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Is your builder taking too many breaks?

Is your builder taking the biscuit with too many tea breaks?

Does it seems like only 30 minutes since your builders had their last tea break? Are you constantly peeking through the curtains to check they are not back in their van with a flask, or sitting on your driveway having another sup and a chin wag?

Before you stride out and start insisting they get back to work, you might want to listen to new evidence that 82 per cent of builders believe regular tea breaks are good for their productivity.

Builders need breaks

Regular tea breaks, says a study by internet retailer Appliance Direct, can be beneficial for contractors who work physically demanding jobs. Not only is it a chance for contractors to gather their thoughts before heading back to a job, but having a cuppa is also a good way of improving builder/client relations by using the time to talk over any issues or ideas.

Research found that five tea breaks a day, not including lunch, with each break lasting six minutes is the optimum number, which works out as a 130 hours (or five days) a year spent drinking tea.

With this in mind it is still a good idea to read each situation on its own merits before you decide to say something. Legally, workers have the right to one uninterrupted 20 minute rest break during their working day, if they work more than six hours a day.

If your builder is on a day rate rather than a single price for the whole job and you feel the tea breaks are getting longer and more frequent with little progress being made, then it is ultimately your money that they are wasting, and you are well within your rights to say something or suggest that they work later to reach targets on time.

However, if the job price includes labour, then it is up to them to some extent as to how long they want to work – again as long as targets are being met.

Ultimately, it is a brave employer who comes between their workers and their tea break. For hundreds of years, the tea or coffee break has long been an integral part of the working day. As George Orwell, in his essay ‘A Nice Cup of Tea’ declared, “Tea is one of the mainstays of civilisation in this country.”