When my sister was building their house...their site had a major theft ring take practically an entire trailer full of tools, wood, materials etc. from their contractor. A few weeks after this the same contractor at another remote site had everything swiped...and THEE nicest contractor ever too. So sad people make a living stealing! So sorry for that happening to you!!

That's awful to hear about your sisters contractor. Our house is rather secluded and in a neighborhood full of mound systems so we think it had to have been stolen by a worker. It's really upsetting. We treat these people so well.

Theft from homes under construction has long been epidemic. I can't understand how so many of the homes posted at GWeb are built in the bush without 24 hour guards.

Even in so called "good" areas, many builders here long ago gave up leaving anything around that wasn't already nailed into the house. And that includes locked in a trailer. Tract builders switched to plastic from copper piping for just that reason.

I did get a laugh though on one property when the vandals hanging around were spotted by a neighbour and shooed off, dropping a fancy silver necklace in their haste. Suited my hip hop son just fine!

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This post was edited by worthy on Sat, May 4, 13 at 8:02

Yes. Very annoying.

I installed an alarm and have everything locked up in the basement behind a steel door with two deadbolts.

One time several of my power tools were stolen when I left for 10 minutes to get lunch. Made me feel extra horrid knowing that a thief was apparently observing my lunch time habits.

Was the aerator hooked up and outside? I wouldn't assume it was one of the workers in that case.

During our build, some workers and the builder stored some expensive power tools in an attic storage area off of our MB closet. They were stolen. We suspected it had to be some one that had been on the job site given the location within the house (it would be hard to find if you didn't know about it) and the amount of darkness that one would have needed to walk through to find it. We arranged for the alarm system to be turned on after that. Since we were hundreds of miles away, the builder was the point of contact. One night he received a call from the alarm company. He met the police at the house. We never knew if temporary front door had blown open or if the alarm scared some one off. The house was isolated enough that anyone could have left before the sheriff arrived.

I live in a neighborhood still being built. We had several items stolen from our house when it was under construction. After we moved in, I'd be out in the yard working. You would see the construction workers leaving their job and circling around to other houses under construction. I saw two guys back in and steal lumber one day at the house across from me. We started being more visible at quitting time. You would see the vehicles slow down at houses, but not stop like they used to. There was theft at different times of day by others. A truck pulling up to a house and shining the lights in at 10 pm is not a good sign. We had a security guard, but there was so much going on that they'd wait for him to drive by and then do their stuff.

We cannot hire someone to guard the house 24/7. It is not practical for us.
Yes, the aerator was installed. The company told my husband they get stolen all the time.

Builders should have insurance to cover theft. I've heard stories tho about contractors stealing from themselves. i.e., install an item in house #1 then steal it (allow insurance to buy another one for house #1) and meanwhile install the stolen item in house #2. Increases the contractor's profit margin... till the insurance company catches on. Then it isn't just theft, it is insurance fraud and can mean major jail time. Of course, if a contractor is stealing from himself, it's going to be mighty hard to catch him since he knows exactly when someone is likely to be around and, even if you catch him in the middle of removing an item, he can just claim there was a problem with how it was installed so he was "fixing it."

Yes, we had a 40' container onsite with tools and the next items to install. They cut the lock and I had my first insurance claim, ever. The reall PIA was that the insurance company wouldn't renew us because we had a loss in the first year of the policy.