After all of the holes are filled in, and BEFORE any cabinets, milkwort, or flooring is installed, it’s mandatory to have the AC in drying things out for a couple of weeks.

Fred Hueston, a nationally known stone forensic expert, wrote a column about a cheap-a$$ homeowner who turned off the air conditioner in his condo when the work was going on. The ensuing condensate rusted the iron in his white marble floors, resulting in orange streaks. They were ruined and had to be replaced.

Don't even think of altering site conditions without consulting with subs and/or your general contractor.

Let me ask you this, would you like to be doing very physical, sweaty work in summer, in an indoor, unairconditioned environment? Neither would I. Seems damn inconsiderate to me.

You’re taking on an expensive project. I’m sure you want a top notch professional outcome. Is saving a few dollars at the expense of the comfort of the workers, really the way you want to go?

We did a summer gut job of the kitchen in our new house, 3 years ago...down to the studs. You better believe we provided AC for the workers.

I'm glad I don't work for you. I hope these workers find better employment soon.

Do you mean open to the sky or open to the attic or upstairs? How many days will the ceiling sections be open? Talk to the GC about how they can schedule the work so to minimize the number of days. If open to the sky, while open, can't they tarp it? This would protect from an unexpected rain storm and also help a bit to hold the AC better than leavning it completely open. I always offer my contractor coffee or water when we have meetings, and I always tell the subs that they can get come to the kitchen to refill their coolers and such as needed. When I was having a pool built, I provided a big cooler of Gatorade and water. Other people told me not to do this because they are "just workers" which I found to be quite a rude statement. I wouldn't do anything to make workers suffer in the heat. That just seems mean.

I had painters who turned the A/C down to 64° while they were there (water-based paint), and when they left at 3:00, left it like that. They also left the windows open. I got home at 8:00. This happened for 3 days despite my asking them to keep it at 70°, and/or at least remember to turn it to 75° before they leave. I ended up working from home for a few days until they were done, and kept the A/C at a very comfortable 70° while they were there. I will never use them again, and will never recommend them to anyone. To the OP, try to be present while they are there so that you have some control. Also talk to the GC about this. Either you have to be there, or a responsible GC has to be there, one or the other.

We hired a contractor to finish our basement last fall. They started right after Labor Day, which was still technically summer, and it was over 90 degrees the first week. There was no way we were *not* going to have the AC on for them. We didn't expect them to work in miserable conditions.

We covered the vents with some sort of covering that we bought at one of the big box stores. It came in a roll and we cut it to size of each of the vents. It allowed the air to come through but really cut down on the dust throughout the rest of the house.

We also gave them water and drinks and let them use our bathroom. We also bought them lunch a bunch of times. They wound up doing some extra things for us that we weren't charged for. They told us when they were done that they really appreciated everything we did for them.

We’ve had contractors working on our new house for the past six weeks and it would never occur to me to cut them off from AC. We don’t currently live in the house, so when they leave for the day they bump it up so that we’re not paying for cool air overnight, but it is definitely needed during the day. There has been a LOT of dust from our renovations so far, and we’ve been changing filters almost weekly. Once the job is done and before we move in, we’re having the ducts professionally cleaned.

That’s how we’ve handled it. Your mileage may very, but I think that it’s worth the cost for your contractors to work in a comfortable environment. Don’t cut costs at their expense.

Set it to a reasonable temp and put a lock box on it. Be sure to change the filter frequently, I offer all our contractors free reign to the soda fridge or coffee if I have some made as well as the bathroom. Granted I live 20 miles from the nearest gas station so grabbing a drink or going to the bathroom would take an excessive amount of time away from my project. The really good ones get an open invitation to come fishing in our backyard any time. It keeps them willing to drive the hour from the nearest town with contractors,

This is why the trades can't attract young people and only exploitable illegal aliens.

I guess this is the WalMart principle of buying stuff you can't afford. Shift the burden to the worker so you can enjoy a higher standard of living.

You can tape filters over the AC return vents.