Have you had a room in your home (e.g. kitchen, bathroom) remodeled by a professional contractor(s)? If so, presumably this was a job that required access to your home for many business days. How did you handle this? Did you take time off of work so you could be home while contractors were working there? Did you give the contractor a key so they could come and go while you were absent?
We’re contemplating a master bath remodel job, but not sure how to deal with this, as we both work full time.
We used someone who was recommended by a friend. We didn’t know the person or his crew, but we trusted our friend enough to trust the contractor. While we trusted them, we also took certain precautions and locked up a few things we knew we didn’t want to loose.
We also have one of those combination type locks on our door that allows us to put in a few different combinations. When we met him, we asked him for a numerical code he could remember and put that in the lock. When he was done, we took it out.
I asked the contractor for references, and checked them. They were uniformly enthusiastic about him. After the job was done, so was I.
We didn’t/don’t have anything expensive in the house, and there weren’t any problems.
Regards,
Shodan
We had a contractor who did a kitchen remodel that took several days, but the work was start-and-stop. Sometimes the contractor had to stop by to do some small bit of work. It was impractical for one of us to be there at all times.
We took two steps: First, we vetted the contractor thoroughly and verified his insurance/bond. Second, we purchased a new knobset for one door and installed it. We gave him a key to that knobset and then put the old one back when the job was finished. Total cost was less than $20. Not very high-tech, but effective.
I would stay home if you can. Even if the contractor is trustworthy, the other workers may not be.
In addition, you should always supervise the work to make sure it’s what you want. Part of it is to make sure the contractor is doing the job correctly, but also to make sure the details are what you want. And if you are there, it will be much easier and quicker to consult on any issues that come up.
When we had our tile done, our contractor installed the wrong grout color. We picked the grout from the samples he showed, but the grout that was bought was from a different manufacturer than the samples. The name was the same between the two manufacturers but the color was different. It’s those kind of details which can easily get messed up if you’re not there to catch them.
On our front door we have a keyed handleset and a deadbolt. I used to be a locksmith so I keyed the handle to accept an “everyday” key that matches the deadbolt key, and also a “guest” key. When we have guests or contractors or whatever, I give them a copy of the guest key and we don’t lock the deadbolt.
If I wasn’t a former locksmith we’d just give guests the handleset key and only lock the deadbolt normally, so we wouldn’t need to use two keys all the time.