Setting strict boundaries can sometimes have unintended consequences.

So, what would you do if a homeowner refused to let you use their restroom during a long renovation project?

Well, this home builder finds himself in this very predicament.

Here’s how he handled it

Don’t want me to use your toilet? No problems.

My friend is a builder, and while most of his work consists of building new houses from the ground up, he also does work on existing houses that are occupied.

We live in a semi-rural area in Australia. The population here is quite spread out, and it’s not uncommon for him to travel 60-100 km to a job site.

One such time he was working on a kitchen renovation of a house in a neighbouring town 60 km’s (about 35 miles) away.

It was a decent-sized job, and he was there for over a week.

Obviously, being there for 8 hours at a time, he eventually had to use a toilet, and on the first day, he simply helped himself to a toilet in the house.

Upon arriving on his second day he was greeted by the owner of the house and then told that he was not allowed to use the toilet in their house and that the owner thought it was very rude of him to use it without asking.

Here’s where the problem begins.

“Well, what do you want me to do?” he asked.

“I don’t care, but I don’t want you filthying my clean toilet!” was the response.

“Not a problem,” he answered.

Later in the day, the inevitable happens, and nature called. So he jumped in his ute and drove home, which was a 120 km round trip that took well over an hour.

He made sure she knew he had to leave for an hour.

The homeowner was out for this time and didn’t notice, which disappointed him, but eventually, she returned and saw the progress for the day.

She was happy enough with the work so far, but he couldn’t help himself and said, “I would be a lot further along if I didn’t have to duck out for over an hour.”

“Why did you have to do that?” she asked.

“Well, I had to use the toilet, so I went home.”

At this moment, she realizes what she’s done.

He said that she just stared at him for the longest time, and he could see the cogs turning in her head as to why he would do such a thing.

She never said anything about it, but later in the day, she wanted to discuss payment.

He reminded her that he worked on an hourly rate and that, yes, it included travel time.

That’s when she hit the roof.

A quick reminder that he would happily use her toilet if he was allowed to, but she made it clear that he wasn’t, and she had to eat her words.

Her solution works, but it’s costly.

He felt a bit bad about it so on day 3 he drove into town and used a public toilet instead of driving all the way home – but this still took a good 10-15 mins.

On the morning of day 4, a truck arrived with a hired portaloo for him to use.

This woman was really keen to keep him out of her toilet and ended up paying who knows how much extra for it.

Bet she didn’t see that coming!

Let’s see what the fine folks over at Reddit had to say about this issue.

This person can see both sides.

These people have been in a similar situation and shared their restroom.

This must’ve been a miserable job.

Here’s an excellent thought – and they’re not wrong.

She got what she asked for.

Next time, she’ll probably rent a portaloo from the start!

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.