Men working in your house...a few questions...

I'm having my basement finished and we're in week two of a six week extravaganza!

What's my obligation--if any--for the following things...

Offering food/beverages. I've given them a whole flat of Poland Spring bottles already. When I make coffee, I feel so guilty...like they can smell it and I should call down and offer them some (meanwhile I only have ceramic mugs). I made brownies for Valentine's Day during the blizzard...should I have brought some down?

Bathroom. Only one time has anyone used it. I don't need to "offer" my bathroom, right?

Me coming and going. Do I need to tell them EVERY time I'm walking out...if only for 15 minutes?

Finally, tips. Is it customary to tip the workers...individually or as a whole? Let's just say, I'm paying A LOT of $$$$ for this whole thing already...but I have no problem tipping if that's what's called for. But how much?

Thank you SOOO much for any help you might have on this!!!

Re: Men working in your house...a few questions...

my parents had plenty of crews come and go. First off lock away anything you can not replace or care about. I know it sounds harsh but sometimes they pick up a stranger crew memeber and things can go missing.

we always gave them water (purchased a case then told them to refill from our purified faucet), coffee a big pot with milk and sugar made available, we did offer lunch on occasion (hamburgers and hot dogs) but never daily basically if we were bbq'ing we made extras. There was a few 100% polish crews that came in for masonry so we had kielbasa and periogies for them on a friday - luckily we live in a polish area so it was good LoL

We allowed them to use the bathroom but we did put away the good towels, all the mats on the floor because they would get ruined. I also cleaned the bathroom for my mom daily to make sure i was on top of any mess they might of made. The crews were very tidy so it wasn't bad at all.

No tips unless you see something above and beyond. Trust me i know the workers do not make as much as the bosses but if you give tips the bosses usually take them.

Re: Men working in your house...a few questions...

We just had guys in and out for the past three weeks. They did come upstairs once in a while to use the bathroom. I was always offering them drinks/coffee, but they never took me up on it. And when they were done, we did not tip. I didn't think/know we were supposed to. The work cost us almost $10k.

Re: Men working in your house...a few questions...

You offering the water is fine. They don't expect coffee either. At least - I wouldn't.

When we had crews we tipped the foreman at the end of the job. Sometimes the crew rotates so tipping individually would be difficult.

I think if one day you maybe order Chinese food for them for lunch as a treat - that would be very generous and I'm sure they would appreciate it very much.

You don't need to "offer" your bathroom - if they have to go, they'll either use it or ask you if they can. Either way - I have zero issues with people using our bathroom.

Re: Men working in your house...a few questions...

My husband has been a carpenter on LI for 20 years.

Food/ Drinks: U r defintely not obligated to offer drinks, but it is definitely appreciated. DH loves when the home owner offers coffee (or cold beverages in the summer). They're used to bringing or buying lunch so u don't really need to offer them. Once in awhile a home owner will order pizza near the end of the job and the guys always think it is great.

Bathroom----I think they'll use it if they need to.

Your comings and goings----I don't think u need to announce it every time, but u could say, "I'm heading out for awhile....there's coffee in the kitchen if u want.....help yourself."

Tips: I, personally, wouldn't tip the forman unless he did something special for you. Generally, he is not the one doing the work and typically is already getting paid more than the other guys. If anyone seems to go out of their way to ge tthe job done/ clean up/ whatever, tips are always appreciated.

That being said, DH would much prefer getting no tip from a home owner who was pleasant to them than getting a tip from a jerk who treated them like crap the whole time they were working.

HTH!

Re: Men working in your house...a few questions...

Thank you all so much for your advice!!