Builders requesting drinks

[crazydiamond222]

We are having an extension built whilst I am on maternity leave. I have a 3 month old. We have 2 builders on site laying foundations who started on monday. I have been making them a drink first thing and on one occasion made them a bacon sandwich. I don't offer drinks all day because my son keeps me very busy and only naps on me and it is a 4 month job so I don't want to have to do drinks all day for this period.

This afternoon whilst I was playing with my son in the living room one of the builders walked past the window and requested a coffee and tea. I thought the request to be a bit cheeky as a) he shouldn't have been looking in the living room and b) he shouldn't been requesting. I made him the drinks anyway leaving my son on the playmat getting upset. I rushed outside as my son was upset and I wanted to get back to him. When I took the drinks outside I tripped over rubble breaking a cup and scratching my arm. The builders reply was you should have passed it through the window. I remade the drinks but suggested in future setting up a kettle in the garage for them but they said they can just bring their own drinks. I am now feeling pretty upset with them.

Just needed to vent really but what do people feel is reasonable regarding builders and drinks.

But who would see a mother playing with a toddler and ask her to stop and make him a drink??? Someone who needed a drink a good half hour ago.

Not cheeky to ask for drinks, but it is cheeky to expect you to make them!

Show them where everything is and let them make their own drinks.

My builders were brilliant - they brought their own tea, sugar and milk

He is not a toddler, he is 3 months old

I always make the first tea/coffee and then say 'heres where it all is' and leave them to it for the rest of the project.

For such a long job I'd say provide them with facilities they can use. Garage or gazebo good if you don't want them treading dirt into the kitchen. The accident gives a good reason to do this.

In general I consider it polite to offer, and kind of rude to ask.

You are being precious. Looking after a 3 month old isn't that difficult. Surely he can be left in pram/ travel cot for the 3 mins it takes to make tea

If you have people working in your home, it's totally normal to make them refreshments, especially when they're there all day and doing manual work.

If you're setting up something in the garage, do they have access to water to refill the kettle?

Was it whoever who asked for the tea who declined the tea station? If it's tricky for you to offer then just set up the station anyway and direct them to it if they ask. They'll soon get the hang of it!

Agree with everything @drinkygin said.

Tell them to help themselves or set them up a little area in the garage, this time of year Milk will stay perfectly cold outside even without a fridge.

Can't believe this is even an AIBU tbh!

They have a portaloo

Thank goodness for that

I have done both, I set up a tea station when the children were young and I already knew the builder. My Mum had just died so he knew I wasn't going to be very sociable. I left out, tea, coffee, sugar, milk and biscuits. But that was a 3 week job.

Last time I was here for the entire build and I made drinks about every 90 minutes, sometimes that was for 5 or 6 people depending what was going on. The local bobby on the beat knew my builder so he would often be cycling near by, he'd call in and I would make him a brew too.

Manual labour is very hard work and I wanted to keep them onside. After all they were going to be in my house for 4 months. Plus I had tidy, on time, on budget, on schedule builders. I could have kissed their feet.

Your baby will not be harmed for crying for a few minutes. The crying is supposed to get to you, that's the point. If you had been on the toilet having a poo it would have taken you about the same amount of time to get to your baby.

Building work is stressful. Why don't you talk to the builders and say I'll make you drinks at X and Y time, if you want drinks outside of that then I'll set up a tea station for you.

I had the house painted when DD was a baby and just said to the guy doing it that he could help himself. Left biscuits out, pointed him towards the milk and left hi, to it. If I was making one for myself, I offered.

It wasn't at all cheeky for your builder to ask.

I find it bizarre that as a paying customer , we are expected to make them (the builders) refreshments? Why cant they bring a packed lunch and a flask?

It would never even occur to me to go to work and ask clients to make drinks for me, dunno why the building profession is so different , suspect its something to do with it traditionally being women who are at home so therefore serving the working men.

Whilst its a kind thing to do , its certainly not a neccesitiy , esp if in my case , you are broke and already struggling financially without having to buy biscuits for god knows how many months for poor baby men who cant bring a packed lunch with them or god forbid have to survive a full working day without a cup of tea.

My husband (ex elecrician) makes them nespresso lattes, cappuccinos all day long (and then I have to hunt around the house and garden to locate my Denby cups). I on the other hand, probably give them one or two cups of tea a day (in the kids design your own mugs lol). I spend my life caring for others, so don’t feel like running around after builders while they drink all my nice coffee! I’d give them a kettle, and some cheap mugs.

I usually offer anyone doing work in our around our house a cup of tea or coffee when I’m making one for myself and also offer a cold drink especially if it’s warmer weather.I also supply biscuits.

Go without a drink all day yourself and imagine what it's like when they're doing heavy manual work. Someone's a cf and it ain't the builders.

I had this and it really pissed me off tbh.
I had a 4 month old and a 2 year old at the time and couldn’t be making 3 rounds of 5 drinks every day.

I started ignoring in the end

You really want to keep the builders sweet and working hard, don't you?
They are doing a very physical job, in either freezing cold or burning heat - they need lots of fluids.
Give them kettle etc on a tray and let them get on with it.
If you want the job finished and finished well, that is what I would do. You really do not want thangry (thirsty-angry) builders.
Tea to builders is like petrol to cars.

@Straycatblue would you want to do heavy manual work all day without a drink or at least the facility to make one?

You do know that when they go to another job they talk about the tight customers who don't provide drinks?
Builders need lots of hydration. I always supply almost endless tea or coffee and a kettle etc if I'm going out. Every time you make yourself a drink just offer them one.
Also the more generous you are the more considerate they will be, it works both ways. Years ago my builders used to help me get the pram in and out as the drive was used for building materials.

Of course many of us have had long term contractors in. It's normal to keep them refreshed or tell them to help themselves.

Yes, @Bluetrews25 - builders may not walk on water, but they do run on tea!

Well you suspect wrong!

I don’t even drink hot drinks but still do it, if I’m going out then I’ll leave the stuff out for them. If you’re having a big project done the last thing I’d want to do is piss off the builders.

I wouldn't expect builders to ask for drinks and would be surprised if they did. But I would at the start of the job get in teabag, milk etc, leave out kettle/spoons/cups and glasses for water, and let them help themselves. I'd supply biscuits too.

And of course you wouldn’t walk over rubble carrying hot cups of tea whilst you had your baby in a sling