Butler
Posted on August 23, 2007 - Filed Under Housing |
If there is one aspect of housing renovation to be changed, it’s unlocking doors for the people working for you.
I’m a nervous person by habit whereas I lock doors behind me. Too many slasher movies have demonstrated to me that Jason or Freddie are lurking behind the bushes just waiting for an unlocked door.
Every time my cell rings with "Cliff, I’m at the house." I have to stop whatever I’m doing in order to drive there and let them in. When working a 9 to 5, this can become a royal pain in the butt. Quickly. For me, it’s 30 minutes to the house and 30 minutes back. Each drive is easily 1 hour.
When shopping for deadbolts, I considered getting a numbered keypad. Letting the contractors have the number and when they were done, change the access code. But those are nearly twice as much as the deadbolt. But having driven to the house multiple times in the same day I wonder if the extra money would have been worth my sanity.
SFX: Cell Phone Rings
Clifford: Oh you’re there? OK. The code to get in is 5476. Then turn the knob. OK, good luck!
Yeah, the Star Trek option sounds much better.
The alternative is to hire either Jeeves or Alfred to let them in. But I’m on a budget. Unless they are willing to work for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
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Comments
6 Responses to “Butler”
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Clifford,
I don’t get it. Why don’t you put a lockbox on the house again?
The lockbox with keypad costs like $30 and you can change the codes all you want and you can take it with you when you are done.
There has to be days when you would be willing to pay someone $30 to go over and open the place up for you.
Your time is worth WAY more than $30 an HOUR.
You need to purchase a contractor lock box. It fits on the door handle or hose pipe in the same way as the MLS lock box does. There are several varieties, but they all have combinations that can be changed. When you finish the project, you remove the box and reset the combination for the next project. Unless someone copies the keys, it’s the best way to let people in the house when you can’t be there.
Get a lockbox. Home Depot and Lowes sell them. Attach it to a hose bib outside and give contractors the code. If you are really paranoid, you can change the code every week. These are one of my Two Must Have Items For REI. See http://shaunsre.blogspot.com/2004/08/two-must-have-items-for-re-investing.html for more info.
You could also get a lockbox and put it somewhere outside and give them the code as they call.
Hey Cliff, I’ve been hearing about these lockboxes . . . . . .
Thanks to all of you, I am now the proud owner of my very own contractor lock box. Maybe I should gripe more often!