Meal Ideas for Home Improvement Contractors

You've hired a crew of home improvement contractors to help you with a project. While you don't need to play host, these folks are going to be in your home for a while. Making their time on the jobsite pleasant encourages a good working relationship with your home improvement contractors and what better way to do that than provide them with a meal? This is especially a nice idea if your "contractors" are friends and family members. Here are five easy meal ideas for home improvement workers.

Meal Ideas for Home Improvement Contractors - Pizza
Take advantage of cheap pizza specials from delivery places such as Pizza Hut and Dominos. Check your weekly junk mail bundles for coupons. Often times, pizza delivery places run specials on their large-sized pizzas, perfect for a crew of home improvement contractors. If you feel ambitious, making pizza from scratch is also an easy, quick meal idea. For extra brownie points, ask the crew what toppings they prefer!

Meal Ideas for Home Improvement Contractors - Roast beef sandwiches:
Slow cook in a crock pot and offer buns, Swiss cheese, and potato chips. Contractors can serve themselves and grab a bite to eat any time of the day. This meal can last over several days and makes your home smell good! Provide bowls for those who want to dip their roast beef sandwich au jus style. Keep paper plates, napkins, and disposable eating utensils handy.

Meal Ideas for Home Improvement Contractors: Chili or Soup:
Chili and soup are easy to make dishes that are cheap, serve a lot of people, and very filling. Cook the chili or soup in a crockpot so it stays warm all day. Provide chili toppings such as sour cream and cheese. Don't forget the cornbread!

Meal Ideas for Home Improvement Contractors: Taco Bar:
Tacos are always a hit and an easy meal for a large group of hungry contractors. Simply brown a few pounds of hamburger, and set out all of the ingredients on the kitchen table or bar. Contractors can fix their tacos however they please. The ground beef can either be kept simmering on the stove or you can place in a crockpot to keep warm. If you're expecting a very large crowd, you might want to buy your ingredients from a wholesale club, like Costco, to save money.

Meal Ideas for Home Improvement Contractors - Breakfast:
Start a pot of coffee when you wake up and start filling up the thermoses. Then, make an early-morning trip to the donut shop or bakery for a few dozen donuts. These breakfast treats will earn you "brownie" points with your contractors. This is an excellent, easy way to show appreciation for the workers, especially if you need to leave for work in the morning and the team will be in your house all day.

For drinks, offer thermoses of coffee, coolers filled with soda and bottled water, or mix up some Kool-Aid or other powdered beverage drink. Don't serve alcoholic beverages. It's a remodeling project, not a party.

Contractors tend to bring their own lunch to the jobsite, so if you're planning on feeding them, give the crew a head's up. If family and friends are your "crew", cooking a meal is definitely a great way to show your appreciation for their time and hard work.

While your home improvement contractors won't expect you to feed them and have beverages on-hand, a hot meal and a cold beverage are always appreciated. A happy home improvement crew will be more interested in working with you in the future, fix anything that goes wrong, and perhaps do a side project not included in the bid (such as attaching hardware to cabinets) or even cut you a deal on the price.