Submarine sandwiches are great gifts for contractors, especially at lunch time.

The builder's gift is that you paid him promptly. My builder gave gifts to me at the end. Nor cash gifts to the subs.

We did have a party for anybody who worked on the house that wanted to see it as completed (burgers and beer and food provided).

If you found individual workers went above and beyond, then a small gift or tip certainly would be fine.

I've seen homeowners have a cookout when the house is close to being done. A free lunch is always appreciated.

As far as giving a gift to the the sub crew, most would distribute the gift by your directions.

I have provided lots of lunches, snacks, and drinks along the way on projects. The crews always seem to appreciate a cold drink at the end of the day. (A beer seems to always be popular.) Lots of compliments on the work along the way are also very appreciated. Let them know it's a job well done! I had some single guys working last year that I often sent home with dinner. They loved it. Neither drank beer, but they sure appreciated a nice cold bottle of water.

so agree with that, Sophie. You ARE a softie after all!

You are lucky, I gave my builder a lawyer bill!
We did have some AMAZING subs though, that we will be dropping off token gifts (eg gift cards) for, as a thank you for their amazing support during our challenging build.

A written review, able to be published on his website with professional pictures of the job, would make any builder insanely happy. Find a good real estate photographer and arrange a shoot for the end. Make sure the photo rights to publish in multiple media forms are transferred to the builder, even if the photographer retains the copyright.

Great idea. My builder isn't a young guy but wants to keep working for another 3-5 years. He has no internet presence and his wife and I are always on him about it. A professional shoot of the house would be perfect. Thanks, Sophie.

For the dirty hands doing the actual work, yes, tips and a note of praise is gratefully accepted. Think of it as the Valentines cards you handed out in school. You can’t leave anyone out, but if it’s all in envelopes, no one has to share if theirs had an extra special note or $50 in it.

I like this idea too. I think I'll limit it to the workers themselves, not the owners of the various companies, though, (i.e. the actual painters, not the guy giving the orders and collecting the huge fees etc.). We live in a very high priced building market and these guys are making a bundle but most of their employees are hourly without benefits.