To confront my neighbours

lots of people buy a project. I did. There often isn’t exactly what you want in the area you want. If you live in suburbia you are
likely going at some stage to experience a neighbour building an extension or converting a roof space or building a garden room.

yes those builders should be considerate but there will always be the occasional loud building and loud DIY project in an average street. I actually find my power hosing obsessed neighbour louder than the building work!!!

There’s nothing you can do. Exactly the same thing happened to me (twice). You can either say nothing - or go and complain. If you complain that’s you finished with your neighbours and you still have to live there. You have my deepest sympathy.
Why oh why do people move into a house then proceed to practically rebuild it? It drives me nuts. Why not find something more to their liking in the first place?🙄

I would find out what the rules are in your area. Once you have that information go and talk to them and come up with a compromise. Maybe you go into the office to work and not worry about the noise in the evening, but insist they are quiet on Sunday assuming that is part of the requirements your council has. If they won’t compromise I would go to the council and ask for assistance.

@LemonLymanDotCom where did I say confront...? Maybe read properly before accusing lovely...!

Oh how embarrassing.

Please provide a link to you Councils rules on this.

If in UK contact council. Round here no building work (even DIY) before 8:30 or after 17:00 Monday to Friday, they can work Saturday am only, no work Sunday or bank holidays

My commute is @ 30mins. It's >£36.

Some proper Victor Meldrews about today.

Tbh why not ask for £500 a day and say you have to work out of the Floria office? Worth a crack.

Find out from your local council when noisy work is and isn't allowed. It's generally something like 8–6 weekdays, shorter on Saturdays and nothing on Sundays.
Why is going into work so expensive?
Would a workspace or a cafe be cheaper?

My council noisy work hours are 8-6 M-Fri, 8-1 Sat, no Sundays or bank holidays. It can't be just you they're inconveniencing, so I'd phone the council helpline and ask them to intervene. It won't show as coming from you. You're entitled to weekends off, and if the neighbours want to crack on, they can do painting etc non-noisy stuff after hours. Fair's fair!

a few years ago I used to work only occasionally in the office the train was a 50 minute journey and would cost £117 a day . Don’t make assumptions when you don’t know others reality

I wish you were my neighbour - you've been so patient! And I think your neighbours are being rather unreasonable. But I would bite your tongue and keep things cordial if you can. I asked my neighbour a couple of years ago if she could smoke a little further down the garden (we share steps to it) rather than outside my back door as the smoke was blowing into my house once an hour, every hour. I was really nice about it but since then things have gone rapidly downhill, neither of them now speak to me, and she still smokes outside my backdoor (she was pretty hostile before I'd spoken to her TBH). So, based on my experience, I would say it really isn't worth upsetting your neighbours - you've been so patient this far that they must think you are an angel, and having hostile neighbours is really unsettling. Asking for a rough idea of the schedule sounds like a good idea- if they can provide one -so that you can work around this.

Check your councils “reasonable hours” policy- most state no noisy work before/after a certain time and on certain days not at all. My mum had this issue with a neighbour constantly doing noisy work- 7am until 10 every day and she neatly had a nervous breakdown. Those people saying oh they can’t do renovations without noise etc- never underestimate just how awful it can be and 3mths is plenty of time to have got the very noisy work done

Personally I would just kept quiet to keep the peace and hope they are finished soon, it can't go on forever. If going to the office is so expensive, maybe look at hiring an office space short term to work from, or find a nice quiet cafe that don't mind you occupying one of their tables for hours on end.

If there is construction work outside permitted hours, you can report to your local council who should have a word. The hours are:
Monday to Friday - 07:30 to 18:30-hrs. Saturday - 07:30 to 13:00-hrs. At no time on Sundays or Public Holidays

They knocked in to tell us the work was happening and they then had the luxury of living somewhere else whilst the work was done.

They do sound totally inconsiderate @Tigger1895 but to be fair to them, living elsewhere during big renovation works isn't a luxury - it would have taken much longer had they remained living on site, which isn't in your best interest either. We're looking at doing the same during our planned renovations and it will cost us a LOT, but it would be a nightmare staying on site and cause a lot of inconvenience to the builders and considerably hamper progress.

They still sound like stinkers, but that part isn't unreasonable.

I've never complained to anyone else and I wouldn't be that receptive to others complaining unless we did something that went beyond the norm and in which case I would apologise and rectify. "It's noisy in the day" isn't really within that remit

I've only ever complained once and we actually got an apology - I think the arseholes were covering themselves in case I complained to their company as they were doing noisy work outside permitted hours for their mate and their vans were parked outside. Otherwise it's a case of live and let live - DH has done a lot of work on our house, although he only did noisy work between 9 and 4 to be considerate.

I don't think it's realistic and the latter jobs such as plastering and the like will be a lot quieter. It's swings and roundabouts isn't it definitely around here, loads of people having work done as no one wants to move. I've never complained to anyone else and I wouldn't be that receptive to others complaining unless we did something that went beyond the norm and in which case I would apologise and rectify. "It's noisy in the day" isn't really within that remit

I am having my home renovated soon. Do you think I should go and ask my neighbours when my builders are allowed to do the work on my house? Allowing for naps and SAHWs? Really?

Read the title of your thread ‘should I confront my neighbours’.

I get what you are saying but with more & more people working from home, covid gave some the flexibility they had been asking for for years, many have paid a premium to change their mortgages & home insurances etc so they can work from home, because legally you have to do that at a point.

It depends on what you do and who your insurance is with as to whether you have to tell them. My contents insurance is with Direct Line and as I don't have work visitors or hold stock here I don't need to notify them. I've no idea about the buildings insurance as that's arranged by the freeholder and I can't remember who it's with right now.

Why do people think 3/6 months is unrealistic? A renovation can easily take a year. New builds getting thrown up have massive teams of labourers you can't compare it, the process is completely different.

@Blowdown I can tell from your reactions you have know matter and don't know the process, I am not even going to stoop to your level anymore. I will not be answering you again

I get what you are saying but with more & more people working from home, covid gave some the flexibility they had been asking for for years, many have paid a premium to change their mortgages & home insurances etc so they can work from home, because legally you have to do that at a point.

Building works should ‘ideally’ not start before 8am & this article, https://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/What_hours_are_construction_sites_allowed_to_operate%3F , was a good read for permitted works ideas OP could take to the new neighbours.

At the end of the day OP has been more than accommodating, the new neighbours are now taking the piss saying the work will take about her 3months - I’m wondering if new neighbours knew the ball park length of the build beforehand but chose to water down the plans to keep neighbours sweet & get the go ahead -, the works are being done in a residential area not in the middle of nowhere so noisy building work 14hrs a day, seven days a week is really not on.

Would you be happy being unable to relax or even think straight in your own home between the hours of 7am & 9pm 7 days a week due to the building noise?
I certainly wouldn’t & I can assure you the new neighbours wouldn’t either 😬

On the subject of compensation @Blowdown many building firms compensate those living within a certain radius of their ongoing works.
These are big companies but it isn’t something new, unheard of or compensation grabbing either.
There is a load of new housing, 30 houses in total so not massive but big enough ti create a lot of mess & dust around the site, being built at the top end of my town & everyone within a mile radius is getting money towards gas & electricity bills as they are unable to dry clothes outside due to the dust from the building works & fortnightly window cleans have been scheduled while the work is ongoing. They will also receive compensation at the end of the build for the inconvenience & any out of pocket expenses incurred due to the works.

I'm.pretty certain it's against the law to carry out noisy work on a Sunday

YANBU op but be prepared for an I don’t know.

I had this experience with a new neighbour when my baby was just a few weeks old. He didn’t say he was getting a full redevelopment of his 2bed semi and when asked for info to allow me to plan (with a 6week old baby)was told he wasn’t a developer and didn’t know. It lasted months and months and then he had an extension built a year later and his garden landscaped after that.