Does anyone else just hate having workmen in the house?

I have an electrician coming this morning, I will wait for him, give him very explicit instructions, and go to work.
My heart will sink if I get home and his van is still in the driveway.

It seems like a lot of us feel the same way. It is difficult to have workmen in the house but it is a means to an end so just have to put up with it sometimes and be pleased when all the work is finished. I hope you will soon be enjoying your new bathroom.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

The sprinkler system in all the flats here had to have remedial work done on them. It meant cutting holes in every ceiling in my flat. I hated the early starts putting everything away covering things up. The mess afterwards plaster dust every where. Just when I thought it was all finished they found another problem and the building is only 3 years old! I'm just waiting for them to find something else that's wrong.

I recently had a leak in my central heating system which meant taking up the bathroom floor to get at the pipes. So I decided to bite the bullet and have the suite completely replaced. I also had to have a plasterer and an electrician in for other jobs. Like many of the posters here I feel really ambivalent about tradespeople in my home even though I knew the men in question. I'm fortunate to have a downstairs loo, so having the bathroom out of action was not a complete pain. There was a lot of banging and crashing. And of course workpeople never really "clean up" peoperly. I just paid my cleaner for a couple of hours extra work. I just looked forward to getting the jobs done.

Depends on the workmen really. Most of mine have been fine. The ones who repaved the patio weren't very sociable, mainly because they were mostly Romanian and spoke very little English. Did a great job though.

I don’t hate having work people in, but I’m always glad when they’re finished. I would never leave them alone in the house though and go out. I prefer to be around.

You all seem very happy with your tradesmen. I must be unfortunate.

Ha! We cross posted, M0nica, and I missed you saying it didn't bother you .

Next time you can house sit when I have anything done?

I hate it too (doesn't everyone?).

I get on well with my decorator, but even then, I feel I can't relax when she's working. I hate having everything moved about to clear space for whatever's being done, so the whole house is a mess. In the summer we had quite a lot of work done, and I went away for a chunk of it. Mr Dog was less keen to leave them to it, but forced himself to join me for a couple of days. I find it really stressful having people there - I don't even like going to the loo, and feel self conscious if I put the TV on when I'm banished into the sitting room to let them get on elsewhere.

o be honest, it doesn't bother me at all. I just let them get on with the job, while I get on with my day, but offer them coffee mid morning and mid afternoon.

However, we do have quite big house, big rooms rather than lots of rooms, so it is easier to be separate, when we have more space to share.

In our last house we had a massive extension which doubled the footprint of the house. It was horrendous, we spent most of the budget on groundwork because there was some suggestion of movement, so we had to go and beg for more.
Then the builder disappeared, and we learned he’d gone bankrupt.
We had to hurriedly employ more builders, and although they were nice enough, they were useless, practically everything they did we had to have done again.
We got there eventually, but the cost had spiralled.
One thing we were sure of, was that we would never build another extension, fast forward, see this house, love it but it’s too small, so off we go again, but a lot of lessons had been learned.
We are having another single story extension in the spring, dreading it, but hopefully it will all be worth while.

I hate it and so be honest have not had much work done because of this.

I even hate more, which I am going through at the moment, plumbers who do not turn up, do not phone and have left me in the lurch.

We have a leak and rather them say they do not want or cannot do the job have just vanished.

We are having the decorators in March.
It was fine, months ago when we asked him for a quote, but now it's looming, and I am not happy.
We have had him before, so know he does an excellent job, is a lovely chap and trustworthy.
It's just the early starts, as I'm not good at those any more.

We are fortunate as we only use tradesmen we know and use our local pub, they’ve all had keys in the past, so can get on when we’re not here. The exception was the kitchen refurbishment, when they needed us on hand for advice or unexpected issues. They all get kettle, mugs, their own tea/coffee/sugar and biscuits, bacon sandwiches have been known!

I don't think anyone enjoys it especially when the house is being knocked about, really knocked about. Two houses ago we had a loft extension put in which was pretty involved given requirements, a new staircase and leading to a bigger bedroom and bathroom at the top of the house. The builders at the time told us they would give us plenty of notice as to the knocking through of the ceiling. Did they hell! As I was leaving the house on the school run one morning to take my then five year old to school with my baby in tow, the head honcho builder said something along the lines of "where you going love and how long will you be?" me "School, then Sainsbury's about an hour" him "make it two love we're knocking your ceiling out, It'll be a bit dusty for a while" dust! dust! and more dust! like I'd never experienced before. That was definitely the worst! house was like a building site for quite a while, but I was younger then and probably could cope with it better than I would now.

Our plasterer gave me an earful when I tapped on the bathroom door to ask if he'd like a cup of tea. I guess he was in full flow at the time!

DH favours the long screwdriver approach as he likes to feel "involved". This can lead to subversive muttering from the pros.

One thing that's useful when hidden pipes and cables are being installed is to take quick photos as a reminder of what goes where.

I'm with SueD in that I make myself a wee haven in one of my other rooms. Most of my workpeople are long-standing and I think I would go out for short spells if necessary but I'd prefer not to. Hate the invasion. Love the results so sometimes needs must.

I don't like it either, but needs must as we had a new shower room recently and obviously not something we could do ourselves. I kept him supplied with drinks and biscuits and a quick chat about how it was going. He was a lovely guy actually and he did a fantastic job but still, I was very glad to get the house back to myself.

Thank you everyone who has replied so far. It's comforting to know it isn't only me......

I am like everyone else - absolutely hate it.
I have an ongoing issue that began last November and everything crossed will end on Thursday. House is a muddle, I’m exhausting to the point that I feel I’m getting too old to do the housework and must consider getting a cleaner!

I’m sure next week will see me making more sense🤞🤞

I absolutely hate it.

I'm the one who does all the admin, and we are in the middle of having a huge sort out in our office after closing down our business. There are files and papers everywhere and they can't be dumped until we've looked at them... and I can't concentrate. The electricians are going in and out of the front door to fetch things they haven't got in their immediate tool box. Their van is parked on the main road - we have a cat that is never allowed out onto the street... I spend all my time jumping up and down to make sure he's not in the hallway, and closing the door securely (which they don't), or standing guard by it watching the cat who's watching me watching them rummage around in their van.

It's exhausting.

... and I hate making tea and coffee for workmen. The last man who came (a carpenter) brought his own coffee in a flask... I could've hugged him for that!

Vito

Yes yes yes, I absolutely loath it. I've recently had to have my house rewired, I cant even begin to describe how awful the whole experience was. I had to leave the house from 9 to 5 for 3 days to come home to a house that looked as if a bomb had gone off. To be honest it has deeply affected me. I now need the whole house decorated, but I cant bear the thought of more men in my house feels like an invasion. So looking out for lady decorators, which indeed I can tolerate.

I know what you are going through as we are in the same position. We did evacuate the property while it was done but oh the mess on return. We now need to redecorate and a man has just been with a quote. He can start on Monday or his next free date isn’t until after Easter. Oh what to do especially as we are due to go away on the Thursday. How can I prepare for that whilst the house is upside down and like has been said the days I’m here what do I do? Don’t want to be out the house for hours in end. Aargh.
We liked the man that came but we do have 2 more coming to quote tomorrow. Maybe they will have dates that are more convenient but not too far ahead.

I hate it it makes me feel invaded.

Going out? Yes if I trust them, it depends on who they are and how long they are going to be around.
I always leave tea and nice coffee/caftiere/biscuits for them to help themselves. And if I trust them, keys too.

I'm OK with my nice cleaner as she is a really nice person and I trust her and sometimes if I am not well she will do the upstairs them I will get back into bed and she will let herself out.

And I have a lady decorator I feel the same about.

worst was 4 weeks of knocking through a wall downstairs and new kitchen. had to de camp absolutely upstairs and no way staying in with the noise levels all the time. I didnt live alone then, my then DH supervised and checked stuff

- I will not put myself through that again.

I hate it as well.
We are having a lot of work done in the spring, I imagine it will be at least a couple of months.
Almost all the tradesmen I use, I’ve been using for years, and trust them, so I just let them in, and head off to work.
I don’t mind them making tea, but I don’t like them using my loos, have to get home and clean them!