Builders sister has died..

[belhamwalk]

I hate to do this but this is the second time (different builders..) that we have had a builder's close family member sadly die in the middle of a build and work on site completely stop. Has anyone else had this...?

If you are suspicious you could scour the death announcements in the paper. But people sadly die all the time, it's not impossible at all that they were both telling the truth, especially if it's only happened twice.

no i know, i just wondered if this was a 'thing' builders did to explain breaks in a job. I do believe him... but did wonder if anyone else had this experience..?

I've lost count of the number of tradesmen who had to attend funerals, hospitals for relatives. Some had to rush back to other countries. Sorry, am very cynical but it happens all the time and friends have the same experiences. Think of an excuse the client can't question and voilà.

He may be telling the truth as it's quite a close relative. But I'd be doubtful.

Yes. They are always off to funerals. Usually it’s their grandad or grandma! Sister sounds close though so tread carefully. It could be true. What about other workmen? Can they continue or are they all from the same family?

ok well i don't feel like a total asshat for being doubtful. and work has completely stopped, no-one on site. oh dear...

So are his whole workforce in mourning/attending the funeral, or does he work alone?

Initials SB?

I've heard of this before. Normally it's their parents or grandma. Not sure why they've all stopped work though, unless they're all the same family?

Get a friend to call from their mobile and enquire about quoting fir a job, that might tell you if they really are out of action.

To be honest people die all the time. Generalising as well, but tradespeople are generally self employed so it is up to them if they want to take a day off etc for the funeral - not HR which requires fitting into the policies. This in turn creates an atmosphere where it is ok to take time off without notice for personal commitments. Some will be (bad taste) excuse but some will be true.

My dad was a self employed builder. He went to literally every funeral going, as did most of the people he knew.

As pp said, ask a friend to ring. And ask builder when he intends to return.

I'd be distinctly suspicious about the fact that this is stopping absolutely all work; it's illogical, unless the builder in question is the only person able to do one particular piece of work that everything else hinges on. When my father died, I'm glad to say that not one of my colleagues stopped working. I'd be tempted to look around the local area to see if you can spot them working elsewhere.

So the entire team stops work? That's unusual.

I'm so sorry you're dealing with this we have been doing a renovation project it had a6-7 month time frame due to baby arrival we are now over 12 months in . Our head builder has had dreadful luck if he is to be believed. His mother died, MIL and now FIL so we being decent people believed him and of course said it was no problem to take time off whilst we lived in a dusty not even half finished house and he was in a beautiful detached property in a nice area (thanks Google) . We were then advised by one of the sub contractors that yes some deaths had occurred tone implied not all had died but the builder is not a sentimental type and was in fact working on four renovation properties of his own when he should in fact have been on ours but we had understood he was not working due to being grief stricken . I'm afraid the old treat others how you would like to be treated yourself is running very thin here. If I was you I'd put pressure on to finish the job - good luck