I'm not as generous at qtcandi. I offer water (flat and sparkly), coffee, and tea, and cookies, candy bars, etc.

Actually, last time, they initially said "no", but somehow a whole bowl of goodies disappeared.

Once I got them sandwiches, but only because they wanted to finish up the project and had already eaten their lunches earlier.

My guys usually said no, thank you, when I asked.

Edit to add:

They came fully stocked w/ specific coffee, water, and healthy lunch/snacks.

I did buy them donuts once and only 2 were eaten.

My crew didn't take a lot of breaks. They worked from 7:30am-2:30pm with only 2 breaks (by their choice). They didn't dilly-dally to enjoy a treat (such as donuts) or enjoy the view; not a lot of chattering either. They wanted to get the job done and go pick up their kids from school.

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For my tree guys (a different group), I did provide water/soda and they gladly accepted the soda. But again, they wanted to get the big job done, so they quickly ate their packed lunch and got back to work.

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But they liked when I gave them a few bottles of wine (for their wives, since they worked Saturday a few times), champagne, and craft beer that is not common in the area, for Xmas and New Years, and end of project.

I always have home baked cookies or muffins and offer coffee and water. Of course since it's a kitchen, donuts etc. are more in order. They seem to really appreciate it and working men have appetites. A lot of the young guys never see homemade baking these days. When we had our granite installed in the kitchen, they were so amazed and appreciative, they said most clients aren't so nice. I figure, I be nice to them and with any luck they be nice and take care of my home for me.

Well, I don't have an oven right now, so homemade baked goodies aren't an option. I'll get them some donuts tomorrow. I hadn't planned on having something for them every single day-yikes.

No rule says you need something every day. That might be overkill. Its whatever YOU want to do. Or nothing at all, since you are paying them for the job. Most of us went to work every day and never received anything more than our paycheck, or expected anything more.

I brought my guys donuts, coffee, fruit and offered to grab lunch while I was out. Similar to your guys, mine were kind, easy to work with and thorough. I always told them to help themselves to whatever drinks were in my fridge. It was a kitchen remodel, so obviously I wasn't making anything homemade.

I had a ton of landscaping done years ago, and did the same for them. If contractors are treating me and my home with respect; I try to do the same.

I also always offer drinks to anyone who does repair work in my home.

Good luck with your project!

certainly not every day! I told them that they were welcome to the Keurig, protein bars, and the bottled drinks in the basement but they partook sparingly. Since I work, I usually bought them some baked goods if I got home early after taking time off for an appointment (only a few times during the remodel). I remember serving the soapstone installers some hot spiced cider after they brought in the very heavy and frozen slabs (December) and they were super appreciative of that.

If we were there while they were working, I always went to Dunkin Donuts for Donuts and coffee. Was an excuse to get myself something too..lol..

Donuts and coffee once or twice a week (it was a nine month whole house remodel). Pizza and soda a few afternoons when I was anxious for them to stay and finish up toward the end. Beer once or twice on brutally hot days...brought over cold when I knew they were finishing up for the day. They enjoyed it, and I was happy to express my thanks. The guys were careful, always on time and did beautiful work. And I know the foreman did me a few little favors that maybe should have been a change order but he slipped in for me. I like to think it was because I was nice and thoughtful to his crew that he treated me well too.

Drinks, chips, and we are buying them lunch once a week.

We always offer to buy them lunches and did so several times a week. With no kitchen, we had to buy lunch anyway.

They always had packed lunches but never had problems eating a second lunch later on during break.

Our water and fruits were always available for them since it was all we have in the fridge. They will occasionally grab a water since they bring their own but always asked us first.

you are all very generous-I think I will stick with donuts once in a while, and maybe I'll get subs or a pizza sometime.

I had a "goodie" box and left it out everyday so they could help themselves. When the supply got low, I would refill it. It didn't take long to figure out what was the most liked, in this case zucchini bread. I also made sure that nothing stale stayed in the box. There was enough variety that some items were not eaten. Since they were redoing my kitchen, I could not bake anything. But, I made sure that what I served was the same quality I would feed my family. I always offered coffee and water, but most stopped for coffee on the way to my house.

It's certainly not necessary but I do think its a nice thing to do. We bought them lunch everyday (pizza, sandwiches) no time wasted with them leaving to get lunch. They ate when we had it delivered or we picked it up. Lunch finished usually in less than a half hour so they got right back to work.

Once a week my husband could get to the job-site and he would pull out the grill and make monster burgers for the guys. Throw in a large bag of chips and some sodas/beers, and the guys really perked up.

Wow. I'm home with a 3 and 5 year old, and my 7 and 10 year old get off the bus at 3:30. I'm pretty sure these guys don't want the pb and j or Mac and cheese I'm feeding my kids for lunch. I don't want to be a cheapskate but I'm not buying lunch for these dudes more than a few times-I need that money for my ginormous window.

During our ten-month build, I provided fruit and/or pastries once a week or so and told our crews to pick plums, oranges and lemons from our trees if they wanted. Lots of them did. No one ever turned anything down, and they seemed to appreciate it.

Our employees would NOT be allowed to accept alcoholic beverages while working on a customers home. Any other treats or snacks, no problem.

Ours was a special crew that worked only until noon on Fridays. They bopped between housing projects depending on the weather and what was ready to do. They only got one beer each, and they usually sat around admiring the lake for an hour or two before they went home. More than one guy said our place was better than wherever he was going home to! They really liked working on our place on Fridays...and I never had a crew clean up so well!

I love the goodie box idea - whenever I have a real set of walls, I shall copy that idea!

owlface

" I don't want to be a cheapskate "

Yeah but that is EXACTLY what you sound like if you can't spring for some coffee, pop, some bread to make some ham or roast beef sandwiches.

Just comes across tacky to not be nice to the work crew because you can't afford some bread, sliced ham or roast beef and some cookie dough because of a window.

I think owlface was just joking. Anyway, I don't think workers expect to be fed by clients. In our experience, most people do not set out beverages, coffee, croissant's, sandwiches, etc. The occasional lunch, a box of donuts, afternoon cookies, a bottle of water or a Gatorade, yes, but still, it's pretty rare when someone does that. Naturally, it makes the employees pretty happy when it does happen. But it doesn't happen every day, far from it, so don't feel bad if you don't want to serve breakfast or lunch. No one expects it or feels like the clients are being rude or tacky if they don't supply them with a treat.

I remember that whenever my Mom had workmen at her house she'd bring out lemonade, or coffee and cookies or donuts or something sweet in the afternoon for them. And they went the extra mile for her.

We'll be building our house soon, and I plan on bringing by donuts once every week or two weeks for the men who will be building my house.

We usually provide pizza to different crews. I think it is a nice gesture. People have always appreciated it when we have provided food/treats.

thanks, all. I'll give it some thought. As for tacky, I WAS joking when I referred to my window, and I think I'll just leave it at that.

Workers don't expect to be fed or even allowed to use the restroom.

We know that because they talk with us. Water is a rarity. Food was never offered anywhere else and in many cases, they weren't allowed to use the restrooms in the house at certain jobs.

Offering hospitality of any kind is not normal in our society today so I'm sure Owlface's workers will be happy with any gestures.

Heck our once in a while maid told us that she had to prove that she brought water bottles to the house to drink every day with her previous employer, a family that she worked with for 11 yrs.

Eating lunch with us like family was shocking to her.

It may be a West Coast thing?

When I lived in New York, we always had to bring stuff once a week for the doormen, valets, maintenance people. They also get tips and gifts on their birthdays and Christmas. God help you if you didn't do nice things for the building staff.

That was 25 years ago so I don't know if things changed on the East Coast.

I would really like to bring my GC contractor (for the house, which includes the kitchen) some sort of treats. Without compromising his health -- if for no other reason that he's truly a neat guy! Any suggestions for providing to a DIABETIC GC? I mean, ditch the candies, cookies, sweets, pizza, donuts and bagels, and the rest of that junk paraphenalia. I live 2 hours south of the build, and nothing I could bring warm will remain warm (and on my direct path up, there's nothing I could pick up that would still be warm - rural, you know, and the "convenience stores" on my direct path make 7-11 look healthy). And although he's diabetic, he's not turned on by salads. (Or, fake sugars, and on this one my tastebuds also understand.)

I filled our downstairs fridge with water at all times and the guys helped themselves (per our request, of course). I had muffins or donuts for them everyday. I switched to making fresh fruit salads when I found they weren't into sweets. It was a small token of my appreciation for the quality of work they did. They loved working for us and they went well beyond and above what was expected (and I have pretty high expectations!)

like I said, when we were there, I'd go to Dunkin Donuts for donuts and coffee.
We live two hours away so generally, would only be there on weekends to meet with our contractor. Sometimes, we'd be there during the week.

But regardless, I had a mini fridge that they all had access to and I made sure there was always bottled water. We did a major reno (still not finished) , kitchen, all the floors, built new bathroom, moved steps, painted inside and out, added to the deck.. just a ton of work. I can't imagine not having at least water for the guys.

It's hard work- how can someone not offer beverages??

Not a kitchen contractor, but the guys that have been putting new fire hydrant water lines in as well as storm sewers in the street in front of our house and have been there since the end of August, I have baked them cookies 4 times and brought them dozen or so danish that we had leftover. Many of those guys live in our town during the week and just get home on weekends. They were so appreciative that they bought me at Easter lily on Good Friday.

I read an article somewhere about how having a donut in the morning can boost your alertness, especially if you haven't had breakfast which a lot of guys skip.

I think Dunkin Donuts put out that article :)

If I have a large crew, I usually provide some food for lunch. Sometimes it is pizza but often it is a loaf of bread, ham, salami and cheese from the deli counter with a bag of chips and a bag of cookies. There's always a case of water and usually cans of soda as well but I don't drink coffee so there's no chance there.

I have occasionally gone to the grocery store and bought take and bake pizza and once bought a frozen lasagna and garlic bread for lunch. Sometimes the guys working will throw in a few bucks toward the grocery bill to avoid having to go out for fast food.

Will treat them to lunch, pick up some pizza or something. Nothing fancy. Found it goes a long way when a worker is happy and feels appreciated. The bonus points earned help tons.

Good for you, owlface, for starting this thread and wanting to be kind. We always kept drinks on hand and coffee going, but since I WFH, it was easy for me. We bought pizza for long days, and always offered ice, and encouraged them to have lunch on the dining table on the patio. Small courtesies go a long way.

Thanks, owlface, for this thread. Our kitchen reno starts in a week. I read this entire thread to my husband, so that he'll understand why I want to get the guys food and beverages. He told me that his mother used to feed the guys who worked on the house next door to her. I believe it. That's who she was.

Thank you for this thread. We had painters painting most of our interior a few years ago in the summer heat. My kids were very little so I would leave for the day. The first day I told them to feel free to turn up/down the a/c as needed. I turned it on before I left for the day. Well one day I come home and realize I forgot to turn it on before I left. It was 86 degrees inside when I got home. I felt awful and asked why they didn't turn it on. The foreman said most people tell them not to touch it and keep it off to save money and he forgot what I told him the first day. It was 105 degrees out. I can't believe people don't let workers use a/c or restrooms.

I stocked our garage fridge with water bottles, gatorades, lemonades, some soda and told the GC/crew to help themselves when thirsty. I also told them to feel free to eat their lunch on our patio that is shaded and has very comfortable outdoor chairs.

My tile guy actually brought us food! His specialty is cheesecake and when he made a batch for a family party, he brought us an extra one that he had. It was good!

This thread is stressing me out!! We won't have a real kitchen to bake in, I don't have the supplies to make tons of coffee, and I can barely get my kids to the bus on time. There's no way I'll be able to make a D&D run every day! I'm barely hanging on in the mornings...

ETA: And, our kitchen is costing a bazillion dollars, we have to spend a bazillion dollars eating out. I hadn't budgeted to spend a ton buying the workers lunch on top of all that. Yikes!

Any treats should not be daily. Pick and choose when it makes sense for you and the job. Last time I had workers in my house, I bought them pizza once for lunch over a 4 day time period mid week. Too much is too much some times. Keep it simple and affordable for YOU. It is all about the gesture, I just found a little goes a long way.

I don't mind offering an occasional snack to workers and making sure they have access to water and restrooms. But really, repeated lunches, snacks and bottled drinks for a whole crew? No way. Jeez... we're not their MOTHERS! We're talking about grown men here, paid for their work, and quite capable of bagging their own lunches - like millions of office workers do every day...

Of course kindness can go a long way... but IMHO, it doesn't follow that the GC and the workers will produce better quality work due to being "treated kindly". You either have a crew where the GC and the workers do care about producing quality, or you don't. You can feed a whole crew b'fast, lunch and dinner for a couple of weeks and they still will skip corners and not return at the end to complete all the annoyingly unfinished details.

For me, it's not about better work. But providing beverages, for manual labor especially in the summer, when we didn't even have working a/c, was just the right thing to do.

It is the right thing to do for the CONTRACTOR to do ... make sure that his employees have water/beverages available at the workplace. It's a nice thing for a customer to do, but if you don't do it, you certainly aren't wrong.

LOL, pippabean!

No, it's the right thing for human being to do. No one's saying provide lunch, treats, whatnot. But depending on the job, and the situation, making sure there's at least water and a bathroom available is just human decency.

here is my plan: I've got 4 small kids to feed and my "kitchen " for the next 2 months is my fridge and a crockpot in the basement. 2 kids are in school for most of the day but the 3 and 5 year old are here at home. It's 50 degrees outside, all the work is inside, the guys are welcome to use my bathroom, and I brought them donuts on Friday. They will be outside later this week and I think it's supposed to be 65 those days. I'll probably make them some lemonade and offer ice water. I plan to get some sort of treat at least once a week, and I will probably get a pizza or subs once or twice over the course of the project. I've let them know they are welcome to use my fridge to store their lunch. I think it is wonderful and generous that many can provide a full lunch for people working on your home. In the future I would have no problem doing so, but frankly, I am still in the weeds with my kids and I'm just trying to keep from tearing my hair out with them. I'm sticking with occasional treats.

If it gets cold - plug in that crockpot and throw some meatballs in there. But I'd like to see the 65 degrees COME AND STAY.

Short answer is not often. My crew doesn't expect (and I don't think they really want) me to feed and water them. I'm not even sure they like using our powder room as the GC usually sets up a portable toilet on his sites. (I didn't want one on our front lawn and insisted they use the powder room instead).

The way our crew reacts when they get something, is that it rarely happens. So I don't think it needs to be excessive or fancy. Just water and I like coffee, so I offer it to them once a day usually. And something now and then. If you don't want to or can't, its also your prerogative and nothing wrong with that either. I don't think most workers have any expectations of being fed or treated.

Don't fret. Occasional is more than fine as it's a TREAT which by definition is something without a set frequency and I am sure they will not expect it and be grateful no matter if it's store bought or whatnot. When we were building it was so stinkin cold that we did coffee and even then it was just miserable to be working on site. We did pizza once I think, cookies or donuts a couple of times. Coffee many days due to weather. We just did what we could with the schedules we had. There were a few days it was so bad nobody showed up and I didn't blame them one bit. It was frigid! By the time the kitchen was going in we had heat but still just occasional things here or there.