Security Precautions on a 3 Month Job
We are about to embark on a 3 month series of renovations to our row home that will require that we sublet and relocate to an apartment about six blocks away. I trust all of my contractors, but am concerned about security of our house during the coming weeks. (The basement and 1st floor LR/DR will be emptied of belongings; some is in storage, the rest on the second floor, which will be sealed off during the work). Does anyone have any recommendations about instructions I can give my contractors for keeping the house secure and/or things I can do myself–i.e., checking in at the close of each day. What kind of expectations can I have about my contractors keeping the job site secure? What is their responsibility, and what is mine? Any input much appreciated. Thanks.
Replies
tongue in cheek comment
have them leave their tools there.
bobl Volo Non Voleo Joe's BT Forum cheat sheet
Janet,
How "open" will your house be? Will walls be opened to the studs, or doors and windows off?
If not I'd make sure they know to the lock the door everynight, and if it will be open, is there a way you could seal the up stairs off with a piece of ply and a few screws, might not deter the most determined crimal, but will likely keep out the wandering teen.
Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, Professional build the Titanic.
The exterior walls will be intact, but the doors will be open, and given the summer the windows too.
it's a matter ofsecuring doors an windows and making sure no one is the house when they shouldn't be.
Do I give keys out? or meet them at the door at 7-8am?
Janet,
The remodeling company I work always gets keys unless the owner is going to be home all the time, If you can't trust the GC with keys, you may not want to trust him working on your house.
Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, Professional build the Titanic.
Janet,
Maybe some motion sensor lights mounted high enough on the outside of the house that you'd need a ladder to reach them. Point those sensors so they don't pick up everyone walking by. Aim one of those flood lights right in the neighbor's bedroom window. LOL
Maybe mount some sensors (the kind that replace a conventional light switch) inside the house to the ceiling lighting and/or if you could to a real blaster of a radio contained in the closed up portion of the house. That'll require an older radio or stero with a mechanical on/off switch.
You could always hook a livestock fencer unit to the door knob with a large piece of grounded hardware cloth underfoot. :-)
Ever hear of a watermelon patch gun?
I've done renovation/remodeling work in a couple of homes that had coded alarm systems. In fact one of the houses had 2 alarm systems...one to specifically protect an extensive and valuable antique firearm collection.
In both instances the owners took vacations during the project.
And, in both cases, I gave the owners a password which they programmed into their system for me and I provided a second password for the security Co. in case I screwed up and forgot to set the alarm by a certain time or forgot my initial password.
It worked really well, in part because, knowing I would create a ruckus if I failed to follow proceedure, I was especially attentive to securing the premises at days end and systematically "unsecuring" it at the start of each workday. And knowing the trust that was being conferred on me, my crew and I set alarms even when we were vacating for brief periods during the day.
If you feel your valuables left on the premises, or the premises themselves are at risk, despite the honesty of your contractor, you might consider investment in such a system for the project and in the future when you might be absent.
There has been a lot of concern about the veracity of home security systems, but it's been my observation that, in urban or even suburban neighborhoods, a properly installed and maintained system can be reliable and a good investment.
(I live in the boondocks and my own security system consists of a couple of dogs and a big bore rifle)
Take everything that is of substantial cash value, or of sentimental value, or easy to carry away, and move it to one of those mini-storage places. Insure the rest.
-- J.S.
Removing valuable and sentimental items is a good move. Would it be possible and effective to write a clause into the contract that put the responsibility for nightly lockups on the contractor, and asked that he get a rider to his liability policy to cover theft?
Do it right, or do it twice.
Sad, but that is the very best advice these days. Even in the most safe and patrolled city (Coronado), a house we were tiling was broken into and all Bro's/my tools were stolen, plus much cabinet/bath hardware, and I don't recall what all else. We think it was the bricklayers or plasterers, I forget. Hmm, I'll have to see if anything ever came of that. We did get reimbursed for all tools.
Given that they had neighbors not 8' away, someone must have known how to shut off the alarm, get in and get out.
I like the motion light idea, esp if they are not obvious--can really make you think someone has spotted you. Maybe a little yippy dog recording, and a big growler in another location?
Good luck Janet!
Thanks all for the ideas. I'm thinking about camping out on site with the yippy dogs and the big bore gun...
RE: the security system. The previous owner had a security system in place that we didn't use. However, we are sistering the 1st floor joists, and the house is a wiring nightmare, so our electrician was going to pull all the wires and then re-run electric, door bell, thermostat, etc.. Our plan was to just rip out the security wiring, and possibly have our own system installed sometime in the future. Even if we did it now, I'm not sure how we could keep the security operable during construction.
I think I'm seriously in the market for a dog.
Thanks again.
Janet
Janet,
Go with a wireless security system. The control unit has to have power, of course, and a phone line. But the sensors are linked by radio frequency to the control unit. And don't even bother if you don't tie the system to a central monitoring service. You can't count on a neighbor hearing an alarm siren and calling the police.
Good luck--
Cliff