Why are domestic builders carrying on completely as normal?

[pinbinpin]

We're in a T4 area, cases going up etc etc. Everyone is getting on with the boring restrictions, none of the neighbours appeared to have anyone round over xmas and NY etc.

My immediate neighbours are building an extension - 3 different vans/vehicles turned up today, each with 5/6 people in them, different contractors, no one wearing masks. All of them yelling at the tops of their voices all day and blowing smoke right underneath my office window. All of them using one portaloo.

I know people are allowed to work but shouldn't there be some restrictions on building work like everywhere else? Shouldn't they be taking some covid precautions? If I went into my office in London when we were in T3 I wasn't allowed in the building without a mask and hand sanitising. Same at all the GPs/hospitals I've visited over the period. Everyone had to sit apart with chairs/desks removed in between. Two of them are young builders mates, look about 17, it really doesn't seem like a "covid-safe" workplace for them. Are the rules really just "carry on as you were lads" for builders and tradespeople?

@pinbinpin

That's not what this is though. We're not talking about 1 or 2 contractors coming in for essential maintenance and repairs. Which seems fine to me - they wear masks and socially distance. This is a couple who are "property developers" who bought a house at the beginning of the year and started an extension to sell on for a profit in the middle of the second lockdown. This isn't essential work. Why can they and their contractors a) carry on working when self-employed hairdressers, dog walkers, cabin crew etc that I know can't and b) if we accept that they should be allowed to work, when lots of other self employed people can't (and many of them aren't SE), why are they literally the only people in the country who don't have to wear masks or socially distance in any way, apparently.

They should be social distancing or wearing masks if working closely together inside, cleaning the toilet, travelling separately where possible, etc but otherwise they are allowed to work and the work is much lower risk than hairdressers, who are in close contact with dozens of members of the public each week.

Most people working in offices don't have to wear masks either. I visited lots of offices for work over the last few months and most of them don't require masks, they sit far apart in well ventilated rooms and use screens instead. Masks aren't the only protection method.

Plus it is essential to them to carry on working, no-one's going to pay them otherwise. The support provision for the self employed is little or nothing compared with people who are employed by larger businesses.

For all that anyone being sensible about the pandemic is accused of "loving lockdown" - it feels like the people who actually do love these restrictions are those saying "they need to work, end of" without even a crumb of awareness of how builders' unrestricted work for employers who don't give a shit about their safety is contributing to the spread of covid and thus to the endless lockdowns and restrictions.

I don’t mind builders working and I don’t think projects should be stopped. Everyone seems to be missing the OPs point which is not to say that they shouldn’t work but that there should be at least some regulations to minimise Covid spread. It affects everyone as if they are contagious and spread it to each other then they will also go onto spread to others so it’s not a case of ‘mind your own business’.
Some things that could be enforced while still allowing building work to continue and people to earn a living:
Requirement to wear masks when travelling in vehicles
Restrictions on number of people allowed to travel in each vehicle
Workmen observing social distancing where possible
Staggered lunch breaks
Regular cleaning of portaloos in between usage

Yes these would be a minor inconvenience but the majority of companies and industries have been subject to huge inconvenience in order to continue trading. For example nursery workers now have to sanitise all toys at the end of each day or isolate/rotate them. No reason that builders should be exempt from having to make any attempt to minimise spread just because “they still have to earn a living”. We all do.

Who would I report them to? They aren't doing anything wrong, apparently. I think that's wrong.

And yet teenagers up and down the country are being pilloried for spreading covid and everyone is calling for schools to close - schools where they wear masks, can't enter or leave a class room without sanitising their hands, social distancing is rigourously enforced, they have to travel in bubbles and can barely speak to mates in different bubbles and nobody can travel outside their area. It's a massive double standard and gap in covid measures I think.

If you really want to do something OP, you could phone HSE and tell them your neighbours builders are not working in a covid safe manner and they might pay a visit if they deem it sufficiently interesting to them.

They'll want to see their risk assessment and have a look to see what measures are or aren't in place.

As the wife of a tradesman, they have been encouraged to go to work. They can't work from home and the financial help has been shocking

MYOB op.

They should have reasonable safety measures in place, yes. I would imagine that’s much harder to coordinate on residential jobs than on large-scale projects (larger contractors will have more resources to implement consistent procedures, for example).

I've been concerned that there is a lot of gung-ho in the building and similar trades. I've seen workers involved in road works locally and in the nearest large town very close together, no masks and then at the end of the day sitting very close having a cuppa together. Of course they should be out at work if they cannot work at home but they seem oblivious of the rules sometimes.

No work equals no money so no money no rent/mortgage paid then no home!!!!! Not everyone is able to be furloughed. You.must remember there are thousands upon thousands of people losing their homes because of the restrictions and lack of financial help!!

After the builders, who are you going to pick off next?

'm sure if you were in the middle of a build, you'd want it to carry on as living in a building site isn't very nice. It could mean no windows, electricity or gas to name a few inconveniences. Further, a builder has every right to carry on earning a living because the self employed help is frankly shit

We'd all like to live our normal lives for our own reasons but thats no how it works now, does it? Why should builders be exempt?

[quote onedayinthefuture]@pinbinpin you must live in a very nice area and your neighbours are lucky to have the luxury of moving out whilst many of us have to live in our houses with work going on. Wind your snooty neck in and get on with your own life.[/quote]
Bloody hell . What a chippy little post . Get a grip. People like you make the world an unpleasant place .

I get it - it makes sense for emergency work to be done but not new work? The builders near me aren’t following guidelines either. It is a weird anomaly

3 vans? 5/6 contractors in each? At the same time for an extension? I'd say it's one of two things, either this has been slightly exaggerated or it's that's big an extension that social distancing will not be a problem. Either which way it's a non issue.

My dp is an electrician. He has been Covid safe throughout. We are entitled to no help from the government because we hadn’t turned in a years worth of books when the first lockdown came.

Our household salary and we have 4 children is currently about £22k a year once our mortgage holiday runs out we are fucked.

What do you propose we do?

We have three houses in our end of the street with huge amounts of building work going on. Driving me mad and not because of the virus- it's their risk to take. It's more I'm stuck indoors with DCs trying to work at home and all I can hear is drilling and banging.

What I found ridiculous is an advert for a local sofa company that said they are open as they are deemed "essential". How is a soft furnishings company deemed essential but I can't buy new shoes for DS who has grown out of them? We can't buy online as he has sensory issues and one shoe may upset him due to the feeling of it. Surely clothes and shoes are more essential than sofas?

It isnt just domestic where there are no rules I have relatives in construction and no real rules are there, yes they may be a sign up but employees do as they please, I know it wouldn't happen in an office as the employer surely would be liable.

if you cant work from home, you can still go to work as normal. Therefore builders are carrying on as normal.

I agree with OP. Our neighbour has just, today, started work on a kitchen/dining room knock through. There's about a dozen blokes there, no masks, obviously all sharing the same loo (house only has one), working inside so not even out in the fresh air. It's not as if they are mid way through a job or that it's essential. To start a new job when we could be days (if not hours) from another lockdown is crazy. At the very least, they should be observing social distancing and wearing masks.

And yes, I understand about the economy, business, etc. But lots of other self employed have been stopped from working when they were in far safer environments. It's as if the self employed tradesmen are being allowed to operate under the radar and are considering themselves exempt from the covid rules/restrictions.

f you cant work from home, you can still go to work as normal. Therefore builders are carrying on as normal

No, you can't go to work "as normal". You can go work if you can make your workplace covid secure. These builders are not even bothering to wear masks.

Is this why your numbers are so bad? You don't understand that people are not supposed to be working completely the same way they were before covid?

Where do you think the taxes that are paying for doctors, nurses, hospitals, vaccines, schools, dustmen, road repairs and other essential public services come from?

If you can work with a level of risk you’re comfortable with, you should. Most builders work in well-ventilated sites (no windows or roofs ensure that) and they’re usually fairly young and very strong.

When will people realise that the economy can't just stop. That would lead to far more deaths than covid. We have builders on site, they are outside, relatively distanced and they're taking money home to their families.

We are building and it is carrying on. However instead of about 15 people on site, we have about 6.

We also visit site as we can't live and work in the house, but that is so that people earning a living can carry on. All wear masks, all taking suitable precautions.

It is reasonable and possible.