WWYD: Construction Site Visitors

[whiskeytails]

We went to visit our home that's being built and some of our new neighbors and their DOG were in our house. I'm pretty irate.

I get snooping around when it first starts, but we have windows and doors, so they actively pushed open a door to go inside. I'm not OK with this.

I just smiled awkwardly at them as they told me all of the neighbors congregate in my garage and some others apparently joked about a fridge in there.

Should I suck it up or should I passively aggressively post something? The odds of this run in again is low.

I should have said something in the moment, but in my shock it wasn't in my nature to be rude to adult strangers. (I'm 31, I suspect these people were late 40s, early 50s).

[tillie]

The site should be locked up. I would put up a No Trespassing sign!

[sju]

Are you building on your own lot? If so, I would put a no trespassing sign and talk to your contractor about locking the house.

We built in a development where the builder owned the lot so we knew ahead of time that we would have people looking even with the no trespassing signs the builder had. The sales reps often show the houses to people interested in that model. They owned the house after all.. They began locking the house in the afternoon after the cabinets went in. I do not like the idea that some of our neighbors looked at our house before we closed (one asked one of the subs if he could look around and the subs really don't care)....but there was nothing we could really do.

[whiskeytails]

Yes, we own the lot and carry the construction loan with insurance.

There are no locks on the doors yet--my husband thinks that won't happen for a few weeks.

It's a 2 acre lot in the middle of the country, so it's just the people in my tiny neighborhood who are nosey. I don't want to start drama, but it bothers me.

I could put up a sign, but you're right, there's nothing I can really do about it.

[pixy0stix]

The construction site should be locked up. Doesn't matter if the doors have locks on them or not. It should be secured.

[magdala]

In the small towns that I grew up in, everyone in the neighborhood checked out the new houses as it was being built from the first pour until the last nail

[mrspez07]

I just did this with a friend but it was in a builder neighborhood, (and not with a dog),everyone kind of just takes it as a matter of course. I don't think they lock the sites until appliances so that there is less breaking damage. At least that's kind of what I've heard.

[pixy0stix]

Sept 24, 2016 22:26:54 GMT -5 mrspez07 said:

I just did this with a friend but it was in a builder neighborhood, (and not with a dog),everyone kind of just takes it as a matter of course. I don't think they lock the sites until appliances so that there is less breaking damage. At least that's kind of what I've heard.

Active construction sites are dangerous. What would you do if you stepped on a nail (less serious), or fell into an uncovered hole (serious)? You can be prosecuted for trespassing, and at least questioned for possible theft. This is a stupid thing to do.

[OscarQ]

Id do whatever it takes to lock it up. We used to walk through houses under construction all the time when we were kids at the beach. Young and dumb. That stopped after we were touring a relatives under construction house (the relative was taking us through it) and my cousin fell and thought she broke her arm. It was just sprained but still. Lesson learned.

For the liability/insurance issues alone, I'd try to secure the site.

[moolarkey]

In a builder neighborhood, until you close on it after it is fully constructed, it isn't yours and if the builder leaves it unsecured is up to them and not you so people can walk through at will. In your case it is your house so you could require that it be secured but I think that would have had to be in the contract with the builder at the time you negotiated with them.

[whiskeytails]

Sept 25, 2016 15:32:07 GMT -5 moolarkey said:

In your case it is your house so you could require that it be secured but I think that would have had to be in the contract with the builder at the time you negotiated with them.

Our contract was pretty minimal and shockingly casual. My H will call the builder on Monday and see what can be done. Otherwise, we live with snoopers and give them an evil eye if we catch again.

[moolarkey]

Sept 25, 2016 18:48:15 GMT -5 whiskeytails said:

Sept 25, 2016 15:32:07 GMT -5 moolarkey said:

In your case it is your house so you could require that it be secured but I think that would have had to be in the contract with the builder at the time you negotiated with them.

Our contract was pretty minimal and shockingly casual. My H will call the builder on Monday and see what can be done. Otherwise, we live with snoopers and give them an evil eye if we catch again.

DS and DDIL are closing on their new build on Tuesday. Because it is a neighborhood build, they don't yet own the house or land until they do close. My son has been at the house and had people walk in, not knowing he was there but he really couldn't say anything since he wasn't the owner. He didn't like it very much either. I think the people that entered his house were getting ready to build next to DS (and they broke ground this past Friday).

[whiskeytails]

Sept 25, 2016 19:55:46 GMT -5 moolarkey said:

He didn't like it very much either. I think the people that entered his house were getting ready to build next to DS (and they broke ground this past Friday).

I think what bothers me most is that it's people in the neighborhood who already have houses built and are just being nosey trespassing a-holes.

[JRo]

This sounds like almost exactly what happened to us when we were building our house. The lots are all a couple acres in a small development in the country. We were actually there working one day and some neighbors showed up to look around. We came out to greet them/find out wtf they were doing, and they sort of just ignored us and kept on walking around. It was so awkward. We were finally like, "Can we HELP you?" They didn't realize we were the owners (thought we were just contractors out there working) and had no shame walking through the house. Once they realized it, they hightailed out of there, but we figured out after the fact that just about everybody in the neighborhood does this. We made sure our builder got everything locked up tight the next day.

Honestly, I was most annoyed with our builder for not having it closed up in the first place.

[bullygirl979]

Even though you have insurance, I'd worry about what would happen if some trespassing a-hole got hurt on your property.