Is it common decency to inform neighbours who wfh about loud noises?

This^ Or if a party with music going into night. But daytime gardening that didn't even start until 9am? A big wood chipper is currently being used outside the house opposite. They didn't forewarn me and it hadn't occurred to me that I should be indignant and yes I'm WFH at the front of the house.

Obviously but people can plan ahead - i.e. if they were thinking of taking a few days leave, or go into the office or a working space, or rearrange calendar to do less noise sensitive things over those days, or even just give them notice to buy a decent pair of headphones!

Some of these replies are acting as if op asked the question "do they legally have to" rather than "is it literally the bare minimum as decent neighbours."

I don't understand why you wouldn't-you don't even have to talk to the neighbours directly just stick a note through the door. For the sake of 30 seconds effort it seems ridiculous to me given the multiple advantages of being on cordial terms with your neighbours....

Not only is it selfish -inconvenience myself a negligible amount to potentially help someone else out a lot but also stupid and short sighted-inconvenience myself a negligible amount vs long term being on poor terms with neighbours, not getting parcels taken in, them thinking "well fuck them then" and not giving you notice when they decide to have building works done or large parties or a bbq just when you've put your washing out, or take your bins in when you're on holiday or keep an eye out for break-ins when your house is empty.....
All for the sake of spending 30secs writing a note.....
Seems stupid to me

Not really. I’ve worked from home since 2016 and I think the OP’s being ridiculous.

This would never cross my mind tbh

Arguably though you can behave as you want if you’re not breaking any laws. The issue is the noise/shaking house, not the lack of pre warning. Knowing about it doesn’t stop it happening.

Yes that is what considerate and civilised people would do but most people are dreadful 😂 YANBU!

No, you don't need to warn anyone you're getting work done in the middle of the day.

Well… so what, though? It’s day time. Noisy things happen during the day. People can’t stop having work done just because a child might be having a day time nap.

Roadworks, wood chippers, hedge cutters, drills, lawn mowers, pressure washers … these are all noisy things that happen in any street. If I was having my house renovated or an extension built, then yes, I’d tell my neighbours because it could be weeks of potential out of the ordinary disruption. But I wouldn’t knock on my neighbour’s door to warn them about the presence of a wood-chipper for one afternoon or that I might be using a drill and I wouldn’t expect them to do that for me either.

Not in the UK so conventions are obviously different.
The few times our neighbours have specifically visited to drop around a note was to warn of an upcoming 18th/21st that was likely to be late/loud. Long term building renovation is usually casually mentioned when work utes start appearing.
It genuinely wouldn’t cross my mind to worry about carrying out normal maintenance/cleaning/activities during allowed hours. It wouldn’t bother me hearing a neighbour doing the same, as it’s their right, it’s to be expected occasionally throughout the year and it might be annoying, but it’s temporary and it’s not done with any bad intent.

What difference does it make? Maybe it would be nice but as you appear to WFH and do childcare at the same time it’s not like you could have gone into the office anyway.

@Pouche how sure are you that your neighbours know that you are WFH if you have your young child at home?
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My neighbour and I always ping a message across if we are having noisy work done. We both WFH though so just common curtesy, I always thought. I was working from home long before Covid, I might add.

Our neighbour does things like this frequently, he’s a lovely person, you couldn’t get a nicer neighbour but honestly it wouldn’t even be on his radar to let us know. But we are live and let live type people so, not something I would get upset over.

I might chose to go into the office if I knew would be too noisy to wfh. I would never expect them not to do the work, but a heads up can be helpful.
We had neighbours who said they would be doing noisy work for a week, so I took my child to my mums for their daytime naps.

I don't agree.
It's a clear indicator that people who've started to wfh since Covid expect others to change their actions because of that.
I am self employed and have wfh for over 20 years and don't expect any neighbours to consider that at all when planning work they need done.

Depends on your relationship with neighbours.
I worked from home until recently and I don't think for a minute one set of neighbours would give it a second thought. The other side are lovely and definitely would. Guess which ones I would extend the favour to? Both work from home too!

They're allowed to do work on their property and make noise, as long as it's not outwith the allowed hours. It's not their fault you chose to work from home, and they shouldn't have to work around you.

They don't NEED to tell you, but as a courtesy they should! Had similar during COVID, my neighbours knew I was working at home full time as we would speak over the fence and they had huge trees cut down and chipped right outside my window - I completely understand the noise you're dealing with!

I absolutely would tell my neighbours (both of whom WFH on one side, and on the other is a musician who keeps late nights and late mornings) about short-term noise so they could make other arrangements or at least stick earplugs in. I don't think YABU.

Longer-term projects - well, those just have to be sucked up. Can't install new drains without drilling, watcha gonna do? Round our way, we generally use the WhatsApp group to keep people informed, and sometimes that's quite helpful - people can check out the quality of your tree surgery/roofing/ground works/whatever and pick up contacts for trades that way.

If neighbours hack me off with inconsiderate noise, I always console myself that I have a cocker spaniel who often needs to pee at 5am. I can release him into the garden in which case he will yell at planes, foxes, cats, shadows; or I can put him on the lead and take him out myself, in which case he will be silent. Just sayin', like.

Nope. I WFH, but don't expect my neighbours to organise their lives around me.

Weirdly, I wouldn't really expect my neighbours to let me know, but I would let them know if I was the one making some loud noise, just to reassure them that it won't be too long.

So yes I guess you're not being unreasonnable

I have worked from home for over 10 years. I can say that since covid when more people started WFH, the amount of activity taking place during the day has risen dramatically.
I have always worked for myself, and am not responsible to anyone else, or tied to deadlines etc. I assume that most people who WFH are not in this position. However, they all seem happy enough to oversee all sorts of workmen during the working day. Everywhere is noisier these days.

Nah, I work from home. OP's unreasonable. It's work noise at a standard time during a week day. Put some headphones on.

Well pretty much everyone on the street is having building work. I've never been notified and my house shakes fairly regularly, just one of the joys of working from home. So long as it's within the council-suggested hours of work 8am til 6pm no one has to let you know. You only get planning notices if you are next door. I don't know who on my street works from home or what days I work from home full time - noise-cancelling headphones work most of the time.

You can't 'tell them to stop' anyway!

You could try asking though..