The greatest pitfall for actively involved owners is communicating directly with subs instead of through the General Contractor. It not only undermines the GC's authority but it can create expensive and irritating misunderstandings.

Whatever is said on site should be followed up in writing even if only by email.

I don't know about treats; I've never seen it before so it seems odd. A construction contract is "arms-length", in other words you're not partners with the GC, and you have no contract with the subs, so constant observation by the owner could raise issues.

Regular site meetings with the GC is a good idea.

Or be your own GC.

I'm staying in a house across the street from where I'm building. I'm extremely active in my build (not building it but my presence while they build). I just basically told my GC that I'll be around a lot and for I'm to tell me if I'm in the way.

So far no complaints from GC only thing is it will eat at you when there are pretty days and no one working on your house cause they are off doing other projects. It took me a few months of undue high blood pressure to realize that the house will get done on or before contract date but I can't do anything to speed it up.

We lived onsite in a travel trailer while our house was built about 10 yrs ago. About 30 yds from the front of the house We didn't interact too much with the subs during the day, but they knew we were there and could check in with us if any questions - and they did on occasion. It was after hours that was the best. We walked the house every night and kept it clean and checked to make sure everything was to our specs. If we saw any issues with the subs work we sent an email to our builder,

We never offered anything to the subs nor do I think they expected anything. We were friendly, just not their friends.

We are getting ready to build again and will have the same presence. Our contractor has no problems with it. I couldn't imagine not being there.

My husband and I lived on site too and we had weekly meetings in our shop/apt. with the GC. Dh helped keep the site clean, always had a short visit with the subs but never got in the way. It is difficult like the previous poster said, to not get excited when they don't show up every day. Just can't be a pest, after all, you do want them to earn their money :)

Personally, I wish I was able to have done that. Whenever possible, I briefly stop by, ask if they have any questions, try to compliment them, and thank them for their work.

Many times I've been able to quickly answer a detail type of question, which overall saved time in the progress. Just yesterday the carpenter/trim guy asked if I liked and wanted the "soldiers" he started putting in and gave me 2 options to choose from for a problem area.

Unfortunately, there are times when I wish I'd been there and could have averted some bad decisions, some are now requiring re-work and others that cannot be undone.

My suggestions: be available, but keep visits brief. If something major, call the GC (vs addressing it directly with sub).

I see and work with lots of homeowners living on site.
they see to lots of details, keeping site safe & clean,
air sealing the house as it is built...rather than trying
to do it afterwards, and answering questions as they
arise.

most set up a small table out of the way with sweet tea,
water & muffins, cookie etc. table is left for crews when
they are on break...not to stop work & eat/drink on
home owner's dime.

we are pretty hospitable here in the south...so it may
be a regional thing.

I remember from my construction days how nice it was
to have the homeowner bring cold drinks etc for our breaks.
made us feel like they appreciated us and the work, rather
than just being invisible.
amazing the extra care for these homes vs the homeowners
who can't be bothered by workers.

best of luck,

We too lived in a mobile on site while the construction was going on, it was about 100ft away from the house (30 acres). Like mentioned above, we let them work during the day and in the evenings would do our 'walk through'. We were friendly but not overly (had things go missing a few times we weren't around so started to get an attitude).
I would say one of the problems we encountered was 'borrowing'. Someone would forget a tool, or ladder or need 'something'. Or maybe not enough electric wire was delivered ', 'do you have any 20 amp wire?'. Unfortunately I've built a few things on the property over the years and my shop was full of 'extra' building supplies. Those dwindled. Once you start to help out they start to expect it. I ended up digging my gas trench myself, and since I happened to have a tractor on site it got used more than a few times (I really didn't have a problem with that). The thing is everything I did to help was just for my own gratification (or to speed things up), it still cost the same at the end of the day. I didn't mind doing stuff, I learned a lot about the process. We did end up moving into a rental for the last 4 months as we sold our mfg home and the 120 day build was into it's 8th month. That was a mistake, when we did move back out there my JD garden tractor was gone along with my best ladder, a shovel, 300 feet of 50 amp outdoor wire, a complete set of snow tires on rims that was in the shop, I probably haven't even discovered everything that's missing yet. Since I live out in the middle of nowhere and the house is not visible from the road the MANY subs and delivery guys had numerous opportunities to pilfer. The builder blamed it all on the subs and couldn't even give us all the names for the police report. Many things sucked while building the house and then to have a few $k in stuff go missing was just another bruise to the face.

Chiming in....I acted as my own GC, and was on-site EVERY time there was a sub in the house. PERIOD. Like MistMan, I found that these folks would sometimes forget things and found it easier to borrow...I made it clear that they were expect to have their own supplies, and only on *rare* occasions would I supply anything. I also made sure that I was the one to lock and unlock the gate each morning, and made sure they knew I could be there *anytime* so better to behave.

All that watchfulness aside, I *did* really appreciate being able to speak with each of my subs, get to know who they were (and get a good feel for whether they were a good hire), discuss the whats and whys and why nots. I also found it was a great way to find other good subs, by getting opinions from them.

Treats. Well, we're not the south, but we're pretty hospitable. I made sure they knew they were welcome to use the small fridge and microwave set up, and if they worked extra late or addressed something I was concerned about promptly or well, I would bring them donuts or muffins the next day. They are being paid to do a job, so daily spoils to me seems out of line. Instead, rewards and incentives seems more appropriate. Just enough to get them to do a good job, not so much you're sucking up and they take advantage of you.

Thanks to everyone who responded -- your experiences should help us a lot, especially the warning about keeping tools and whatnot locked up and out of sight. And we'll most definitely communicate through our builder -- NOT directly with the subs.