Unfortunately, I don't know if you can be too paranoid in this day and age. I think you have to go with your gut.

Well, to me that qualifies as overly paranoid but I'm not the type to be afraid very often, so I guess that's easy for me to say. I'm also not the type that men hoot and holler over so I don't really worry about that kind of thing.

All you have to do is walk in and take a quick look around. You don't even have to talk to them if you don't want to. I walked in on our drywallers for the first time just yesterday and they didn't even acknowledge my presence, even though I said hello.

Gosh, I hate to start a "bash-the-drywallers" thread, however comma, I have to say they were the subs I felt the least comfortable around. And they smoked like fiends until I put a stop to that. It takes a lot of talent to walk on stilts, use power tools with precision while carrying on a conversation, all with a cigarette dangling precariously from the mouth. Anyhow, go with your gut. I ducked in and out the week they were here, and never stayed long. I felt funniest around them for whatever reason, but I learned to trust my gut many years ago and I don't question it.

Most of our subs were downright friendly and I really always felt fine being here. My gc was very protective of me, though, and tried to be here most of the time.

My DH always says we have instincts for a reason. Trust them.

Amy

If your building site is isolated, I would be very cautious. As Amy said, trust your instincts. I preferred not to go to our site unless DH, the GC or "known" subs were there. A few times I had to go by myself and took our dog.

Cameron

I prefer to NOT enter my construction site without either my husband or the builder or the foreman. But I'm a big believer in "Stranger = Danger" and don't like to take any risks regarding being alone around unfamiliar people.

I would be reluctant, simply as a home-owner, to drop in on any of the subs that my GC has hired. At the very least, I'd have a conversation with the GC to inform him/her that I planned to visit the site that day. He should then be able to comment to me or the subs about the owner dropping in. This is my perspective as a male anyway.

If it was a single unknown sub, I might feel cautious until I had met them with another known person around (GC, hubby) and was comfortable with them. With a crew, there should be no issue at all about safety. You're not gonna get 5 different guys who's only commonality is maybe languange and employer committing murder and mayhem on a homeowner.

As a builder, I don't have a clue as to the background of many of the subtrade employees who work for me. Maybe in their off hours they dress like clowns and throw lots of parties for kids.

The taper the drywaller hired for my last job was a drunken tattooed drug-using prostitute-consorting Tennessee hillbilly.

At one point, as he stormed over to the house to threaten someone, I had one hand on my Randall buck knife in my pocket, the other very visibly on my cell phone. "I know you're going to call 911! You won't need to! I'm going. You mother##@+&*%%!!" And for the next month, he hung out with drunken Buddy down the block occasionally yelling out to me. Fun build!

worthy, I promise you if you write a book I will buy it! I cannot imagine the number of stories you have to tell, I LOVE housebuilding stories! Any more? Come on....

Amy

When we were building I had walk through meetings scheduled with the plumber, heating guy and electrician right after the frame was done. DH had to go away for several days and I didn't want to reschedule the meetings (since it took SO LONG to get them in the first place). I had my father there. Since he knows construction, it made sense. I actually did it for a second set of ears, not safety reasons. I had no issue being alone in the house with workers.

I think walking to a parking lot alone at night is more dangerous than being in a house with a crew of workers. But if I showed up and didn't feel completely comfortable I would get on my phone (even if I just pretended) or would leave. I admit, the foundation guys were a little scary looking. Put them in orange and they'd look like a work release crew.

Drugged out roofer who went sideways on an old house recover threatened anyone nearby w/ death by razor blade knife. Cops were called and upon arrival the roofer threatened to jump off the death defying 7' to a lush grass lawn below. The cops were trying hard not to laugh (against protocol) and finally got the lunatic down and hauled off.

sierraest, literally laughing out loud....yes, 7 foot to a soft landing is a gutsy threat....

more please...

Amy

SE LOL!

One time, I was at the site near midnight when a broken down minivan racing down the street braked to a screeching halt on the wrong side of the street and at least six swarthy young men with beards jumped out, grabbed something from the van and ran up the driveway towards me.

Yikes! Mideast terrorists!

No. Just some of the everchanging cadre of helpers for Sayeed, the Iranian tilesetter I had hired who worked his own hours in his own sometimes startling way. He always seemed to be driving a different jalopy too. It was, we later surmised, a way of avoiding his creditors.

I am a small, smokin' hot , early-20's gal who feels totally comfortable meeting with any and all of my subs, by myself, at our extremely isolated jobsite...

With my buck knife and dog right next to me.

Worthy, you definetely need to write that book! As Amy says, keep 'em comin'!

In tight cut-offs and a teenie tiny tanktop? A dream come true!

Yup, I march right up to anyone I don't know, look them in the eye, introduce myself, mention that I'm the homeowner, and shake hands. We're waaay out there, way off even the little road, but I figure that too many people know who's on what job for a crew member to think he could get away with anything of that nature.

However, if I ever saw the painter that we were indirectly responsible of having fired  at our jobsite OR on the street  I'd quickly head the other direction!

LOL!!!! Oh my gosh. I am with Amy...I would buy that book in a heart beat. SE your story made me laugh so hard!

Kate - I hear ya! Our GC knows I go to the house everyday and I pretty much just walk right on in. I did act like I was on my cell phone one time when the sheet rockers where there. It didn't work though because my dang phone rang! LOL! Luckily I was out side and I *think* no one knew the better. I quickly made a mental note...next time you are fake talking to someone, call your own voice mail or turn the ringer off!!!

Waiting for more stories............

I'be had to meet a couple of people to get estimates on things and I made sure I had all the windows and doors open and I never turned my back on them.

I'm more uncomfortable when I just go there to clean up. Always afraid someone will come "sneak" up on me. So I bring the dog now.

A word to the wise. If you want to make sure you're getting an accurate estimate on anything, just tell them your husband's a contractor. Immediately they say, oh, so I can't cheat you, can I? chuckle, chuckle. If they return the call then I know they are legit.

Turns out one guy had a wife that was more worried about him than I was. She went with him on all his estimates. Boy, that sent a red flag flying in my face. It was good he never called back when I told him my husband was a contractor. LOL

I've had the odd experience of running into subs "around town" and not recognizing them. It'd be fine, except they ALL remember seeing/meeting me because we're new there. It's so hard to get used to going into a restaurant or store and having someone smile & wave like they know you...and having no idea who they are. I feel bad, but each time I walk through with my GC, the guys are working and I'm just mesmerized by the house progress. Yet, every other person who sees us around town knows who we are and has worked on our house it seems like!

I've had two bad experiences with people I hired to do work in my house. I'm a female. My husband works and sometimes travels,so I'm home alone quite often. I won't describe the first experience,it's too graphic. The second was a guy who did some interior painting. He was highly recommended by a member of our church. He came for two days,over a weekend. Saturday was fine. He came in, did several hours of the painting, and left. But the second day he showed up smelling of alcohol. He came inside but refused to paint. He told me "I need money to buy groceries". Yeah,groceries like more beer... I sent him away but I was very frightened. He never came back,never finished the painting. We told our friend at church what happened. Trust your gut. Don't go inside unless your gusband or the GC are with you.

I did carry a 357 to a furniture delivery one time! It was at a previous home while I was a divorced mom alone in the woods. I left work and got there before them so that I could wear it! Business suit. 357. Executive car. They set that furniture up perfectly! :-)

I had a cleanup crew show up once who had a total of four teeth between them. They were cleaning up drywall dust with a broom that had about 6 whiskers, and no masks. We were standing near my truck when a Sheriff's car drove by, and the one guy hit the deck. When the car was gone, he came back up, looked around, and said "I thunk I saw a quarter down there...."

"A word to the wise. If you want to make sure you're getting an accurate estimate on anything, just tell them your husband's a contractor. Immediately they say, oh, so I can't cheat you, can I? chuckle, chuckle. If they return the call then I know they are legit." --Nice, insulting generalization.

Please remember these stories for AFTER you move in as well. Two years ago I talked to a landscape architect about some projects in our back yard. He said he didn't have the time for a new job but that it was simple enough that his brother could do it...he said his brother helps him do all his "dirty work" and was a hard worker.

I set up an appt with the brother and he came over on a day when I was home alone with our dd. He came over on his bicycle and looked like he was strung out on something. I couldn't be sure...and thought I was maybe just being judgemental. He got the job done but I remember feeling relieved that he was finished and not coming by anymore.

A month later my neighbor RAN over to us during brunch one Sunday and she was shaking the newspaper at us. "Isn't this the guy you had working on your yard?"

He had murdered an elderly couple that he was working for...all to get drug money. He's now in prison and we do our own yard work.

There was also the handyman that came to quote us on some jobs and my Mom was over that day...I'm so glad I wasn't alone with him. He was making comments about me breastfeeding and how "womanly" it was (my breastpump all taken apart and drying on the counter). That guy was so creepy. Whenever I have service people to the house now I call my DH ahead of time and give him the name/phone number of the company that's coming out just so there's someone who knows! Maybe I'm paranoid...but it seems we've had some weirdos.

Wow! I just now checked this thread after posting last night! And all along I thought I was being paranoid! Some crazy stories out there!

I am also very hesitant to let a worker in the house (plumber or whatever) when I'm by myself.

While the extreme stories of rape and murder are extremely rare, I get annoyed more by the lame comments I get from time to time. You'd think these men have never seen a woman before!

Jasonmi7 "I had a cleanup crew show up once who had a total of four teeth between them." OMG.............I am still laughing !!!!!!
"I thunk I saw a quarter down there...." LMAO

I usually have a couple of the kids with me when I'm at the house. The commotion from them is enough to give any weirdo's second thoughts at trying anything. It'd be too much hassle. ;)

Seriously - I don't go in if I am alone with a sub I haven't met.

saskatchewan, I got a better one. I had a drywall crew once who also owned a drywall delivery service. These guys were all from the same family, all ex-marines, and all were ex-professional 'wrestlers'. They were huge. I'm not small, but I'd get a crick in my neck looking up at them. 'Baby', the smallest, was 6' 5" tall and weighed in at 300 pounds; all muscle, no fat. Heck, even their grandfather, who made Jack Palance look like a floozy, worked on the jobs.

When they drywalled a house, the crew would come out the night before to verify all the measurements, discuss any issues, problems, difficult areas, plan out their attack; and then....the next day they'd drywall and finish the house. All within 48 hours from bringing in the drywall to perfection.

In 2001, I was building a house in what was an old cornfield. It was the old hunting grounds of this one guy, who every night, tooted by and screamed obscenities at us while we were doing F and F (foundation and framing), because it was his old (illegal), hunting grounds, and we ruined it. He drove this old, nasty pickup that had a beer can muffler and relied on grace, rather than mechanics, to make it run. He'd slow down, scream a drunken slur or two, then carefully rev it up and take off down the road.

Well, I was standing out there with my drywall crew of huge ex-marines and WWF wrestlers, discussing the merits of Grabber vs. McFeely's drywall screws, when he went by one evening, and leaned out the window and yelled "You #######! If I had a liddle mur time, I'd kick evury one of yur azzes!" He must have had that extra, additional shot of encouragement at the Hilltop Tavern, because he also gave us a big long....er...."number 1 salute" with his middle finger. Then he gave that ol' truck just a little 'too' much gas, and stalled it. Right there on the road in front of little ol' me and five men who might have been extras in the movie '300'.

I don't believe I've ever seen a more panicked look on a person's face at that moment, when the five drywall guys started to move towards his truck, one of them saying "what did you say......?"

Michigan, bad teeth and Hilltop Tavern. Can only be one place. Oscoda.

Jason, cute story until you said what I posted was an insulting, generalization. What are you talking about?

I believe the insulting generalization is that workers would screw you unless they knew you knew your stuff because your DH is a GC.

Yup. Sorry Brutus; should have phrased it differently, but the idea that everyone is going to cheat you is a generalization; and I'm very....sensitive to overgeneralizations of contractors. Sorry I didn't phrase it differently.

That's OK Jason, sometimes I don't explain my thoughts clearly and they come out as overgeneralizations. I tend to rush through my thoughts sometimes when posting and I do need to better explain myself. I forget people don't know me and can only judge what I've written by what's printed. No harm done.

My point was that the cheaters are scared off by knowing my husband is a GC, that's all. No way do I think the majority of GC's are cheaters.

When I first started having to call people out for estimates, etc. I even mentioned on this forum that I must be lucky or something because I didn't have any creeps show up, that everyone was nice and professional and it was smooth sailing for me.

men are usually afraid of ME. (if they know what's good for them)

A g.c. told this one about a roofer who was too much into some drug or other and started swinging his razor knife wildly threatening anyone in sight. When the police arrived, he switched to suicidal, threatening to jump to his death off the roof. All of 7.5 feet to a lush green lawn. Trained to be neutral in such situatons, it was all the cops could do to stop bursting out in laughter.

If you feel uncomfortable, then itÂs probably better to be safe then sorry.

But, I have to say, IÂve never thought twice about going to my house. I live in a neighborhood and have great neighbors so itÂs probably different than if it was an isolated construction site. I also believe it is my house and that I should not be intimidated to stop by and visit, and if I did, then I would say something to by GC. I expect that he would hire professional and courteous subs, regardless of the job or skill level needed. To date, everyone has been a pleasure to work with.

The drywallers seem to be their own "special breed" all over don't they!

Having said that.... I have never been afraid to go in the house with any sub. In fact it's a little more the other way around- when I see a car or truck I don't recognize- with no name on the side- I boogie over there and find out who is in my house! It's a little different here though- we already live here so more the feel they are encroaching on my turf from the beginning. We also have dogs... and guns. LOL Not to mention I know how to castrate.

PD