!

Nothing ever went missing and I do not recollect anything ever being rifled through. They all brought their own drinks (but would gladly accept one of mine if I was in)and they even hired a portaloo for the duration of the work.

My advice - only use somene who comes highly recommended and remove all valuables/documents from the house just to be on the safe side. Shut internal doors to all rooms they do not need to go in - to keep the dust out although it will get everywhere!!!

We had an extension that went on for months and both work. They had a key and just got on with it. Similar situation when bathroom refitted and staircase and landing stripped and redecorated. You just have to trust people to get on with their jobs.

We've had a range of people in, often unsupervised, over the 10 years since we bought our house. Including changing a bathroom, 2 different lots of window replacements, groundfloor extension (3 months), loft conversion (10 weeks), various plumbing jobs etc - where we have taken the time to go through recommendations and references and been (relatively) happy to leave them to work away and give a key (either for the day when short jobs if I was in and out, or for the duration on longer builds). Short jobs (few hours) we've generally been able to arrange to be there for those.

We've never had a problem with things going missing, nor have we felt that anything untoward has gone on while we weren't there. We might not see the builders everyday on the big jobs, but most. And DH was able to pop home to talk to them about things, or would drop in if he was in the area doing something else (I was less able to do the "dropping by" thing). But it wasn't a regular thing, just if needed or if he happened to be local (which he'd often have told the guys in the morning anyway).

We got our keys back at the end without a problem. The front door key (all they were given) is quite secure in that it cannot be easily copied (you need a code card and only a couple of specialised places do them) and we had the card locked away safely anyway (so we wouldn't lose it as much as not trusting).

I've known others to have problems, but usually when they haven't checked references etc beforehand or not been able to be relatively hands-on and available to drop by.

"... I think your local council can provide a list of builders who have been CRB checked and all their credentials checked out too ..."

Very unlikely.

If you do, lock up your valuables; I've heard of some builders who take small items from houses they work in, e.g., DVDs, lose change etc. the kind of things you won't really miss straight away.
The other thing is that if you're not there, they might take long breaks and just slack off really. I wouldn't do it myself unless desperate- no other option.