A head's up would have been nice.

[SoleLavender]

So I've just been woken up to a hell of a lot of noise. Someone setting up a ladder and banging on the roof with music blaring from a work van. The sawing and hammering sounds like it's right in the ceiling above me 🤬

My next door neighbour (semi-detached), is having some work done his roof (I assume).

AIBU to think that the polite thing to do would be to at least give me the heads up that someone was coming at all?

All these people saying it is a reasonable time obviously have never worked night shifts(!)

My neighbours are great and let me know of potential noise so I can work my sleep patterns around this in terms of night shifts. Its just courteous to do, especially at the moment with so many office workers etc. working from home on conference calls all day.

Meant to add, I don’t think YABU. A heads up would have made all the difference.

If you speak to your neighbours regularly, I’d have expected them to mention it at some point. I wouldn’t have expected them to go out of their way to tell you though. You’d hate where I live btw. I live in a close of 12 houses and I know all my neighbours are up between 5-6am, one of my neighbours started a lawnmower around 20 to 8 in the morning it’s a non issue for us though

It’s non of your business. They don’t have to tell you anything.

No, I dont think they were being unreasonable at all. 9 am on a weekday is more or less safe for people to be up and about their business.

9 am? 7 I would understand but it’s not exactly early. They don’t have to tell you anything for that time of day.

@CouldBeOuting

Personally, if I’m having any work done which might create unusual noise levels I give my neighbours a heads up.

I wouldn’t be happy to wake to noises of someone on the roof, especially since my bed is directly under a velux window which can be looked through from neighbours window.

Of course that should say “looked through from neighbours ROOF”

I’d keep it covered if it could be looked through from another window 🤪

Timing is irrelevant and they might not have to tell you but anyone reasonable would see it as morally obliged and neighbourly to let you know.

I imagine the OP would have said if she or anybody in the household works shifts as it would be relevant in the extreme to her post.
9am it wouldn't cross my mind to tell my neighbours and I wouldn't expect them to tell me. I'd usually be at work but it's summer holidays now but I still wouldn't expect it.

We had our roof done a couple of years ago. I didn't tell the neighbours - the roofers were working between 8:30 and 4:30.

I also think that although they don't have to tell you, it's weird not to. Why wouldn't you?

Yeah it's always nice when neighbours can just pop by and say 'just to let you know we are having x done on X date, so there may be some noise'

I work evenings and night shifts. Last year my neighbours had their front garden converted into a driveway. I only found out when a digger started ripping up their front path. There was horrendous noise for about 3 or 4 days and of course the noise was during the day when I was trying to sleep. If my neighbours had given me a heads-up I would have arranged to sleep elsewhere for the week.

I had new neighbours move in, in October. Since then its non stop banging, hammering and drilling. About 2 weeks ago I was woken up to hammering at 5am. No lie, 5 am!! I wanted to shove their hammer where the sun doesn't shine 😑

I hate the sound of drilling and that's why I try to forewarn people if we're having something done as there isn't a worse noise in the universe ( in my opinion anyway. )
I agree that builders do work to their agenda sometimes and do show up when your not expecting them , which is ok for them but annoying for everyone else!
It can be a minefield dealing renovations.

To the poster on here whose neighbours have gone off to their second home while the other home is being gutted etc I think that is awful! What if there was a huge problem or a flood or something? It could affect your place too!
People really are selfish .

Our neighbours gave us ten minutes warning of 2-3 days of drilling and hammering. Had they been more courteous, we would have arranged to work from the office to avoid the noise. Dicks.

To the poster on here whose neighbours have gone off to their second home while the other home is being gutted etc I think that is awful! What if there was a huge problem or a flood or something? It could affect your place too!

Well I have their phone number as I'm supposed to keep an eye on the place when the workmen aren't there (the one who owns the business is a relative of theirs so I'm guessing they deem them trustworthy with their keys etc). But I said if there's anything glaringly obvious I'll let you know, but I can't take on the responsibility of keeping an eye out.

@DartmoorWilderness No, we have. We just know the normal rules about loud work are that it should be done between 8am and 6pm on weekdays, and that other people who are not working night shifts are entitled to live their lives accordingly.

And, you know, if you work a night shift, start wearing earplugs.

I know we've had work done over the years ( it's a work in progress for years) but I've noticed the noise levels around my way have gone up hugely since lockdown! So many people having things done.
I liked my brickie recently as he didn't bring the big radio which looks like a car battery out to torment me with Heart radio ! Usually that is also blaring away and I've been known to turn it down or off the minute they disappeared to get ' more supplies' or lunch or whatever other mysterious things builders tend to get up to between jobs! ( other jobs mostly )
Radios should be banned.

It would have been nice but ...I too live in a semi and would expect some warning if they were having an extension or loft conversion done but not general maintenance works.

9am is civilised!
My neighbours each side {big victorian terraces}ripped their houses apart over 8 months each solid.
The noise and vibration was horrendous.
A house two doors down had a tarp over the roof for months that ripped itself to shreds in the Jan/Feb gales we had, and it sounded like we were at sea in a shipwrecked sailing barque where mariners had forgotten to furl the sails,

Noise is horrendous, but 9am is civilised.

If you're a night worker, you have my sympathy. Otherwise, 9am is not early enough for you to be grouching about.

Although a warning would have been polite.

I liked my brickie recently as he didn't bring the big radio which looks like a car battery out to torment me with Heart radio ! Usually that is also blaring away and I've been known to turn it down or off the minute they disappeared to get ' more supplies' or lunch or whatever other mysterious things builders tend to get up to between jobs! ( other jobs mostly )
Radios should be banned.

Agree. We had an electrician and his mate round a few months back. They immediately put on their radio, loudly, without asking if it was OK.

It seems the norm now for people to decamp to another house when extensive work is done..... Then they move back in when all the ''nasty'' work has been done.
But that takes ££££ to rent another house for months...but they seem to do it round here..

9am or 10am or 4.40pm in the afternoon, if you’ve got a house adjoined to another house and you’re having work done that might cause noise and disruption in the other house, the polite thing to do is to tell the people living in the other house.

Re radios...The ''better type'' of Trades never use a blaring radio.
From what I see locally, the scaffolders always have a booming radio, and their ''Rattler'' drills.... but other Trades work in silence.

Generally out of respect for the neighbours. I have an Oak timber framer in the family, he booms out music in his workshop {out of hearing from neighbours} but on site, it is just birdsong.