Neighbours who work from home

[Confusednewmum1]

So we have moved to a house that requires total renovation, it has not been touched for over 50 years. We have spoken to the NDN about plans ie rip house apart and start again/extension ect. However every time we do work they complain about the noise as they work from home.

I get that this can be frustrating but at the moment we can’t give a schedule of work just due to the nature of old house. Example last week new front door on Friday to be fitted told 1 hour job no real noise ect. It then turned into needing a lintel, brickwork repair....... but this all spiralled in the moment.

My neighbours seem to think my builders should work around their calls ect. But I have really just advised there will be building work most days Mon-Friday 8:30-5 until at least the end of the year, it’s the only honest timeline. Council are happy as they have said noise not excessive ie generators or nematic drilling. But my neighbours have said this is not acceptable and there 2 1/2 year old naps during the day???

I also have a young child who happened to still be asleep this morning when they complained at 10am as door frame was going in and they where on a call.

AIBU to think that if they work from home then noise is their issue to mitigate not mine?

The fact that they work from home shouldn’t stop you from renovating. But ten months of daily noise does sound pretty hellish! Is it really going to take you that long?

My neighbours seem to think my builders should work around their calls ect.

Yes, this is the issue I think - their clients can hear the noise. There is no way round that, but I have a neighbour who used to work from home one day a week and her clients could hear barking dogs and all kinds!

I can see both sides of this, the work seems to be ongoing for a long period and it will affect your neighbour. No easy solution and as your say OP, you are sticking to the local Council's noise regs.

I work from home and I would never expect my neighbour to buy me noise cancelling headphones to make calls. It was one of things I asked for when my employer hired me because it just makes sense to have them.

If you're running a business or working from home, you need to just accept that you're not going to have the perfect office environment.

It’s interesting to read the difference of responses to the ones on this thread
Being in a ground floor flat of a terraced block whilst next door add a basement is different to renovating a house, which given the amount of structural work in guessing (possibly incorrectly) is likely to be detached.
Equally installing the basement was going to take up to a year. The OP's whole renovations will take 10 months and not all of that will be structural.

I don't think basements should be allowed to be added to terraced houses because it's far too intrusive. I do think people should be able to buy doer-upper houses and be able to do the required works within appropriate working hours. Appropriate working hours aren't 'when if fits in with neighbour's phone calls'.
Unfortunately it properties have been left into the condition where this much work is needed then the work needs doing.

We can have all the empathy in the world, but empathy doesn't get the renovation done and I'd be willing to be bet that even if the OP doubled her costs and cut the hours on site etc around her neighbour, they'd be complaining that the work has taken almost 2 years.

The more you can do in the day, the shorter it will be.
I work from home and whenever a call came in during the neighbour's refurbishment, apologised to the caller for background noise.
There was only one job that drove me nuts and meant I could not hear myself think. I knew about it in advance but it was only when the owner stayed home one day to work, did he realise how awful the noise was. They added another chap to the job and got it done faster. We survived and so did my clients. I have changed locations during noisier jobs, used local payg office space and relative's houses. This was my choice.
All you can do is apologise for the noise but it has to continue in order to reduce the impact of works dragging on. Don't let it stop you.
The child is not your concern. They can stick a radio on or pop headphones on to stop any disturbances. They can also pop the child in a room on the opposite side. They just don't want to by the sound of it.

I work from home myself, so I hate to say it, but they are being unreasonable. People need to get work done on their houses - the one next door but one has been being gutted and extended for the last couple of months having been sold.

I put my headphones on (nice, noise-cancelling ones) and get on with my work and calls (headphones/mics these days are so much better - even in noisy areas - than they used to be that it's not a problem - even when they were using the big drilling thing to break up concrete, my clients could barely hear it. It's better than a conference call 10 years ago in a quiet meeting room)

I work from home and have a pair of ear defenders. They are actually quite painful if you wear them for long, though, and obviously not that helpful when the phone rings.
In the past I have also used coworking spaces. But basically building noise is just something you have to put up with wherever you work.

I work from home and live in a semi-detached house. Our neighbours had the whole house renovated last year after the previous tenants left it in a mess. They ripped out the kitchen, bathroom, carpets etc and also had an extension done at the back. It was noisy but I just got on with it. They kept the noise from 8am-5pm mon-fri and after a couple of days I just got used to it. I did jump in the car a few times and drive over to the next road to make some calls but that was about it. I just used my noise cancelling headphones the rest of the time. It was annoying but didn’t really inconvenience me too much.

It is understandable that they are stressed and pissed off but unfortunately that’s the luck of the draw with terraced houses (which I assume this is?).

OTOH a whole YEAR of noisy renovations and no project plan is rather unreasonable and sounds as though the builders don’t really know what they are doing. Can’t this be shortened and clarified? How old is the house?

We have people living next to us who are night-shift workers, so when we had some building work done we tried to keep the noisiest stuff until the afternoon when they'd be getting up and we kept them informed all the time, but even then it was difficult. I also work from home, so when our neighbours on the other side had work done I suffered a bit too, but I also understood they needed to get it done.

That said, A YEAR??? Why is it taking so long? Is it because you're living there? If it is going to take that long I'd be seriously hacked off if I were your neighbour. Either move out so it's finished much sooner, or give them a break during the summer months by making sure the work done then is interior, not construction.

Hang on, so they are working from home and also have the child there all day too? Sounds like they are being CFs because how do you look after a toddler and also work FT? Mine was sick last week so I had to try to work from home with the baby there, I got naff all done bar the most important stuff. Maybe a half day's worth of work at most despite starting earlier and finishing later.

My guess is that their working hours can't actually be that much during working hours, or that the kid is actually at daycare because you can't do a 9 to 5 and also care for a small child, it doesn't work. Either that or they are massively taking the piss out of their employers.

As someone who worked from home for 7y I can understand your neighbours but I also think that you're absolutely within your rights to do renovations. However, do bear in mind that you don't know the reason why they're working from home nor what their work entails - maybe they have calls with clients etc. My neighbour was remodeling bathroom at one point and it was a lot of noise. We spoke about it and agreed that I'll inform them when I have a very important meeting scheduled. I did and the workers would then take a break and give me an opportunity to speak to my client in peace. Of course, those calls never took longer than 15-20 mins but it was a good mid-solution. I wore noise-cancelling headphones for the rest of the time and neighbours did what they needed to do. So perhaps this is something you can propose to them - to give workers 15min breaks when they have very important meetings?

My partner works from home but his company have an office where he is welcome to work at anytime. It might be that they have the same option to escape the noise if they wanted?

Just keep the noise Monday to Friday during standard working hours and there's not much they can do about it.

God there are some wild assumptions about people working from home on this thread!

I have my own business, which I operate from home, which is profitable, and which I pay full tax on. It's perfectly possible to operate some businesses/jobs with a small child around (not mine admittedly but we don't know what the NDNs do). My businesses profits would take an enormous hit if I had to pay for office space for a year - and indeed, why should I do that as I have an office in a property I already own, ie my house?

That's not to say that they are being U for complaining. OP isn't doing anything wrong. But it's going to be a grim year for them and I don't think they'll ever be able to have a neighbourly relationship because of that.

It’s not that there will be work everyday Mon-Fri for a year but I can’t give a timeline or expectations. An hours work has now turned on to a 4 day battle. I have an electrician due in 3 weeks who has had another job cancelled and wants to start mid next week. I can’t possibly go round every time a plan changes.
I feel really bad for them but at the same time they chose to work from home.
They have a home office in their garage buts it’s too cold at the moment.
I also have a toddler and it doesn’t impact her sleep in the same house.
This house is an old Victorian property that’s been in the same family since build and hasn’t been touched since previous occupant got married in the 50’s 60’s.

My main concern is they have complained already and to be honest the work has been minimal, it’s going to get worse............

But I struggle to see what I can do

My guess is that their working hours can't actually be that much during working hours, or that the kid is actually at daycare because you can't do a 9 to 5 and also care for a small child, it doesn't work. Either that or they are massively taking the piss out of their employers.

Who says they're employed? Plenty of people are freelance or self-employed and work from home. The HUGE advantage of being self-employed is being able to set your own hours and if you end up working at 11pm it only inconveniences you.

I run a business from home and it's got massive advantages. For example today the SKY engineer is due. I can WFH and arrange client meetings around it so DH doesn't need to lose a day of pay to stay home. If I need a day off for something I can have it and catch up with my work another time, or reschedule my clients.

Not everyone who WFH is employed for a business that operates 9-5.

You don't have to do anything OP, if the council is OK with the noise level. Show them the letter or whatever saying that the noise level is OK, nod sympathetically, end the conversation quickly. They have the bother of the noise, you have the bother of their complaints.

Coworking costs a lot less than hiring an office, and some places offer coworking spaces by the hour/day, so you can just go there a few times a month or week as necessary. Not available everywhere, though, and obviously no good if they need more than just desk space.

You say it takes until the end of the year to renovate a house???

My DH works in TV and film. Without outing , he has worked on some
very high profile huge jobs involving mass renovations and they certainly do not take a year!!!!

As well, my BIL completely renovated a Victorian house. Took him no
more than three- four months.

Think your builders are trying to get as much money out of you as possible to be honest.....

I can’t possibly go round every time a plan changes.

Of course you can. Or if not, pop a note through the door, or text them, or find a way to keep them informed of what's happening. We're renovating our house and let the neighbours know in advance if we're going to be doing noisy work.

If it’s a conference call, they can mute out the outside sound for the other participants unless they are speaking themselves. It is annoying though. I do feel for them. Why do so many people buy houses and then proceed to rip them up? Surely better to choose something you like in the first place.

adaline
And give daily updates
Monday: Hi, they're doing the door tomorrow
Tuesday: they're doing the door today, but now they need to do some structural work around the door. They should be done on Wednesday
Wednesday: they've uncovered something else (in this evidently old property that is going to have structural issues) so the door to work isn't going to be done today. Maybe tomorrow.
Thursday: they've done the door work so just to let you know they're moving on to the ...

It's ridiculous.

There's no need for more than an overview of the works and a heads up for the big things.

If what the OP says is correct and the house has been in the seller's family for years and has remained untouched then I'm guessing the neighbors moved next to an old run down Victorian house. Common sense says it will need work at some point.

They're deluded if they think your renovations should stop because of their work.

I dont feel much sympathy (and I normally would) because I think they are cheeky fuckers to even raise it. Other than being considerate and working within normal hours.

I feel so so sorry for your neighbours. Why are you building and extension??? Why didn’t you just buy a bigger house?

It’s annoying when your neighbour does renovations and I can sympathise that they’ll have this noise on and off for the year. However, it needs doing.

Noise happens. In commercial and residential offices. DH’s office is near the station which has been overhauled the last few years. He’s had background construction noise for about four years now (heavy construction noise, piling, demolishing old buildings...). I work on the hospital route so there usually ambulances going past (I also work in an office with a bunch of unprofessional fuckwits who don’t always have appropriate conversations). When either of us work from home, we have the neighbours dogs barking all day. Our village rail station is also having improvements made, so we often hear the construction noise from that if working from home. Noise happens, sometimes when you’re on a call. You apologise for the background noise and continue. I don’t get signal on my work phone when I work from home, if I want to make a call I have to stand on the main road (fast, busy road with lots of goods traffic). It is annoying and DH has come home with headaches a few times when the construction work has really been going for it but that’s life.

The reason it will take a year is that it will be done in stages

So we have done master bedroom (we were all living/sleeping in dining room)
Then will do another bedroom before moving downstairs to start work there.
There will probably weeks at a time when no work is going on.
But the door was supposed to go on in November but the steel fabricators couldn’t get it right.......
Things are really really stressful and I just don’t want the negative energy around. I don’t have a main contractor yet..... they will do the extension which will start later in the year. At the moment it’s kind of 1 job/room at a time such as rewire, removing lead pipes, plastering.

So the actual noise of walls coming down and digging hasn’t even started. I would call changing a front door, decorating really.

No issues with parking/ radios, tends to be a single tradesman currently.

I get it impacts their business and job but in all honesty, I don’t think I could continue to work from home with the noise (if it’s as bad as they say) So I feel terrible but at the same time, I don’t see why they have to project their issues on to me or my workmen. It’s just the rotten attitude that their job comes before everything xx