To have told the builders to go away?

[highroadtothedangerzone]

The house next has had major building work going on for over a year. So all the way through lockdown with a very short break of maybe two months in spring last year.
It's annoying but I accept it as part of everyday life.
But, the local laws state that building work is only allowed between 8am-6pm, Monday to Saturday. Not on Sunday's, not on Bank Holidays.
They've had a really annoying habit of starting at maybe 7.45 fairly regularly. Skips get delivered very early. Or they start to gather outside the house chatting from about 7.15.
They turned up on one of the bank holidays last year and started banging at about 7.40am. I told them they had to go home (they did)
There have been quite a few occasions where I've told them to stop whatever they are doing as it's not 8am yet.
DH forgot it was BH today, so when the builder told him he was coming to do some work today he said ok. I wasn't happy, so he messaged him to say please don't start before 10am. 7.30, chatting outside and emptying lots of glass bottles into the recycling bin. 8.30, sanding or something that we could here in all our bedrooms
We told them to stop. They got arsey, denied they'd been noisy early. But they have stopped. For now. We messaged the owner who was pretty unhelpful and said they wouldn't do anything noisy till after 10am. But they shouldn't bloody he here at all!!!!
I'm just so sick of it. DH is much more laid back than he and thinks if we just let them get on with it the end they'll finish more quickly. But I just want them to follow the bloody rules. I work bloody hard. I just don't want to be woken up all the time by sodding building work?
AIBU? Or just slightly unhinged and making a fuss out of nothing? MN jury, give it to me straight.

@AliceMcK

YABU

If you just let them crack on with it instead of making them wait around doing nothing and telling them to go home on days they can get work done, where weather and other things haven’t stopped them from working, they would be further along by now maybe even finished.

Builders start and finish early, that’s what they do, they may well have other things to do when they knock offs at 4, pick kids up, do a friend a favour... most tradesmen I know after knocking off will tend to fit in that job a friend or relative have asked them to help with. There are also several dads at my DCs school who working in building and trade who do school pickups.

Tough!

If they shouldn't be there early because of disturbance then they shouldn't be there!

And of course, the home owner is living elsewhere and missing all of it

@ThatsNotTheTeaHunty

Telling them to go home 😂😂. Sorry forgot you own the road. You sound like an absolute bloody nightmare.

Or (as I explained later) I said they needed to leave. Because they were there against the law. And they left. Do you think if they thought they were in the right they would have gone? Or they tried it on hoping no one would call them out, but I did so they left? So yes I nay have come across like a crazy lady but it got results

YANBU : I also live opposite a building site at the moment. They are not there today and I would be very annoyed if they were. We put up with it all week but don’t think it’s too much to ask for Sundays and bank holidays in peace. The law is the law and the noise is relentless. You have my sympathy OP.

You’re completely right OP, you need and deserve some respite and when precious rest is interrupted by dickheads it’s no comfort it will be done a day or so early- why should you bear the pain for the neighbour/builder’s benefit. Everyone disagreeing with you is probably themselves a selfish, thoughtless person.

Local bye laws don’t usually say work can’t be carried out, they usually say noisy work can’t happen, but that doesn’t mean they can’t make any noise. The definition of noisy work will also be laid out by the LA.

They can also deliver a skip and stand and chat whenever they want, that’s not considered as construction work because it isn’t in the boundary of the site.

You asked them to stop and they did. I’m not sure what the issue is.

@highroadtothedangerzone

The house next has had major building work going on for over a year. So all the way through lockdown with a very short break of maybe two months in spring last year. It's annoying but I accept it as part of everyday life. But, the local laws state that building work is only allowed between 8am-6pm, Monday to Saturday. Not on Sunday's, not on Bank Holidays. They've had a really annoying habit of starting at maybe 7.45 fairly regularly. Skips get delivered very early. Or they start to gather outside the house chatting from about 7.15. They turned up on one of the bank holidays last year and started banging at about 7.40am. I told them they had to go home (they did) There have been quite a few occasions where I've told them to stop whatever they are doing as it's not 8am yet. DH forgot it was BH today, so when the builder told him he was coming to do some work today he said ok. I wasn't happy, so he messaged him to say please don't start before 10am. 7.30, chatting outside and emptying lots of glass bottles into the recycling bin. 8.30, sanding or something that we could here in all our bedrooms We told them to stop. They got arsey, denied they'd been noisy early. But they have stopped. For now. We messaged the owner who was pretty unhelpful and said they wouldn't do anything noisy till after 10am. But they shouldn't bloody he here at all!!!! I'm just so sick of it. DH is much more laid back than he and thinks if we just let them get on with it the end they'll finish more quickly. But I just want them to follow the bloody rules. I work bloody hard. I just don't want to be woken up all the time by sodding building work? AIBU? Or just slightly unhinged and making a fuss out of nothing? MN jury, give it to me straight.

Sounds like you're nitpicking if the difference is 15-20 minutes. You've got a rule in your head and you're tying yourself up in knots when they don't follow the rule to the LETTER. You'll get a reputation in your neighbourhood for being THAT woman.

they asked your husband who said it's ok, then you came charging in. Honestly.

I can’t believe there are people in here saying you are being unreasonable. You are clearly right. It’s a bank holiday. It’s Hood Friday, too, not any old bank holiday. They are not allowed to work.

@OutOfLine

I get up at 6am for work nowadays and leave the house at 7am. During lockdown I would wake up naturally at 8-8.30am only because I was lazing around and staying up late. What time do you get up OP? It’s a given that work starts at 8am for builders. Just tell them that again if they are ignoring you.

Not on public holidays or at weekends. 9am is quite early enough.

Noise pollution is awful, but MNers think that it is quite acceptable and those of us who complain need to get a life and wear noise-cancelling headphones. No, just be quieter!

You'll get a reputation in your neighbourhood for being THAT woman

And that is a bad thing because...

if I have the reputation for being the miserable cow who tells cold callers to bog off, good. Maybe they'll stay away! And in the same vein, if builders know you won't take nonsense, they'll stick to the rules. Heaven forbid that anyone has a lie-in or wants to get on with work during the day without work going on all the time.

Only a year? We're on year 4 here.....

We just get abuse if we complain and sadly there is no definitive guidance to what is reasonable from our council. The banging started about 8am this morning and he'll be banging around with the radio on full blast til 7 or 8pm tonight and all over the rest of the weekend.

I feel your pain my neighbours had builders in for the best part of 2020. Our house is semi detached & there was no escaping the noise. Was really had to live with and I understand your annoyance.

You are completely reasonable, OP, and I genuinely have no idea how anyone could tell you otherwise. MN is insane sometimes.

I don't think you are going to be friends with your neighbours

@BeagleEagle I'm fairly mild compared to some of my vocal neighbours so I'd be see as just one of many "those women".
But equally, is if fair that I get that reputation for just asking them to work within the guidelines?

@LEMtheoriginal

I don't think you are going to be friends with your neighbours

Well I guess that's up to them, isn't it? I'm not going to hold a grudge once they move in. I'll go around and greet them. If they decide they don't like he because I've asked their workmen to follow the rules so that living next to a massive building project is more bearable, then that's their lookout.

@WitchQueenOfDarkness

Only a year? We're on year 4 here.....

We just get abuse if we complain and sadly there is no definitive guidance to what is reasonable from our council. The banging started about 8am this morning and he'll be banging around with the radio on full blast til 7 or 8pm tonight and all over the rest of the weekend.

That's really not on. Sorry to hear that

You are being completely reasonable OP. I'd be furious too.

@WitchQueenOfDarkness

Only a year? We're on year 4 here.....

We just get abuse if we complain and sadly there is no definitive guidance to what is reasonable from our council. The banging started about 8am this morning and he'll be banging around with the radio on full blast til 7 or 8pm tonight and all over the rest of the weekend.

What are they doing that takes 4 years?!!! You have my full sympathy

I think in any other year you would be unreasonable, but a year when you can't escape it for any length of time, I would have cracked way before this

Unhinged also gets my vote.

Starting work 15 mins earlier than allowed. My God, what bastards.

All those people saying that if they come early th work will be finished sooner. Absolute bollocks in my experience. We had two neighbours doing work at the same time and I can assure you that the 7am starts did NOT mean it was finished sooner. On one particularly memorable occassion, they were banging away at 7:15 and were gone for the day by 10:00. I assume to another job. It was infuriating.

Then there ws the Sunday morning I wondered over to open to curtains in our loft where the windows are floor to ceiling, half awake, only to discover as me and an equally started builder stared at each other - me in pyjamas that were not exactly all-covering, that the builders had just arrived to work all Sunday. I hadn't realised as it was about 9 am and they hadn't started making a noise yet.

It's completely unacceptable. Unfortunately, it's very difficult to do anything about it.

What’s the betting that tomorrow - which isn’t a bank holiday - the builders will take their revenge?

I can't believe anybody thinks you're being unreasonable.

@MaLarkinn

Unhinged also gets my vote.

Starting work 15 mins earlier than allowed. My God, what bastards.

Right? And working on a bank holiday because they asked DH and DH said "that's fine go ahead", then leaving when wife came charging out saying the opposite? How dare they