Do you supply lunch to tradesmen working in your house?

DigForVictory

The builders who sorted our money pit out replaced the kettle at the end as they said they felt responsible... Mind, on the amount we paid them, a kettle for goodwill was easily affordable.
We sorted them tea, coffee, sugar (the 5 kilo sack barely made it to the 3rd week), teaspoons & mugs.
We also got home made biscuits for site meetings - apparently we got the top electricians & plasterers in the area working on our house as they'd heard about the biscuits.... (I never mentioned that actually we all had the WI to thank - with erratic heart light & power, plus three under 5, no way was I trying to bake!)

By all means brew up, but cook?! They'll not expect it.
If you have a loo (& loo roll) they can use, it's always appreciated, but I've never asked any questions.

suki1964

I'm one of the ones who feeds them, a fry for 10 o'clock tea break. But then most tradesmen I know are family friends

benrben

ripplyuk wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. I can relax then! The only reason I've asked is because my mum always makes a proper cooked lunch for them, something like lasagne and chips and then also supplies various biscuits/cakes/scones throughout the day with tea and coffee. I was unsure if this was the norm.

Your mum sounds lovely!

PlutoinCapricorn

My block of flats is very central and is surrounded with places to eat, takeaways and supermarkets. I offer juice and biscuits, which some accept. I have seen many workmen carrying boxes of takeaway food in. A very professional plumber brought a thermos flask and a lunchbox and declined anything from me.

Loz01

Last time we had someone in to fix our heating, I offered them tea/coffee or orange squash and then some choc digestives, I think that's good enough etiquette :rotfl:

TBagpuss

It wouldn't occur to me to provide a meal!
I've just had a lot of workers in, I provided tea and coffee (and yes, they got through lots of sugar!) and biscuits.

flybynight

never expected, but many years ago I was working on a renovation of kitchen / bathroom and an upstairs extension for a family (not all at the same time) and the only person in all day was the "gran" who was retired. On day 1 we all sat down to a cheese and pickle butty and she spotted us mid way through. realising she didn't look pleased we asked if there was a problem, thinking we were sitting in the wrong bit of the graden or something. she was amazed we "were doing a full days hard work on a cold lunch" we thought no more about it until about 1530 when she appeared with a homemade Victoria sponge. "bonus" we thinks, thanks her , has a snack and carry on. went home thought no more about it. 1100 the following morning she appears with 12 homemade warm sausage rolls and the question "would you like egg and chips or corned beef hash for your lunch" , we tried to decline and she seemed most upset, and appeared at 1330 with a big pan of corned beef hash. this went on for a week, with occasional cakes in the afternoon aswell, until Friday when the gaffer was showing her son what we had been up to and politely said that his mother had been trying to feed us and could he stop her as we didn't want her put out. "god no " says the guy, its the happiest shes been since she moved in with us.
I ended up having to increase my runs and gym sessions for the time we were there as my rugby coach noticed a decrease in fitness quite quickly

ripplyuk

flybynight, she sounds just like my granny :rotfl: Everyone who calls in gets fed a full meal. Doesn't matter if you're not hungry/just eaten etc. She just loves to feed people! For years, she even gave the school lollipop man on the road nearby tea/biscuits/sandwiches on a daily basis. It really does seem to make her happy.

My mum must take after her, but I don't. I hate cooking and I'm awful at it too. I think I'll get some nice muffins or something from the bakery for the decorator. Hopefully that'll do them.

lulalola

Another vote for just tea/coffee and maybe biscuits, for reasons already stated but also because a lot of people can't eat certain things for medical reasons so might not be able to accept lunch anyway.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Depends on what they're doing - if they're out in the stinking cold and rain/snow for an hour, then I'd not just provide tea & biscuits, they'd get an egg & bacon banjo. And if they were working on the kitchen, I think the prospect of getting finished quicker so I could make them the same or a cake would encourage them to everybody's benefit.

If I lived in the middle of nowhere, I'd be prepared to do it all the time, just in case they forgot their sandwiches or were still hungry/didn't realise they'd be that far away from shops.