Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

To not want builders etc in my house unattended?

46 replies

TigerseyeMum · 19/02/2013 19:40

Or does everyone else just hand them a key and leave them to get on with it?

We bought a run down house with the intention of doing it up, it was the only way we could afford it. My DH has lost all interest in doing it but because I work full time and so does he I am reluctant to just get people in to do the work because neither of us could be there to supervise.

Plus I have two super speedy dogs that would escape the moment a door opened a crack. The last builders I left alone managed to shut my elderly dog in the bathroom and he ate a bath mat and shat everywhere.

Is it me? I'm not saying all builders are criminals, it's just basically inviting a stranger into your home isn't it? But people (well, our parents mainly) keep asking why 'we don't just get someone in'.

OP posts:

Montybojangles · 20/02/2013 07:11

We bought house in need of restoration and neighbour recommended a builder. They have been here on and off ever since. Have a key, very reliable, trust them totally. I was the same as you initially, was very worried. I took the first couple of days off so I could get an idea of what they were like. They are almost like family now.

Pagwatch · 20/02/2013 07:18

I am leaving the country soon so that my kitchen can be done while I lie on a beach.
The living hell that is being stuck in the house while twenty builder are charging around and turning the heating and electricity off really does not appeal.

I meet several locl builders. I get references. I decide which one I feel comfortable with. I check he has insurance etc. I trust that he is not going to fuck over his reputation by nicking from me.
If necessary I put the dogs in kennels.

If I am at home I stay out as much as possible iyswim. Meet them in the morning then bugger off. They have my number - if they need instruction they can call me.

I would never ever doing anything to the house if I thought I had to babysit them because I couldn't trust them

MrsKeithRichards · 20/02/2013 07:25

It is most definitely not best to be on site, they are professionals, they know their shit and do not need you project managing interfering.

Labootin · 20/02/2013 07:33

I've renovated 3 houses remotely (ie me in Dubai and properties in England)
but I obviously wasn't living in them.

Builders used to email photos of works done and any queries and i'd email back in return .. Agree on paper trail , you can't argue with what was agreed when its there in black and white .

by the end of one particularly lengthy job the blokes used to do comedy catalogue poses or the running joke of the copy of the Sun and a mug of tea always in the photo like where's Wally.

Eeeeeowwwfftz · 20/02/2013 07:38

My parents had a project manager to organise the renovations. For a big project this seems like a wise investment as they will know who to hire for specific jobs and when they need to be brought in. Plus you've only got one person to deal with as the project unfolds rather than separate brickies, plasterers, joiners, roofers, plumbers, tilers, carpet fitters, decorators, electricians ... Unfortunately I have no idea how you go about finding a decent project manager but at least you would only have to do it once.

I share your anxiety about having people in the house but I also work very ineffectively when my boss is staring over my shoulder.

BeechAvenue · 20/02/2013 08:43

I make a point of going out. To me it's part of the glory of paying someone else to do something - you spend a day at work, and come home to find loads of stuff done, much better than you could have done it yourself.

Nancy66 · 20/02/2013 08:59

If you work you pretty much have to do this.
Most tradesman are completely honest and just want to do the job and get out.

However it is worth pointing out that if the worst did happen then your insurance wouldn't cover you - as you willingly gave the key to a third party.

GrowSomeCress · 20/02/2013 09:07

We have never left builders alone. Would always make arrangements.

fluffyraggies · 20/02/2013 09:09

Recommendation from the electrician?

Ask the builders for references. You can speak to their previous customers. It's standard pracitce.

The dogs are your responsibility to sort out. Tie them up in the garden with a kennel or something if there's no one to mind them. You cant expect the guys to keep squeezing through the doors of the house without an inch to spare - i'm sure you know this though :)

One of the builders should be going though the work they have done done during each day. A rough idea of what is to be achieved by the end of each day should be agreed upon.

fluffyraggies · 20/02/2013 09:11

I'm trying to say one of the builders should spend time at the end of each day going through what as been done.

fluffyraggies · 20/02/2013 09:12

Going through it with you.

Jesus!

iwanttobelola · 20/02/2013 09:32

I am a self employed 'tradesperson' and we are on sites such as MyBuilder and RatedPeople, they verify that we are insured/qualified and we need references from previous clients in order to get on the site (these references are verified by them), past clients leave feedback on the service you provide and rate you.
I think for a customer this helps with some traceability rather than just selecting someone off the internet etc.

We are gardeners/landscapers so do not always require access to the house but customers attitudes towards you vary dramatically, from following you around (which is very hard to work with) to leaving you to get on with it. We have a regular client who will only make us tea if we bring our own mug and carefully locks the patio door after she has passed the tea out, but loves the work we do and is one of our best customers for referring others to us.
We have another who doesn't quite understand that as lovely as their Westie is trying to mow a lawn or lay a patio with 'Hamish helping..' doesn't work

I have also turned down work where it was insisted that should I get the job that they would require me to supervised, check the garden in case any 'plants were misplaced' log the times I left to use the loo ( wasn't allowed to use theirs) or went for lunch, if the atmosphere is one of not being trusted an inch then they are not the clients that are worth the time and money .
Think of it as the same if your boss at work frisked you for any stolen property and watched you work

I think locking valuables away lessens that possibility of if something gets moved that it has been stolen/ accusations flying around etc etc.

Get some quotes , talk to the tradesmen, ask the electrician for a recommendation and I think you will get an idea of who you would want working in your home

Good Luck!

MrsKeithRichards · 20/02/2013 11:44

A decent builder is well able to 'project manage' their own job, with their own contacts. I despair, I really do. Unless you're building a scheme of houses and a swimming pool to boot, project managment is a red herring and what bulider just do, and have done for a long time, before Grand Designs gave people the urge to don a hard had and project manage their own build.

Project manage = interfering sod who will stand over someone at all times.

Lottikins · 20/02/2013 11:49

'I wouldn't feel 100% about someone I didn't intimately know being in my house alone'

so you have to shag them all first lol

AnyFucker · 20/02/2013 13:57

I shag my tradesperson all the time. He's a great shag. He's never nicked anything off me, and always clears up after himself.

HairyHandedTrucker · 20/02/2013 14:05

I wouldn't like strangers in my house either, act would worry about pets too

BellaVita · 20/02/2013 14:10

Hand over the key and let them get in with it - send the dogs elsewhere.

TheChaoGoesMu · 20/02/2013 14:11

We had to do this op, as we had no option to take time off work. I just hid the stuff away I didnt want them to go near and left them to it. They were here 3 months and felt like family in the end.
We went by recomendation, but you could look on sites such as ratedpeople.com
Check their feedback, but also check their name through google as well. We nearly went with one builder, but got put off when we googled and realised he seemed to have a string of bankrupt companies behind him.

ILikeBirds · 20/02/2013 14:26

Even the small jobs we've had have seemed to require several clarifications by me so i'm glad that i've been home to answer questions. These have all been smallish jobs though, i'd be happy to leave people who were working to plans. I can't answer calls at work so wouldn't want to leave anyone all day without me being contactable or having a clear schedule of works.

Original poster

TigerseyeMum · 28/02/2013 17:18

Thanks for all your replies, I haven't been able to get back on to reply since.

I will have a read through the good advice though and consider the options.

Interesting how many made assumptions about why I didn't want people in my house alone, I didn't actually say I thought they would steal stuff. Coming from a long line of builders I know the score. But I do have experience of some larger scale renovations and there were issues which had I been around could have been resolved easier.

The dogs would be shut in a separate room, thus out if the way, but I do have issues of trust as my previous experience has been that people left alone in the house don't always 'get' the 'don't open the door or leave it open' instruction.

I may have time as I said later in the year to be more on hand to get various people in in a co-ordinated way but in the meantime I might get a few bits and bobs done.

Thanks for the opinions anyway, I shall read and think then eventually take action...

OP posts:

lljkk · 28/02/2013 17:27

I would hide my valuables, shut the door to dogs with sign on the door "DO NOT OPEN THIS DOOR THE LOO IS BEHIND YOU ON THE LEFT!" and leave them to it. Buy them nice chockie bix. They are so noisy & messy, can't stand being in house with them for long.

Flip

1 2