Would you leave your builders your keys?

lisyloo

No I wouldn’t.
if I couldn’t wfh I’d get a retired family member or friend to house sit.

if your having a lot of work done and can’t be there then You need to consider moving all valuables (including keys) out of the house.

there are ways round it.

casper_gutman

When we had an extension last year the builders had keys to the back and side doors. Then again, they only gave access to the area they were working in and the internal doors to the rest of the house were locked with sheets of OSB screwed over them, so it was pretty low risk!

greenface2

Customer do not have a problem leaving me and my lads alone . Lets even be honest what could they actually do . I am in all rooms often fitting windows and often in multiple rooms . It wouldn't matter if the homeowner was there or not . I am working locally atm and haven't seen the homeowner since Friday (its now tues night) They go to work and come back once we have brushed up and gone . No issues . I am fitting their new front door tomorrow and had to leave them a key today. 

MatyMoo

I have only ever given keys to known, trusted, tradespeople. If they are new to me and haven’t earnt my trust they can only do work when I am home. 

Doozergirl

greenface2 said:

Customer do not have a problem leaving me and my lads alone . Lets even be honest what could they actually do . I am in all rooms often fitting windows and often in multiple rooms . It wouldn't matter if the homeowner was there or not . I am working locally atm and haven't seen the homeowner since Friday (its now tues night) They go to work and come back once we have brushed up and gone . No issues . I am fitting their new front door tomorrow and had to leave them a key today. 

This. 

We're always trusted with keys.   People are prepared to trust us with the entire value of their homes but not keys?  

We work in arrears as well; it's a bit rich to expect us to easily incur five figures of debt on a your behalf before invoicing you, but not trust us with door keys in order for everyone, including you, to be able to get on with a day's work 

There's nothing as valuable in your house as the actual structure we're entrusted with.  If you're not prepared to hand over a key then you really need to consider why you've employed someone.  

onomatopoeia99

Yes, because I don't have the luxury of staying home all day to hover while they work.  Good for all the people that don't have a full time job and can afford the astonishing costs of getting building work done, but I can't imagine there are many of those.

DRP

Reading the responses , i was starting to get concerned that we were the only ones letting a builder have keys. 

If you trust someone to work on your home, to give them 000s, then it makes sense to me that you give them access to do their work. 

Sandtree

FreeBear said:

Contents insurance would be void. So no, I would never allow builders or any other tradesman to have keys. Would always ensure that someone I trust is on site.

The only exception would be if this were a new (to me) property and is empty of any possessions.

Why would it be @FreeBear?

Low quality insurance or if you live with non-family members then theft cover would be an issue as you need to have signs of forced/violent entry but curious as to why you think you lose cover for flood if you give someone a key? Standard home insurance wouldn't have any issues. Sounds like urban myth being blindly repeated as fact

As to the OP... I think it is conceptually difficult to have strangers in your home in general, its exponentially increased when they are there alone. Most of this however is paranoid concerns, the reality is the majority of people are honest, most aren't interested in what pants you own and years of earnings as a reliable/honest trades person is worth vastly more than nicking your 2 year old mobile. 

Renters need to get even more comfortable with the idea, who knows how many previous tenants have kept a copy of the keys? Plus letting agents? Concierge/porters? Landlord? Previous trades people? Cleaners (in serviced apartment)? Oddly, insurance still perfectly valid (potentially excluding theft if you bought on price)

Soot2006

I've never wanted to be home while any work is being done so I've always given any indoor tradesperson a spare key so they can leave for lunch, etc ... Never crossed my mind not to! I try to use only reputable local companies and I've never had a worry. One year someone took my garage broom. For outdoor work, I always leave garage unlocked for power supply, etc.

JuzaMum

Carrot007 said:

JuzaMum said:

No. We had roofers in last year a saw one of them walk off with one of our tools. We did get it back. 

And why were you tools anywhere near them? Just asking for confusion!

As to the question. If I wanted the work done. I have cameras around anyway, not that having none would put me off. However having cats I would need to be there which I am mostly anyway.

There was a water leak from a damaged pipe in the roof during the night. The tool we used to repair it was left up there overnight in case. In the morning the roofers started early and my husband saw it in one of the roofers hands as he passed our window