My neighbor’s renovation crew keeps using my outdoor faucet. Do I address the workers or the homeowner?

The first time I saw a contractor filling a bucket from the faucet beside my garage, I assumed my neighbor had asked.

Our houses are close, and the faucet is visible from both driveways. The crew next door has been replacing a kitchen and adding a small rear deck. They arrive around seven, unload tools and spend most of the day moving between the house and a dumpster.

Last Thursday, I watched one worker stretch a hose from my faucet across the side yard. He rinsed dusty tools, filled two buckets and left the hose connected. When I stepped outside and asked whether something was wrong with the water next door, he said, “The owner told us this one was easier.”

The owner had not spoken to me.

I disconnected the hose and told the worker I needed the faucet kept free. He apologized and carried the buckets away. The next morning, a different worker used it again.

The amount of water is probably small. This is not about calculating pennies. It is the assumption that something attached to my house became part of the jobsite because it was convenient. The hose also crosses the route where I take the trash out, and muddy water has been pooling near the garage.

I have a friendly but shallow relationship with the neighbor. We wave and occasionally discuss yard work. He is rarely home while the crew is there. I texted, “Could you ask the contractors not to use our faucet?” He replied four hours later with, “They should be almost done with the messy part.” That is not the same as agreeing to stop.

My partner wants me to shut off the faucet from inside until construction ends. That would work, but it leaves the neighbor believing the arrangement was acceptable until the water mysteriously disappeared. I would rather state the boundary clearly once.

I am also unsure whom to approach. The workers may be following the homeowner’s direction. Repeatedly correcting them puts them between two households. The homeowner created the permission he did not have.

Would you send a firmer text, knock that evening, or speak to the crew supervisor and copy the homeowner? How direct can I be without turning a small amount of borrowed water into a larger neighbor feud?