Leaving tradesmen alone?

IvyFlood

Hi

Just looking for some advice really.

We have booked a firm to rewire our house in a few weeks’ time but I just have a few concerns. We got them through the NICEIC website.

Because it’s such a big/messy job we have decided to move out for a couple of days into a hotel which is near our work so really convenient, keeps the price down too.

Is it ok to just give the electricians the keys to our house for them to get on with it? How do these things usually work?! Cause obviously we couldn’t just sit around in the house with them every day either?

All our belongings and furniture will be locked in our garage (the only room that doesn’t need rewired!)

We only just became homeowners at the end of September and we must have had about 10 different quotes since October before we’ve decided to go with this firm – its been dragging on a while and we've been quite thorough! Not sure if we’re just being overly cautious as it’s the first major work we’ll have had done on the house?

Thanks

Wassa123

Being winter is a bit of a bum as you can't just hang out in the garden either. I'd probably be there to unlock the door in the morning, and lock it at night. But then tradesmen tend to leave and come back during the day for lunch and/or supplies. You'd want to be there at least once a day anyway to check progress and resolve any queries you or they might have.

It depends how much you trust them and if anything valuable can go missing. Tradesmen or not you're letting strangers into your home. If your belongings are all locked away that's safer. It's more the locking up at night I'd be worried about and whether they would remember.

onomatopoeia99

If stuff goes missing you'll have a pretty short list of suspects to give to the police!

I've worked on the basis that if I'm going to let people into my house to do work and don't intend to stand over them all the time watching to make sure they aren't pinching my valuables (which I don't, I've got too many other things I need to do to waste days doing that), then I'm also prepared to not be there at all and leave the keys with them. Have done so with both the electrician and plasterer and not had any problems.

IvyFlood

Wassa123 wrote: »

Being winter is a bit of a bum as you can't just hang out in the garden either. I'd probably be there to unlock the door in the morning, and lock it at night. But then tradesmen tend to leave and come back during the day for lunch and/or supplies. You'd want to be there at least once a day anyway to check progress and resolve any queries you or they might have.

It depends how much you trust them and if anything valuable can go missing. Tradesmen or not you're letting strangers into your home. If your belongings are all locked away that's safer. It's more the locking up at night I'd be worried about and whether they would remember.

We would meet them the first morning to give them the keys so that's fine. We're quite lucky in that our house is also not far from where we work/where the hotel is so we'd definitely go back in the evening to check.

Davesnave

My insurers wanted proof that the trades I was using had proper 3rd party insurance cover, so I'd check they have that. Reputable outfits will.

Fire_Fox

There are as many ways of doing things as there are lifestyles and different trades I think!

Some people work from home part or all of the time, some-stay-at-home parents go to their Mums at the end of the street for the day, some see the tradesmen start and/ or end of the day and commute as normal, some move out and leave keys with a neighbour or the site supervisor.

Back in the day I had a scheduled day off a few times when a plumber or joiner was doing work for us, just got on with my day (gardening mostly, natter and comfort break next door). Made them tea and the plumber got bacon and egg sarnies.

Most trades don't want us under their feet, unless perhaps we come bearing endless tea, coffee, snacks and homecooked meals. Most of us hate living through dusty jobs, or long periods with no kitchen or bathroom facilities.

Again depending on what is being done it can be he helpful to check in on the site daily, or by telephone.

teneighty

I would make sure all valuables and important documents are safely locked away or stored off site. Not sure I would class the garage as secure.

Not from the contractors themselves but I've found they tend to be a bit lax with security and often leave all the doors and windows wide open, even when they pop out to get materials leaving the site unoccupied.

I often visit properties where there are contractors on site that I have not met before and I just walk in and start looking around and it amazes me that I very rarely get challenged or there isn't actually anybody on site. So it would be easy for a passing burglar to just walk in off the street.

IvyFlood

teneighty wrote: »

I would make sure all valuables and important documents are safely locked away or stored off site. Not sure I would class the garage as secure.

Not from the contractors themselves but I've found they tend to be a bit lax with security and often leave all the doors and windows wide open, even when they pop out to get materials leaving the site unoccupied.

I often visit properties where there are contractors on site that I have not met before and I just walk in and start looking around and it amazes me that I very rarely get challenged or there isn't actually anybody on site. So it would be easy for a passing burglar to just walk in off the street.

I hear what you are saying. Its a team of 4 that will come in over two days. Would they really be leaving windows and doors open in the middle of Winter? We work not far away so could pop back on my lunch each day just to check.

teneighty

I'm not saying all contractors are bad, far from it. I have a lot of respect for good tradesmen.

The problem comes, especially when they are unsupervised, when they revert to "building site mode." When they are working on a partially built new build they can stomp around in muddy boots, they don't need to tidy up, they have a radio somewhere blasting out at full volume, the language is quite "robust" and they don't need to close the doors and windows because there aren't any.

This seems to be the default position for a lot of contractors if you do not keep an eye on them. If you are "handing over" the property to the contractor for the duration of their works you need to set out the ground rules and explain you expect them to look after it and keep the house secure at all times.

I assume you will be replacing all carpets and redecorating after the rewire otherwise if you have finishes that you hoping to keep make that clear to the contractor. Likewise rooms like the kitchen and bathroom, standing on the cooker to fit the extractor hood or standing on the edge of the bath to fit the light etc. can lead to damage and happens all too often.

Undervalued

Yes, my concern would not so much be that they would steal anything (as others have said it would be too obvious).

What I would worry about with this sort of job is corners being cut, particularly regarding properly replacing floorboards etc which the majority of plumbers and electricians tend to bodge give half a chance.

It is a balance between trusting them to do their job (and I expect the electrical aspect will be fine) but not leaving you with other problems to resolve.

IvyFlood

Undervalued wrote: »

Yes, my concern would not so much be that they would steal anything (as others have said it would be too obvious).

What I would worry about with this sort of job is corners being cut, particularly regarding properly replacing floorboards etc which the majority of plumbers and electricians tend to bodge give half a chance.

It is a balance between trusting them to do their job (and I expect the electrical aspect will be fine) but not leaving you with other problems to resolve.

I will check in on them daily during my lunch hour but apart from that what else can I do apart from physically sitting in the house supervising them (with no electric!) which would be a bit patronising?
They seemed careful as our kitchen is problematic in that its new wiring connected to old wiring somewhere underneath. Rather than saying they need to take kitchen flooring up as other electricians have said previously, they said they might be able to create a tunnel from our adjoining living room and get under the floor (our house sits quite high up). In another room where we have a shallow pitched roof over (i.e. no access above to do the light), another electrician said point blank he'd have to cut a hole in the ceiling. These guys said they wouldn't need to.
We will be taking out the bedroom carpets prior to the work being done as they are stained and disgusting and we currently only occupy one room anyway. We will be putting new flooring down throughout the house pretty much straight after its done.