To have no clue about workman etiquette

[Sn00p4d]

I'm fairly socially awkward at the best of times and so confused as to what to do.
I have a couple of plumbers and a tiler upstairs fixing my bathroom and I'm not sure what's expected of me! Do I keep out the road, do I help, do I make teas, do I make them breakfast, do I make myself lunch without offering any. It's a minefield!
No 'should the workman use my loo' questions right enough, no issues there, not least because it's sitting on my landing at the moment! Handy when 7 months pregnant and peeing every 10 mins :)
Teach me lovely mumsnetters, what do I do?!

I just offer teas/coffees every so often and ask them to let me know if there's anything else they need. Then i keep out of the way and do important jobs around the house slob about eating biscuits and mumsnetting

Keep out of the way but be available for questions about how you want things to be done. Offer tea about as often as you'd drink it. Don't worry about lunch. If you have biscuits offer those too.

Offer teas, coffees, and biscuits - ask if there is anything else they need - stay out of the way - but don't be afraid to ask any questions you have. If something doesn't look or sound right, it's best to raise it early.

Thank you! I do realise how ridiculous this sounds but they're friend of a friend type people so I don't want to do the 'wrong' thing!
I don't drink hot drinks at all so the whole concept baffles me a bit, how often do people drink cups of tea?!x

I make them tea when they arrive and then go out as much as possible, having told them to help themselves to drinks.

When DC get home from school, I send them to ask if drinks are required!

My hubby is a tradesman, he would be grateful for a brew mid morn and mid afternoon, cake/biscuits if he's very lucky!

My DP is a tradesman and would love to be offered even 1 cup of tea/ coffee! Just offer a couple of times over the course of the day, I can tell you now that they will be very grateful (hardly ever happens to DP).

Biscuits are a wonderful added bonus when you've been up since 4

I always offer hot/cold drinks at first, then leave the things out and ask them to help themselves. While its lovely to be offered, you can't possibly tell when it would be convenient: good workers, who get stuff done in time, will take breaks when it doesn't disrupt the work, when they are waiting for something to happen.

Hope it goes well for you

Keep out of their way. Offer tea/coffee if you're having one (surprising how many say "No thanks") and lunch is down to them to sort out for themselves. The thing all tradesmen hate is someone hovering over their shoulders.

I make the first tea/coffee (if wanted), serve with a plate of biscuits and also glasses of water. I then tell them to help themselves to more or ask if they need anything or need to know where anything is. They provide their own lunch.

then I leave them to it.

and yes of course they can use the toilet, assuming it is connected!

I usually offer to make them a cuppa about twice through the day if i'm at home and will provide some biscuits on a plate too. I tend to try and stay out of their way mostly and wouldn't want to interrupt them by offering tea all the time. Most bring their own thermos of tea/coffee anyway and will sort themselves out for lunch so I wouldn't bother with offering them lunch

Hope you feel more confident now :)

If I go out during the day, I'll let them know & let them know when I'll be back & I'll ask them if they would like me to pick anything up for them.

Offer hot/cold drinks every so often. Biscuits/cake are good. I usually ask if they want a bacon barm or some toast

I had tradesmen of various varieties in my house all last year. In the end I got a separate kettle, and left it out with mugs, milk, tea, coffee and a whole bag of sugar and let them get on with it. Lidl do chocolate digestives for about 60p a packet. They go down better than Nice biscuits or Rich Tea.

"I don't drink hot drinks at all so the whole concept baffles me a bit, how often do people drink cups of tea?!"

How often would you get yourself a drink of water or whatever you drink?

When my boiler was being fitted, in the kitchen, I offered a cup whenever I made one for myself.

This was me last week. And "socially awkward" are my middle names. I started off being over friendly, went on to feeling annoyed at the tea making and waitressing cos I am also a mardy cow and by the end of the second week we were all ignoring each other nicely.

This too shall pass

All done thank u! No tea required, job is lovely, no more tradesmen for a few weeks, happy days! And breathe ! :)