Tradesmen Ettiquite - Should I stay or should I go ?

I felt funny about just leaving too but it was much preferable to hanging around all day. I was lucky that we were living at my Mum's just around the corner so I could pop in and out and was only a couple of minutes away if they called me for some reason.
If you're anything like me it's probably better for your stress levels if you're not there anyway. I always worry that something will go wrong or get wrecked so it's better for everyone if I'm not there radiating stress and driving everyone mad.

If you do for what ever reason decide to stay. Make sure you feed them with some morning tea and lunch as well as a few beers at the end of the job.
Don't let your eagerness to move in compromise a quaility job when they are left to do their work.
i'd say leave them be and to call you when they are done.

I guess the empty house/full house scenario probably weighs into the discussion a lot more here. if my house was empty, then I'd be happy to leave them be - provided I had somewhere to go or something else to do.

I've helped plumbers & sparkys before. Holding bits, cutting pipes to the right length and other gopher work for the plumber, and running cables, drilling holes etc for sparkies.

If i can help, and the assistance is welcomed, then I will.
If I can't help, then I stay clear of them & leave them to do their work.

I was in the opposite (full house/empty house) scenario with flooring tradies in june - we'd already moved in a number of items, just not into the affected rooms, when the floorsanders came in.
I was on annual leave for 3 weeks, and trying to get a lot of stuff done.

First day, I simply opened up & left them be, and went down into the garage to assemble shelves & stuff. A couple of times he came to get me to ask questions, and commented that it was easier than calling on the phone.
When they stopped for lunch I joined them, offering them cold drinks from the fridge, but they refused.

The next day I opened up, and then went into work for a few hours for an important meeting. I left them with instructions to lock the door & slip the key back under it when they finished. He rang 2-3 times to ask about colour/finish as they were worried how it looked compared to what they had suggested to me. I got the feeling he was a litle uncomfortable having to lock up the house too.

The 3rd day I was home all day again, and spent most of it in the garage. I did, however, ask them what beer they drank, and was quite prepared to buy them a carton each, as they worked their butts off, but they both refused! They wouldn't accept anything I offered!

They did a fantastic job, and I'm sure the finish woud have been just as good had I been there or not, as they were quick to contact me with any concerns.

But the long & the short of it is, if you stick around, stay out of their way.

If the house is empty i would just leave them there to do their thing and ask them to lock up on the way out, if you not comfortable with that the tradies if they mind if i hang around and make sure i gave them morning tea, i think it depends on the tradie and if they feel like they are being watched over and babysat for lack of a better word

NEVER heard of a tradie refusing beer!!

They must have worked for a large corporate or governement department at sometime and had been trained to refuse gifts as it could be seen as favouritism or corrupt behaviour

I would have put the carton on their bonnet - so they had to take it

Steve