I have an active construction site and am concerned about keeping curious people out for safety and liability reasons. Problem is how to handle it. Some of those people are neighbors. Suggestions?
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The only thing that seems to work is a fence. I use plastic snowfence as a temporary barrier.
Construction sites are dangerous places for kids. They like to watch machinery ( just like me when I was a kid) and don't pay close attention to what's going on.
I almost ran a kid over with a backhoe. That was the beginning of me using a fence.
A good friend of mine backed over his own son with a bulldozer and killed him.
The adults aren't much better!
Yeah, kids are a big concern. A couple were killed here last year. Owner of a vacant house was fixing a porch roof and removed the posts. The kids came in and pulled out the temporary supports when everyone was gone, and the roof came down on them.
Unfortunately kids will find a way in. Probably the best prevention is limiting danger in the first place (taking keys out of equipment, picking up debris, securing temporary shoring, etc.).
Rabid pit bull or 2...
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"After the laws of Physics, everything else is opinion"
-Neil deGrasse Tyson
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If Pasta and Antipasta meet is it the end of the Universe???
random mini napalm blooms....
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
I'm not sure there is a way, until the house is able to be locked up. People seem to think it's their God give right to be nosey.
When I built nothing seemed to stop them. One night I had all the windows and doors in except for one door. So I backed my one ton truck up against the door opening and left it. They just climbed over the truck and went in anyway.
?I know of a guy who had serious trouble with a retired engineer who kept trespassing in spite of several warnings. Even visits by the police didn't stop the guy. He just said "he wasn't hurting anything". the police wouldn't arrest him, as they figured the DA wouldn't bother with prosecution.
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A few "no trespassing" signs might help limit your liability if someone trespasses and gets hurt. Or you might ask your insurance company if they have any suggestions.
Your concerns change, depending on:
1) Do you mean while work is in progress?;
2) Are you concerned about what happens after everyone has gone home?;
3) Are parts and materials stored there: and,
4) Is there a specific problem you are trying to address?
Other measures might be of some help, though done for different reasons. For example, this is the time of year that there is a real push to close in a site, just to keep the cold at bay. Even plywood sheets, rigged as temporary doors, and with a 'porthole' to let light in, make a huge difference.
Simply having the ground around the perimeter severely torn up discourages tourists. Besides ... the landscaper is likely the last trade on the job, anyway.
Thanks for all the input. I just returned with a 100' foot roll of orange plastic fencing. Have also decided to post a polite but firm notice asking people to stay away from the construction site.The concern is for while work is underway, as well as for after everyone has gone away. I expect to be closed up within two months.
My view is that just because I have a construction site it does not mean it is open season for the curious. I understand curiosity, but that must be satisfied from the road. Even if wanted to (and I don’t) I cannot prevent people from stopping and looking from the street. I just do not want them coming on site.There is a fellow down the street who says he is a retired builder and just can’t stay away. I have to figure out away to deal with him.
A house was built across the street from me a few years back. Watching it nights weekends and days with no subs or activity was a real eye opener for me, those are not curious people, they somehow think anything not nailed down is free for the taking.
Sorry I don't have an answer to stop them but plan on when the more expensive finished items begin to arrive the curiosity will double or triple.
I second the suggestion that you hire the guy down the street, to act as security guard.
Only once have I had a noticable problem with visitors after hours, seams that neighboring kids were taking lumber and building some pretty nice tree forts close by.
My soloution was to hire them. I found one of the 11 yo kids that lived on the road, explained that some material from my job was missing and that I would pay him $50 per month to watch over the site when I wasn't around.
Well worth the $250 I spent, that kid would go out and record plate #s and give me a log of every car and truck that was there,when I was not.
That was 25 years ago, it probably would be breaking some sort of rediculous law now.
Temporary cyclone fence, which can be rented, is worth every dime.
We had a trespasser decide to go four-wheeling on one of our jobs on a Sunday evening. We found the broken truck parts, fluids, and evidence of a late-night towing operation on Monday morning.
He drove off a five foot cut slope, completely destroyed the truck, and thought he was going to sue us because we had not adequately prevented his entry to the site.
"There is a fellow down the street who says he is a retired builder and just can’t stay away. I have to figure out away to deal with him."
Hire him to be your security guard on the site.
Try calling amercan fence co. they come to all my jobs and put up
6 foot temporary galvanized fencing fairly cheap. they are in 8 foot sections and you can manage them alone. It would probably get you out of a lawsuit but I'd still secure my copper!!!
The good old "hard hat" rule works if your crew has one and they probably should.
No hard hat (proper footwear, safety glasses etc) no entry, no exceptions.
Tell them it is an OSHA rule you can't break and it usually is.
Signs will help with liability and talk to your Insurance agent. You may not have Homeowners Ins. yet... so how is the project covered?
If these are neighbors you will be living with... you could have a tour one afternoon when the project is complete. If you are a contractor... this will be a great way to advertise your services.
Fencing and other secuity measures are also a good idea. If theft is a concern, I might hire security for the days you know expensive materials will be laying around. 50.00 a night may save you thousands.
INSURANCE!
We set some steep trusses on a house one afternoon, so steep we didn't like climbing up to brace them. Shortly after we quit for the day I get a phone call from a neighbor telling me seven kids on bikes are there building ramps in the door and window openings and climbing on the trusses. It's times like this you are happy to have insurance.
I don't think you can keep people out, they couldn't keep me out when I was a kid.
You suggest a great point .....
My home borders on some rental properties - commercial as well as industrial - and I haven't a clue how to reach some of the owners.
Just how can someone contact the contractor after hours, if there's a concern?
You would almost think that folks are deliberately trying to keep their connection with a property secret!
So ... what to do? As I sit here at my computer, a though occurs to me ... I could print up full-size lables with my name and contact information on them, and post them on sites. Being of simple paper, they will weather and fall apart after a few months .... no need to worry about getting calls in fifteen years, when the siding is replaced! Just peel and stick to some convenient surface near the obvious entry points.
It is a felony to trespass on a construction site in Florida. If I got that phone call I would call 911
In Kansas a construction site is known to attorneys as an "attractive nuisance" and you can be held liable in court for creating it. This is where the liability insurance comes in.
Im a talker but after getting burned a few times i dont engage much .
I had neighbors come over, look things over and report to my customers how "they would have done it" after i left.
Some old guys would pick up bent nails and complain i was wastefull.
Funny i dont go downtown walk into a store or office and start complaining about how people do there jobs
Yeah. Never build next to a bored retired guy. You are better off financially to send him and his wife to Florida for the duration of construction.
esp retired engineer guy
is there any worse?
maybe a retired BI?
I think I'd rather build next to a retired BI than an active BI.
Jon Blakemore RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA
is there any worse?A retired BTer?
yes,an active BTer with a camera!toolman65
Many times i showed up in the morn to a ticked off homeowner with a list of complaints from the old busybody next door.. The worst part is if they get wind of any prices, They go ballistic how im a crook and in 1938 they could buy a whole house for what im charging. This logic however never extends to how much there house is worth today.
One of my friends does the maintenence for a nearby resort. His heart sinks when some cheery old guy tells the front desk "Had a bit of a problem with the electrical, but don't worry, I fixed it"
You have reminded me of the days when I was about five and my grandfather would show me how to straighten bent nails and then he would save them in a coffey can. That was around '49 or '50. I don't know if it was practical or he just enjoyed having something he could do with his grandson. Those are fond memories though. Thanks.
Most of our grandfathers did that. I think Piffen traded nails for native woman when he sailed on the Bounty;]
he was already in business then and.........
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
If you were willing to break up the sticks you could get a white bucket full of gun nails at most construction sites I have worked on. It seems like these guys won't even bother to load their gun with less than a full stick. I also used to find lots of those 2 1/2" Robertson screws the tile roofers use. I still have several coffee cans full.
I am amazed at what guys were throwing away a year or so ago. I got virtually full boxes of RG6 coax, CAT 5, and the flooded phone cable they use underground, just because the box got wet and it tangled up. In the dumpster it went. I built a 10x16 shed and a 30x14 addition on my house with concrete block and steel they were throwing away.