Christmas tip for our building team?

[BlackAlys]

DH has asked them out for a few pints but their response has been less than enthusiastic. There are 3 regulars on site with us and they've been fantastic - amazingly creative, very good at helping us budget and keep costs down etc.

Do you give Christmas cash to your builders? If so, how much?

They are doing their job.. of course they don't want to use their free time to go for a drink with the person hiring them!
I gave my builder a £50 voucher for a restaurant I heard him talk about and he seemed pleased.
Buy them a case of beer each .

Thank you.

I’d just ask them what they drink and get a crate of beer or a bottle of their spirit of choice.

We gave ours £50 cash each, a crate of beer each, and bought their regular fish and chip lunch on the last Friday before they broke up! They were a marvellous team and we were so grateful to them.

When we've had trades in over festive period, on the last day before they finished up for Christmas we've done bacon butties first thing, an order from the sandwich shop for them at lunch time and a crate of beer each

Sandwiches
Money
Wine etc
Gift card
Thank you poem
A personal recommendation letter
A smile

I've just given our builder £200 cash, job value £10k with about £2k left to do in the new year. He's been great and I think doesn't hurt to show a bit of gratitude. Appreciate previous comment about it being their job, but I get a bonus in my line of work for a job well done and think trades deserve the same!

@dancingqueen345 I didn't mean it's their job as in they won't get a tip, as per my comment I did give a Christmas gift and at end of job I will generously tip as they've been brilliant!

I meant 'it's their job' at OP's apparent surprise that they didn't seem keen on her DH's offer to go for a drink with him! I'm sure they are very friendly while doing their work but OP shouldn't confuse that with them being friends and wanting to socialise with her DH.

Sorry @wtfisthatspiderdoing didn't mean to sound like I was getting at you there!!

Do you tip your builder (the big boss) or his workers? I don't even know which worker will be here on the last day.
I am already spending every penny I have on the project, cannot afford paying them £50 each.

@ToExtendOrNotToExtend it's just the gesture if they've done a good job. Just get a load of those large bottles of peroni or something similar.. will cost about £6 per person if they take a couple each. Also think depends on size of build, if a small build then a small gesture, if a large build that they've do ya good job on, try and stretch to a bit more.

@dancingqueen345 don't worry i didn't think you were getting at me, I just thought you'd misinterpreted my post!

Thanks for asking the question. I wondering this too.

I think I'm going to buy them a 4-pack of peroni and chocolate tub each!

What if they are not doing a great job, it has just been ok?
The builder has taken on too many jobs, so my project got dragged on and on. It's supposed to be finished by end of Nov, but it won't be done until third week of Jan at the earliest. There are delays here and there, workers not turning up for all sorts of reasons, workers got pulled to other jobs after arriving for 1 hour in my place...
God, it has been so stressful and uncomfortable to live through this.

The builder also upset my neighbour badly... I am going to get my neighbour a very expensive bottle and hope that can ease the tension a bit.

The workers have not been careful and caused many big and small damages of my property. The builder just denies all, that's what I am not happy about. I am going to fix/replace all by myself and won't make him pay for anything, I just hope he can at least admit and say sorry?

@ToExtendOrNotToExtend then don't tip them. I've tipped all my trade men as I've been very lucky that they've all been great... except one of them... I was polite and paid the bill but he got nothing extra! I'm not sure if he realised all the other trades got something but I don't care if he did! He was a pain and lacked the work ethic and standards the other ones had.

I don't think it's the amount reallyits the gesture and the fact that you thought about them.

Just an update, I prepared beer and cakes, learning from this thread.
Usually only one guy, maximum two people come to work at mine in one day. Today, about 10 of them came in and out, not exaggerated.
The plasterer got £20 from another job, the main builder came and told me that, not sure if that's a hint... Then he argued for additional £200 for kitchen fitting, extra £100 for plumbing. After they left, I found out my brand new hob is dented badly during fitting...

Interesting. I'm renovating my house and there's one main guy, another who's here about 75% of the time and subs who come when needed. I gave main guy and the other one a nice (£25) bottle of wine each and they seemed surprised and grateful. I'm not tipping the others who are well paid and I'm only one of many jobs. I do is pay invoices within 24 hours which is more important.