Feeling uneasy when tradespeople come in to do work

[Auburngal]

Whenever I get tradespeople - heating engineer, Sky engineer etc come into my home, I do feel uneasy. I know they are there for a reason - replacing the valve on my heating etc.

I stick into one room where they aren't working.

Is it just me or what?

I think many people feel uncomfortable with strangers in their personal space, even if they are tradies.

I feel your pain. I am like this too whenever I have to get someone in to fix something, There’s a big sense of relief when they’ve gone!

Perfectly normal to keep out of their way. They are strangers, and there to do a job. They don't need entertaining and neither do you.
I find myself on high alert like a meerkat, really stressed even when I'm in another room. I'm having my bathroom done and the guys are lovely, but it's intrusive, no doubt about it. It's not because you think they're pervs or burglars...but they could be! Lol

I think most people feel this. Our home is our safe space

I stay with them so I know what they are doing. I wouldn't leave them unattended, except standing out side the door and wandering about, they might want information. I'm also interested in what they are doing so am asking questions, probably a nightmare for them.

I don't particularly like it and look forward to them leaving. DDog puts himself between me and the tradesperson which makes me feel a bit safer.

I have no idea if yabu or yanbu but I understand it feels weird. it doesn’t make me feel uneasy as such but awkward like when people sing happy birthday to you when the cake comes out and you sit there not really knowing what to do😅

i just potter about the area/s theyre not in like clean the kitchen or bathroom etc offer a drink etc

Yes! I hate it.

Depends on the builders and what they are like
I have left people in the house before now ( not for long though ) but a few Ive been much more wary about.
I guess it's a case of being careful and sometimes you have to trust your instincts too
Plus sometimes you have to be there , no getting around it for various reasons

It’s a very strange thing I find as a women to let (usually) a male stranger into your safe space. I live alone, but keep a pair of
mens wellies by the door and will refer to my husband as I don’t like strange men knowing I live alone.

I absolutely hate having workmen in. It makes me very uncomfortable, & usually they are really nice. I just can't wait for them to go.

Yesterday I had the strangest ever though... 2 guys here fitting an extractor in the bathroom. They were in & out so had the front door open.

Hubby saw them in. Then he went to work. They asked me to move my car so they knew I was in the sitting room.

A while later I realised their vans had gone. They'd finished & just left without saying a word, & left my front door wide open. Plus they'd left the side gate open with (our) ladders propped against the utility room roof.

I thought they must have nipped out for something. Hubby rang them. They were finished!

He has complained to their boss. About their conduct, oh & also the fact the extractor has a fault & won't switch off!

So now I have to cope with them coming back!

I was working upstairs in my office when we had a new kitchen. They wouldn't have appreciated me hovering over them all day.

I'd assume they think you're a nightmare too particularly since you evidently think they're there to steal from you.

My partner is a tradesman who I'm sure people find annoying to have in the house.

I hate being in when someone is here but I also don't have any major trust issues where I'd just stand and watch someone to their work! That would be totally weird.

We are having our place painted in a couple of weeks time and I'll make sure I'm in the office (rather than wfh) whilst that's happening.

I’m a man and I still hate it 😅
I think it might be that usually only people I choose are allowed in my home, whereas they’re there to do a job.

Not to mention that it’s a bit difficult to justify taking days off to monitor tradespeople. I tell them I’ll be in my study, but to knock if there’s anything they’re not sure about. My major takeaway so far from being midway through a house renovation is that plumbers are generally very nice, and that hardly anyone involved in building, plastering, electrical work, decorating etc has an eye for aesthetics.

and that hardly anyone involved in building, plastering, electrical work, decorating etc has an eye for aesthetics.

You would have thought a decorator would, wouldn't you?

Well, when we painted a new part of the house late last autumn, the painters, who didn’t speak much English, made it very plain they disapproved of the paint colours! There was a lot of lip-curling and head-shaking over the pots.😀

But it was more things like putting a heating thermostat bang in the middle of a landing wall in exactly the place you’d hang a painting, like it was some kind of design feature, or the discovery that they’d ordered black taps without asking because ‘everyone’s doing black taps’!

My dh is a tradie and he feels incredibly uneasy when customers hover about watching. He comes home all stressed and says he couldn't relax and didn't feel he could take a break. Personally I don't know why he doesn't politely tell them to leave him be, but he won't.

That said we've just had a house extension done and I'm on mat leave and stuck upstairs and always said "I'm just upstairs if you have questions or whatever" yet most days I'd still discover random decisions they'd made. Doesn't make business sense as I often ask them to change it to what's on the plan, so they know I won't just accept it.

I find the doors being left open more annoying than having the trades in the house. Which part of "do not leave the front door/garage door wide open please" do they not understand!

I hear you on the random decisions! Can your DH offer any insights into why so many trades seem to leap to some apparently arbitrary conclusion on their own, even though you’re nearby and have specifically said to check with you, and then look irritated when you ask them to change it?

I can't fully relax with other people (who don't live here) in my home, especially if they're here to fix something or do work for us. You have to be ready to answer questions, make decisions, and pay them, and it's just awkward having someone else in the house who isn't normally there.

After some idiotic plumbers smashed up my carefully tiled shower drain surround with a hammer I have come to realize you pretty much have to keep an eye on them to make sure they don’t do things like this. Also things for instance like painters not putting drop cloths down properly and then spattering paint everywhere. I would love to be able to just go to another room let them get on with it, but I have learned from experience that it’s not possible, unless you can trust them to do good and careful work, and those ones are worth their weight in gold!

I tend to get tradespeople who have been recommended, so that has not been my experience at all. A lot of people like to sneer at Facebook, but I have joined the local community pages, and every electrician, plumber and bathroom fitter who has carried out work in my huse has been excellent as they have been recommended by local residents who have already used them.

I keep out of their way but that’s mainly because I assume they don’t want me looking over them while they work. Doesn’t bother me that they’re in the house.