ᐅ Topping-out ceremony in the context of COVID-19

netuser schrieb:

For various reasons, we were also unable to properly plan the topping-out ceremony, so it couldn’t take place in the traditional way.

However, we took the opportunity at short notice to casually invite relatives, friends, and neighbors to drop by the construction site from 5 p.m. on the appointed day.
There was no official speech, no wreath…, but a brief address from us in which we expressed our gratitude to the workers and others involved. Along with that, we had a small buffet, some standing tables, plenty of drinks and snacks… right in the middle of the street 🙂
Of course, this isn’t always possible everywhere, but in our case it turned into a successful “street party,” where interested guests could already stroll through the house and get to know half the neighborhood in a relaxed, informal atmosphere.

I can definitely recommend this, as it’s definitely better than doing “nothing” at all.
It also frees you from the feeling that you absolutely have to organize a barbecue or something similar afterwards. You can still do that later, certainly in a more informal setting with already familiar neighbors and so on.

That always depends on the area and how well you know your neighbors. From stories told by several homeowners, workers or tradespeople are often quite surprised if the builder shows up frequently. They’re not used to it—especially not if the builder brings food or drinks 😎

We’ll see :-)

We also had our topping-out ceremony last week and had given it a lot of thought beforehand about whether to hold it. We only invited the craftsmen because, in our view, it is mainly about them. The intention is to thank the tradespeople who have worked so far, not to organize a big party for friends and family. Therefore, the time (for us, 4 p.m. after the carpenters’ working hours) might be early for your case but is certainly not unusual. It is quite rare for craftsmen who have already been on site to come again during the week after a long day elsewhere. So after 5 or 6 p.m. or even on weekends, none of the tradespeople will come. In the end, the carpenters, our architects, and the electrician were there. I’m glad we held the ceremony even on a very small scale. Overall, it is a nice tradition, even without a big celebration. We had taken time off accordingly. We had also informed our immediate neighbors, of whom we currently have only two, although only one of the neighbor households was able to attend.

netuser schrieb:

For various reasons, we also couldn’t properly plan the topping-out ceremony, so it couldn’t take place in the "traditional" way.

That sounds really nice and I would love such an informal approach as well!

However, for example, on our site on Fridays from around 12 to 1 PM (noon to 1 PM), no one was left at the construction site.

Did you or anyone else give small tokens of appreciation (and especially what kind?) for the tradespeople? We currently have three workers on site, and I would like to give them something.

Tom1978 schrieb:

That always depends on the area and how well you know the neighbors.

Certainly, it depends on the area, but you don’t have to know the neighbors beforehand. You can simply use the opportunity to get to know them better on that day or occasion 🙂

Tom1978 schrieb:

Where I’m from (according to several home builders), the workers/tradespeople are very surprised when the homeowner shows up frequently. They aren’t used to that. Especially when the homeowner brings food or drinks 😎

Let’s see :-)

That’s true again 🙂
I visit the construction site every morning and evening. The workers have a fully stocked beverage fridge available at all times and are often provided with lunch or similar. They really aren’t used to this. I enjoy it, and so do the workers.

I think this is an important issue that we really messed up... and it still bothers me. Because of COVID, we didn’t speak directly to the workers but only to the company owner, as we weren’t sure if it was even okay for us to approach them (they had already been in quarantine for 14 days (2 weeks)). That’s where things got stuck, and the workers felt overlooked, which was honestly embarrassing for me. They probably have better things to do than celebrate a topping-out ceremony every week (timber frame construction), but I do think showing appreciation and gratitude is important. Since we didn’t know the local customs, we also brought our own wreath for the ceremony, which caused even more confusion (usually the neighbors make the wreath that then has to be ‘bought off’ with a schnapps).

Long story short: do something nice and personal for the workers around 2:00 PM, even if it’s just a tray of cake and coffee, maybe with small gifts. After that, you can leave the house open for neighbors and friends to casually walk through. It doesn’t need to be elaborate, but I think completely skipping it is rather disappointing.

Yaso2.0 schrieb:

That sounds really nice and relaxed, and I would love that too!
However, for example, on Fridays from around 12 to 1 pm (noon to 1 pm) nobody was on the construction site anymore.

At our place, no one is on the construction site on Fridays 🙂
We invited everyone spontaneously and on quite short notice (4-5 days before) and organized an evening in the middle of the week (Tuesday). The weather was good, 30-40 people showed up, and everything was casual with a great atmosphere.

Yaso2.0 schrieb:

Did you or anyone else have small tokens of appreciation for the workers? And especially, what kind of things? We currently have 3 people on site, and I would like to give them something.

Yes, for good workers always gladly.
In fact, this usually means a box of chocolates (such as Merci or similar) plus an envelope with some cash according to your own discretion. If the mood on the site is good, most of them don’t even want to accept anything “out of gratitude.”