to be furious at the builders

[skinsl]

They have just left for the weekend, and they have left all the heavy plasterboards in the hall, and on the landing. I can't get to the lights for upstairs, I can't move them cos they are so heavy.... and they have removed DS's safety gate on his bedroom door so that they can stack them properly. And i can't get to the door frame to put the gate back on. He wakes up every night and first thing, and the only thing that keeps him in is the gate.

how annoying

could you move them with help from a friend or two?

Were you out of the house yourself when they disappeared for the weekend?

I would call them to come back. I have done it before.

they never say hello or goodbye, and I have been in the only room in the house that is liveable, the kitchen. DH is gonna be late from work and i have to bath DS. and it's dark upstairs!
I am gonna have to move them. Phoned the builder(their boss) and he said can't do until tomorrow. The plasterer is coming tomorrow so they will be working on it, at least that's something.
DS is in highchair, i'll just have to run up and down and do them.

they don't speak English so as soon as I saw the boards there i called the boss.
DH is gonna be so mad too

My builders were very good tidiers - that they rely on ds2's pub for after work refreshment is clearly a coincidence!! - but the trick is not to let them bugger off leaving things in all to pot. You should certainly not be moving plasterboard. Apart from anything else, despite the weight of it, the stuff is ludicrously fragile.

I'd phone the boss again and say that tomorrow is completely unacceptable.

moved the bloody boards myself and now my shoulder is killing me
worse than that, DS really hurt himself on a screw that was sticking out of the door( they took off) in the hall. I had to clean it all up, didn't have a plaster big enough, big deep scratch. seething now. put him in the bath, which i had to clean out, and clean the floor. It was fine a couple of hours ago.
thoroughly fed up

I'd phone the boss again and tell him in no uncertain term this is unacceptable. Obviously you are living in the house whilst work is being done and you expect it to be left in a reasonable/safe condition when they leave for the day. It is their responsibility to ensure that they have not left anything in an unsafe condition so heavy plasterboard blocking light switches/screw sticking out/safety gate removed is not acceptable. You do have to be really firm with him and let him know you won't back down over safety issues and that they are employed by you to complete a job. My dad is an architect and I laboured on a building site when I was at high school and have had many homes renovated/built over the years so have had a lot of dealings with builders - most are reasonable and will appreciate you point, some however do need you to give them serious lip before they even take you seriously! Best of luck

You definitely are NBU.

I am from a family of builders (DF, DB's and DP).

Whenever they work on residential premises they leave at the end of each day (as best as they can) as they find them.

Materials would be moved to a somewhere they were not a hazard, so they were not dangerous or inconvenient.

Problem is, expecting them out at 6pm is like calling them out through the night and will drag them out the pub You need to catch them as they are packing up/leaving if you're unhappy.

Or in this instance first thing in the morning...

mum2all, just used some of your words in a very terse email i am writing to the owner/big boss! he has kids so hopefully he will understand. Actually the builder I called sounded like he had kids in the background, and he was apologetic (without actually saying sorry) but I need him to tell the bloody workers.

gonna be a great weekend, trying to restrain DS and DH in one room. HAHA!

Glad i could be of service
Agree with Boys2mam - next time they are in you need to try and hover around as they are getting ready to go so you can make sure things are left as you would like them