Never...without me or someone here. I'm afraid those days are gone forever..

for me anyway.

I am not comfortable having unknown workers in my house unattended.

No. You should also move jewelry and valuables to a safe location. A neighbor had jewelry stolen by a worker , and he tossed the costume jewelry out his car window as he drove to a pawn shop with the good stuff.

In the past I always was there to greet them and then went to work. However, I had windows replaced last winter and since then a bag of jewelry has been missing. It's possible that it is still somewhere in the house but I don't think so. From now on I stay home when workers are in the house.

No not if I don't personally know them very well. Our AC guy is a neighbor and his mother is a good friend of mine, his dad owned the company and passed it on to Jeff when he passed away. Now Jeff I would absolutely allow, he loves my dog and she loves him so I would not worry about that. But if there is an entire crew with him that he can't watch all the time then I prefer someone being there. We had to deal with that a lot after the flood when the house was being repaired. I was glad my husband was able to take off that time from work to "supervise" the coming and going of the crews.

Even in an empty rental house I'm there the whole time. I just put on head phones, bring a book, lunch and a chair......unless I'm working on the house too.

I have always been in the house whenever there are workmen and most contractors are used to this. Sometimes there are small decisions that need to be made about the job and it can be resolved immediately with you being right there to answer.

I put valuables in a room that was not being accessed by workers and there was a lock on that door.

Well, there's no way I could have taken off work for the six week kitchen remodel, or the bathroom remodel that dragged on for months (my mistake). So yes, they did get keys. I can't remember but I think I hid the jewelry I cared about, although none of it was worth thousands.

But we are always here for the "few hours" "one day" jobs.

We live in a small town and we know most of our workmen. (Some we even go to church with) And yes, I would trust them here . . . but we have dogs and one is very protective. So I usually hang around to make sure Doogie doesn't take a bit out of their butt. And if it's an all day job or more, I always make them cookies as well.

Remove everything of value -- and prescription drugs.

Would a surveillance camera system be worth the trouble?

Be alert *after* the work. Following a burglary, police ask who has been in your home recently.

My sister used to drop in during the day when she had workmen. Not every day, but she thought that would keep them honest. She came home one day and found a worker's girlfriend relaxing in her pool. She said she was just "enjoying the house" while he worked, "no damages".

Being retired, one of us is usually home during the day. When our kitchen was renovated last August, we went out for lunch on a regular basis and left the workmen to their tasks (the owner and his helper). I did not worry about anything while we were gone. They were polite (they even asked every time they needed to use the toilet).

We had our entire HVAC replaced last December. One day - 4 workers. We did not leave, but then I wasn't worried either.

Bathrooms are up next. One of us will be here unless we leave for lunch.

I am always home when repair people are at our home.

No, bring a project and plan on being there. 2 friends of mine lost all their jewelry to workmen in the house. One had run out to get something and gone only 15 minutes. The other, family was there, the painters were doing the outside of the house (not sure if they were doing anything inside), but her jewelry walked off. When my daughter had months of remodeling done, she left her nice jewelry and her sterling from her in-laws with us.

I always stay home and in view when workers are inside my house.

My dog doesn't do well around men, she tolerates the mister, I also work predominately from the home office so I am around for any work or inspections that are needing to be done. I wouldn't want to leave anyone in the house by themselves even without the dog though, I just don't have a great deal of trust for complete strangers.

Nope. And I'm not so sure having just a body there is enough. If "sitter" is not familiar w/work scope is he/she a good overseer?

A little OT but I had a neighbor do an entire kitchen remodel, incl appliances. She left workers alone in the house. Most of the work was well done, except for what was done by granite countertop guys. it was awful. It took almost 6 months for the GC to make it right. I asked her why neither she nor DH were present for the work. The countertop fiasco could have been stopped early in the process. Her answer was that she felt bad for those guys doing all that hard work and she felt kinda guilty of being the lucky moneyed person, just looking while they did the work. She is a sweet caring person but I was still surprised by her reasoning. Me? I watch workers like a hawk. Don't regret it, don't make excuses for it. Being watchful and being considerate and respectful don't seem mutually exclusive to me.

I will leave my house to the workmen. If my being here would be helpful, if there could be questions that might need to be answered, then I will do that too. Either way. My electrician, plumber, contractor all have the code to my attached garage door. As do several friends and family members.

I always stay home when workmen are here, too. I used to trust others coming in, but then one night, I had to leave for an event and the workmen at the time wanted to work late to finish installing a wood floor. 6 hours later, I get home and what do I see outside in the dark? My indoor-only cat. He had been contained in a bedroom, but somehow he had gotten outside. From then on, I have never left anyone alone in my house. I don't care if my stuff goes missing - well, I do - but don't mess with my pets!

I'm at home and they get to enjoy my presence. Lol! My dh doesn't like people in the house unless they have to be. That's why I don't have anyone to help me clean house. A coworker of his had stuff stolen by her housecleaners.

If they're workmen I know, I'll leave a key. I would not do this with unknown workmen. My jewelry is always locked up if I'm not wearing it. Learned to do that the hard way many decades ago.

Mostly I prefer to be around when we're having work done, so we can be available for last-minute decisions. There are two or three local tradesmen we know from the neighborhood, and I would trust them entirely. (And honestly, we have many possessions of sentimental value but few of monetary value in the house. So I don't worry too much about burglars either.)

I would have someone there. I almost always have to answer a
question, make a decision or receive an important piece of information when
contractors are doing work on my home.

I had a diamond engagement ring stolen even though I was home when the workers were painting. I put it in a drawer but the worker found it.

I told the owner of the paint company and they checked his place where he was living that evening. The worker left town in a hurry.

I filed a police report. What's interesting is that I found the diamond ring returned to me in a McDonald's bag on my front lawn.

One of us is always home. We allow no one in the house alone.

I don't like people in my house. Even when the cable guy comes in, I am 'cleaning' or puttering around the house keeping a subtle eye out. My neighbor has a key and the kids do, but they are all trustworthy.

Where you live, the valuables you have, the reputation of the company you are contracting with....bottom line it is still a crap shoot.

When we had a new roof put on our house, we let them come and go out of the garage/workshop to store their tools and roofing materials. Months later DH noticed that his grandfather's antique tools were missing.

When my mom was in her late 80's to 90 she had house cleaners and a nurse come by to take care of her. A lot of her jewelry went missing. She was in Illinois and Florida and I being in California counted on siblings that were close by to take care of those kind of things.

You can't trust anyone.

I had a house sitter who told me he had another key made for my house so his brother could help him out with the chores. When he failed to return the key, I changed the lock.

How it's supposed to work is that contractors are insured and bonded against all such developments. Even maid services operating in my area mention that they offer this level of protection. If some employees brought into homes by service providers are turning out to be thieves something is missing from the arrangements. No serious business should be hiring individuals with sticky fingers to go inside customer homes and help themselves while there, and without repercussions.

Same goes for the woman in the pool. Where was the business owner or manager while this went on? Why did the associated employee think this kind of thing was okay? Or that they could get away with it? It sounds like people are needing to be more careful about which operations they are hiring, and paying more attention to how they appear to be managed. Nowadays customer reviews of many businesses can be found on the web.

And you have the burden of proof.

Nope, had both my mother's and my wedding bands stolen by a housecleaner (while I was there, working in another room!!) and other jewelry stolen by a painter. In both cases I didn't realize it until later, and couldn't prove that they were the culprits. It is sad but there seems to be a diminishing sense of honor and honesty in our society.

"Her answer was that she felt bad for those guys doing all that hard work and she felt kinda guilty of being the lucky moneyed person, just looking while they did the work."

But that's their job. They chose to work in that field (no matter what it was - plumbing, electrical, tiling, drywall, etc.).

Replacing an entire HVAC system involves the workers going into every room in the house, presuming that every room has an air vent, of course. Generally speaking, walk-in closets don't, so they wouldn't need to go into those, but some large walk-in closets do have air vents, so those would need to be accessed, too. To allow a bunch of strangers - men or women - access to every room of your house while no one is home is just crazy. And just being home isn't always enough, as many people have already said. Just because you know they're going into your son's bedroom but don't watch them while they're in there, you can't pin the blame on them later when your son's laptop and iPod go missing, because you can't prove they took it. Could have been a friend of your son's the last time his buddies came over, etc.

We had a new roof put on our house last year. Took a full week to tear off the old roof, put down a new underlayment, install the counter-batten system, install the roof materials, and install the new gutters and gutter guards. I was here for every minute of it, and my husband was here for most of it. And they didn't need to come into the house! When our HVAC system was replaced a few years ago, Hubs and I were both home and inside the entire time.

raee: I think you misunderstood when I said "Burden of Proof" when you replied with "Nope". You defined it well yourself when you said you could not prove it. We really don't have a leg to stand on if we wanted to take them to court.

Yes, they are insured for damages. If they clearly damage part of your
home or property while doing their job, their insurance would pay.
However, theft is another thing all together.

Nope, not a hope in he!!.

Jennifer D.... Oh my word!! Thank goodness you figured out your poor kitty was behind that drywall....that is a horror story I won't forget and she wasn't even my kitty:(.

It's always better to be there, even for outside work. When I had my driveway dug up in preparation for a new asphalt driveway, I came home to find that the equipment had lifted up a piece of my bluestone step that was mortared in. I had to call them back to fix it.

Years ago, I let painters work in my home while I was at work. I came home and found that when they moved the refrigerator, they ripped my newly installed vinyl kitchen floor. Had to have the whole floor replaced. Luckily I noticed it right away because I was on my hands and knees washing the kitchen floor the night they completed painting. The contractor's insurance paid for it.

So if you can be at your daughter's house, do it.

"Background checked and fully insured"

A Clean You Can Trust

https://www.mollymaid.com/why-hire-us/respectful.aspx

I found out the hard way.....I will never ever leave if anyone is here working on the house or anything on the place.

@anniesjacuzzi

I had everyone searching high and low outside, thinking that despite my telling him (the contractor) to make sure that the doors were always closed unless he was entering/exiting through them, he'd simply forgotten and the cat escaped. We searched for as long as we had daylight, once it was dark everyone went home and I put some of my dirty clothing by both front and back door so she could pick up the scent and then sat inside my house crying...until I heard a weird sound....not quite upstairs and not quite downstairs. I turned the fans and AC off, then waited to see if I heard it again, followed it upstairs and figured out the noise was coming from behind the drywall. Pulled the stuff down and then waited some more, and my cat reappeared from her hiding spot - I can only imagine how horrified I would have been if I hadn't said "screw it, who cares if this will cost money to redo" and the cat had remained in that wall forever.

Its best if one the Owners of the house be there., but do not try to micro-manage the job. Let the pros do their job. Your value comes when the unexpected is encountered and a change in plans is required. Also, the homeowner knows where critical items are located such as outside power outlets and the circuit breaker box.

I'm always there and in site. I concur with Jemdandy, it's key not to micromanage, however, it's really important to be present and engaged. I always make it a habit to research the products being installed or worked on and understand the basics of what's being done. I've caught a couple of "oops" because I knew enough to know something wasn't right and could speak up about it.

ElizabethA , I was replying to the OP, not to you :)

We would never leave a worker alone in our home. We had a carpet installer steal blank checks from us while we were home, doing our best to watch him and his assistant. He started writing them all over the place and it was a big, extended, mess to deal with the whole thing. We closed the checking account and filed a police report. They kept writing the checks for many months. We kept getting notices from businesses and collections companies for years afterwards, then we'd have to send the police report, etc. We knew who had done it, but the police wouldn't even investigate. We think it's best to avoid having any workers in our house, if possible. If it's not possible to avoid it, we plan to be home and watch them carefully.

It doesn't matter if they are licensed/bonded or claim to be honest or trustworthy. It doesn't matter how high-priced they are, either. Paying someone more definitely doesn't mean you're getting someone honest or even increasing the chances of getting honest people. Good reviews on the internet mean nothing. It really only takes a second for someone to steal something from you, like some blank checks out of your desk drawer. The police won't do much to help you when it happens. So, lock up your valuables, blank checks, etc. even if you are also going to be home.

We have learned to do a lot of things ourselves. We do things ourselves because we've found the quality of work produced by the majority of people that you can hire these days (including the ones charging the highest prices) to be frequently subpar and also because it's a huge hassle to have workers in our home (making messes, being disgusting in our bathrooms, showing up late or not showing up to work at all on some days, needing to be watched in case they try to steal something, etc.). Judging by what we've seen in other peoples' homes, and by work that's been done in our homes by people we've hired (including some very high-priced people), we almost always end up doing a lot better job than we would have gotten from anyone we hire, anyway.

Yeah, it takes time and effort to do things ourselves and it's true that there can be a learning curve, but it's completely worth it to avoid having workers in our home. As an added benefit (though this wasn't why we started learning to do things for ourselves in the first place) we don't have to pay them the large amounts of money that many are charging these days for their poor quality work. We also don't have to take time off of work to be home to watch them (which is especially frustrating when they show up late, work short days, don't show up at all on some days, etc). We have also gained a lot of valuable skills and enjoy knowing how to do a good amount of things for ourselves. Of course, we can't do everything and we know our limitations.

People used to be able to do a lot more for themselves. These days, many people have become basically helpless so far as doing anything around their own homes. It's not such a great trend, imo.

We are in the midst of a major addition to our home. The GC has been there for most of the time. He's hired all of the subs and has had them on many projects with no complaints. I know if I complained about any one of them, they wouldn't be allowed to return. Fortunately, every single one of them (that I've met) have been more than helpful, polite & hard workers.

However, that being said, anything of any value --sentimentally or financially -- especially jewelry has been removed and locked away. Any extra keys to the vehicles have been put away as well. I even bought those plastic weekly pill cases and any meds we take daily are put in those, and the rest of them are locked up in the gun safe. (which is hidden in another building)

Tomorrow there will be 2 or 3 crews there working, I plan to stay home for 2 reasons. 1) to answer questions & 2) just as an added feeling of security.

Once all the work is completed, we'll be changing all the codes to the garage doors and the alarm system.

The only problem I've had is getting them to close the doors when they go in & out. A/C going full blast and the back door wide open while they're working. **arghhh**

I totally understand the A/C thing...Not only did I have to leave the house with the dog in tow any time there was a showing of my house, but every darn time I'd come back and the A/C that my realtor insisted on turning down to 75 would be running while the patio door was open. I'm not paying to cool the outdoors! At least nobody broke anything when they went through looking around.

Unless one is retired or not employed for another reason, looks like renovations often can be a doubly costly enterprise.

There's the cost of getting the work done.

And there's the loss of income, while one is absent from employment, overseeing the work(men)/(persons).

ole joyful ... a renter

...Seems like it's not a terrible thing to not have a checkbook or checks. One less thing for someone to sneak off with.

Thank you to everyone for your replies. It is good to know that we weren't being weird by thinking someone should be at the house. Thankfully the job is done and everything seems to be working great. My daughter and her husband are going to enjoy their air conditioning too; a first for them.