Have you ever hired a contractor to do a home renovation project? I have a couple times, and both times were very bad experiences, one much worse than the other. All that to say, I can relate to the problems the family in this story is experiencing because from my experience, contractors often greatly underestimate how long a project will take and aren’t always true to their word.

If a contractor left a bunch of his equipment at your house, would you keep it safe and protected until he came to pick it up, or would you leave it exactly where he left it?

In this story, one person is house sitting for their parents, and the contractor the parents hired left his equipment all over in the backyard. He doesn’t seem to be in any rush to come get it, and the house sitter is starting to wonder if leaving it where the contractor left it is the right thing to do or not.

Let’s read the whole story to decide.

AITA for not securing contractors equipment?

I’m live-in house sitting for my parents while they are traveling.

At the start of the year they hired contractors to add some hardscaping in the backyard. This is a small, family owned company with good reviews in a major metro area.

I definitely think they got in over their heads with this project as it’s a bit outside the scope of their portfolio.

Regardless, contractors were supposed to be done months ago, well before my parents departure.

But the job is far from done.

There have been numerous issues addressed with the owner such as ordering the wrong rocks, installing path lights crooked, no showing, working only 3 hours most days, much more.

The project currently sits at maybe 70 percent complete.

My parents are extremely frustrated and have lost trust in the owner and company and have told them to pack their stuff and they can resume work once they return from traveling.

Owner understood and agreed. Parents left the next day.

But that didn’t happen either.

Same day as their departure owner called, said his father passed away. Said he needs a few days and will come over Wednesday to pick everything up.

Parents said ok, empathized, said take your time.

Fast forward a month…their equipment is still sitting exactly where they left it. Shop vac out, pop up canopy up, concrete and mortar bags (now hardened), various tools, cement mixer, buckets, tile, rocks etc.

OP isn’t doing anything to protect the contractor’s equipment.

I’ve been letting it rain on their equipment, they are now getting sunbleached and rusty.

They’ve said twice they’d be out to get it on two separate dates, no showed.

We were predicted to have strong storms last night so I finally took down the pop up canopy so it wouldn’t blow away/into the house. I simply took it down and laid it on the ground, did not cover anything, pick up or protect anything.

AITA for not securing his items??

I’m trying to prepare for if/when he does come pick up his things, for him to complain about the state they’re in.

It’s not OP’s responsibility to protect the contractor’s equipment. If he cares about it, he can come get it.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a waitress who refused to return a tip after a party returned to the restaurant with a complaint.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

This is a good point.

Another person wouldn’t worry about it.

One person would threaten to sell it.

This is sad!

I don’t think OP has anything to worry about. It’s not their responsibility to protect equipment that the contractor should’ve picked up a long time ago.

One time, we had a contractor leave a ladder at our house. Month went by. Years went by. It’s been over a decade and we still have that ladder. We didn’t have one, so we just kept it, but if the contractor ever comes back for it, they can have their old, paint-stained ladder back.

The contractor will collect his tools if he cares about them.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a professor who missed a major funding deadline after they told their graduate student to leave them alone.