How in the world is he going to get rid of all the junk at the end of the build? We had a dumpster throughout our build, and yes, it was expensive, but, I can't imagine building a house without one. There is a lot of scrap generated!

That is crazy. No dumpster, and not even a silt fence? The silt fence was the first thing to go up with our build, and there was a dumpster there as soon as framing started. After a while, they won't be able to move around for the mess, not to mention it is dangerous for anyone on the jobsite. Nails in boards etc. I would check your county regulations and see if they have any requirements. Please tell me they at least have a port-a-potty.

Amy

We are at the tail end of our build and did not use a dumpster. Fortunately most of the debris we were able to burn (did not use any pressure treated wood). When it came to disposing of the drywall, we kept it in a pile and then had a company haul it away. We decided to avoid filling dumpsters with everyone else's stuff (as tends to happen).

Our floors are 12" wide pine and all of the scraps are gladly removed by friends and family for fireplace kindling.

We are owner/builders for the project so we are always checking on the site as to productivity and cleanliness. My DH insists on contractors cleaning up after themselves. He has piles for empty cans (donates them to a local school), empty water bottles (recycles). I just wish we could eliminate the cigarettes (yuk). There is no smoking allowed in the house, so it is DH's job to collect and dipsose of any butts that don't get diposed of properly.

Lastly I can't wait to see the portable toilet leave.

I don't think your expectation are too high at all. Things get pretty messy during the week but every friday everything is swept up and put away. His crew started out being very messy but I just came out there every day at the beginning and picked up all their bottles and trash and threw it in their wheelbarrow that I knew they would need the next day. They got the hint and things have been much cleaner. Also my husband told my contractor that cig butts were my pet peave so they haven't been dropping those as much, but I still see some!
The contractors on our last build were chain smokers and I swear a year after we were in the house I was still picking up old cig butts out of my flower beds.

I'm sorry to the poster above who also doesn't have a poster...I don't mean this to sound rude...however, it is completely unprofessional and dangerous to not have a place to contain trash on a worksite. To the OP, I would question every single thing your builder does b/c if he is this way about a dumpster (I don't want to pay...blah blah blah), IMO, he is definitely taking other shortcuts with your build. I'd watch him like a hawk...but then again, I'd also insist on a dumpster.

Yes, they do have a Port-a-Potty on site. And I suppose a silt fence is that temporary "fence" on the front of the lot? Basically just stakes and heavy plastic to prevent run-off? The city requires that and it was put up as soon as the lot was graded etc. I'm going to give the GC one more day to have his guys clean up the site before calling him again to inquire in a polite and civil manner when his "fence" is going to go up that will contain all the debris. Another thing driving me nuts is that on this slab foundation where we are having lots of wood floors eventually laid, the foundation was off-set. We've had some heavy rain lately and the result is that the 1st floor rooms where the hardwood will go look like kiddie swimming pools. For weeks the yucky water has collected in the two downstairs shower stalls. Is it too much to ask that they get a wet-dry vac out there to suck up the water? I am sure the neighbors are worrying about mosquitoes breeding in that standing water. This GC came highly recommended and we've known him since he was a child. He grew up in the trade, with his father a highly-respected builder. This personal relationship has its pros and cons. It does make it harder to "get tough" with him. Thanks Jenanla for the comments RE the recycling etc. I think I'll obtain the container the city provides for recycling and put it out on the site and ask the contractor to tell his guys to please dispose of cans and plastic bottles there. I'll be a good role model and go out there this evening and collect with DH's help all the recylables and put them in the container, place it handy on the site, and hope they start using it. I KNOW I can require no smoking once the house is enclosed but at the framing stage, it doesn't bother me that some of them smoke, though I do hate their butts and empty packs strewn around. I also like the suggestion from Amykits about calling the county to check on their regulations. This is emphatically NOT a safe site right now, with boards with nails sticking up everywhere, not to mention the fire hazard of those piles of debris.

Your contractors comment about not getting dumpsters because he doesn't want to haul trash that is not his would drive me insane. How about your neighbor who is hauling trash that is not his (blew into his yard?)

People are so ignorant about trash! I am a major recycler and just threw a party last weekend for over a hundred people. I had several waste containers spread throught the party area labled TRASH, GLASS (we had bottled beer) PLASTIC & CANS. All containers were filled with trash and everything else mixed in. Sigh. Also many cigarette butts all over my five acre yard even though I had two dozen ashtrays scattered and several clay pots filled with sand. The butts are obnoxious! I defend a person's personal right to smoke, but not to litter.

Unfortunately, some areas of the country have a lot of people who drive around looking for construction site dumpsters so that they can throw their trash away, even though it may be illegal. The "trash" can include furniture, mattresses, and all manner of hazardous waste. Maybe that has something to do with the GC's attitude.

Sorry, my post was meant to say "I'm sorry to the poster above who also doesn't have a dumpster"...not who doesn't have a poster. Not enough caffeine this morning!

I just called the city inspection office and learned that the builder is required to have either a Dumpster type container or needs to build a "wire enclosure" to contain the debris. So, as I mentioned above, I'm giving him until tomorrow to get that wire enclosure put up. And I'm going to do what I said above about obtaining our city's big trash container that they provide free of charge for plastic and cans to be recycled in. I agree with the comment from Neesie about GC's excuse for not having a Dumpster b/c of not wanting to haul off neighbors' trash being lame. What's going to prevent the neighbors from using the wire enclosure in the same manner? Because of this prior relationship with our GC (he played on a team my DH coached, for gosh sakes!), I just can't rat him out myself to the city, but now I am wishing that one of the neighbors would call the city and complain and that he'd get cited somehow. I am also tempted to try to find out what other construction he has going so I can drive by and see how those sites look. If ours is worse, then maybe he's taking advantage of us b/c of this "personal" relationship?????

Our construction site is horrible too, but he does have a dumpster, although there is still trash all around the house. Another house in our neighborhood being built has a perfect site. I talked to the guy working there and he said if the builder comes and there is any trash on the ground, everyone has to stop and clean up everything. It looks so nice there.

We don't have a dumpster - DH regularly loads up the trailer and hauls trash to the local dump.

quit asking him to put a dumpster in. DEMAND he do it. if he refuses, then get it yourself and tell him you will deduct the bill from his invoice.

no dumpster here. I pile the trash up and then usually hire some kid to move said pile into my trailer where I haul it to the transfer station. I do separate wood scraps that are burn-able and cut them into 18-20" sizes and pile them up to burn in the stove. We also take wood that i do not want to burn in my stove (osb, ply, glulams, lvls, and such) to the biomass fuel plant where the chip em to burn for energy. I am almost done (been a year now) and have spent less than $150 on trash and dump fees. No porta potty here either. We live less than 2 blocks away, plus there is always a shovel, TP, and 10's of thousands of acres of woods (my sons favorite way to go).

All of this is so fascinating--a big contrast between those who say "demand a dumpster" and those who do it themselves! We are senior citizens, don't have a trailer, but of course are totally capable of picking up after the workers with a lot of this trash. But I don't think I should have to do this! This seems to me to be the GC's job, to see that it gets done. I just discussed this with my nephew, who will be installing our hardwood floors. (We pulled this part of the job out and contracted separately for it.) He said, "GC is NOT your friend. He is working for you. Now that he has secured your job, he is moving on to get others. His concern is to get your job done well and efficiently and move on. BUT you have every right to demand a clean work place. If the wire enclosure isn't put up by this evening, call him in the morning and say, 'I've given you four days; the pen or fence hasn't been erected; it needs to be done by tomorrow. Neighbors are complaining, and I plan to live among these people for the next 20 yrs. Besides that, there's a liability issue; one of the framers or a kid from the neighborhood could be injured--those nails sticking out of boards that are lying around is unacceptable. Once the enclosure is built, the workers need to understand that their cans and fast food trash need to be put there, as well as all the construction debris. I've been patient, but my patience is running out.'" I am also tempted to say, "____, you know that the lot next door is owned by good friends who will soon be looking for a GC. I want to be able to recommend you, but when they get back from their summer in NY, if they see a trashy work site, they are unlikely to use you. __________ told me that when they remodeled their vacation home, you could eat off the concrete floor, it was kept so clean and tidy." My nephew DID tell me there was a difference between new construction and remodel construction--the latter sites are typically kept much neater and cleaner. But this does not have to be the case! Just note what Trudymom said about the contrast between her site and the other nearby!

Just to clarify - we our doing our own GC. If it was a turn-key build I would expect a dumpster.

Although I completely sympathize with you, if this is your largest (or better yet, biggest), complaint, that's not too bad. Good luck!

Jasonmi7, thanks for giving me a bit of perspective! You remind me of DH, whose opinion is totally "They're doing a great job so far on everything--foundation, framing, etc. This messy, trashy worksite is annoying, but it's not a big deal. If you want to call GC to gripe, fine, but I'd rather focus on more important matters, when and if they come up." So I am trying to chill, but I still think GC needs to follow thru and do something to contain the debris!

No dumpster here and our site has been spotless the whole build process. The builder takes the wood scraps, and all garbage home when the can filled up. He and his dad use the scraps for their fire stove in the workshop during the winter. To be honest though there haven't been very many scraps throughout the whole process.

They just started putting up wall board today so I asked him what they do with the extra scraps. They said that the plasterer knows a farmer that will pick it up and use it on his farm. I guess cows eat the paper and they use the gypsum on the fields. Very interesting.

Builders here are required to fence and keep the streets clean near the site.

Unless you load up the dumpster immediately it will fill up overnight with somebody else's trash. The builder next door to us left a bin and guys were brazenly loading it during the daytime: Real quick. Eyes darting everywhere.

I'm a fanatic about cleaning. Rather than waiting till there's a dumpster load, I hire junk removal guys. Used this one last time.

Modular steel rental fencing is used by most infill builders in the Toronto area. It helps secure debris on-site, deters unwanted entrance and protects the builder/owner in case of liability claims.

We are owner/builders also. The subs i have had, i made sure they cleaned up after themselves. We also are building on acerage, so neighbors are not a concern.

If he doesn't want a dumpster, fine.

But why not have him get a debris truck to pick up as it goes along? There's no reason to have more than one dump truck load of trash there at a time--remove that as it accumulates.

As for neighbors dropping trash, can't they do that with a big pile too?

Really appreciate all the good feedback! I love Gardenweb! When DH and I went out to the site last evening, sure enough, a small wire enclosure had been put up and there were a few, "token" items inside. DH and I had four plastic trash sacks, so we proceeded to fill each one of those with what I would term "personal trash"--cans, bottles, cigarette packs, fast food containers, etc. etc. We policed the entire site, inside the house and outside, as well as the vacant lot adjacent to ours, which will be built on by good friends. Then we pulled all the plastic wrapping materials, soggy cardboard, etc. etc., from the various piles of scrap/discarded wood, and this junk we put in the wire enclosure. After 2 1/2 hrs., the sacks were full to the brim, as was the small enclosure. We were filthy and hot--this is Texas I'm talking about. When I got home and got cleaned up, I sat down and emailed our builder, thanking him for having the enclosure erected but telling him that it was already full with what we had picked up and suggesting that he will either need to have this enclosure emptied soon and often or erect more. I told him that I could live with the various and numerous piles of scrap wood, though of course I actually feel that all of this ought to be contained in a dumpster. I've not heard back from him. Nephew advises not to bring up fact that among soda cans and plastic water bottles I also found beer cans and bottles. "If the guys want to drink a beer at the end of a hot work day, so be it,"says nephew. DH says same. I am a fuddy-duddy and think they should wait to drink their beer after going home and worry that they're drinking while working with power tools, and besides, alcohol is not a good or effective way to hydrate in 105 degree weather..... DH and nephew scoff at me. BUT, anyway, I do appreciate all the great input. I feel slightly better; it's helped to "vent" here and, again, great feedback from all of you! In six mos. or so I'll send pix of our beautiful new home! The three framers ARE doing a super job on the framing and so the "important" things are getting done.