Annoying house builders

[Shead]

Hey guys, to keep the story really short, my neighbour is rebuilding their house, and everyday between 11am-3pm when no one is home the builders are plugging their power tools in our outdoor electricity plugs. Now this has been going for at least a month now, I've informed the builders a few times that we do not want them coming to our property and using our electricity, i've even left a note on the plug that reads "do not use electricity", my dad even went to the trouble of shutting off the outlets at the back. they've even gone to the back of our house and turned on the outlets. Now my parents do not want to involve the police blah blah blah... Now im just wondering what are my rights here and if theres anything i can do to stop these assholes from what they are doing.

thx

[Mr.HappySilp]

Take pictures and send to police next time they come to your house. Invasion of private.

Or you could get a really big and mean dog and when they come spare them with those BBQ sauce for meant and watch the dog chase them out.

[Greenstoner]

talk to city hall

[LP700-4]

Talk to your neighbour (Owner of house) and tell them to tell the builders to use the other house next to them's electricity.

[seakrait]

it's theft and it's costing your parents money. police/bc hydro should be informed. if they're doing this at your house, they've done this at all the other houses they've built before.

[MindBomber]

More than likely there's no power source at the house currently and that's why they're plugging into yours, if that's the case, good luck stopping them. The trades need power to work, if the builder isn't providing it onsite through a temporary panel for whatever reason, they need to find it somewhere or go home for the day. I don't want to come across as an ass hole tradesmen, stealing your power and pissing in the bushes, but when builders cheap out we need to improvize. I've had to do this many times, and it's always on the same companies job sites.

You need to speak with the builder, not the site boss, the person who your neighbours are actually giving their checks too. Tell him it's not acceptable and will no longer be tolerated, if it continues you'll be contacting your neighbours, his clients, directly.

Having the police involved at this point would be foolish, because I doubt it's not one person or one company plugging in. The police aren't going to track down ten different people each for stealing $4 worth of electricity.

[Shead]

Originally Posted by seakrait

it's theft and it's costing your parents money. police/bc hydro should be informed. if they're doing this at your house, they've done this at all the other houses they've built before.

i've thought about contacting the city and the police. parents are considering talking to the head contractor and the home owner. are they not supposed to have their own power source when they put up new homes?

Ps: theyve already ruined our fence to their side when they were bulldozing the house down.these guys are extremely unprofessional.

[Shead]

Originally Posted by MindBomber

More than likely there's no power source at the house currently and that's why they're plugging into yours, if that's the case, good luck stopping them. The trades need power to work, if the builder isn't providing it onsite through a temporary panel for whatever reason, they need to find it somewhere or go home for the day. I don't want to come across as an ass hole tradesmen, stealing your power and pissing in the bushes, but when builders cheap out we need to improvize. I've had to do this many times, and it's always on the same companies job sites.

You need to speak with the builder, not the site boss, the person who your neighbours are actually giving their checks too. Tell him it's not acceptable and will no longer be tolerated, if it continues you'll be contacting your neighbours, his clients, directly.

Having the police involved at this point would be foolish, because I doubt it's not one person or one company plugging in. The police aren't going to track down ten different people each for stealing $4 worth of electricity.

thank you for the insight. i was actually hoping someone in the trade would give me some info here. so glad someone RS is in this trade. will contact the home owner/project leader asap

[LP700-4]

Usually these contractors have multiple gas generators making their own power.

We've experienced this whole thing too. They knocked down 2 sections of the fence, they fix those two sections and repaint if necessary.

[ruthless]

Can't you trip the breaker from the panel? Therefore cutting off the electricity to the outlets, I understand that it may cut off the electricity to a certain part of the house, but if you do it enough times the contractors will have to move on...

Also I know when building a house you can apply to get a temporary hydro meter installed so the contractors can use their equipment, this is at the expense of the homeowner...maybe the homeowners too cheap

[Shead]

Originally Posted by LP700-4

Usually these contractors have multiple gas generators making their own power.

We've experienced this whole thing too. They knocked down 2 sections of the fence, they fix those two sections and repaint if necessary.

thats what i assumed but according to mindbomber they company cheaped out

[Renthal]

Get some of those deer sprinklers that blast in the direction of movement…
or just talk to the foreman and the home owners

[wstce92]

Absolutely despicable. I haven't had my blood boil from reading something in a while.
If you don't want to involve the police or anything like that, I'd just go through the trouble of finding a way to lock the main panel so they can't turn the power back on.
IMO, anyone who would do this without asking, and then keep doing upon being told not to, won't change their ways even if you talk to the head contractor. These type of inconsiderate assholes can only be taught through punishment. Because I'm a vindictive asshole, if I were in your position, I'd fix the outlets so they shock who ever plugs something in.

[MindBomber]

Originally Posted by LP700-4

Usually these contractors have multiple gas generators making their own power.

We've experienced this whole thing too. They knocked down 2 sections of the fence, they fix those two sections and repaint if necessary.

No, that's no true. A generator would only be used if absolutely necessary; on a remote job site where hydro has yet to hook the power up to yet, for example. Imagine the annual cost of fuel and maintenance running generators all day, everyday on multiple job sites, it's totally impractical.

The builder should have a temp panel with outlets and a meter hook up to the grid, that's standard practice industry practice.

Originally Posted by wstce92

These type of inconsiderate assholes can only be taught through punishment. Because I'm a vindictive asshole, if I were in your position, I'd fix the outlets so they shock who ever plugs something in.

You should read my post, maybe it will make your blood boil even more, I've done it countless times. Want to shock me bro, since I'm an asshole?

Many trades work on a site for only a few days, they don't own generators, and if they walk off the job since there's no power they won't be given any more work. It's the builders responsibility to provide power, we just do what's necessary in an uncomfortable situation.

Originally Posted by quasi

Easy solution, unplug there cord and cut it into pieces. Cords aren't cheap, cut a couple cords they'll get the message.

I'd make a trip home from work during the day just to do this.

If you really want to stop them, shut off the power, remove the outlet, turn it back on.

BYO... electrical outlet

[quasi]

Easy solution, unplug there cord and cut it into pieces. Cords aren't cheap, cut a couple cords they'll get the message.

I'd make a trip home from work during the day just to do this.

[Graeme S]

Hmm... sounds familiar. You live on Capitol Hill?

[seakrait]

Originally Posted by MindBomber

More than likely there's no power source at the house currently and that's why they're plugging into yours, if that's the case, good luck stopping them. The trades need power to work, if the builder isn't providing it onsite through a temporary panel for whatever reason, they need to find it somewhere or go home for the day. I don't want to come across as an ass hole tradesmen, stealing your power and pissing in the bushes, but when builders cheap out we need to improvize. I've had to do this many times, and it's always on the same companies job sites.

the ends do not justify the means. just because it's only $4 of electricity doesn't make it right. just because it's right there and the trades need it to do their job doesn't make it right. it's the OP's parents' property and the trades are trespassing and stealing electricity.

[Manic!]

Why not just talk to the owner of the house and ask for some money to cover your hydro costs. That would be the smart and reasonable thing to do.

Also I have never seen a builder use a gas generator when building a house. Not only would the fuel costs be high the noise would piss off the neighbors.

[quasi]

Originally Posted by MindBomber

Many trades work on a site for only a few days, they don't own generators, and if they walk off the job since there's no power they won't be given any more work. It's the builders responsibility to provide power, we just do what's necessary in an uncomfortable situation.

Residential must be different, I've never worked for someone who didn't provide power. I'd be pissed if I sent my guys to a job site and there was no power, I'd tell them to pack up and go home and the general not to call me back until it's there.

[MindBomber]

Originally Posted by quasi

Residential must be different, I've never worked for someone who didn't provide power. I'd be pissed if I sent my guys to a job site and there was no power, I'd tell them to pack up and go home and the general not to call me back until it's there.

If I had the choice, I would strictly do commercial work.

There's so many sketchy builders out to make a quick buck in residential who cheap out on everything, and they still get big contracts because usually home owners never realize what's going on

Originally Posted by seakrait

the ends do not justify the means. just because it's only $4 of electricity doesn't make it right. just because it's right there and the trades need it to do their job doesn't make it right. it's the OP's parents' property and the trades are trespassing and stealing electricity.

I didn't say it was right, I said there's no choice, most people simply can't afford to lose the work.

I usually knock on the neighbours door and ask permission, I really do not like doing it.

[StylinRed]

shoot them and say you thought it was a burglar trying to break in

[nsmb]

there gonna need power tomorrow at 7am so get on it, turn off the breaker(s) to the outside outlets

[Energy]

I know it might be frustrating to the tradespeople but you don't owe them electricity and they have no right to just take it unless you give permission. See if you can reason with them. If not then feel free to... get creative.

[JF.]

if they take something of yours, take something from them.

[mickz]

Cut the shit out of their extension cord. There will be no way that they can patch it up.

We threatened to do that when my asshole neighbors decided to re-build next door.