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Toilets Installed - - Do workers use normally use them?
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Posted by momtothree (My Page) on Mon, Jan 18, 10 at 22:51
| The plumbers installed the toilets in our new home construction on Friday. We went to the house Sunday evening to see what had been done on Saturday. We found someone had used one of the back bathrooms and wiped with PAPER TOWELS. It appears they had flushed once but weren't through wiping yet. They failed to flush the second time. Do the contractors and their crews normally use them? We were required to rent a port-a-potty for them once ground was broke. I went ballistic when I saw this. We went out again today and found wads of papers towels in the medicine cabinet. I guess they were preparing for their next trip to the bathroom. I took all of it and threw it in the trash can. Do we have a right asking them NOT to use the toilets in the house? Or am I over-reacting? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Toilets Installed - - Do workers use normally use them?
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| I was wondering the same thing. If I were living there I would allow them to use it, but I always thought using the bathroom in a newly constructed home was taboo. The plumbing was hooked up last week and the water was turned on. I found that the guys had been using the bathroom. If the water is turned off, they just don't flush. Even worse, we found out that the drain to the powder room sink had not been connected so we ended up with water draining into the master closet. Fortunately, we caught that when we did because the carpet got installed the next day. |
RE: Toilets Installed - - Do workers use normally use them?
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The builder's crew urinated in my shower.
I wrote a sign in English and Spanish politely asking them to use the port a potty.
They urinated on my sign.... |
RE: Toilets Installed - - Do workers use normally use them?
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| Letting the workers use the toilet in the house allowed me to save the cost of the porta potty once the plumbing was in. They were considerate and supplied the TP. Worth it to me. |
RE: Toilets Installed - - Do workers use normally use them?
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| Porta pottys are gross! I would have no problem with them using the inside toilets. Not to mention it's winter out there and depending on location, darn cold. No heat in those things. |
RE: Toilets Installed - - Do workers use normally use them?
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| We were owner-builders. We rented a Porta-potty for all of us to use (we were on-site every day), and it was NOT a pleasure to use it during the winter! When the plumbing was hooked up, I assumed the subs would continue to use the Porta-potty. We were advised by a builder who was helping us (DH was quite ill then), that it would be the wise and kind thing to do to let the subs use the powder room toilet (we waited to connect the other toilets). Good advice, based on what some of you are saying! We provided toilet paper and an old towel to dry hands. Anne |
RE: Toilets Installed - - Do workers use normally use them?
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The builder's crew urinated in my shower.
I wrote a sign in English and Spanish politely asking them to use the port a potty.
They urinated on my sign.... LOL Just the kind of people I want in my powder room! I keep the portable on site as long as possible. Usually till the owners move in...the home, that is. Most builds I end up with some disgusting display of bodily effluent. Typically it's in a corner of the basement. One persistent furtive defecator used a newspaper. Proud of his paper training, I suppose. Others preferred the front entry. One day one of my business partners--a big brawling mustachioed Italian with a cigarette perpetually behind his ear--came running out of a house we were building with a pale look of horror. He had come across one such gift festooned with corn kernels and it had made him instantly nauseous. Achilles had his heel. Luigi his delicate stomach. |
RE: Toilets Installed - - Do workers use normally use them?
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| Being an OB and installing the final plumbing fixtures ourselves, I kept the toilets far away from the job site until the very end. Once installed, I made it clear they could use the powder room toilet. I felt fortunate not to have someone leave a present in our basement or around the property. |
RE: Toilets Installed - - Do workers use normally use them?
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| I failed to mention that the wads I found stashed in the medicine cabinet appeared to have been used. Looks like they were going to allow them to dry and use them again. The crews that have been there have been total slobs. We have complained to our contractor MANY times during the build. We placed six trash cans throughout the house so they can throw their food away. Not one used them. They'd rather throw everything on the floor, even right next to the trash can. Anything from eggs, refried beans, tortillas, shrimp tails, french fries, ribs, limes, catsup. Makes you wonder how they live or what their house looks like. During framing, the ants were starting to take over. We had to spray three times a week to get them under control. Once it was closed in, we continued to spray. If they're so lazy they can't use the trash cans, then what will they be like when they use our new white toilet? |
RE: Toilets Installed - - Do workers use normally use them?
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| I wouldn't assume that they are slobs like this in their houses. Don't discount the resentment that some of them have a against the "haves". |
RE: Toilets Installed - - Do workers use normally use them?
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| Next build, read Bob Johnson's Houses Are Designed By Geniuses & Built By Gorillas before starting. ;-) ISBN 1-886110-48-4 |
RE: Toilets Installed - - Do workers use normally use them?
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| "if you build it, they will come..." or in this case "go". We installed one toilet after finishing the tile, supplied TP, soap, and paper towels. By then most of the subs were out, the builder was very good about using the bathroom. We never rented a portapotty (we built in the summer, I have relatives all around). Since no one ever asked to use a bathroom, I assumed the guys used the woods. I took the gal who came to measure for carpet down the road to my godmother's house. Though the set crew was only on the job 1 day (modular), the guys who put together the panelized garage (and put the roof on), finished up the interior drywall after plumber was done, were here a few more but I never found any "presents". They *were* extremely messy with the trash. Even after I borrowed another trash can from my uncle and labeled it "cans and bottles" they didn't separate recyclables from trash, often left wrappers and banana peels lying around instead of putting them in the (covered) trash can I left in the garage. Did I mention we live in the woods (with a bear, racoons, etc.)? One drove his pickup truck across my septic field - but I had the septic installer come out and look at it, it was OK (just cosmetic damage to the lawn). We also asked them to be very careful with nails and other sharps since my dad was bringing topsoil in with his dumptruck and couldn't afford to get a flat tire (neither could we), but I was there every day picking nails out of the gravel driveway base. I stepped on a nail once in the house (thank goodness it didn't go through my sole), and picked up a razor blade not realizing it wasn't a safety razor... |
RE: Toilets Installed - - Do workers use normally use them?
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| Our GC fines his subs if they leave a mess by, I think, deducting for cleanup labor. They still leave a mess, but probably not as bad as if there were no penalty. A few of the subs were meticulous and left absolutely no mess. |
RE: Toilets Installed - - Do workers use normally use them?
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| My husband is a paint contractor. He works for one contractor that installs a "job" toilet. He moves this from job to job and has the customers toilets installed after all the rest of the work is done. |
RE: Toilets Installed - - Do workers use normally use them?
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| Now that is just gross. Are they workers or animals? Who is supposed to be watching these guys! Very good point about the toilets. I guess the lesser of two evils is to hook up one and provide toilet paper and hand towels . . . ick Not to mention who knows what is going to be going on with your plumbing after months of flushing paper towels down the toilet. . . |
RE: Toilets Installed - - Do workers use normally use them?
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| Sorry to say, but trades on a jobsite don't pick up after themselves. That's why pros hire general labourers to keep sites clean and safe. I stepped on a nail once in the house (thank goodness it didn't go through my sole), Safety first. Always wear steel-toed, steel-soled shoes. And a hard hat , though I know they look so declasse. |
RE: Toilets Installed - - Do workers use normally use them?
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| "Sorry to say, but trades on a jobsite don't pick up after themselves." That is just not true! There are good ones and bad ones and the good contractor does not hire the ones that don't again. The good contractors know that a dirty jobsite slows down all the finish subs and they just don't allow it. In this economy with people begging for jobs there is no reason to put up with that behaviour. |
RE: Toilets Installed - - Do workers use normally use them?
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| I wouldn't put up with a sub with workers who used paper towels and stored them in the medicine cabinet to reuse. That is disgusting and those guys should be fired ASAP |
RE: Toilets Installed - - Do workers use normally use them?
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On our major rebuild/remodel our builder made it clear to all the trades that they were to use only the PortaPotty and there was to be no smoking in the house. He, and we, enforced this (we were the GC's) and had no problems. I did the final clean up at the end of every working day, time is money, and the guys appreciated being able to walk into a clean and tidy work site each day.
The PortaPotty became a neighborhood facility, I think PP's emit a radio signal to attract every trade, service and delivery guy in the area. LOL! We had no problem with this. |
RE: Toilets Installed - - Do workers use normally use them?
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| It's been my experience that workers at a construction site normally do not use the toilets inside, that they use the porta-potties installed at the site until the job is completed. I know it happens though, during the rebuild of our house after a hurricane, the workers managed to stuff one of the johns and make a real mess of it. We showed that to the contractor and he reamed out the workers, cleaned it up and it never happened again. We had some work/repairs done by a small family owned construction company last year, and while most of the work was outside, we gave their workers the ok to use a bathroom in an addition. I've never seen a group of guys ( father-sons-cousins) who took such care, or did a better job of cleaning up after themselves at the end of their workday, so that bathroom was spotless when they left. Then there was the 70 yr old retired roofing contractor who was hired by our contractor to do the work on the punchout list for our retirement home completed about a year ago. This guy did an excellent job, and was meticulous in both the work and cleaning up. I didn't know if he had been using the bathroom or not, but when we saw him we told him he was welcome to do so. |
RE: Toilets Installed - - Do workers use normally use them?
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| The good contractors know that a dirty jobsite slows down all the finish subs and they just don't allow it. Absolutely! And that's why I spend several thousand dollars on casual labor cleanup on each project. And don't hesitate to wield a broom myself if it's needed. The day I see $30-$45 hour framers and trim carpenters sweeping, I'll keel over in shock. As for w.c.s. Geeze! How cheap can you be! Get a portable. And make sure it's clean. I don't hesitate to call for the honeywagon between scheduled stops if it's needed. |
RE: Toilets Installed - -followup
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| On second thought, maybe accepted practices differ from area to area. Construction and home sales are booming here. |
RE: Toilets Installed - - Do workers use normally use them?
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| We, too, cleaned up every night after the workers left. My arms were fried from all the sweeping. The biggest problem we've really had were the chicken bones laying everywhere. We have dogs that are on-site all the time (during the day, too, so all the workers see them and pet them). So I had to make sure I picked up chicken bones before the dogs could eat them. I kept looking for those little "presents", but thankfully didn't find anything except some suspicious yellow liquid soda bottles. Jeez, we're on 20 acres. Apparently they weren't boy scouts. We purposely have not installed the toilets until the workers leave. We've only got about 2 more weeks, so maybe we'll make it without any problems! |
RE: Toilets Installed - - Do workers use normally use them?
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| Its the milk jugs you gotta' watch out for! 
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RE: Toilets Installed - - Do workers use normally use them?
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Worthy,
Here in the South, it was the Mountain Dew bottles you had to watch out for! LOL |
RE: Toilets Installed - - Do workers use normally use them?
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| My husband is a general contractor and if someone leaves a mess on a job they are gone. He has quite a few amusing stories of people that thought they could get away with living like animals and ended up with no job. Its a sign of respect to go on a jobsite and clean up after yourself, some people just aren't capable of it. |
RE: Toilets Installed - - Do workers use normally use them?
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| I have Amish builders, so using the barn doesnt bother them. I trail ride alot and sometimes miles away from a potty, so I keep tp strapped to my saddle in a waterproof container, so using the barn doesnt bother me - when you gotta go, you gotta go. But the past week or so, I have been helping at the house all day long with things like sweeping and scraping drywall off the floor - anything I can do to help speed things along, and it sure would be nice not to have to run down to the barn in the cold... We don't have the septic ready yet, but if we did, I would have a toilet installed. It would be a real time saver. I have to switch to mud boots, walk down to barn, (get sidetracked with the horses) walk back, switch back to clean shoes... and it makes me realize how nice a toilet in the house would be. |
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