To complain about my neighbour...

[gillybean2]

She's been having some building work done. But this morning (Saturday) the builder arrived before 7am as I could hear him wandering about moving materials etc. At 7am on the dot he started drilling loudly.

I was not best pleased and went out (in my nighty) and asked him straight with no niceties if he was allowed to start noisy work this early, to which he replied 'oh is there a time limit'. I said I was pretty certain there was and would be checking now...

Went inside to check online. Found on my local council site that noisy building work on a saturday should be between 8am - 1pm

Sat and ummed for a while as it had gone quietish out there and was going to leave it thinking he was being reasonable now. But then the drilling started louder than before!

I went back out and pointed out that he shouldn't be doing that before 8am, I had checked, and could he stop please. He said he had to do it now as the roofer was coming soon, blah blah waffle waffle.

Then my neighbour comes out with her cup of tea and I said again (I was quite upset by now) it was too early and for a Saturday and that I had been pretty reasonable about the noise and dirt and stuff re having to redo washing as they hadn't warned me they were making a dust and dirt cloud mess while I had washing on the line. I had only said one thing about the noise up to then and that was to ask them to stop for ten minutes as my ds was too scared by the drilling to go in our kitchen for his breakfast and he needed to go to school.

So I'm afraid I got pretty het up now and wasn't particularly polite in asking him to stop (did NOT swear I might say, just forceful. As a single parent you have to be sometimes or people walk all over you knowing you're on your own with no one to back you up).

Again my neighbour she said they had to do it because the roofer was coming this morning.

I said it was too much for this early and went to go inside, but then realised what they said. So opened the door again and pointed out that it didn't matter when the roofer arrived, he couldn't do noisy work before 8am either.

Her builder told me that I had an attitude problem and mentioned when they had the first skip delivered I'd made a comment about was it going to obstruct my property and he thought that was off and so they had been off with me because of that! WTF?!?

I then asked 'oh so you knew about the time regulation all along then did you?' It was blatently obvious from his casual 'oh is there a time limit' when I first came out that he knew all along. He gave no reply to that.

My neighbour said they would stop now and told her builder to come in for a cup of tea.

I mean honestly! Is is not understandable that someone gets het up when they are woken up by such noise at 7am on a Saturday with absolutely no warning!!!?
They told me originally the roofer was coming monday or tuesday and I had told them then we were home monday but tuesday we'd be out all day.

I'd report it to the council if they keep on flouting the regs. Christ 7.00am on a Saturday morning is too early to be starting to do drilling and the like.

YADNBU, I'd moan, and if they don't like it tough.

We are having work done at the moment and I stipulated no loud noise before 9 and my builders have stuck to it. They can always find something else that is quiet to do. Sounds like your neighbour needs to be more sensitive to the affects her build is having on the neighbours. It affects all around with the dust and the noise. I have to say that the dust thing and laundry is a nightmare. I've been trying to warn my neighbours about it but the builder never warns me correctly. And things crop up like yesterday we had a drain burst so they had to make noise and dust with the jack hammer to uncover the drain and that wasn't meant to happen until next week.

YANBU over the noise but you do have to accept that there will be some inconvience to you whilst this work is going on.

TBH it'd irritate me too but was it really worth falling out with your neighbour over?

You have to live there and frosty relations between neigbours can really make homelife uncomfortable.

If it is the first time that it had he builder is just going to want to wind you up now.

Why does your son have to go to school on a Saturday?

YANBU, but it sounds like you could make life easier on yourself by being a bit friendlier - you know - 'you might not realise this, but building work should not be done before 8am' type of thing, rather than going in all guns blazing and putting their backs up.

are you a homeowner? because you have to disclose neighbour disputes when you sell

Unexpected early awakenings are very annoying, but at least its only temporary and will stop when the building is finished. Its a shame the neighbours didn't have the manners to let you know in advance but then not everyone in life will behave the way you do

I live in a new build house and they were still building when we moved in - often starting at 7- 7.30.

Think of it this way; if they work long hours now the building works will be completed sooner rather than later and be out of your hair much quicker.

Does the skip obstruct your property, or your view......?

YABU

Chill.

Boys, I'd hardly describe that as a neighbour dispute!

JeezyPeeps it was two weeks ago on a school day I had to ask them to stop for ten minutes. The whole wall was vibrating and it was extremly loud. That was after 8am though so it wasn't a time issue.

I posted a third party wall question on lgeal here that same day but I didn't do any more about it on that occassion 'for the sake of neighbourly relations'. I even popped round to chat about what was going on as was suggested to me on the legal thread.

BTW - The builders did apologised for the noise on the school day when I saw them next. I said it was fine and that we had come round to tell them breakfast was done but that they had vanished. They also appologised for the noise in general and I said it hadn't been too bad really and everything was fine.

Apart from that day, and this morning's incident, I have been 'friendly' about it all.

The roofer has turned up now. 8am on the dot so he obviously knew the time regulations. I guess they were behind on getting the roof ready for him to felt. But that's hardly my fault now is it and she must have known last night. Would it have been so hard to pop round or put a note through the door to say they'd be starting easly today and it was a one off. Hopefully it is just a one off!

purplewednesday - No the skip (that one and this current one) do not obstruct.

I was a bit when the first one arrived because they asked me to move my car which is why I asked if it was going to obstruct my door. Our front doors only have a step and about a foot in front of that to be on the road, so if they put the skip on the boundry line it would of been hard to get in my door. Plus we all park our cars in front of our own houses (private road)

They had plenty of room on the other side to put it down (and for the lorry to reverse as they then did that later anyhow) so I was genuinely surprised that they asked me to move my car.

Anyhow I moved my car, the skip was dropped, moved my car back and then they re positioned it anyway without me having to move the car again.

oh dear i wish i only had that to worry about in my life at the moment, i think yabu its not as if it is every single day for weeks on end is it?

You have my full sympathy, inconsiderate neighbours builders have in the past turned me into a raging loon. You get all the inconvenience and non of the reward.

It will pass and soon be nothing more than a bitter memory.

And I should add I'm not planning to officially complain. Not yet anyhow!

And I will go around and talk to her later when I'm more calm. I don't see it as a major falling out or dispute at all.

My ds is awake now. He is a heavy sleeper and at 7am when the noise began he started stirring and I knew he'd be a complete grump today being woken up at that time. We had a late evening and he didn't go to bed until 10pm. He really needs his sleep, which is partly why I flew out of bed to stop the noise as quickly as possible when the drilling started. I am a light sleeper and had already been woken with the moving around some ten minutes earlier and there was no way I'd be getting back to sleep.

The builder obviously knew the regulation when I came back to him with the times. So he was chancing it and pushing his luck IMO when I asked him first.

So is it unreasonable to complain to my neighbour about her builders making that much noise at 7am when they were clearly flouting the regulations?

I was really asking if I'm being unreasonable to be het up and annoyed and not be all nicey nicey when woken up to this at 7am on a Saturday morning.

yes yabu!!

YANBU.

Our neighbours have had builders in for weeks now, they have so far scratched my car, dropped cement all over my drive (they were using it as a cut through to neighbours property) used our front garden to store their bins (without asking), sprayed concrete all over my newly washed newly painted windows and patio doors, ruined loads of washing, made our garden unusable due to noise and dust, woken dd up every weekend for nearly two months now with works starting well before 8am at weekends and then told the world and his dog that we are jealous and have nothing to complain about.

Fucking wankers.

Well my neighbour just came round with a bunch of flowers to apologise.

I told her it wasn't necessary and was sorry if I was a bit hostile but it was rather early this morning, and pointed out they had told me before it would be monday or tuesday the roof was being done. She said that was the plan but the felter had run yesterday saying he could only do it this saturday now.

I did say that perhaps if they'd popped round last night to let me know about the early start it would have been better. So hopefully she's taken that on board and it won't be so early in future. At least not without some warning!

Chatted a bit about what else she's having done, plastering, kitchen put in etc. So seems it will be a while yet before they're done. But hopefully not so noisy now the outside work is done.

If she's got contractors in, the can work from 8am - 1pm on a Saturday and not at all on a Sunday. The environmental health will come around and deal with it if they break these rules.
And if your neighbour is employing workmen who willingly work outside these hours, then, chances are, she has employed cowboys.

Glad she's apologised but did you find out whether the kind of work she's having done needs a party wall agreement? If so, she'd better keep on your good side...

There's always two sides to a story.

Having building work going on next door is an inconvenience and it is irritating being woken at 7am on a Saturday. I agree that is a very early time to start - when I had some major building work going on we agreed my builders would not work on Saturdays and Sundays and, although they were on-site earlier, they didn't start noisy work until after 8am. I had a rather fussy neighbour and we made sure we kept them informed. My builder was fantastic and would warn us, and her, when he was planning the really noisy and messy stuff. She hurumphed and we rolled our eyes, but we got through it fine and she even employed our builder to do some work on her house afterwards - so I guess we got it about right.

Equally having a picky neighbour is a real pain - when grumbles and resentment about whatever you are doing abound in the atmosphere, even when they are not voiced out loud.

When we live close by other people it is impossible for our lives not to impact on our neighbours - we need to accept that and opperate on a basis of cooperation. Going in 'all guns blazing' is never going to solve things and will build resentment. Reasonable discussion, requests, negotiation is the way to go. It sounds as though your neighbour has been quite reasonable - the builders apologised about the noisy breakfast incident, your neighbour stopped the noise this morning and later came around with flowers - she is obviously being conciliatory. Loosing your rag over one incident of an early morning start is not going to help the situation at all.

You say the family had a late night the previous night and needed their sleep - you can't really expect your neighbourhood to walk around on tiptoes just because your son had a late night. Unexpected things happen in building work, life is not perfect and we can't have it all our own way and we don't always get it right - good relationships with neighbours and friends is built on cooperation, understanding and often compromise, not demanding your rights and expecting everyone to tow your line.

So ask reasonably and bare in mind that the boot may be on the other foot one day - you may be in need of some noisy messy building work done which is going to effect those around you. Then you will be so thankful for the understanding and good nature of your neighbours.

oh well said