The appropriate course of action is for you to write your builder and let him know you find that kind of behavior not acceptable and he needs to talk to his subs. Additionally is there a port-a-potty on the site? If not, there should be one.

Have you provided/hired an outside toilet? Don’t tolerate this type of behaviour, ask the builder to cleanup and get different subs; obviously they are very low grade people.

Yep, porta potty on site, it was like the first thing there.

Tell your builder HE can clean it up. Your HOME is not a toilet. That is a complete lack of supervision and care to ensure that things are left decently.

Disgusting.

There was a bottle full of urine tossed in the bathtub

Welcome to the wonderful world of homebuilding!

That was a sign of respect!

I've had cold rooms subbing for urinals. And "deposits" carefully placed on cardboard and newspapers in other discreet corners of a build.

And that's with carefully maintained portables on-site from day one.

Worthy, did these events lead to any action on your part?

I think we had a "good" thread on this subject a few years ago and it showed a lot of "creativity" on the part of some of the perpetrators.

Talk to the builder. With today's technology you can always text him photo evidence and even video.

Address your concern following the hierarchy of the money flow. Whoever you pay for those workers to be on site is who you contact.

Be careful, the worker may have been marking his territory.

We had a problem, among other things, with workers leaving empty (as well as urine filled) bottles as well as old takeout food containers (with food), and cigarettes and empty packs in among the framing, where some of the debris would get closed up as things progressed. The site got rats.

Not our house, a project designed by us but executed by a contractor we had not chosen.

Many years ago I had a thread about how I also vetted workers by their personal appearance, and preferred workers with good personal hygiene, who wore clean clothes or a uniform shirt (company logo) who didn't look like substance abusers. (I work on patients some of whom have a history, or are active substance abusers, I know what I am looking at). I was called every name in the book about how elitist and snobby and prejudiced I was, and that people who looked unkempt and smelled bad were often very good at their jobs. (Which could be true depending), and that one woman's husband may smell bad and not brush his teeth three times a day but had installed carpet in the finest houses in town, probably nicer than my house was, and that I was minimizing the impact of substance abuse.

Whatever, I still think it's all of a piece. Not that I've never found a pee bottle in the trash, (although they are welcome to use the bathroom, which a lot of people are apparently freaked out about), but the people I hire have all kept a very tidy workplace and a lot of that has to do, I think, with their personal feelings about cleanliness.

did these events lead to any action on your part?

I strongly advised the sub-contractors to inform their employees that that was not acceptable. (Then we got to work with lots of Deetol!)

My building partner, who had done many more infills than me, said it was common to find such Welcome Wagon gifts gracing the front steps of his new projects, presumably from neighbours peacefully protesting the invasion of "monster homes."

For me it is a successful site visit if I do not hear profanity and my name in the same sentence.

Pleased to say, the only problem we have had is the drywallers smoking on their breaks- BUT outside the house build. Most of the butts were picked up... Yesterday I noticed a few strays on the ground, but if that is the worst of it for us,I can deal with it. The drywallers ,when they finished the interior, they wiped down all the window sills & vacuumed all the floors. All & all the sub trades to date, have been pretty good from other places/stories I have heard.. It also prob helps that we are living on site in our rv, while the build is happening & hubby is out there everyday with the workers, working along side of all of them.

Well, hopefully they didn't leave their lovely deposits in your walls before the sheetrock was installed. I pulled out a bunch of stuff that my guys tried to throw in the walls and I made sure I was there every day cleaning during sheet rocking.... was able to head them off at the pass! My builder was upset with the subs and he did correct them, but unless you have someone there ALL the time during working hours, it's virtually impossible to make sure they do right.

@nidnay- yes that is one of the main reasons that hubby has been here for the whole build & our general (to lock up) was excellent about keeping the site neat & tidy for us. Now that it is hubby & 2 workers doing the ceiling, I will be the one tiding up in the evenings/weekends.

We just sent an email to the VP of operations yesterday for our builder. I have not noticed urine or feces on my site thank goodness but I have complete filth and a lot of half eaten food. Like sandwiches thrown inside my kitchen drawers etc. I brought the cleanliness of the site up to my builder three times with no change. Its extremely upsetting and frustrating. Is this the new industry standard? If so, DEPLORABLE!

Several years ago, a multi-million dollar custom house was being build right across a very narrow street (with next to no lawn frontage). The workmen left fast food and the empty containers and we quickly had a HUGE skunk problem. My dogs got sprayed twice (they were on a leash and the skunks actually charged them!), and I nearly was as well.

I complained to the GC and told him that if this didn't stop, I'd take out an ad in the local paper with pictures of all the trash. He values his reputation highly and the stuff started being picked up.

"I was called every name in the book about how elitist and snobby and prejudiced I was..." It's pretty bad when using a toilet, even a porta potty, is considered elitist!

I'd tell the head builder that I can't help but be concerned about the quality of work they are doing. Seriously - if someone is so dirty, careless and disrespectful in the job site (my home!) do I really trust them to suddenly be particular and careful with the work they're doing?

We didn't have any female tradespeople when we did a big addition/reno, and I've never seen any on site on any builds near my home (lots of renos and teardowns.) I wonder if behavior would change if there were more women in the biz. (Do any subs ever piss in a bottle in front of Joanna Gaines?) Before anyone gets offended, I'm NOT saying all or most men are pigs! Just thinking they might be less casual about their bathroom habits.

Some people are just nasty.

My college daughter works at a children's store at the mall. About once a week she finds, um, "waste" in the dressing rooms. On the good days, it's in a bottle or straw cup. On bad days she finds that people have picked up a pair of the store's new jeans and allowed their kid to "whizz" on them. She has found poop on the carpets in the dressing rooms /smeared on the walls. (On a related note, I never take my shoes off in dressing rooms anymore.)

The real irony: One of the mall's public restrooms is located just across the mall hallway. When any parent asks about a restroom, she grabs them and quick-walks them across to the hallway leading to the restroom.

I repeat, some people are just nasty.

There's a full range of mental competency from raving to completely competent out there. Also developmental disability can result in failure to manage bodily functions in the desired manner - she may be getting a percentage of people toting kids who just cut loose whenever and wherever, as though still in diapers. People that just skulk away without saying anything at the time because they are too embarrassed to do so, with their terror of speaking up being greater than their concern about leaving behind a surprise.

Lots of cameras and hidden cameras

If you’d ever worked retail, you’d know that dressing room ill behavior has nothing to do with any developmental issues. Teen girls leaving sanitary items stuck to the walls, or deliberately soiling items, is common. The end stall in any men’s dressing room has an approximate 2 year lifespan before it has to be completely refurbished. And the carpet has to be cleaned every week from being used as a urinal. The adjacent bathrooms have to have the garden hose hooked up and washed to the floor drain. And tons of bleach.

People are just nasty.

Someone has to be their mama on a job site. That is supposed to be the GC. Sometimes he needs gramma to slap his little peeper until it all rolls downhill.

A respectful conversation, first. You assume he is unaware and would be horrified.

Repeat offending brings out the stern gramma with a fresh cut switch. Metaphorically speaking.

If you’d ever worked retail, you’d know that dressing room ill behavior has nothing to do with any developmental issues

I've worked retail many times. Unlike you, I did not say I knew all about everything relevant to the topic - your apparent claim to have universal knowledge on the other hand fell apart with your first sentence (see the first sentence of this paragraph).

Some people are just nasty.

That's why I prefer virtual relationships. And email vs. phone calls.

My daughter part-times at the soon-to- be largest homeless shelter in North America, Starbucks, and confirms the nastiness. (Though at least the occasional o.d. gets hauled away by first-responders.)

Well, I sent the builder/GC some images of the pee bottles and spit on the floor(not dried, fresh and still bubbly). He said he was disappointed, but not surprised. Openly voiced his opinion on certain ethnic groups. We did not have any issues like this up until the drywall went in. Turns out my GC was there with them all day up until about 3 pm, and I think this behavior started after he left, and I found it when I stopped by later.

So the GC called the drywaller's boss, and he came by this morning and reamed his employees out. I don't know if it was all real or just for show. But my builder did threaten to fire them if this happens again.

I wonder if I could have any recourse if something turns up several months after I move in?

There are reasons why construction sites many times have fences around them and various warning signs. Construction is not for the meek.

(Do any subs ever piss in a bottle in front of Joanna Gaines?)

well, if she were subjecting me to lead paint chips I might piss in a bottle in front of her too:

https://people.com/home/fixer-upper-chip-joanna-gaines-fined-epa-lead-paint-violations/

@freeoscar - interesting timing on that article! Hadn't seen it. I think they got off fairly easy with a $40k fine for 33 different homes being affected. (I wonder if the homeowners will seek some kind of restitution, like cleaning the air ducts.) I like that they're subsidizing a lead abatement program in their home town and showing proper lead removal in a later episode.

Gwen....that is pretty disgusting about the return air duct.

I knew my carpet installers would not clean up to my satisfaction before installation. They did scrape the floors of sheetrock mud and fixed protruding screws, but they left tons of debris (sawdust, sheetrock dust etc.) along baseboards and on the floor. All that dust and dirt would just be continually sucked into the HVAC system. And have you ever noticed how carpets start to look soiled along the baseboards and corners...the system is constantly pulling all that grit and dirt up out of the baseboards and into the return air ducts. Anyway, after the carpet guys did their scraping, I throughly vacuumed all the floors and then mopped them all. You can see by the dirty water how filthy the floor was.

6 - Misc · More Info

6 - Misc · More Info

It’s funny I talked about cameras yesterday. Late last evening, I was almost in bed in my hotel room last night and one of our new house neighbors sent and email stating her cameras showed two workers/painters walking past their house and taking a hose from an adjoining lot; she sent me pics from jet security system cameras. I immediately sent the pics to my GC and the painter’s lead. I had to apologise to my neighbour and land developer for the painters’ misconduct. The painting company took this incident very seriously and gave me options for the outcome, I favoured and agreed to a 60day probation for the two workers over suspension or being fired. The workers having forgotten to bring a hose with them yesterday, chose to borrow one from another property without anyone’s consent; I was very upset with this deplorable behaviour especially since i manage all security systems and cameras in my development.