Accommodation for whole crews: housing 10+ workers — how it works

How do you house 10 or more fitters at the same time?

Most reliably through a single bundled enquiry with complete key details: headcount, period, place of work, beds needed per room, kitchens, parking spaces. Whole crews rarely fit into one single property — the usual answer is one large unit plus an add-on, or several apartments close to the site. Planning early and enquiring cleanly avoids the classic last-minute problems.

From around ten people upwards, the search changes fundamentally. Phoning round for individual worker rooms works for two or three people; for a whole crew it quickly becomes a full-time job for the scheduler. This article shows how housing large teams works in practice: from the "one address or split up" decision, through the right kind of enquiry, to the pitfalls that regularly put assignments at risk.

One address or split across several properties?

The fundamental decision first: one location for everyone is logistically simplest, but from ten people upwards it is often not available. A compromise is frequently the realistic outcome — one large main unit for the core of the team plus one or two additional apartments nearby. What matters is that all the accommodation is within an acceptable drive of the site.

The case for one address is short journeys: travelling together in one or two vehicles, one contact person, one invoice, straightforward communication within the team. A whole house or a large apartment with several bedrooms is the ideal solution here — if one exists at the place of work.

The case for splitting across several units is availability: two four-room apartments in the same district are easier to get almost anywhere than one property for twelve people. It can also have advantages in personnel terms — where the foreman and the crew are to live separately, for instance, or where subcontractors get their own unit. The price: more coordination, more contact people, more vehicles.

As a rule of thumb for planning: keep the maximum distance between the units small — ideally walkable or a few minutes' drive. As soon as part of the team lives half an hour away, the crew splits organisationally into two site teams.

House, large apartment or room cluster: which type of property fits?

For crews of ten people and up, three types of property come into question: a complete house, several worker apartments together, or a cluster of individual worker rooms with the same landlord. The house is the most comfortable solution, apartments together the most flexible, the room cluster the fallback with the most friction.

The complete house gives the team exclusive use: its own kitchen — ideally more than one for large teams — several bathrooms, a common room, often a garden or yard for vehicles. Nobody shares with other guests, and the house rules affect only your own team. The drawback: such properties are scarce and are booked up early in conurbations.

Several apartments together — in the same building or the same street, for example — come close to the house. Each apartment has its own kitchen and bathroom, and the team splits up sensibly (by trade or by shift, for instance). Important: book with the same landlord where possible, so that invoicing and the point of contact stay unified.

The room cluster — many single rooms in a guesthouse or rooming house — works when nothing else is available. Shared communal kitchens and bathrooms with other guests do create friction, though, especially with shift work. If it has to be a cluster, try to secure a whole floor or a separate section exclusively.

On bed numbers: it is not just the headcount that matters, but the room layout. Clarify in advance whether double occupancy is acceptable for your team. Many companies now deliberately book single occupancy — that increases the number of rooms needed considerably and should be stated in the enquiry from the outset.

What belongs in an enquiry for a crew

A complete enquiry speeds everything up, because the landlord can check immediately whether their property fits. State at least: headcount, period with any possible extension, place of work or site address, desired occupancy (single or double rooms) and the fit-out points that are non-negotiable for your team.

The enquiry checklist in detail:

• Headcount and occupancy: how many people, how many beds per room are acceptable, single occupancy wanted yes/no
• Period: arrival date, planned duration, extension option — construction schedules shift, and the landlord should know that in advance
• Kitchens: for 10+ people a single kitchenette is rarely enough; ask about the number of hobs and the size of fridges and dining area
• Bathrooms and WCs: ask at least roughly about the ratio of people per bathroom — one bathroom for ten people before a shift starts is a real source of conflict
• Parking spaces: how many vehicles, what size (van, trailer, Sprinter with a body) — parking for several company vehicles is the most common bottleneck in city centres
• Washing machine and dryer: practically essential for multi-week assignments with large teams
• Wi-Fi: for time recording, site apps and downtime in the evening
• Invoicing: company invoice with VAT shown separately, preferred billing rhythm, one contracting party for all units

The more specific the enquiry, the more reliable the commitment. Vague enquiries ("need something for about 10 people, period still unclear") end up, in landlords' experience, at the bottom of the pile, because they cannot be costed.

Lead time: when you should enquire for a crew

The larger the team, the earlier the enquiry should go out. For ten people and more, several weeks of lead time is realistic — large properties are scarce, and in regions with trade fairs or major construction projects you are competing with other companies for the same beds. As soon as the contract and place of work are confirmed, the accommodation search should start in parallel with the site planning.

That does not mean nothing is possible at short notice — but the choice shrinks with every day. Anyone starting to look only a week before the assignment begins has to fall back more often on several scattered units, or make compromises on fit-out and location. On predictable projects, an early enquiry is the simplest lever for better accommodation on better terms: landlords reward planning certainty, especially for long occupancies. Which factors determine the price on large bookings is explained in our article on the price factors for worker accommodation.

Typical pitfalls with large teams — and how to avoid them

The most common problems when housing crews are commitments that fall through, unclear changes of occupancy, and capacity that was larger on paper than in reality. All three can largely be defused through written confirmations, clear contractual rules and an honest enquiry.

Commitments that fall through: a verbal promise on the phone is not a booking. Particularly with large, lucrative occupancies, it happens that a landlord lets the property elsewhere in the meantime if nothing is fixed in writing. Insist on a written booking confirmation stating the property, headcount, period and price — and clarify the cancellation terms in both directions.

Changes of occupancy: on assignments the crew often changes — people rotate, subcontractors join, individuals leave early. Clarify in advance whether people may be swapped, whether billing is by bed or by person, and how arrivals and departures are notified. Without this rule, disputes at the invoicing stage are almost inevitable.

Shifted construction schedules: sites start later, run longer, get interrupted. Negotiate an extension option and realistic cancellation deadlines before you sign — not once the site manager moves the date.

Capacity on paper: "sleeping places for 12" can also mean four rooms with three beds each, one kitchenette and one bathroom. Ask specifically about the layout and get current photos or a floor plan before you commit.

No single point of contact: if twelve people are spread across three properties with three landlords, someone on the company side needs to hold all the threads — otherwise key handovers, defect reports and invoices get lost in the daily grind of the site.

Organisation during the assignment: what counts after move-in

After move-in, internal organisation decides whether the occupancy runs smoothly. A fixed pattern has proven itself: one responsible person per property, clear rules for the kitchen, cleaning and quiet hours — and a documented condition from day one.

Appoint a quarters supervisor for each unit, usually the foreman or the most senior fitter on site. They keep in contact with the landlord, report defects, manage keys when staff change, and are the one number the landlord calls instead of working through half the team. Where there are several units, all the quarters supervisors report back to the scheduler.

Second point: settle the house rules internally before the landlord has to. Who showers and does laundry when under shift working, how the kitchen is to be left, who takes the bins out — ten men in one house work well with agreements and not at all without them. Complaints from neighbours or the landlord are the most common reason for early termination on large occupancies, and almost always they would have been avoidable with simple internal rules.

And third: document the condition of every unit at move-in with photos and a handover record. With crews whose composition changes, this is doubly important, because otherwise nobody can say at the end which damage occurred when.

One enquiry instead of fifteen calls: how a placement service helps

The most laborious part of housing a crew is not the living, but the searching: clicking through portals, calling landlords, cross-checking availability, collecting rejections — and all that for properties large enough for the whole team. That is exactly the part a placement service takes off your hands: you submit an enquiry with all the key details, we look for suitable accommodation in our provider network and come back to you with specific proposals.

For the scheduler that means: put headcount, period, place of work and requirements together properly once — instead of repeating the same details fifteen times on the phone. Particularly with large teams, where several units often have to be combined, a bundled search is the fastest route. The booking itself then runs directly with the landlord; you keep full control over the contract and the terms.

What even a placement service cannot change: the enquiry has to be complete, and for ten people and more, early lead time remains the most important success factor. Get both right and even a large crew can be housed without drama — at one address, or sensibly split up.