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Is it normal to have problems with unwanted visitors during construction of a house ? Around here it seems like everyone thinks they have permission to walk through houses that are in various stages of construction without permission.
I know of some friends who had a great deal of problems with one guy in particular. They even had the police out to warn him to stay away, but that didn’t slow the guy down. They still caught him in the house a couple of times, and the police didn’t want to arrest him.
Just curious to see if this is a common problem, and how you’ve dealt with it.
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Yeah, it's funny how folks think it's OK.
I have always found it effective to act as if you have just walked in my bedroom. I yell and act just a little crazy muttering about insurance.
The guy you mentioned sounds scary, scary!
Owner should have filed a traspass complaint.
The bitch of it is, the guy get hurt, it'll be your ass.
Luck
*Definitely post a No Trespassing sign or four. Then after the first warning from the police, you can have a warrant issued. Liability insurance is a big issue. So is theft of tools & materials, and with our construction ins, theft of materials was not covered. I had people walk up and start to talk with subs about the house and had to remind everyone that the clock was running. I even had people walk up on the porch and look in windows after we had moved in (private road, long steep driveway, so you don't get there by accident).
*At first I don't say anything (could be a potential customer or refferal), if they keep coming by every day I jokingly tell them I'll put them to work w/ no pay .If they don't get the hint I tell them that they are in the way and costing me money by talking to us ,politely of course. Dave
*When I worked for a tract builder,the whole neighborhood's hobby was taking an evening stroll through all the unfinished houses.The main motivation seemed to be to see what everyone else had.One homeowner was even told by the salesperson to walk his house every night,because you just never knew what was going to happen!
*You'd really be surprised how well a no trespassing sign really works.Ed.
*This method WORKS! Guy walks up the front porch plank, in front doorway, you let a 2x go from second floor deck dow stairwell, comes close but no hit..run down steps to retieve(he's wide eyed) you say where the F**k did you come from, you could have been killed!!! He leaves...end of problem. Or just as he is about to pass truck on the way to come bother you, you hit the alarm button on the truck key remote and scare the piss outta him/her. They walk away..end of problem(works on sales/lumber salesmen/everyother sales weiner that show up to slow down the progress as well, however, if they are carrying coffee and doughnuts for the crew, disregard this advice)
*The worst part to this problem is when the customer brings the whole family, the friends and the kids to see the work in progress. Kids running around, tripping on air hoses, knocking tools off the benches, tipping cabinets... I go straight to them to remind them that there is construction happening and work will stop for as long as the kids are around while the clock will keep on ticking. They look at me funny, and it seems to only vaguely register in some remote thought process. It really hit home one day when a kid tripped on my hose as I was nailing a wall plate, I missed my hit and the nail went flying across the room. I got up and started screaming my head off and sent the whole gang packing. It never happened again!fv
*I tried the work stop method once.....the folks stayed for over an hour........waste my time.See......yelling like a madman works.....Trespassing sign helps.Luck
*ON my third home build...three weeks into work...started to visit daily...verbal this and that...Boom...Thats it...Fired off letter informing them to stay of jobsite while we were working...to write a list of needs and questions to be discussed once a week for fifteen minutes...Any emergencies will can be addressed immediately but there will be a charge.near the stream,ajEither I GC or they do...not both.Oh and of course food and drink gets you a big welcome.
*Hey! I'm one of those guys, or at least I was. I never went during work hours, however, unless I had gotten to know the foreman and it was ok. I went to check out construction techniques, materials, etc. I was school for me. Everything I know about building I learned this way. Of course, no one ever sued in those days. I suppose liablility is a bigger issue than it was then. But it's fascinating and informative. How about some slack for those that respect work and want to learn?
*FXDP,Can we all come to your work and follow you around all day? Ask questions about everything you do? No offence intended, but it's really frustrating. The job site is like our office. Don't enter without permission, don't linger around and watch us work. I've almost killed a few people with plywood scraps sliding off the roof, homeowners included.
*S.O.P. here in LA seems to be a temporary chain link fence with a closed gate.-- J.S.
*My last visitors zeroed in on the survey crew [that charge hourly, naturally] that was working on a small sub-division I recently put in. They all wanted to know where their property lines were, how their neighbor had encroached on them over the years, etc. The survey crew [2 guys] seemed to gladly participate in the skylarking until I finally had enough and mentioned the possability of pro-ration of fees to the neighbors.Another kind of per peeve is the moochers . . . "watcha gonna do with that scrap? Ya' gonna use that whole big pile of plywood sittin' there? " When I try to expalin that I use the half sheets of plywood to sheath the gable ends or the framing culls and cut-offs for sheetrock nailers the moochers act slighted.
*It's funny how a lot of people view every-day construction as a Saturday afternoon free-for-all. It's like it's a demo at one of these big home stores and they all get to ask a question, as well as take home a souvenier.
*Except for saying absolutely NO! to youngsters who invariably mess something up, I see it as a great marketing tool, Here's how we do this, that and the other thing. "See what quality we put into our work?" Pretty soon they're talking about their friend doing that job over there to someone who is looking for a contractor.
*Yes jobsite safety is a concern, but when the customer is giving you hundreds of thousands of dollars to build their home,maybe they want to see that they are getting what they are paying for.To say we're busy,get off the site,mail me a letter and I'll talk to you for 15 minutes,that's just being a pompous ass.
*IBEW Barry, now you're startin' to sound like a new home salesperson!:-)
*Just had a customer we had to have a chat with, explaining the process. Nice guy, but he was showing up on the site two and three times a day and wanting to talk to the crews about what he's planning and if there's anything else he should be doing. Had to politely explain to him that the crew was there to do the work, not to have meetings with him every day. If he wanted to talk to someone about questions or concerns, he needed to talk to the site super, sales rep, or myself. Apparently he's been doing this with all the other subs and making everyone a bit crazy. Spoke with the GC about it. He heard that we had some "difficulties" with the homeowner. He applauded our actions and let us know that if we continued to have difficulties, to feel free to have him explain the process to the homeowner. He realized if you're only just coming out of the framing stage and the customer can't seem to function within the process, he's only going to get worse as you get into the trim stages. We'll see how things go with him for the next couple of months. I have a feeling he's going to be an interesting guy to work with.
*>Another kind of per peeve is the moochers . . . "watcha gonna do with that scrap? Ya' gonna use that whole big pile of plywood sittin' there? "Ha Ha Yeah, the mootchers...guy wants a couple cuts of 2x4 for firewood...Ok....next time he wants more and more and bigger pieces... Christ they're all the same, come from the same mootcher mold.One job we were loosing everything with a cut in it, 1/2 sheets of ply, stuff like that. One morning I followed the crooks tracks into a woods and saw this big beautiful dead end kids type tree house. I made a deal with the kids that I wouldn't squeal if they stayed out of my wood pile. Coulda been me a hundred years ago doing the same thing.
*Barry...$90,000 contract...I was the GC...foreman..and lead carpenter. I bid the job for hours of work plus meetings after work hours only...They were tight for money...wanted the extras...sunroom...jacuzzi...I wasn't gonna get a bedroom in the house...And my family needs to make some money...This guy used up all of his alloted time with me by the second week...When I clamped down...he went right with it...And we also did more work for them for a few years...decks...porches...a wine cellar...I think I did the right thing...Now...I agree with custom T&M jobs for the wealthy...I will consult as often as neccessary to do my job so as to satisfy their full needs...and have done just that...In fact..I now do mostly T&M remodelling in the offseason from tennis...I have a client that books me for a spring and fall project yearly now and has jobs lined up for years to come...The key...I get paid for as much talk time as they need.I'm happy...near the stream,ajIt's the web and lack of full details that is making us see this differently...
*I'm a DIY'er, but I've been a dealer class A technician for the last 10 years and now own a 4x4/speed shop. We get the same problems...I've thrown more than a couple of yo-yo's out of my work areas. I don't mind a little healthy curiosity(it is their car/truck...and hell, that's how I got to where I am)but I really resent when people expect carte blanche just because they dropped $100 with me. I have a particular customer at my shop now that has spent something like $8000 on parts and service in the last 4 months. I give him carte blanche because he doesn't expect it. He knows where the line is drawn, and respects it.Why can't they all be like that??????I've come back to my shop to find people shaking their car to find a rattle while it was up on my lift!!!! Who pays when it comes down? MeAnd of course there's "No thanks, I'll do that myself....can I borrow your air thingy?" hmmm......noAnd the ever popular..."I know I OK'd the job, but I don't have all the money with me....can't you knock it down some more....you guys make lots of money....what's a mechanic's lien?But I ramble...
*Mike,My stepdad owned a garage and body shop. When I was a kid I always wondered why he was always walking in the house bitching about people. "People, f**ckin people, people". Now I know what he was mumbling about. Nothin changes.
*Hey Jim,I know the feeling about clamping down on kids. I lifted, (stole) plywood and formwood as a little kid and that pleasure my friends and I got from building the finest three story treehouse in the world may have put me where I am today. So I still got a soft spot for that kind of larceny.I once caught a couple of kids lifting plywood and made this deal with them. I would leave scraps in a certain place in exchange for them "looking out" for my site. It worked out.Luck
*Mike...yaa...you see it to...near the stream,aj
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Is it normal to have problems with unwanted visitors during construction of a house ? Around here it seems like everyone thinks they have permission to walk through houses that are in various stages of construction without permission.
I know of some friends who had a great deal of problems with one guy in particular. They even had the police out to warn him to stay away, but that didn't slow the guy down. They still caught him in the house a couple of times, and the police didn't want to arrest him.
Just curious to see if this is a common problem, and how you've dealt with it.