With all the activity in the basement, the area just outside the basement has become a large trash heap. As they remove junk from the basement, the workmen carry it the absolute minimum distance, resulting in several large piles of crap just outside the door. A big part of construction seems to be one subcontractor's leaving their junk for the next guy to clean up, creating a sort of pecking order. Therefore, as you might expect, the guy who does that cleanup is the general contractor's least experienced employee.