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?

[quote onedayinthefuture]**@pinbinpin I hope your boiler packs up and your plumbing fails. I hope your electricity stops working. I hope you get damp and paint starts peeling off the walls. I hope your ceiling caves in. It's ok you'll cope and won't need anyone to come in.

[/quote]
Harsh.

But fair......

@pinbinpin YABU.

@Apollo3

You know all the people telling OP it's nto her business are part of the problem? IT's everyones business when some people can't be fucked to even do the basics like wear masks.

This is true . People need to get a grip of this horrendous situation!! They can carry on working but wear bloody masks and take precautions!!! Nothing nosey, uppity , rude or obnoxious about the OP saying that !!! Can't understand the mentality on here . It's very worrying .

A therapist, with infection control training, with ventilation, with full PPE, stringent cleaning protocols in place, working to reduce pressure on the NHS vs people with no PPE, no covid measures in place, free to work together in close contact, then go home to their families, to the supermarkets, into other homes for other work. Not all building work is outside either.

I appreciate the low vs high risk. I appreciate I am emotional about it. I don't think it is clear cut, and I don't think it is ok to financially destroy people. People have spent a fortune making work places covid secure, whilst other areas do nothing to prevent spread.

@Chumleymouse

I work in a Royal Mail delivery office , there’s about 60 of us crammed into a small building, there’s no social distancing, most don’t wear masks , we’ve had to work everyday throughout this and nobody really gives a shit , if we can work all the way through why can’t everyone one else. I would love to have had time off with 80% pay, people just order loads of crap anyway 😀👍

Why haven't you made a complaint? You could report your office anonymously.

My sisters partner was working on site even n the first lockdown there doesnt seem to be much mask wearing though

Because they need to earn a living and can’t work from home . What a stupid question

'' All of them using ONE Portaloo ''

I've heard it all now.

To see a line of individual '' Turdi " in a garden would be unusual and expensive.

Busybodies like you are wishing for the following:
a MASSIVE recession,
MASSIVE unemployment,
MASSIVE ruin to our children's futures,
MASSIVE numbers of suicides;
and in months to come, making this country even more of a horrible and hostile place than it already is, where everybody is encouraged by the Stasi to spy on each other.

Edit : Turdi = Multiples of Turdis that look like the Tardis in Dr Who.

On building sites not everyone is employed directly by the construction firm lots of dub contracting to others therefore they come in do the job then maybe stay for a week or a month then start elsewhere but as long as the company are seen to give out the rules that's fine, not many go with it, such as kitchen and using others equipment and toilets used etc its business as usual, do you really think that no one us chatting, having cups of tea together, sitting next to each other sharing lifts it isnt the same as an office environment. They are all sorts of odd job people in these workplaces but as long as there us a sign and a register it's not covid safe but a lot of people just want to get on with the job as usual.

im Not bothered to be honest I’ve worked like that with everyone else for the last ten months and we have only had a couple off with covid , nobody has been ill with it , if your going to get it , your going to get it and that’s that. ( we do get full sick pay 😀)
There’s about 50 blokes using the same toilets and they get cleaned once a day ( if that ) and the op is moaning about 5-6 blokes using a portaloo 🤣. If the social distancing brigade came into our office I think they’d shit in their pants 😂

Perhaps they're all from the same household and if they're wearing masks in supermarkets or not interacting with the public outside of the workplace where's the problem? Another example of people being quick to jump to the worst possible scenario, assuming they're rule breaking. If they're being excessively noisy and smoking close to your window then ask them to keep the noise down and keep their distance, you can ask them about their non mask wearing at the same time.

Because most builders are self employed. No work, no pay.

@Foxyloxy1plus1

Obviously, I don’t know the specific circumstances, but then you don’t know what theirs are either. They might be family members. Perhaps much of the work is outside.

You’re probably quite fortunate if you haven’t had any tradespeople in your house during the last nine months. Boilers need to be services, electrics go wrong, drains get blocked; all kinds of things can happen that make it necessary for someone to come and put them right.

It sounds as though this is more about your resentment that people are still earning money as self employed folk. The furlough schemes don’t apply and trying to get financial support as a self employed person is like pulling teeth.

Exactly.

We had boiler serviced, and a friend phoned in a panic as they had a leak that could have brought the ceiling down.

Life goes on, Covid or not.

Had Govts. not Run down the NHS for decades, we might not have to do these economy- destroying f&cking lockdowns. |

If they weren't working people would be dying as nurses and doctors and teachers would be going unpaid.

@Chumleymouse

I work in a Royal Mail delivery office , there’s about 60 of us crammed into a small building, there’s no social distancing, most don’t wear masks , we’ve had to work everyday throughout this and nobody really gives a shit , if we can work all the way through why can’t everyone one else. I would love to have had time off with 80% pay, people just order loads of crap anyway 😀👍

I have to laugh...

It is the lovely Royal Mail Staff whop bring my crap to me! .. Many thanks! 👍

I do tend to think ''If we are going to get it, we are going to get it''...I have to go to the supermarket, people get close...

I bought a flu jab in November, though.. not that it will help against Covid, but back in 2008, there was a nasty Flu { Brisbane flu H1N1 } that rode in on the coat tails of Norovirus... People recovered from one or the other, and when they were laid low, caught the other.

It loves crowds and unwashed hands...Just like Covid.

DH works on a building site. He doesn't wear a mask as he works alone in the house, or outside. Most days he sees one or two other people (at a distance) or speaks to his foreman on the phone to avoid close contact. Also, instead of the usual 50+ people on site, they have about ten.

DH can't work from home. If he couldn't work on his current site, he'd be picking up work in people's homes instead. We're both self-employed and can't afford for him not to be earning a living. Not everyone has the luxury of being able to be furloughed, or being able to work in a nice cosy home office for months on end.

@Chumleymouse

I work in a Royal Mail delivery office , there’s about 60 of us crammed into a small building, there’s no social distancing, most don’t wear masks , we’ve had to work everyday throughout this and nobody really gives a shit , if we can work all the way through why can’t everyone one else. I would love to have had time off with 80% pay, people just order loads of crap anyway 😀👍

My DD scratch mitts and mittens are loads of crap aren't they.

So is my neighbour with a newborn ordering clothes for the baby.

Point is you cannot tell what parcels have "crap" in them or items that are essential.

OP I've seen a lot more winter cyclists around in my area. I've also seen bikes locked up near houses and in the gardens of people having building work done.

Not all building contractors/tradesmen are giving each other lifts.

Oh and bin/recycling crews in my area are now two people per lorry. Before it was 3 or 4.

What the hell is a Scratch Mitt??

Sounds painful.

Like something for sanding down rust.

You sound like the busy body who emailed me, threatening to sue my business, in the event she caught covid, because I have continued to operate legally well within the government guidelines.

How do people not understand that if you’re self employed if you don’t work you don’t earn?!

@notanothernamechange766

Because most builders are self employed. No work, no pay.

There are lots of self employed who have no income if they don't work, but other trades/professions seem to be more compliant re masks, social distancing, and other hygiene etc.

Should cleaners in other peoples homes not work either Op?

I'm in and out of numerous houses all week every week, should I just sit at home then?

If you're so concerned OP, why don't you go out and tell them all to put masks on and stay 2m apart? Or will you just continue to tut and shake your head slowly through the gaps in your curtains?