Tradesperson inviting people into my home

[IvyPlant]

Currently got a tradesperson in to do a job. They quoted me a day rate of 8 days work (which I think will take less time than that, but they're the expert...)

Anyway, that's not my AIBU. I checked my security footage this week and noticed a woman popped round to my house when I was out and tradesperson was working alone in my house. I can only see her walk past my front door to the back garden gate, she knocks and then the feed ends. She's seen leaving 4 hours later. The next day, same thing, except 3 hours.

At present the tradesperson gets here for about 8am and has already stopped working by 3pm. So that's 7 hours of work, fair enough, but 4 (and 3) of them an unknown woman here is (it's not his wife, I did a little social media digging and it's not her).

AIBU if I question him about it next week? He still has 4 days left to finish the job next week and I don't l like the fact there's an unknown and univited person in my house when I'm not there, plus, how much work can he really be doing if his "mate" is there for 4 hours.

I get what you are saying OP. Well, I hope I have.

Hes quoted OP 8 days of work which are 8 hours long.
However hes had a strange woman with blanket/pillow for 3 + 4 + 3 hours? So that is a mininum of a days pay he is stealing from the OP. So its entirely fair she only wants to pay for maximum 7 days.

HOWEVER he might only invoice OP for the 7 days at the end of the job. In which case she pays that amount and says nothing. He charges her 8 days and she has enough proof to say "f off you robbing bastard, heres enough for 7 days".

I wonder if his public liability covers him for bizarre sexual accidents on the job.

Every eventuality an' all that 🤔

I’ve renovated a few houses. Nothing said by the OP is suspicious to me.

I have had 2 builders who “entertained” during renovations.

They had keys, could come and go as they pleased. Drugs, women, theft, threats, fights. I’ve experienced loads of bonkers incidents.

A few years ago there was a brawl in my front garden with police attendance 😂

I knew about it via neighbours but didn’t say anything for weeks as they took a 30% deposit and I was desperate to not lose £££.

I had a half finished rewire once and getting another electrician to sign off on the paperwork and finish was really, really hard. It was extremely stressful and I was without electricity for over 2 months.

Jobs like the OP’s need certification and registering with niceic/building control. He holds a lot of cards presently.

Wait, so you're going to let him continue to work (& shag) in your house, all because you don't want him to know you've been getting advice on how to handle the situation???? That makes no sense @IvyPlant

OP have you got a Ring doorbell? If so you could change the length of recording in the app to a longer time period!

Ah. An estimate. Totally different from quote

but agree you didn’t give permission for a stranger to come into your house. Not once but several times and stay for hours

if innocent he would have said oh xxx popped in /dropped off xyz etx

Oooh I am gripped! #nolife

Yes but that doesn't help when he switches off the power to the house to do work 🤣 no power, no camera.

Unfortunately it's not a battery powered doorbell.

It makes a lot of sense. As OP has said she doesn't want him to quit the job before it is finished and have to wait weeks or months to find another electrician who can finish the job.

Very sensible.

Please speak logically, I can't understand you.

Yawn she is just stringing everyone along she isn’t gonna tell us the details she likes the drama and writing long responses

No @NeckFanInSoftPlay

op is keeping in on to finish the job as many professional tradesman including my dh won’t take on /finish another contractors work

she needs a safe house as has dh and a child

she can’t be without power while she finds someone else to finish or rip out and start over

Stringing everyone along? I am many things, but I can't speed up time.

I'm getting tired of defending my choices.

Tomorrow I won't be posting updates at all. It's my little boy's birthday. I suppose I planned his birth x years ago because I knew one day it would come in handy as an excuse to keep stringing along strangers online.

For what it's worth, I am verbose by nature. If you think I'm stringing you along, stop reading.

Christ there are some hard of thinking on this thread. OP thank you for persevering with it, I wouldn’t have blamed you at all for just sacking the thread off tbh.

@IvyPlant
You're incapable of understanding grammatically correct English, simply because it contains criticism of your actions? Wow 😂

At what is essentially 3/4 of the way through the job I absolutely don’t blame you for keeping on with it. By the time you’ve faffed about trying to find someone to complete the job (and a lot of trades really don’t like completing another’s work) you might as well just let him crack on and deal with it after.

also highly amused at a site who’s main motto seems to be about getting your ducks in a row angry at you for er, getting your ducks in a row. 😂

Can't wait to hear his response when you confront him

So far there's been several hours where I know work hasn't happened. It's not that he's not doing a good job, it's that he's taking his sweet ass time and inviting this woman round on chargeable hours.

^ That's the crux of it. I hope you won't have too much of a battle on your hands when you tell him to accept your lesser payment with good grace. Although I would still tell his wife personally in a couple of months so he doesn't put a brick through the window.

You're not criticising my actions though, you're saying I'm doing something I'm not. If you read my posts, like actually read them, word for word, ignoring any typos, you'd understand my actions have nothing to do with hiding the fact I don't want the tradesperson finding out I'm getting advice from people.

I'm not getting advice from people by the way. People are sharing their own experiences, their own take on the situation, how they would handle the situation. What people say here has no bearing on my actions. I will always do what I think is in the best interests of myself and my family.

Again, I ask you. Speak logically. Read what I've written and write something which reflects what it is I've said.

From someone who hasnt read, or more likely isn't able to understand, the OP's posts, that is irony squared!!

@IvyPlant you have handled this really well. I agree the risk of him not completing the job are not worth confronting him yet. I really hope he is mortified to be caught out and that without argument deducts the time he hasn’t worked. It’s such a betrayal of trust no matter what he is doing. He could be sitting playing chess but at the end of the day he has been skiving off, had a visitor round and taken food without permission. He shouldn’t be touching anything other than what he’s employed to do. At least it’s nearly over and you can enjoy your ds birthday tomorrow, hopefully keep your mind off it. Have a nice day with your family.

Love it. Absolutely love it - may I steal it?

Of course they are shagging . In your house.

cheeky fuckers .

Thank you all. Even to those who make me appear hostile, you keep my brain sharp.

I am off to bed shortly. I managed to check the other camera in between textual jousting on here, and unfortunately the battery died within a couple of hours, so it didn't pick up anything of note.

It's one of the downsides to buying blindly online. I'll give that camera another try tomorrow and if the same thing happens, I'll return for a refund. Definitely won't be recommending that piece of equipment, that's for sure!