I have lived in my current forever house 5 years. It's lovely and has a sizeable mature garden. It's a family area and everyone (including us) have children. Houses are also quite large so 3/4 children is common and space is a premium.
When we bought it we knew the ndn were going to build an extension. For a variety of reasons it has taken then years to do this. The plans changed a fair bit over that period, but much though I would prefer that they had not changed things there were no planning grounds to object. They are therefore now building it. It's a pain, noisy, and means for this summer at least we have no privacy in our garden as the builders are always up scaffolding etc overlooking us. It's better at the weekend but for the moment we live next to a building site. Fair enough it won't be forever, and as I said we knew this would happen. It is also part of living in a neighbourhood that these things happen. As part of their plans we agreed to let them take down the adjoining garden wall to build their foundations. It's technically our wall, but so long as it was going to be replaced again we didn't see we should object. There have been issues with talking to them about the details (everyone, them, us etc) is busy and with children getting time without working has been difficult as usually only one of them, or one of us can talk in the evenings and look at things without babysitters etc. they also travel a lot (to get away from the building site) and dh and I both work. Anyway in the end the builders took out more wall than we agreed and when the rebuilt it, the built it slightly differently. This means the angles of the wall which has variable heights differs, and some of our made to measure trellis installed just after we moved in no longer fits exactly. It sort of covers the wall rather than leaving a gap though so not a disaster.
Generally we get on well with the ndn and their children. We are not close, but do stop to pass the time of day. We are quite private and they are less so, and have lived here longer. However we do not want to fall out with them, we will both be living here a very long time yet.
My real question is about the rest of my garden. In order to retake the wall out and rebuild it, they have possibly irreparably damaged 2 very mature climbing roses, a tree, a very mature honeysuckle and a clematis which was quite new. As well as taken out herbs, trampled over strawberries and killed a couple of shrubs. I suspect they have killed the daffodils too. I think the builders tried to be careful, but they just seemed to break everything they touched or put concrete on top of delicate plants. This is only one bit of the garden though and it was the builders not the ndn who did it. The ndn know how much I cared, and I even spoke to the builders myself. But they are builders not gardener a and I suspect just had no clue what they were trampling on, breaking etc. They put soil back and it's about half rubble, which I am now replacing with compost from my compost heap.
I am very annoyed about this because it was avoidable, and we did not see why the wall needed moving out as much as it was but were trying to be reasonable to next door. Anyway I can replant everything, and in time I may prefer it. But I don't know whether I can/should ask ndn to pay for the plants etc. I am sure they would if I asked but it seems a bit mean. However it was their builders who caused the damage and need to replace some of the garden. And even then it won't be the same after as it needs to grow and it's not like I can buy a 20foot rose anywhere.