Hmm. Interesting. From my experience, I think you want to seem generous but not overly nice. Bottomline is: you want them to do a good job and know that you appreciate it.

I would probably do: early morning drinks (i think your gatorade idea is great!) and afternoon snack (icecream drumsticks).

If it's a long term job I probably wouldn't do lunch everyday but every Friday.

Kind gestures now and then I think are good - so it's not expected but makes for a nice surprise.

I think providing cold water in hot weather is very nice, but these people are not your guests. They are working on your house. Lunch and etc should be their own responsibility. If they were your friends helping you out, or doing you a favor, it would be different, but if you are paying someone to do work on your house, you should be under no obligation to provide lunch or drinks beyond water in my opinion.

Hi Kristin (and everyone else, too!) Great post! I think that being generous will never go unnoticed. I have a conundrum of similar sorts. As far as babysitters and nannies go, what "perks" do/should you offer? For example, should you reimburse for transportation? Leave money for lunch daily? Pay for dinner if they're there at dinner time? Ask them for their grocery list? Also, should you only pay them for the hours they work? Round up? Tip them? What is the going rate around the US for a babysitter these days? Thanks in advance!

I happen to feel it would be cruel to not at least offer water/gatorade to someone working on my house considering that it's been over 100 most days over the last few weeks.

I am very similiar to you. Cold drinks for hot days, coffee for cold days. BUT, only if the visit is going to be longer than 1-2 hours.

In general, I do not feed them, except for movers. The reason I feed the movers is twofold, I want them to stay until they are done, not leave for an hour (or three) for lunch. Plus, I tell them right from the start that I will feed them a good lunch and they can have all of the coffee/soda/water they want. This tends to make them a little more "aware" of the molding and walls when they are moving my stuff.

There is one more caveat - I am more likely to cater to the grunts or very small business owners than the owners of a big business. Is that wrong?

NYC, it depends on whether you mean an occasional babysitter or a full-time babysitter/nanny. For the occasional babysitter I always round up (the babysitter we use charges $15/hour for 3 kids, but she is very experienced and it is the greater NY area after all, and she is nearly perfect). I do not reimburse her for transportation. The nanny thing is much more complicated; the "perks" depend on your relationship with her and lots of other factors. We have had the same nanny for 7 years and at this point she's really almost part of the family. Hope that helps.

NYC, as someone who did lots of babysitting as a teenager (which wasn't that long ago), I never expected reimbursement for travel expenses. However, almost all the families I babysat for provided food or money for meals. If the babysitter is expected to feed the kids I feel like the he/she should be included, too.

I just recently ran into this conundrum as well since we were adding a second floor onto our house. The main crew became like family since they were there A LOT (like, ten times more than I thought they'd be), so I made them brownies, cupcakes, and other sweet treats. (Note: I was also 8 months pregnant and "nesting" so the baking kind of came naturally!) The other various guys - plumbers, electricians, etc. - I did offer drinks to, but that was all. I also was not above bribing the inspectors, so I always made sure to offer them any of my sweet treats and a drink! All went well - we now enjoy our 800+ more square feet thanks to all the vendors!

I'm with Michele. During the remodel of our first house, we made tuna sandwiches daily for the workers (Erica Wagner, RS life lessons article author about tuna sandwich nostalgia, are you listening?), and served them with water. We were broke, so tuna it was. It does save time/money, but it took me a while to like tuna sandwiches again after that. As for childcare personnel, Kristen, are you sure your nanny’s practically perfect? Nanny’s like that have been known to float away, umbrella in hand.

I mean "nannies like that"

I would provide all the water (in a cooler) that the workers wanted. They should be responsible for their own lunches, but if it were a long term job I might buy them lunch on Fridays and offer the occasional home baked goodies. If anything from my yard or home went missing, I would let their supervisor know, and that I expect it to be returned or replaced. If it were not, I'd take an appropriate replacement amount off their bill (I would, of course, politely let the supervisor know this!).

We are in the process right now of building our house. I like your personal rules! I would do just the same for renovations and such...but building an entire house, well, I'd go broke and wouldn't be able to build it! We have bought the framers lunch twice and took the roofers some beer AFTER they were done for the day. (I felt extremely sorry for them...at one particular point on our house it is 3 stories and this Oklahoma wind has been ridiculous this Summer!---they deserved the beer!) Our builder says you just have to be careful and not do it too often...then it becomes expected! I am so grateful for all their hard work in this heat...somehow a handshake doesn't seem quite enough!

When we had our new furnace installed last winter, the two wonderful men working on the installation (after removing our old furnace for us) brought their own lunches and beverages. When they stayed late into the evening to finish for us, however, we served them the delicious spaghetti with homemade meat sauce that my husband had made for dinner that day. They really enjoyed and appreciated it, since they hadn't eaten in over six hours.

They were exquisitely professional in their work, attended to every detail, answered all our questions, and left the space cleaner than they found it. We were happy to serve them dinner!

About the babysitting--I've been babysitting for years, and just wanted to mention that it depends where you live...if you live in a really urban area, I'd expect to pay more, or a really wealthy area. I live in a moderately wealthy community, and I generally get somewhere between 8-12 dollars an hour, depending on the number of children. And I'm not reimbursed for transportation or food monetarily, although if I'm expected to feed their children, I take it that I'm allowed to eat, fixing myself whatever I'm giving the kids. This might not be helpful, but that's ok, too!

I always try to offer a drink, especially on a hot days, but other than movers I have never provided a meal. Sometimes I have given snacks, like Dunkin Munchkins or the like. I find most people appreciate a monetary gesture, even if it is a $5 tip. This way they can do what they want, and with gas prices what they are now, it seems more appreciated than ever!! Of course if someone is working long term for you it would be unaffordable to tip them daily.

I think courtesy has to come from the heart. Do whatever you feel.... you dont HAVE TO buy lunch, etc. or follow certain rules.... you must do what you feel. The only HAVE TO's here is to give the check and the thank you. I want to offer drinks or food if I FEEL LIKE IT, but it's certainly not mandatory. It's they're job and it shouldn't be expected, however, I would offer just drinks.

We're having a garage, deck and screened in porch built and the house roof replaced so it will be a 3 month job. The two men doing the bulk of the work bring their own lunches and some drinks but I've been making chocolate chip cookies or brownies and putting out a cooler of sodas pretty much since they started. When it's really hot, I offer ice water and if it gets chilly, I make coffee (we live at least 5 miles from a store). A thunderstorm came up the other day so I invited them in for coffee and we chatted until the storm passed and they went back to work. I think we have a good working relationship with them and the owner of the building company. We got 6 estimates for the job and I think we chose well. Our "gut" feeling was that the owner would be honest and hard-working and we were right. They're doing a great job. I can't imagine them stealing anything from us. I actually think I may miss these guys when they're done!

A couple we know said that when the house they had built was done they had a sub sandwich lunch for the workers which I think is something we may want to do.

I want to know more about this fabulous water sprayer!

I agree with providing drinks, regardless of weather. I think that is just a nice thing to do! The Friday lunch sounds nice, too, especially if they'll be around awhile, but otherwise I don't think it is necessary. In the long run, a little gesture like a drink can really make someone's day. We once had painters who became like part of our family as they had a ton to do at our house...the lead one brought the most delicious tamales for Christmas for our family, a treat for everyone!

My husband works in construction and most of the folks he sees he never sees again. If it is really hot and someone provides drinks, it is always appreciated, but even that is not necessary. They are grateful for them, yes, but it isn't an expectation.

In this case, I'd bill them for the hose part, though. That is unforutnate.

Hi!
Do you have a link for the sprayer? I'm in the market for one.
Thanks,
maria

Thanks for this article. I never even thought about this. We currently have a team of 2-3 guys working on our home installing hardwood flooring. It will take them about a week and this is day 3. I have not provided them with anything yet, as they always stop at the coffee shop one block down before they get here in the morning. My husband and I are not home during the day and wouldn't have a problem if they drank gatorade/water/soda... but I haven't offered it. I think if I were home while they were working it would be something that would have occurred to me, but since I either leave just before they get there or just after they get there in the morning, and they're gone by the time I get home, I don't know how/when I would offer them anything. Maybe on Saturday when we're there we will provide them with something. You've got me thinking about it anyway, so I'm thankful for that.

Have any of you actually painted a house? Or installed new roofing? It is exhausting work and laborers generally are not making anywhere near what the company is billing you for their hourly rate. If you tip hairdressers, waiters, etc. you should tip those providing the service of working on your home.

I recently had new carpet put in our house we just bought. I was there cleaning getting ready for move in day while three men installed the carpet. Two of whom did not s peak English so I didn't know how to ask if they needed anything let alone if I should. The third man came a couple hours into the project and spoke English and I kept thinking "I need to offer them water (since that's all I had in the house)", but I just didn't and I have felt very bad about it since. I really felt weird when they left and I just said the carpet looks great and thank you but didn't know if I was supposed to tip them or not. I didn't have cash on me anyway but I didn't know what they expected. So, I guess next time I'm just going to offer what feels right for the situation. At least I can feel better about offering rather than feeling guilty three weeks after the fact.