We had many people walk in. Some people wanted to know if we wanted to sell (this was during the boom), some were curious, some were neighbors. We never had a theft, but we never left anything there (except lumber) until it was locked up tight. The windows were installed the day they were delivered. I'd say this is common, that doesn't mean it is acceptable. Get the locks on the doors and get that window installed. Don't leave anything of value in plain sight. If you have power you might want to consider getting some motion lights set up.

Twenty years ago here it was no big deal to walk into new homes under construction on off-hours. That's how I met a designer who later did many homes for me. He was showing his Mom one wing of a mansion that he had designed.

Since then, the proliferation of vandals, illegal dumpers and thieves has killed that type of exploration.

Now, most infill homes here are fenced, locked and signed. "No Trespassing" warnings primarily protect you from liability for having an "attractive nuisance."

Leave nothing of value on the site that isn't nailed down. I order dimensional lumber on an "as needed" basis and remove all plywood at the end of the day. Leave the installation of such things as furnaces, AC units, appliances, cabinets and custom exterior doors until the very end.

When we renoed a six-plex downtown the theft and break-ins were so constant we let one of the labourers "crash" there after his wife kicked him out. Even then, we gave up on locking one unit with a secluded entrance. It was cheaper to let the night prowlers come in and see there was nothing to steal than to keep replacing locks and fixing doors and frames.

Now, I install an alarm system as soon as possible, even if it is just a" local" alarm.

Subdivisions here, of course, have guards. Like one a couple of years ago who was killed when confronting thieves.

This nearly completed $2 million+ home in the heart of the area I build in was destroyed in an arson fire in 2010. I wouldn't be surprised to see a guard service there when construction resumes.

Be thankful all you've got so far are the curious.

We had enough neighbors snooping that we had it locked up more quickly than we otherwise would have. One particularly nosy one kept pulling away the plastic sheeting while we were drying the house in and slowed us down a bit.

Some people are very strange. They will completely ignore signs and then act surprised, when they're caught trespassing!

We aren't remodeling, yet, but we have the same problem with hunters. We have horses and post our land...no hunting/no trespassing. We've still had to threaten to call the sheriff.

At least they stay out of the actual pasture...since it's got an electric fence around it...but I don't know if that would work, in your situation. Although, it might be tempting, sometimes :)

As soon as any wiring is installed the copper can be an attractive target for thieves.

The same with copper plumbing.

Put locks on the doors and secure the house.

It is much cheaper to re-key locks than deal with a deductible that may be higher if the house is not secured.

Insurance companies expect some reasonable attempts to secure things.

Consider a surveilliance system with several cameras. They are incredibly cheap. You could do something temporary (with system DVR secured in a construction trailer) or have permanent system install as soon as electical is available. Cameras are good deterrent.

Thanks, everyone. Our builder doesn't seem too worried about it--he says people walk through new construction all the time just being nosy or trying to get ideas for their new builds. Regardless, he's put a rush on our one remaining window and doors so we can lock up the place. Costco has a surveillance pack pretty cheap, so I think we'll get that for a little extra peace of mind.

"Our builder doesn't seem too worried about it--he says people walk through new construction all the time just being nosy or trying to get ideas for their new builds."

Is the sight under his insurance or yours?

Make sure he actually HAS insurance.

It's all fine until you get the claim!

We too are in a rural area and had lots of people drop in for a look-see while the house was being built. If we were there, they'd hang out and talk for a while. I have lived in this area all my life and that's just how folks are out here.

"He walked into the house and saw a couple walking around. He startled them and they apologized, saying they had driven by a couple of times and wanted to see what the inside looked like."

The least I would have done was get their their license plate #. That way if anything was missing at least you'd have a suspect.

Putting in a security system is a good idea.

We've built custom,also also customized our current tract home. In both instances the builder recommended we 'visit' homes that they currently had under construction, so we could 'see' the upgrades or their various plan changes!

We have surprised 'visitors' and been surprised ourselves.
We like to think that most people are curious because they are building, thinking of building or just want to see what the newer homes have in them.

All the same we made sure our custom builder locked up after the subs left once the windows/cabinets etc were in. Matter of fact I think our insurance required securing the building after a certain stage.

We had people come in and out being nosey. Eventually a shop vac, some tools and misc items turned up missing. We had to go ahead and put up doors and lock the house up, replacing tools can add up quick. However after investigating we think one of the subs (probably electrician) is the one that ran off with items, not the curious neighbors. Not much you can do, even after the locks were up we'd get subs taking the leftovers instead of letting us just return the items (glue, bulbs, wiring, tile), small items but it adds up. Not much you can do about it except lock the doors and hope for honest workers. People sometimes think because you're able to build a house that you have a ton of money and taking a little of this or that won't hurt your pocket book....but the truth is we chose to build in order to save money. The same house pre-built would have cost 40% more. As stated above in the past it wasn't a big deal to go into construction but unfortunately people are not as honorable as they once were

We live in a small college town, and I feel like 1/2 the town walked through our home before it was locked up! We didn't really care, except I'd rather be the one showing them around!! The builder carried the insurance, so we assumed they knew what they were doing, security wise. Our builder builds all custom homes, and I totally get that people are interested...I am a floor plan addict myself, so I understand. I did have a funny situation one day...during our build we rented a house within walking distance, so I often would walk up there on the weekend when it was quiet. It had one of those lock boxes with a key in it, so I went in and left the door unlocked. I was upstairs measuring something when I heard voices in the house. I was a little scared, as the next door neighbors weren't home and no one else was in screaming distance! :) I peered down into the foyer and saw a couple with a camera! I was like, "Hello, can I help you?" They were embarrassed, they said they had been peeking through the windows and loved my floor stain, and thought they'd try to take a pic through the window...but tried the door and it was open! Lesson learned, I always locked myself in after that!

Oops, guilty. Our builder had us go through a house he was building so we could see what the coffered ceilings we wanted would like and a different house to look at hardwood floor. When we went through there were subs in there and we explained why we were there. I guess I just assume people are going through our new build too and I'm not too concerned about it. Like nini, our builder carries the insurance. We also know just about everyone on the street so I feel like people are keeping an eye on things. We did have three transom windows sitting around for a couple weeks when they were trying to figure out how to make them work with the coffers. Glad nobody walked off with them!

We walked thru new construction for years. But then I would have happily given you my name, number, and showed ID for you if you owned & had walked up on me. We were desperate to see ideas for homes, and took notes from new construction for a LONG time. Which, eventually came in handy. But that's me.
When we finally built, we had enough going on w/our construction site that most stuff wasn't an issue. We did however have vandalism, which cost us having one entire roomfull of Anderson windows replaced. (kids with a rock, police guess, broke out all the glass in one room). But that didn't stop half the area from walking thru - they were getting ideas for their builds, or were being toured by the builder. All that STOPPED when there was finally something inside to steal - lighting, appliances, etc. Then we all made sure windows & doors were locked up tight.

Good luck!

Well, i'm glad this thread was unearthed after a year! I totally forgot I posted it! ;) Turns out we had every right to be paranoid. My husband just had a bad, nagging feeling about the people he "busted" in our home. When the sheetrock guys were doing their thing, they discovered that all the wiring in the fireplace wall had been stolen. Later, electricians came and installed all our fans/lights, etc, and discovered that several pieces of copper wiring in several rooms had been snipped and pulled out. One area in particular were the outlets in the island in the kitchen. That was a pain in the patookie to fix and slowed things down for a couple of days. One thing my husband distinctly remembered was that the woman was carrying a large backpack and immediately headed for the car when he showed up. Now we know why. We live in a rural area and there aren't many people who are just "in the area" and decide to drop in to see our floor plan. We knew something wasn't quite right and I am so thankful that my husband showed up before they could steal anything else. In the end, everything worked out fine. We moved in over Spring Break and are absolutely loving our home.

We are experiencing the same issue. Let one of them fall down the stairs or trip on lumber and they will try to sue. I am tired of people walking into my home. I would not walk into theirs, so why mine? Hubby and I are livid with the people that think it is okay because we are friends. GRRRR!!! We are arriving at the stage when there will be many items in the house waiting to be installed. Lighting alone is a small fortune. We dropped off can lights and bathroom fans one evening this week and I was concerned they would walk off. So far so good.

An ever timely topic!

Just mulling over whether to use wood hoardings or cover the temp steel fencing with black plastic to hide the build from prying eyes. Or better to have it visible from the street. Also, maybe floodlights at night from our temporary service. Definitely an alarm system as soon as the windows and doors are on.

Ah, Toronto the Good!