Builder etiquette help

[thoughtsandprayersdownthestairs]

Hi all

We have a team of builders starting work at our home soon for a fairly big job expected to take between 6-8 weeks. My husband and I will be working from home during this time, but upstairs or in a different part of the house. The nature of our jobs means that we won’t be able to keep offering tea / coffee / biscuits constantly but I don’t want the builders to think we’re unfriendly or tight. We’ve never had anyone in to do work before because we have done everything ourselves in the past.
I was thinking of setting up a tray with tea, coffee, sugar, biscuits etc and making it clear they can help themselves to whatever they would like. Does this sound ok? Thanks

Thanks all. Vast majority of you seem to be on my side with the bathroom saga! I will ask the firm on Monday or perhaps see how many of them there are and how it goes for the first few days and then organise one ourselves if needs be for the days after!

Goodness me 6-8 weeks is not a big job, I am 10 months into a complete renovation, with builders on site everyday. A one stage we didn’t have a roof for 2 weeks in November, have had floors/ceilings taken down, child did exams in the middle of it and we had 2 floors without lights for days. It is starting to look absolutely amazing though, 3 bathrooms in and kitchen will be this side of Christmas, hurrah.

Presumably you will stop for a cup of tea or coffee during the day so just make them a drink with the prescribed amount of sugar and milk in, sugar gets manky and milk becomes warm on a tray so don’t bother.

Do not forget biscuits ever, my builders are very partial to custard creams, jammy dodgers and chocolate hobnobs, the ones from Aldi are top of the pile apparently. Happy builders work harder but crack the whip from day one and have regular meetings as to progress. If you are ordering materials ensure they are on site before needed and turn the radio down yourself when they start blasting hard house, don’t ask tell. Do you need scaffolders on this project as they are generally insane and only have one volume so avoid meetings on those days.

Have you ordered a Portaloo, if not they will be using the bathroom. Stock it with plenty of loo roll and air freshener.

When disaster strikes and it will, think of the end goal, best of luck.

When we've had builders in they appreciate drinks etc but seem to plan for none. Toilets they do use ours unless its previous agreed and normally they add a charge - we only had this once at their request in lockdown. They normally put floor coverings down and most of ours hoovered end of each day. Though don't use your hoover if there's plaster etc, at least for larger bits.

Oh and get a Titan vacuum from Screwfix, it is wet and dry and the best money you will spend about £80. My Miele is hidden until normality returns.

I completely understand the toilet issue OP. The toilet bowl or them actually using the loo wasn't my issue at all.

Once we had an indoor toilet they could use, we had protective covers on the floor. Outside was mud so this often got brought in also. The bathroom though was often covered in dust, debris, bits of plaster, so I was glad to had a separate on in the caravan for us.

I would still clarify the toilet situation - it is usually stated in the contract as portaloo hire is usually charged back to the client directly.

Every builder we've ever used either charged use for portaloo hire or expected to use whatever bathroom was available in the house. The portaloo was going to be £800 for our 8week loft conversion (for reference). We've never known it be provided for free. So yes you will have seen them outside other houses having work done but that's probably because the owners opted to pay for it.

I’ve had lots of experience of having multiple trades men in over the last couple of years whilst we’ve been renovating, some big jobs and they’ve never set up a portaloo

@ThreeRandomThings didn’t expect them to provide a portaloo for free, assumed it was built in, but I don’t mind paying some I’m sure it’ll be relatively easy to sort

We’ve had builders around for large chunks of the past five years, since buying a fixer-upper. The first lot were building us two bathrooms, so a Portaloo was always part of the deal, but even though a downstairs loo just inside the back door was in situ for the most recent building work (July-December 2025, kitchen extension) and I’d said I was fine with them using it, the fireman said no, there would be too many of them, as different teams of brickies, plumbers, electricians, fitters etc, and arranged a Portaloo for all but the very end.

I’ve literally never made tea for any of them over the years. I offered on a number of occasions when I was working from home, but they always had their own flasks and food.

OP It depends what your budget is but I'd suggest contacting them today to say please can they ensure there is a portaloo on site for the duration of the build. You do not want a team of builders - dusty, possibly wet once we get into October - traipsing upstairs multiple times a day. Hopefully there's room on your drive for a portaloo? The contractor will normally empty it once a week, so they dont smell (well, not from the outside anyway).

If you have a garage, what I'd also strongly recommend is setting up a kettle and coffee/tea-making station on a garden table (for example) in the garage. In my experience, they would actually prefer that as they can get on and do their own thing without you all getting under each others feet. We've also had builders set up their tea station under a little gazebo in the garden, using an outside power socket. It's much nicer for everyone for them to have a bit of their own space.

Last time we had builders in we set up a ‘station’. I bought a cheap kettle, set up
the fridge for them that was going to be dumped and filled it with milk, water bottles and soft drinks. Provided tea bags/coffee bags and sugar. Always left out snacks. My husband is a feeder so he’d prepare them something more elaborate if he was around and often made cakes and flapjacks for them. Pretty sure they were the only builders going home with jars of my husband’s chutney and quince jelly 😂

A portaloo is non-negotiable. Everyone should expect one and factor it in the costs for building works that are more than a day or 2.

You can get sticky plastic stuff to put down over the carpets. Would highly recommend anyway if you want the carpets to stay nice during a building project as the dust gets everywhere!

Yes, sorry, I assumed you were thinking it would be included because otherwise it would have been listed on your detailed quote.