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We had occasional late-night trespassers, evidenced by their fondness of cheap, crappy beer (Bud Light). They’d mess things up a little, but not too badly. They started showing up more frequently and doing more damage–kicking over bags of concrete and such. I’d stay till dark and show up early, but no luck. Night be/f Thanksgiving I stayed till midnight, and then went up again at 6 am. They had been there be/t my visits and messed up more stuff.
I called the police, and as I waited for them, I saw some plastic on the ground. As I went to throw away the trash they’d left, I turned it over and saw it was their insurance card! Gotcha.
Officer got a good laugh out of that. He called on them to inquire how their ins card found its way to my property. Turns out it was the grandfather’s vehicle from his plumbing business, and the kids had borrowed it. He was quite embarassed and promised the officer that there was gonna be “a day of reckoning.” Figuring a pissed-off grandfather is worse than a bored judge, we let it go at that. No problems since.
Replies
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While building new houses, I had one 2 days from closing when someone decided to have a party in it. They threw beer cans all over, pissed on the carpet and burned it with cigarettes. They also broke out some light fixtures and bulbs.
Our punch guy lived in the neighborhood, and saw the culprits at work. It was the guy's new next-door neighbors!
How would you like to know you were going to be living next to these idiots?
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Yer feelin' good about the one that's not an architect aren't ya! Jeff
*Andy, thanks for the good tips......uh....bad examples....yeah that's what I meant. Jeff
*A carpenter I know told me a story.........Some kids had come through the jobsite and one of them had left a "deposit" so to speak in a box of 16 commons. My friend was upset that he had to go buy a new box of nails, but was glad to see that the young depositor had used some pink insulation to clean himself. I bet he is still itching.Ed. Williams
*Really. I thought he said he stopped a life of crime. *DUCK*
*Did a log home for a fellow that wouldn't pay and all I had to do was start a chain saw beside what was going to be a not planned for window and the fellow was whipping out his wallet faster than speeding bullet.Knew another fellow that wasn't paid for drilling a well and got paid the day he had his buddy with a ready-mix truck back up to the open casing.Gabe
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bu,
On several occasions I found "deposits" in a house I was framing. I thought it might be a dog with performance anxiety, 'cause the porto was clean and had plenty of paper...then those "deposits" started showing up on the second floor...I hadn't gotten to the stairs yet. People do the strangest things.
The Machine
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I have read the stories posted about job site security, but was wondering (while picking my bellybutton) about any vandalism on your sites. Any good stories to share?
*Not from personal experience but within the last year or so a $million+ new house was ruined - holes in drywall, pipes ripped out, structural damage, more. Turned out to be a bunch of whiney rich brats, underage drinking and nothing better to do.
*when building our house, some kids took some form boards....not far. Down the hill bout 300 ft to build a tree house...on my property. Found em, and scared em and we became friends, after they took it apart and brought the wood back to where they found it. They even helped out a little on the house. Stopped a life of crime. Both boys are doing well. One even went on to become an architect. Makes a guy feel good.
*We had occasional late-night trespassers, evidenced by their fondness of cheap, crappy beer (Bud Light). They'd mess things up a little, but not too badly. They started showing up more frequently and doing more damage--kicking over bags of concrete and such. I'd stay till dark and show up early, but no luck. Night be/f Thanksgiving I stayed till midnight, and then went up again at 6 am. They had been there be/t my visits and messed up more stuff. I called the police, and as I waited for them, I saw some plastic on the ground. As I went to throw away the trash they'd left, I turned it over and saw it was their insurance card! Gotcha. Officer got a good laugh out of that. He called on them to inquire how their ins card found its way to my property. Turns out it was the grandfather's vehicle from his plumbing business, and the kids had borrowed it. He was quite embarassed and promised the officer that there was gonna be "a day of reckoning." Figuring a pissed-off grandfather is worse than a bored judge, we let it go at that. No problems since.
*A builder whose trim I used to do was a little slow paying his bills. One of the other subs lost patience with that and left on bad terms. Not long afterwards, someone, nobody ever knew for sure who, broke into the model home with a tube of construction adhesive. They pumped big beads of it along the stops of the interior doors, then closed them. I suspect this was done fairly early in the evening, because the next day, those doors were immovable. You can bet there was some snickering going on among the remaining subs.Another fellow, this one a pretty close friend, told me about getting back at a non-paying builder by sinking a long-fused M-80 into a bucket of drywall compound. He lit the fuse and left, and a few minutes later, instant popcorn texture on the living room walls, ceiling and carpet.I shouldn't delight in these stories, but, I've been stuck myself so I understand the temptation and see the justice. Andy
*Buddy of mine with a slow paying #@%^# stuffed rubber balls in vent stacks and cement on top. Got paid for the job & more. Joe H
*Not job site, but related to Andy and Joe's stories; came to work at the cabinet shop I was at (long rows of industrial condos). There was an engine block in the shared parking space between two rows of condos. I had to go to another shop later in the day, went out the back door into the parking space between ours and the next row of condos. There was a quarter panel from a truck, and a couple of other bits. Went to another shop later, more truck bits in the parking area. Eventually, the police showed. Someone had gotten ticked off at a contractor that wasn't paying people, stole his cube van, chopped it, and scattered the thing down twenty rows of shops and warehouses.
*I was working on a restaurant a couple of years ago. I was running a mini excavator and skid steer loader digging in plumbing lines for the plumber. The entire shell of the building was up so we didn't think there would be any problems. The next day when I showed up some little shits slashed almost all of the hoses on the excavator, filled the fuel tank on the skid steer loader full of gravel. They also filled the radiator full of construction adhesive. Never caught the little shits.
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Had some kids get into a new house 2 days before closing, went nto the basement, plugged the drains, unplugged the sumps, and turned on every faucet in the place. I went by the day of the closing and saw water coming down the drive, hmmm, has not rained in days. House was ruined, top to bottom. Kids got caught(one left behind a school book,ratted the rest out) parents got to buy a new,destoyed house. Ouch