Have something done, Have someone do

Have something done

We use the construction have + something + past participle to indicate that someone else performs an action for us.

# By ourselves
We clean the house every Friday.
 
# By someone else
We have the house cleaned every Friday.

Example

• I am going to have my hair cut tomorrow.
• She is having her house redecorated.
• He had his wallet stolen.

Have someone do

In addition, the construction have + person + infinitive allows us to specify who performs an action for us.

# No specifying person
We're having the ground floor redesigned.
 
# Specifying the person
We're having the architect redesign the ground floor.
             ^person       ^infinitive

Caveats

In this construction, have functions as a main verb, not an auxiliary. Use do/did for negative and question sentences.

• We don’t usually have the house painted.
• Did you have your house painted?

References

• Have something done - Test-English