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Sherwood
LIF Adult
Member since 8/08 1643 total posts
Name:
s
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If you ever have contractors doing work in your house....
Say you have contractors doing work in your house for more than a day or two. What do you do? Do you give them a key and leave them alone in the house? Or do you take off from work- have someone sit home with them for a week, or however long the project is?
We're having our bathroom renovated right now...my mother has been there with them for two weeks. It will probably be another week, and I feel bad asking her to sit there. The contractor told me that 95% of his customers just give him a key and dont sit home with him. I do trust him and dont think it would be a problem, but I'm just really uncomfortable with the idea of people in my house when I'm not there.
Message edited 5/21/2009 8:34:58 AM.
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Posted 5/21/09 8:16 AM  |
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jennarose023
Jack's gonna be a big brother!
Member since 11/08 7769 total posts
Name:
Jenna
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Re: If you evee have contractors doing work in your house....
i was wondering the same thing!?
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| Posted 5/21/09 8:17 AM |
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usuk2004
I'm ONE!
Member since 5/05 5150 total posts
Name:
Farah
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Re: If you ever have contractors doing work in your house....
We had builders in for six months and didn't have a choice but to give them a key. We did make sure that valuables were put in a safe though and we locked the bedroom doors so they only had access to the parts of the house where they needed to work.
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| Posted 5/21/09 8:34 AM |
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mcd01
Life is good : )
Member since 3/09 1932 total posts
Name:
Melissa
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Re: If you ever have contractors doing work in your house....
we gave our contractors a key but it is new construction, I would just lock up any valuables,
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| Posted 5/21/09 8:56 AM |
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Irishlass
LIF Adult
Member since 5/05 2961 total posts
Name:
Lisa
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Re: If you ever have contractors doing work in your house....
We left them in the house. We really didnt have a choice as they where there for about 3 months.
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| Posted 5/21/09 8:59 AM |
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MrsFab
this is bliss.......
Member since 10/08 1234 total posts
Name:
Mb
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Re: If you ever have contractors doing work in your house....
good question & i was wondering if you do leave them a key, do you change the locks after the project is done?
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| Posted 5/21/09 9:01 AM |
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GoldenRod
10 years on LIF!
Member since 11/06 26792 total posts
Name:
Shawn
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Re: If you ever have contractors doing work in your house....
Luckily, DW is a SAHM, so she was with them 95% of the time. We did leave them alone for blocks at a time when DW had to go to appointments. They were with us for months, so they almost became part of the family... 
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| Posted 5/21/09 9:11 AM |
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JldDolphin
Member since 1/07 6929 total posts
Name:
Jen
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Re: If you ever have contractors doing work in your house....
When we did our large reno, we didn't live there, so no problem, we just gave them a key. But after they were done, we had to change the locks. Right now if we have someone do work in our house, either myself or my DH will be home, or we can ask my mom to come over. For us it works.
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| Posted 5/21/09 10:13 AM |
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Nifheim
allo
Member since 1/09 5476 total posts
Name:
Jennifer
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Re: If you ever have contractors doing work in your house....
Posted by JldDolphin
When we did our large reno, we didn't live there, so no problem, we just gave them a key. But after they were done, we had to change the locks. Right now if we have someone do work in our house, either myself or my DH will be home, or we can ask my mom to come over. For us it works.
ITA
My parents are retired and had the house open only when they were home and if they had to leave asked me or my husband to check up on them or lock up. The only way I would leave a key is if we changed the locks. Also if you can't be there the entire time be there for major parts of the project to supervise since this is the time you could find an error prior to installation. My parents had to stop the works from dry walling since they messed up on the framing and almost cost a month's worth of time.
Also know my parents had a watch and ring stolen from one crew out of 6 crews they had to hire for one job. It was their fault for leaving it out of the safe but they figured it wasn't worth much so not to worry - well they had taken it! SO put everything of value in a safe of off site.
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| Posted 5/21/09 11:12 AM |
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Otherme
Square head cutie pants
Member since 3/06 6899 total posts
Name:
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Re: If you ever have contractors doing work in your house....
We had our contractor in our house for 8 weeks doing our kitchen. He had been in our house before while we were there and we felt he was totally trustworthy. He owns his own business and does all the work himself. His jobs are all through word of mouth referrals and if he stole things, his work would dry up pretty quickly.
We gave him a key and he returned it when the job was done.
We had no choice - we both work and couldn't be there during the day.
In fact, we're having him back to do some more work in a month or so and we'll end up doing the same thing.
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| Posted 5/21/09 11:29 AM |
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Jenn627
Laaaaaaaambert!
Member since 5/08 9818 total posts
Name:
Jenn
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Re: If you ever have contractors doing work in your house....
My bro stays with them when he has his done.
My husband or I stay with them when we have work done.
My mom leaves them alone in her house.
Personally - it depends for me - I could go either way. I have a "people are inherently good" mentality.
eta: My husband always wants someone to be home with them...
Message edited 5/21/2009 11:56:51 AM.
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| Posted 5/21/09 11:56 AM |
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Megs4
LIF Adult
Member since 11/08 1619 total posts
Name:
Megan
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Re: If you ever have contractors doing work in your house....
We have done both. My in-laws are retired so they have come to the house to be there when work was being done, but with our bathroom renovation we are very good friends with the contractor, so we had no problem giving him a key.
If it were a stranger, I am not so sure - but if it is a long-term project I would probably do what the others have suggested and lock up valuables and/or rooms that they don't need access to and give them a key.
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| Posted 5/21/09 12:41 PM |
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PotofLuck06
Our Baby Boy Is Here!!!
Member since 11/06 13241 total posts
Name:
Betsy
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Re: If you ever have contractors doing work in your house....
We had CAC installation recently and DH and I traded days off from work and stayed at home. As much as I want to trust them to do their job - there is too much of value in my home that I don't want it to disappear. Plus, if the contractor breaks/cracks something, I want to be there to see it and have the problem rectified instead of swept under the rug.
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| Posted 5/21/09 1:29 PM |
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MetsGirl07
LIF O2 Vendor
Member since 12/07 16202 total posts
Name:
Deanna
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Re: If you ever have contractors doing work in your house....
our kitchen is still being installed, and its going on 4 weeks.. we will NOT leave the house while they are there.. so we take turns taking off.. it was very tough, but manageable.
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| Posted 5/21/09 1:41 PM |
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LemonHead
Sour Girl
Member since 3/08 5271 total posts
Name:
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Re: If you ever have contractors doing work in your house....
DH is a contractor and people usually let him in in the morning. He works completely off of referrals though, so people know he's trustworthy b/c of the reference.
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| Posted 5/21/09 4:08 PM |
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KLSbear
LIF Adult
Member since 1/06 1908 total posts
Name:
Karen
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Re: If you ever have contractors doing work in your house....
We gave our contractors a key, but we knew the GC personally and we trusted the team he brought in and they live in town so we were completely comfortable with them. I work close to the house and my boss was flexible so I was able to run home to check on things during the day when there were questions or just to see what was going on.
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| Posted 5/21/09 6:51 PM |
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TheDivineMrsM
2 girls 4 me!
Member since 8/08 7878 total posts
Name:
Mama mama mama....
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Re: If you ever have contractors doing work in your house....
We left our back door unlocked if we were at work. We were always back by the time they finished. All valuables, cash, and important docs (social sec card, marriage license, etc) went into the safe or spent a few weeks at my parent's house.
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| Posted 5/21/09 7:02 PM |
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CoutureMaMa
nicholas is one!!
Member since 9/07 6081 total posts
Name:
Michelle
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Re: If you ever have contractors doing work in your house....
your bathroom is taking 3 weeks to do??? um, ok, well my father is a contractor; has had a business for 35 yeras and most people left a key, but they were all family business and very trustworthy, etc. it depends i guess if you trust the person.
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| Posted 5/21/09 7:14 PM |
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Elbee
Zanzibar
Member since 5/05 10767 total posts
Name:
Me
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Re: If you ever have contractors doing work in your house....
I'm in the middle of some construction now. I drive from Queens every morning with DS in bumper to bumper traffic- stay all day - then drive home in bumper to bumper traffic.
Unfortunately, while the worker is very good, he seems to forget everything we tell him. If I wasn't there today he would have closed one of our dining room openings today, instead of just taking out the steel frame and opening it up wider. 
It was also supposed to be 4 days and now it will probably be 10 days all together. I am less than thrilled with the situation but what can you do. It's midway through thank goodness. My DH is off for the next 5 days, so he's on duty for Fri, Sat, Mon, Tue. Hopefully all I wil have to do is go back when our new doors come in (I have to make sure he puts the left/right swing correctly on each door).
Thank god it's been nice out - we've been living in the backyard because the house looks like it's been coated in powder and I can't have DS in there.
Message edited 5/21/2009 7:25:33 PM.
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| Posted 5/21/09 7:23 PM |
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