Hired Help Using Homeowner's Bathroom

[atavuss]

While this might not be garage related I wanted to get some opinions.......
Recently our Gardner was urgently ringing our doorbell while I was still asleep in bed around 7am (I am retired) and my wife was getting ready for work, he told my wife he really needed to use our bathroom so my wife let him and he proceeded to make a mess of the toilet that I ended up cleaning.
Several weeks before that we had new furniture delivered and one of the delivery guys asked to use our bathroom and you guessed it proceeded to make a mess that I had to clean up.
Do you allow strangers to use your bathrooms?
Would you have demanded they clean their mess up?
Would you have complained to the owner? (The Gardner is a husband/wife team in business for themselves).
A couple of years ago a co-worker was visiting my house and used our bathroom, he managed to plug our toilet up solid, then did not say anything about it. I did tell him he would have to do his business in the far corner of our yard the next time he visits.

 

[bwringer]

Anyone welcome in my home is welcome to use my bathroom.

It's too bad some people can't seem to use a bathroom like adults, but that's the risk you run. As you noted the problem is not just "hired help" but pretty much anyone.

I do consider a plunger and toilet brush mandatory equipment in a bathroom -- most people can deal with "situations" themselves if these tools are provided.

After a few unpleasant surprises with lingering unseemly odors, I installed a motion detector with a timer for the vent fan in the guest bathroom. Apparently some people are unfamiliar with the concept of ventilation, or they prefer to marinate, so automating the fan solved the problem.

 

[MushCreek]

When I was building my barn, I couldn't GET the framers to use the bathroom. They insisted on going out in the woods, bringing a roll of toilet paper with them! I even told them in Spanish to use 'el indoro', but they preferred the woods. Yuck! This wasn't a fancy house bathroom, just a toilet in the unfinished barn. They also insisted on tossing their lunch remains on the scrap pile (a farther walk than the trash can), and it took me a while to get rid of the rats.

 

[Justind97]

As a contractor, I understand where you're coming from. As a homeowner, I also understand where you're coming from.

I never use a client's bathroom for more than going pee. That's just my thing. If me or someone on my crew really has to go, off to the gas station or home depot they go. It's just what I do. I personally don't want to leave anything in the toilet and have the homeowner deal with it. Bad enough dealing with diapers sometimes..

 

[Wes J]

I'd just like to be there to see the guy's face when he "urgently" asks to use the bathroom and you tell him no.

 

[McFarmer]

Always tell them they are welcome to use the bathroom when they arrive.

We have them in for dinner too, grill a burger if they didn't bring anything.

Oh, but this is rural Iowa. When I was a kid there was always someone at the table with us, sometimes more than would fit in the kitchen.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

A friend of mine owns a little Mom & Pop bar. He had a group of 6 laborers that would come in every night after work for a few beers and something to eat. They seemed like nice enough men, but about the second or third week after they started coming in, someone started to use the urinal as a toilet. The owner was really torn about it. These guys were spending approximately $500.00 a week in his place and he had no proof it was them, but someone was disgusting the other customers. To make things even tougher, they didn't really speak much english, so having a polite talk was almost out of the question.

One of the other customers who spoke their language fluently finally talked to the guy that seemed to be the supervisor of the group. That guy's face lit up, he replied they were having the same problem at the office. It was pretty simple after that for the supervisor to keep any eye on those 5 guys restroom useage after that. He figured out who it was and fired the guy.

Fortunately, the owner of the bar didn't even have to get involved.

Tommy

 

[shepherd]

Look at it this way....S#!+ happens....

 

[matt_i]

Once here or there no problem. Some people fail at basic cleanliness, but I've had decent luck.

But if I was going to hire a crew that was going to be working for days, I'd pay the portajohn rental.

 

[RegeSullivan]

Just have the maid come on the same day .

I always offer the "facilities" to anyone working in my home or on the property. At a minimum I offer or put out bottled water on ice. For me, it is simply the right thing to do.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[mjeff87]

Contractors hell......I just had my inlaws stay with us for the holiday last weekend. Went in the guest bathroom after they left to clean up and found the 'mode plugged SOLID. They never said a ducking word before they left.....

 

[CoogarXR]

Nobody ever uses "your" bathroom correctly. That's just how it is. Every time I let a "stranger" use my toilet, I clean it whether there is any "evidence" left behind or not. But I am nuts like that.

My Grandpa used the toilet with the door open, and he would piss in the stance of a person getting frisked: both hands on the wall above the toilet, firehosing the seat, wall, floor, etc. Hey pops, wrap a hand around that ***** and aim it, will ya?!

 

[RegeSullivan]

Nobody ever uses "your" bathroom correctly. That's just how it is. Every time I let a "stranger" use my toilet, I clean it whether there is any "evidence" left behind or not. But I am nuts like that.

My Grandpa used the toilet with the door open, and he would piss in the stance of a person getting frisked: both hands on the wall above the toilet, firehosing the seat, wall, floor, etc. Hey pops, wrap a hand around that ***** and aim it, will ya?!

Me too... My wife, an RN thinks I'm crazy... She's probably spot on. When we have guests I clean/disinfect the 1st floor powder room at least once a day and when strangers use it as soon as possible after they leave for the day. When overnight guests leave I am usually cleaning the guest bath before they are out of the drive way.

Your Grandpa comment had me laughing on the floor... my dad used to do that in public urinals. He said he didn't want to step in everyone else's pee. Funny thing, he was a plumber. He often told people "Your sh*t is our bred and butter" and "all you really need to know to be a plumber is sh*t runs down hill and don't bite your fingernails".

 

[simpler=better]

Sounds like you need a better toilet. I'd recommend the one that can flush 29 golfballs.

 

[James-W]

Whenever we hire something done we always let them use the bathroom, but we have never had an issue with anybody leaving a mess. Additionally, we always provide food and drinks too, I tend to think it has the affect of their wanting to do an extra good job. We don't do this just to get a better job, we do it because we feel it is the right thing to do. If it does get a little better job, that's great, but that isn't why we do it.

 

[bczygan]

We ALWAYS feed the crew. A fridge full of food and soda and water,[maybe 80 bucks over a two week job] a big pot of chili con carne or chile verde[20 bucks], a big coffee maker, a microwave and a home cooked sit-down meal at least once during the day, home-made tamales, calzones,taco bar, steaks...we're the talk of the county.
It's just what you do. I couldn't imagine not doing it. I guess it's a 'back in the day' thing from barn raisings.
Consequently...when the new windows came in, and the install was a problem because no one ever said the upgraded model was 3/4" thicker framed than standard windows...the counter crew, that did the window sills for us, came out, took the sills out, trimmed 3/4" off the granite and reinstalled. We're 120 miles from their shop and they just happened to be in the area. Just two hours work, but five guys showed up to do it.
No charge. We gave them, and they reluctantly took, $50 to buy lunch later that day.
I also get access to their scrap yard, at no charge, when I need to redo a not so particular bathroom. They cut us two lazy susans and three 12x12 trivets, polished the edges and presented them with great pride...no charge.
I can tell the same stories of our electrician, flooring guy, and our general construction guy.

We had a dry wall crew come on the property and was so comfortable they slept in the garage and didn't leave the property for four days.


Bonus Round:
During the feeding of the concrete crew two weeks ago, one of them looked at my yost34c, commented on such a fine little dental vise, and asked if I knew what a
Milton torpedo vise
was, and how embarrassed I might be when he crushed my little yost in the jaws of his torpedo vise.
$40 later[actually a trade for my, as new, redundant ac lincoln tombstone I was in $40] and he delivered the much smaller than described Wilton 600 and another good vise, unloaded them, and sat them next to my yost along with a bonus 3 legged swivel from some unknown HUGE vise.
This week I go and pick up my $50 24inchx24inchx1.5inch welding table and my 23FEETx3FEETx1/2" $200 welding table with full cabinet and doors base.

Be kind to guys who see so many of your neighbors. They may know where all the goodies are at.
I met one of my dearest friends because the electrical contractor asked my now dear friend if I could come and look at his new barn to see his lighting layout.

I want to do work at your house!

And I'm not even a tradsman or contractor.

Bill

 

[steve308]

I just let them use my kids bathroom --- They never ask again.

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

I rarely hire any outside help. When I do I never know when/if they are going to show up.
If I was there they would be welcome to use the facilities.

They can use the fields or timber anytime and most don't mind.

 

[Pack Rat]

If I could afford hired help I would have the maid clean the bathrooms.

 

[JimVonBaden]

Whenever we hire something done we always let them use the bathroom, but we have never had an issue with anybody leaving a mess. Additionally, we always provide food and drinks too, I tend to think it has the affect of their wanting to do an extra good job. We don't do this just to get a better job, we do it because we feel it is the right thing to do. If it does get a little better job, that's great, but that isn't why we do it.

I'm with you. We have always provided refreshments to the workers. Even if it does not effect their work, it is the right thing to do. Same with bathroom use. We set up the powder room with hand cleaner, paper towels and plenty of TP. Even if they make a little mess, I am OK with that. I can't imagine not letting them use the facilities.

 

[ludakris04]

I just let them use my kids bathroom --- They never ask again.

that's great...

 

[Moose97]

While this might not be garage related I wanted to get some opinions.......
Recently our Gardner was urgently ringing our doorbell while I was still asleep in bed around 7am (I am retired) and my wife was getting ready for work, he told my wife he really needed to use our bathroom so my wife let him and he proceeded to make a mess of the toilet that I ended up cleaning.
Several weeks before that we had new furniture delivered and one of the delivery guys asked to use our bathroom and you guessed it proceeded to make a mess that I had to clean up.
Do you allow strangers to use your bathrooms?
Would you have demanded they clean their mess up?
Would you have complained to the owner? (The Gardner is a husband/wife team in business for themselves).
A couple of years ago a co-worker was visiting my house and used our bathroom, he managed to plug our toilet up solid, then did not say anything about it. I did tell him he would have to do his business in the far corner of our yard the next time he visits.

Pretty crappy subject. I think the whole thing stinks!

 

[justanengineer]

Some of you fellas are hilarious, not sure who had me laughing the hardest!

We ALWAYS feed the crew. A fridge full of food and soda and water,[maybe 80 bucks over a two week job] a big pot of chili con carne or chile verde[20 bucks], a big coffee maker, a microwave and a home cooked sit-down meal at least once during the day, home-made tamales, calzones,taco bar, steaks...we're the talk of the county.
It's just what you do. I couldn't imagine not doing it. I guess it's a 'back in the day' thing from barn raisings.
Consequently...when the new windows came in, and the install was a problem because no one ever said the upgraded model was 3/4" thicker framed than standard windows...the counter crew, that did the window sills for us, came out, took the sills out, trimmed 3/4" off the granite and reinstalled. We're 120 miles from their shop and they just happened to be in the area. Just two hours work, but five guys showed up to do it.
No charge. We gave them, and they reluctantly took, $50 to buy lunch later that day.
I also get access to their scrap yard, at no charge, when I need to redo a not so particular bathroom. They cut us two lazy susans and three 12x12 trivets, polished the edges and presented them with great pride...no charge.
I can tell the same stories of our electrician, flooring guy, and our general construction guy.

JMO but its called basic human decency, my mother would call it manners. Some folks truly are respectful of others while many others anymore are only respectful when its convenient or suits a purpose.

I do similar btw with snacks and refreshments for contractors and have had similar experiences with free or low-cost work, most smaller contractors IME will openly admit when asked the biggest cost factor in home remodeling is the customer and whether/not theyre a giant PITA. If youre one of "those" people, the plumber and every other basic trade is $100+/hr, if youre a decent person its 1/3-1/2 that IME. The fellas working in/on my house know from the minute they arrive to quote the job that theyre welcome to the coffee pot, the toilet, the big bowl of whatever the wife leaves out (usually fruit, candy at the holidays, etc), and if they need shade or a break we have a kitchen table, patio furniture, and plenty of other shady spots that are dirty-clothes proof. Many do, but I'm not one to ask contractors to leave or sit in their truck at lunch nor do I nitpick their schedule or try to micromanage. if they quote three days and it becomes four we'll manage but I want the job done in a quality manner for a decent price.

 

[polexican23]

wow this post has me thinking. My bathroom is nowhere near the planned construction site and in the back of the home. I might rent a porta potty during the construction phase.

on another note as a guest in a foreign crapper. I live by the rule of "flush early and often". I am a seasoned veteran at heaving a Havana, so I learned early on and this has saved me from many possible embarrassing moments.

 

[minytrker]

Before we moved in I had my whole house remodeled (6 month project). We totally gutted the house. I left the refrigerator, microwave, one sink, and one toilet hooked up just for the crew. I stocked the refrigerator every week with water, soda, gatorade, and beer. Sometimes when I would go to restock the fridge it would already be restocked by someone on the crew. These guy were here 4-5 days a week for 6 months. I tried to take care of them best I could to make their job easier. Living in the country away from everything it wasn't like they could just run to the store to get a drink or something.
With all the workers using the single bathroom they found a problem with our septic system which ended up being very out dated and not big enough. It was better that happen then vs a week after we move into our newly remodeled house. I just treat everyone as a guest and how I would want to be treated if they are at my house.

 

[Chevy-SS]

Look at it this way....S#!+ happens....

LOL, yeah man, and one of the great things about this forum is that we can say **** and our post doesn't get deleted.

 

[hd54kh]

The rarity I need anyone else but me working I let them use the outhouse. As far as water I put some plastic cups on the stone wall to the left of my old Myers hand pump and they can have all the <65 degree spring water they can drink.


Terry

 

[Kevin54]

When I was having my garage built I rented a Porta-******* for the workers to use. On rare occasions I will let someone use the house bathroom.

A few years back, I had hired a couple of guys to put in a long sidewalk for me. The head guy asked if he could use the bathroom. I told him "no" as he was covered in wet concrete and told him that the local MickeyD's was right down the road. He asked if it was alright if he went in the field behind us. "Sure". LOw and behold, this guy dropped his coveralls out in the middle of the lawn and took a **** out in the open, in my burnpile, with cars driving by. The next day at work I had people asking me what I was doing out in the yard. And yes.....he left a pile with a bunch of ****** napkins in the burnpile. It took quite a bit of burning items to ever get rid of it, along with having a bucket on the tractor to move everything to the field.

 

[MushCreek]

Around here, you are required to provide a Porta-Potti or some other facilities on a construction site. I skated by when I started the barn, and then installed a thunder jug ASAP. I made the barn bathroom available to subcontractors when building the house.

 

[blackdart66]

Sounds like you need a better toilet. I'd recommend the one that can flush 29 golfballs.

When I was in the market for an industrial duty flusher, the sales guy told me it would flush golf balls. I told him I don't poop golf balls and if he wanted to impress me he needed to throw a loaf of French Bread in there and see what it would do.

He smiled and took me to his commercial line.

 

[pmiranda]

A friend was getting a house built in a new subdivision and apparently the GC was too cheap to provide a port-a-john so the workers would just piss in the side yards and sometimes take dumps in the attic! (Luckily that was not his house) One day his wife was walking through the side yard when a stream of piss came shooting out the kitchen window near her. Yup... a worker was kneeling in their sink and ******* out the window.

Me, I'll always make sure the workers have somewhere to take care of business. You never want to find a fresh surprise in the back yard.

 

[NUTTSGT]

When the Kokosing boys paved the state route out front, one of them had an emergency due to some bad Mexican the night before. The crew leader asked where the closest restroom was and I told them he could use the bathroom in my garage. I wasn't keen on them using the house but he was happy he didn't **** his pants making the trip back to town.

When the storm started rolling in, the Supervisor was trying to look at the radar on his phone, I told him to come in and look at the radar on the TV so he could see it better. I also let them park the rollers in teh driveway over the weekend.

They treated me right paving an extra 5-6 foot along my driveway.

 

[nafterclifen]

Define mess.

A "mess" to someone can be a little dirt on the floor or water around the sink/floor but that would be normal to someone else.

 

[reader2580]

I let the workers use the bathroom in the walkout basement when my main floor was renovated. That bathroom is really bad anyhow and needs a redo. I also let them use the refrigerator as it was empty and going to be replaced.

The project was mostly an older guy and his sons doing the work.

 

[Cyberbear]

We have 7.5 acres of land and prior to beginning the 2400 sq/ft shop project, I prefabbed a replica outhouse from original government plans made in 1938. We are very particular about letting others outside the immediate family use our personal facilities, for all the reasons that can be imagined, primarily health and security concerns. The inside floor of the outhouse is covered with galvanized metal and can be easily hosed out.

 

[ADSR]

wow this post has me thinking. My bathroom is nowhere near the planned construction site and in the back of the home. I might rent a porta potty during the construction phase.

on another note as a guest in a foreign crapper. I live by the rule of "flush early and often". I am a seasoned veteran at heaving a Havana, so I learned early on and this has saved me from many possible embarrassing moments.

Is that when you flush and drop and the same time?

 

[jd_1138]

I always let outside help use the facilities and offer them beverages. Just the way I was raised I guess. I'd be worried about the quality of their work if I told them they couldn't use the bathroom.

Never had any messes left though.

 

[slip knot]

Some of my regular contractors have free run of the place. I trust them to build it right and to treat me right. That includes the facilities. My wife will cook them breakfest and we take them to lunch. These guys jump when we call.
Now some of the laborers are a different story. The illegals prefer to use the yard. they'll **** anywhere, anytime. I finally had to put a stop to the illegals when the dog started rolling in it. I'll tell the GC that if they **** my yard I'm taking it to his house and I'll **** in his. They get the point fairly quick.

 

[FullRaceMerc]

I never use a client's bathroom for more than going pee.

Agreed. I started working in people's homes in the 80s, & have never sat down in a customer's house. If you gotta go that bad, it involves poor planning, illness, or poor choices at lunchtime. Non of which should affect a customer.

As part of setting up new long term job, we arrange for bathroom facilities that meet the customer's desires. If they have a suitable toilet that they would like our guys to use, we set up the contract that way. If not, the contract includes Porta-John fees. Their choice as to whether spend or save.

As for having work done at my own house, I always make a toilet available. We show the guys where it is when they arrive. If it is a dirty job, I lay out a plastic path to walk thru the house. And I always have an ice chest with plenty of cool water onsite for them. I appreciate it when a customer does this for us, & like to do the same.



We did work for a crazy lady who had a germ phobia. She would ask everybody if they washed their hands with soap after using the toilet. She wanted the space under the cabinets washed prior to installation. She caught me walking thru her side yard back from where my truck was parked & told me she had a toilet inside that I could use. I wasn't peeing in her yard, & told her so. I showed her the wrenches I had in one hand & a bucket of parts in the other, & showed her where my truck was. She didn't believe me, & insisted that I use the toilet inside next time.

The same lady turned the sprinklers on cabinet guys who sat at the picnic table out back for lunch. They thought it was on a timer, so they ate lunch an hour later the next day. She turned them on again. They shouldn't have been using her furniture, but she should have said something instead of watering them down. We were sure glad to be done there. She wanted more work done, but somehow we were too busy to work it in.

 

[atavuss]

Define mess.

A "mess" to someone can be a little dirt on the floor or water around the sink/floor but that would be normal to someone else.

I consider it to be a "mess" when there is urine and feces visible after someone uses the facility. Also when someone plugs the toilet up solidly and I have to use a coat hanger to dig out half a roll of toilet paper.