Do you feed the contractor and crew while they're working?

Our contractor is coming in for 2 weeks to finish our basement -
DH and I will be @ work .............

What's the etiquitte for feeding these guys? Are they on their own? (I mean, nobody buys ME lunch @ the office -) But I can't help but feel like these people are in my HOME, I need to feed them to be polite ...........

?????

I'm new to this whole paying people to work on your house thing -

Re: Do you feed the contractor and crew while they're working?

No, it's their boss' job to feed them.. not yours.

sweet that you would even think of it!

Re: Do you feed the contractor and crew while they're working?

Um I offer water or something to drink. No one pays for my husband's lunch for his work in their home, he's an electrician. It's very rare. But a drink is nice to offer.

Re: Do you feed the contractor and crew while they're working?

I had people over to renovate my bathroom. I had coffee made in the morning and had soft drinks for them to help themselves too.

I did it cause it was the nice thing to do plus they took less breaks to go to the store to buy something. They really seemed to appreciate it too.

Good Luck!

Message edited 6/2/2010 11:55:32 AM.

Re: Do you feed the contractor and crew while they're working?

I always offer something if I'm home, but most of the time they decline. They usually bring their own lunch.

Re: Do you feed the contractor and crew while they're working?

I just gave the workers that did our living room a cooler with water, juice, soda, etc and one day I brought them munchins

Re: Do you feed the contractor and crew while they're working?

I put out a pitcher of fresh icetea each day and oneday I baked them cookies and left them there as a little surprise.

They preferred to leave for a bit and get food and them sit in the truck, on the lawn, etc they told me. It was their "break". and I would leave them alone, not ask them questions during that time, etc.

Re: Do you feed the contractor and crew while they're working?

Great -
I'll just keep a cooler for them w/ drinks and a pot of coffee in the AM.

Thanks !!

Re: Do you feed the contractor and crew while they're working?

Usually just drinks. For a longer project like that we usually bring in a few pizzas one day for the guys.

Re: Do you feed the contractor and crew while they're working?

I always offer something...one time we had a window crew in and I bought them pizza...The job took a lot longer than they expected so I figured it was the least I could do....

Re: Do you feed the contractor and crew while they're working?

We'll offer drinks. The final day of my big project, we bought every sandwiches, but in general, we don't buy food.

Re: Do you feed the contractor and crew while they're working?

Nope. I've offered beverages, but they usually take a lunch break on their own.

Re: Do you feed the contractor and crew while they're working?

I always make an urn of coffee b/c they drink it all day and i fill a cooler with water, gatorade, red bull and soda. If I'm not home, I leave snacks, granola bars, brownies, etc. If I'm home, I'll make a deli run, order pizza, whatever they want. Usually they decline, but I insist. If they are breaking their butts to get my house done, I like to be hospitable.

Re: Do you feed the contractor and crew while they're working?

We offer water (they always accept), no food.

Re: Do you feed the contractor and crew while they're working?

I have two guys insulating and sheetrocking a bathroom and two bedrooms and an electrician re-wiring my entire second floor and I always have water, soda, and iced tea for them.

Two days I bought lunch...once was pizza and another time I bought KFC. They have only been there for like 4 days so far. Ive been going home on my lunch hour to check in on them and bring them food.

Re: Do you feed the contractor and crew while they're working?

drinks only.

Re: Do you feed the contractor and crew while they're working?

I have offered drinks. They actually offered ME lunch one day.

Re: Do you feed the contractor and crew while they're working?

Depends on how long they will be there working. Most of the time I just offer drinks - but if the contractors are there daily, I will offer once a week to buy breakfast or lunch. It can get expensive

Re: Do you feed the contractor and crew while they're working?

I'm with everyone else--usually offer drinks such as bottled water, soda, or gatorade. I do the same for anyone delivering a large item to the house such as a mattress, couch, etc.

I think if it was a long project (basement finishing, kitchen reno) it would be nice to buy pizza on one of the last days if they were nice and doing a good job.

Re: Do you feed the contractor and crew while they're working?

No, I did not feed them.

Once we "insisted" on buying pizza and soda for a lunch.

Re: Do you feed the contractor and crew while they're working?

offer them drinks, my dad did feed his crew very often but my dad is retired and was harassing them being home all the time.