Builders starting in three weeks - please talk to me about builder ettiquette!!

[cakeforbrains]

We have work starting on our two storey extension in three weeks time. The build is scheduled to take 10-12 weeks, and we will be living in the house the whole time.

What I'm wondering is how to manage the relationship with the builders. I'm on maternity leave at the moment, so I will be in the house during the day when work is taking place.

So, what are your tips on keeping the builders happy, while also making sure that they do not end up taking us for granted or making erronous assumptions? (I've been reading Pavlov's nightmare thread!!). I was thinking of providing a kettle, mugs, tea and coffee, milk and a tin of biscuits. Are bacon sandwiches essential to a good client-builder relationship? (I hope not because I'm veggie!). Should I stay out of the way as much as possible, or should I keep popping my head round the door to see what they are doing? Will I look an idiot if I ask them to be mindful of the cats' welfare? Can I ask them for quiet when I need to get DS2 off to sleep?

Any tips and suggestions would be appreciated!

TIA!

DP is in the construction trade

He'd love the kettle idea

Don't go down the bacon buttie route but I'd throw in a packet of biscuits every couple of days or so

I think it's reasonable to have a chat when they arrive to talk about what they're planning for the day, and then maybe a catch-up before they go home

I'd stay out of the way inbetween these times

If DS has a specific nap time, let them know it (or ask them to tell you if they're going to be doing noisy stuff)

Builders are bloody noisy though! ANd have you got a portaloo on site?

Thanks notnowbernard. We've not got a portaloo planned, but the whole toilet issue has been worrying me because I'm a bit OCD about that sort of thing. We have a downstairs loo and I was planning on asking the builders to use that, leaving the bathroom upstairs for our use. But there will probably be a week or so when the upstairs bathroom is being moved. Not looking forward to that ...

How many of them are you likely to have on-site?

I am not OCDish about bathrooms and toilets and things but would absolutely NOT want several builders soiling and polluting my everyday environment

DP in the bog is bad enough

I would go with banning them from the upstairs bathroom

I think there will be anywhere between two and six people on site, depending on what they are working on. Maybe I will mention the portaloo option.

Might be a good idea if you truly don't like the idea of them in your lav

Good luck with it, sounds exciting!

Thanks! I'm excited but nervous.

It's a big project, but the end will be SO worth it

Are you nervous about the size of the job or dealing with the builders?

Dealing with the builders. DH and I have never done anything like this before. I'm hoping that if I can keep the builders happy on a day to day level with stuff like tea and biscuits and making sure that we do not get in the way, they will respond by doing a good job for us. Is that silly?

NOt silly to feel like that, no

But do remember it's YOUR house and you are the paying customer... client, even!

I understand why you feel a bit nervous, they can seem a bit intimidating en masse. HAve you met them yet?

I've met the lead builder, he's actually a friend of a friend and he's a nice man. I think he's more comfortable discussing things with DH than with me, but I suspect that is fairly typical of the building trade (no offence to your DP!).

It will be fine. I'm trying to focus on the outcome - a decent sized kitchen for the first time ever!

Ex dp was a plumber so I learnt loads about how to treat workmen. Tea and coffee should be freely available - so kettle idea definitley good! And buy the best biscuits! Choc ones especially appreciated. I wouldn't poo poo the bacon sarnie idea, but get in there say day 4 and offer them one whilst bigging up their efforts (if of course they are worthy...).

Happy workmen are efficient workmen!

NO offence taken

DP is the boss and I must say is a very lovely bloke who will chat away to any client, male or female

The fact that you know the man and he is a friend of a friend is a bonus, IMO. He might feel more comfortable talking to DH initially but I presume he'll be seeing you more on a day-to-day basis, so there'll be good opportunity for you to forge a good working relationship too. Make him the one to talk to the most initially (about the actual work) as you sort of know him

We had a portaloo, definitely a good idea.

Our builders brought their own kettle and mugs and preferred to sort themselves out with drinks. I did buy them bags of doughnuts once or twice a week though, or biscuits. During the hot weather I would give them all an ice lolly once they had worked up a sweat mid morning.

I am also at home on Maternity leave. I tended to chat with them first thing in the morning. Just a general 'what are you doing today?' sort of thing. This is when I would raise things like when do I need to have my ktichen delivered, that sort of thing.

The rest of the day I tried to stay out of their way. Although I would pop my head round the back to say if I was going out. Plus I usually had a look at what was going on when it wasn't too noisy! Then another chat before they went home - if I was in.

As for nap times, I found my newborn slept through everything except simultaneous kocking through upstairs and also drilling off the old kitchen's tiles with a hammer drill. This woke him up but everything else he slept through!

Good luck, it is so worth it.

Another vote for a the portaloo! Men smell!

Also get a cheap hoover for them to use so they don't blow up the Dyson. Put mats everywhere if the carpets are nice.

Regular cups of tea and coffee seem to keep them happy (hubby and I did butties on Fridays but then we LOVE bacon).

The lads that worked at my house were lovely and I made a couple of friends. I did have to tell them not to smoke in the house to begin with , but I only had to tell them once.

have just had the back wall knocked down for our one storey extension, and managed to keep all the dust and debris to the back room (kitchen). spent 3 hours cleaning it this morning and it's all clean and livable in again. now it's the exciting things like plastering and new cupboards (thought they won't arrive for a few weeks).

when you have the knowck through, get them to seal up the affected room from the inside with brown packing tape, and also seal from the other side. We hung a dust sheet across the door and sealed that with packing tape as well - nothing escaped!

hope yours goes well - it sounds very exciting!

OOo this will be us in 8 weeks - i am excited for you - i was planning on not starting the whole tea making thing btu then im only off 2 days a week so they will be left to it on the whole. If they ever work a Saturday i was going to do the bacon bun thing and poss tea and big them up if they are worthy of bigging up - i feel mea now reading yours. I was going to allow use of our downstairs loo also but leave a bottle of blech and loo brush sat on the closed down lid before i go to work so they know the crack lol. Tell me about your extension - what you doing with all your new space?

Talked to DH about the Portaloo idea but he doesn't think they will be able to get one in the back garden Nappyzone I like the bleach and loo brush idea!

smittenkitten - thanks for the suggestions about taping up.

The extension involves taking the back of the house out approx 3.5m. At the moment we have a living room and dining room seperated by double doors and a tiny kitchen. We plan to seal up the doors to the living room to make it snug, then the existing kitchen and dining room plus the extension will form an open plan kitchen/dining/family room with folding doors out to the garden. Upstairs the new space will give us a master bedroom with ensuite .

I am sooooo looking forward to it all being ready, but the next few weeks could be pretty stressful.

Nappyzone - what are you doing? 8 weeks is not long.

OOoo i like the idea of the big kitchen playroom but coudnt afford to factor in a new kitchen so we are getting ours built in a way that for the future it coulod easily be renovated to this. We are doing the double extension also 3.5m and the main aim of ours is to extend the kids bedrooms at the back of the hous eupstairs as currently tiny - as a result of not being able to build on thin air underneath will be a long large family room the width of thehouse that the kitchen/ utility and current dining room will look into kind off with the dining are flowing into it as one room leads to another. This room will have 3 evenly spaced very large full length widnows one which will be a patio or french door. Tha main luxury of our project will be that between our dc newly extended bedrooms will be a newly extended v long new bathroom. I am dreading it but its definitly cheaper than moving. I will watch your progress with interest.

portaloos need to be at the front or have access to the front so the poo lorry can come and pump it out once a week We had ours outside our living room window on the front garden.

A loo just for them is a must.

Smoking outside is not smoking in the building area or out of a window (important when the inside takes shape)

Check the schedule every morning & evening.

Be ready for dust & mess - you'll need a mop. Get them to clean the dust everyday where they have tracked it around. Also dust sheets to protect the part of the house you are living in.

To disconnect & put away any tools/equipment safely so your kids can't get near it.

We took the stair carpet up and rooled it away.

I forgot to say about radios. Establish early on whether you mind them listening to them and the volume.

It would be inhumane to not allow a builder a radio (according to DP)

This is a great thread - we are looking into having a two storey side extension in a few months so great for my research - hadn't even considerd the logistics of having only 1 toilet with builders on site!

What I would like to know is how other mums coped with toddlers running around whilst this sort of major building work is going on? There are enough hazards in normal life -let alone a building site! Do you have any tips or cautionary tales?

My DD will be about 2 and a half when it gets started next year. Any particular advice please?

cece - definitely no portaloo then because the drive will have the skip on it and the rest of our front garden is on a slope. However, DH has promised that he will be cleaning the downstairs loo as I am freaked out by the idea.

radios ok, swearing and builders bums not!!

Ribena - that's a really good question. DS1 is just 3 and obsessed by builders so I suspect he'll spend a lot of time getting in the way helping. I'm thinking he will probably end up covered in concrete at some stage but the builder has kids himself so I'm hoping he'll be aware of the issues. what are u having done?

This sounds a bit rude but don't get too friendly, because if there are problems it can make it difficult to criticise. I don't mean ignore them and not make tea etc, just don't try and make them your best mates. Our "head" builder asked us only to offer coffee once in morning, and after lunch, (and not too hot so they didn't take too long drinking it - his suggestion!).

You will find you can't wait for them to start, and about halfway though can't wait for them to finish. It is really stressful (we had walls being knocked down when my mother was taken ill, and I nearly lost the plot with them leaving the radio and lights on in the house then going out for an hours break, poor chaps). I also had a fit when I came in and found them laying raw slate floor slabs up against a newly painted wall in a different room - it just didn't occur to them it might be a problem!

Don't be surprised if you end up in tears on more than one occasion, or if you feel like tearing their heads off - our builders really weren't very house trained and didn't understand that whilst they could walk away from the mess at the end of the day, we couldn't. If that sort of thing bothers you, make it plain right at the beginning (politely) what you expect of them. Aggro comes with misunderstanding, they don't do it deliberately to wind you up.

Having said all that depressing stuff, it is so exciting - I used to run around seeing what they'd done after they'd gone home, and jumping up and down with excitement! It will look as though nothing much is happening for ages, then suddenly it will all be done.

Be prepared for lots of decisions quite early on - probably before you're ready to make them. We had to make decisions about window styles, lighting, heating etc whilst the conversion was still a shell, and I was really caught out! The internet is a wonderful research tool though, we did a lot on-line, then haggled with local suppliers on price - mean, but useful.

Good luck - how about some before, during and after piccies!

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