Builders stole from my house

project_c

Had some minor building work done on my house a few months ago. The builder was left alone in the house for about 30 minutes while my partner went to work and I came home from work. When I got home, I noticed that a few things looked out of place around the shelves in my home office upstairs but I thought nothing of it because I saw nothing obvious missing.

Fast forward to a few days ago, when I'm looking for some old work. I normally keep 2 hard drives in a box on a shelf which have about 15 years' worth of work backed up on them - I open the box, and they are not there. The cables and everything else you need to actually use them are still there, so I know they've been grabbed out of there.

I have never moved these drives from this box, it's the only place I have ever kept them. I turned my house upside down to see if I wasn't going crazy, but everything else I need to actually use these storage devices is still in the same box, there's no way I would have moved them and left the other parts there, and the things which were out of place at the time were exactly around the area where they were kept, so I know the builder must have taken them. There has never been anyone else un-supervised in the house.

I have emailed the building company, they of course say they know nothing about it. (The builder was some guy they brought in for the day, the company boss only came to drop him off in the morning so the boss wouldn't be involved anyway). I know there's probably not much I can do, but I thought I'd put it here in case anyone has any advice.

There is nothing of any value on the hard-drives, and I have no idea why anyone would want to nick them, they are just filled with 15 years worth of my own work (which matters a great deal to me but is of no financial value or interest to anyone else). What - if anything - would you do in this situation?

jbainbridge

Call the police? (101)

EssexExile

What would I do? I wouldn't assume that the builder had taken it a few months ago. I often mislay things but I put it down to age, or the wife, or the age of the wife.

Was it Sherlock Holmes who said "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth"? However, that is fiction & assumes you really have ruled out the impossible.

alumende27

A few years ago, I got a decorator in to do some work, and coincidentally we got broken into a couple of weeks after he left. We were the only house on the street targeted, and they jumped over/broke 5 neighbours fences to get to our back garden, and smashed their way through three doors and turned the house over, but seemingly nothing was stolen. We have little of value to a thief it seems, I don't know whether to be relieved or insulted! I don't know whether he tipped someone off and thought we had loads of stuff hidden away. Maybe it was a complete coincidence, which is often the way. I certainly wasn't in a position to accuse him of anything after the event.

The point being we'll never know. There was nothing I could do beyond the police's attempt to look for fingerprints. I'll never know whether it was related to the decorator or not, but life is too short to worry about it.

Chanes

You could find the builder and have a chat or offer them money and no Police if you are certain about this theft. It depends on how much you want the data. And now you see the value of backing up to a cloud data server not a nice way of finding that out though and if the builder stole it Karma will find them out.

brightontraveller

If the builder couldn't find some of there tools a few months after working at your home would it be correct to assume you’ve stolen them....

keith969

project_c wrote: »

What - if anything - would you do in this situation?

I'd kick myself for leaving a stranger unattended in my house first.

Then I'd kick myself again for remembering that I hadn't made a backup and kept it in a safe.

Mr.Generous

I've been in a similar position, working in a customers house when a builder was there doing some work and he actually admired one of our tools and said he hadn't got one and should really get round to buying one.

Next job guess which tool was missing from out tool bag?

His name was mud, he obviously decided to help himself. Despicable, one tradesman doing that to another when we all have to have tools on site.

Until I found it in a bucket where we'd tidied up in a hurry one night. Thankfully we'd said nothing to the householder or the builder.

I'd be careful before you make an accusation you have absolutely no way of proving. Has anybody else - and I mean anyone - kids, kids friends, family members - been in your house and popped to the loo? If so you can't be really sure, I mean not totally 100% sure like I was when my tools went missing....

project_c

Thanks for the replies - to those of you doubting whether this really happened: I know it sounds improbable, but we have not been in this house long, and it's a tiny house with one tiny office room with only 3 shelves on the wall and no other storage. I have nowhere else to store this stuff, and the missing things were kept in the same place all the time I've lived here (under 1 year). In addition to that, as I said, all the cables and everything else you need to use the devices was still there in the same box.

The only person who has ever been in the house unsupervised since we moved here was that builder, and things were shifted around after he had left.

But as I also mentioned, I did turn my house upside down - including the loft - to make sure I wasn't going mad. The only time I use those drives is when I back up data, and I have no reason to ever move them anywhere in the rest of the house.

But as you say, I have no proof or evidence, and I doubt calling the police will achieve much, I just know that's what happened.

missile

I find it strange that he would steal two hard drives. They would have little value to him.

C_Mababejive

If a building surveyor,estate agent or a doctor had been in your home, would you suspect that they had nicked the HDs?