Hopefully they will lock it up soon...it IS disconcerting! We live in a small town and I can't tell you how many people would come up to me and say, "we LOVE your house, we walked through it on Sunday." I don't mind people checking out our house, but I want to be there to give the tour! Plus,it was very annoying to go over one Saturday and see DOG prints on the wood floors (this was before they were sanded and stained, but still) it struck me as incredibly rude that someone would walk through while taking their dog on a walk!

I totally get it...I love architecture and houses as much as anyone, but I always ask permission first.

I dont understand how you are at the drywalling stage and its not locked up...ours will be locked up as soon as the roof is on.

How are you gong to install ext. doors without sheetrock and ext siding?

Nini- I can't believe someone took a DOG through your house. How rude! Yes, it's a small neighborhood and everyone is just moving in. It seems like people just walk through all the houses. The KIDS part is what really bothers me, since I definitely don't trust the judgement of tweens.

gaonmymind- Thanks for the advice. Before we signed our contract with the builder, our attorney advised us to revise the liability statement. It actually will be on our builder if something happens to others on our property during the build process. Now I'm really grateful change that clause.

lzerarc- I guess they could lock up the house since we have exterior doors with locks.

So what do I do? I'm going to send an email to our builder to let him know I'm concerned, but I'm not really sure what my expectations should be. I certainly don't expect him to stand guard at our house.

robin- not sure what your question is related to. door install is completely unrelated to drywall or siding. you install the door before either....
Plus a lot of times they will install a really cheap solid "construction door" to allow it to be locked up and possibly damaged during construction. Then near the end, install your real door.

Well I can't speak for other neighborhoods but in our small neighborhood on a cul de sac of 15 houses our builder carries the liability for anyone getting hurt. They normally discourage people from being on the property but they aren't there 24hrs a day. Now as far as kids playing that I don't agree with but I have seen many people through our house during construction while we are pulling up or leaving and the buider's agent even brings people through to see if they like our particular floor plan. We were told by the builder to stay out of the house during the day when construction was going on but also told if we did come by to make sure it was after hours. I'm sure just about everyone in our neighborhood has seen our house just out of curiosity once or twice just I have have seen every house that has been built here as well. Before we started building I was able to walk through someone else's floor plan being built in a different neighborhood to see if we liked the layout physically and not just on paper.

Now the builder does usually start to lock them up after drywall but its not everyday as they project manager is on different sites daily and the house does have to be accessbile for subs early in the morning when the work day starts. Also, the project manager doesn't work on the weekends and the house is usually accessible on those days as well since they have subs working on the weekend. As long as the liability didn't fall on us we weren't worried about visitors but once items such as granite, appliances, etc were installed, which of course our builder would have to replace if something was to happen, our house was locked consistently (although not every day bec that is how we still get it to check the updates) daily!

Here is a link that might be useful: Our home sell/build blog

I did it when our house was being built and neighboring houses were going up as well. And I know the neighbors walked through our house - they mentioned it later.

I know some people get upset over these things, but it seems harmless to me. I wouldn't bring my dog with me, and I would worry about teenagers being in my house.

If a third party is harmed on site everyone will be sued and the builder would be required to defend you but if you lost you would be forced to sue the builder.

Lock it up!

We've moved to a small town with little crime and happily a very friendly place. Our home is locked at this point in construction but as the key is in an obvious spot any early subs can get in.

Before lockup we encouraged neighbors to drop by and have since told others where the key is located.... Sorry but no being territorial here or worries about suits. Our builder carries insurance and we were happy to rely on that in case of injury.

After we move in, several of the neighbors will be given keys "Just in case" they ever need to check something etc. In our old neighborhood we had keys to every neighbors home and vice versa. It's a wonderful feeling to know that you can call friends and ask them to let the dog out, check the stove, heat etc if you get caught away or in an emergency.

I love looking at houses under construction and can appreciate others who feel the same. And yes as a kid, I wandered through houses being built in our neighborhood.

Xclusive, are you saying that you don't have a key to your house?!! I can't imagine not being able to come and go as you need to!

Here is a link that might be useful: NewsFromTheHill (blog about life and building)

I live in the city.

During rough-ins, someone took a giant dump in my foyer.

Gross but true.