To confront my neighbours

[neighbourhoodhell]

So, would love opinions on how to deal with this situation.

Neighbours moved in 3 or so months ago and when they moved in, I went over to introduce myself and say hello and welcome etc etc. They seemed friendly and apologised about the upcoming work they will be having done, asked if I WFH to which I said yes, hybrid but majority at home.

For the past 3 months, every single day there has been drilling, hammering, shouting etc that has been pretty unbearable however, I have just let it slide and put my headphones in... I should also add that the work starts at around 7am and finishes about 9pm... and goes on over the weekend on both Saturday and Sunday!

Last weekend we got a card through the door apologising and saying thanks for the patience etc, and that they were nearly half way through... I thought oh god another 3 months of this hell, but again thought they are doing what they need to do, keep shtum and say thanks for the note.

Until today.... my whole house is shaking, the noise is unbearable and my colleagues and clients can no longer actually hear me on calls (with or without headphones) and no matter what room I work in, it is the same! I had a peep in and it looks like they are completely knocking down walls and building a brand new kitchen

SO WIBU to go round and ask for clarity on what work happens on what day so I can plan accordingly and let them know I can no longer WFH because of them... or should I just grin and bear and try and go into the office more (although this costs me £50 a day...!)

I think it's VERY unreasonable of them to be having all that noise EVERY day of the week.

When we renovated our house it took from October through to July the next year.
Our neighbour was brilliant and put up with a lot.
25 years on we now have new, young neighbours who are making a lot of noise doing bits and bobs up. However, as noisy and annoying as it is I can’t really complain as we were just the same all those years ago, that’s the drawback of living in a semi.
At least your new neighbours do apologise, ours couldn’t give a shit how noisy they are and have never once apologised since they’ve been here (3 years!).

i bough a new house two years ago an built an extension, the redid the kitchen. My neighbours work from home.

I felt bad but we can’t not renovate houses because neighbours will be upset and so many people now use their homes as offices.

I did give them advance warning of particularly noisy works (if I knew in advance) and they went into the office.

speak to them and ask if you can have some respite from the noise at weekends and in evenings.

if it helps the work does get quieter. The last biits like timing floors, painting, even putting in windows are relatively quiet.

I do agree we can’t expect residential areas to be like offices in terms of noise.

my neighbours three children play and shout and kick balls and sign and even have screaming competitions in their back garden. I would never complain - kids need to play and it’s not their fault I have a conference call.

Sorry but this is the best mumsnet fail to date 😆

OP calls out a poster passively aggressively and tells them to read the thread properly when the word in question is actually in the thread title 🙄

@Tinkerbyebye Hot desk? I would Google this but I've a feeling that may not give me accurate results if you know what I mean!

I think maybe the OP is going out of her mind with 3 months of noise, and the prospect of 3 more months.

It's a MN fail and I'm sure the OP feels firmly put in her place many, many times now.

Agree.

I think this is a problem with WFH!

But no harm in a chat but not a confrontation!

Hire an office space or workspace for the next couple of months. Houses get renovated it’s a fact of life. WFH is easily remedied by working somewhere else.

ask for a schedule of works and give a gentle reminder of local authority rules about no works being done before 8, after 6, rarely on Saturdays and never on Sundays (or whatever the local rules are).

Smile and add you're looking forward to the house warming party when all the dust has settled.

Can you check the permitted times to carry out such work? If they fall within those hours, they are allowed to do it.

Perhaps ask for a schedule of the noisier work so you can plan to be in office or at alternative workspace on those days?

Not sure if you were simply trying to make a joke (I get it!) or if you don't know what hot desking is. (no, it's nothing to do with sex, or jalapenos or any combination thereof)

Lots of employers now hire on the basis that people will WFH as they have cut their available office space drastically following on from the bit of flu that was going around for a couple of years. My now ex employer shut down our building (capacity about 6k people), made quite a few redundant, moved some roles overseas and then told the remaining 800 or so that there were a max of 200 people that could be accommodated in the new office. And have of those desks would be designated, managers and those with special adjustments. Anyone who wanted to work full time in the office had to have that agreed with their manager. Everyone had to work in the office at least 1 day a week. Which can mean that on any one day there can be up to 700 employees trying to get in early enough to get 1 of the 100 available desks. Unlikely that many will be wanting to work in the office on a Monday or a Friday, and some will be off sick on holiday but I know that some locations people are left to make important calls or attend meetings while sitting in the nearby coffee shop.

*@LemonLymanDotCom where did I say confront...? Maybe read properly before accusing lovely...!

brilliant - the use to the word lovely to be extra patronising and ensure everyone
knows you have a high morale ground😂😂😂😂. On a thread where the word confront is in the title.

j am sure your interactions with your neighbours will go well!

Clearly OP is unreasonable - posting in AIBU without any intention of engaging with anyone who disagrees, unless there's a chance to be rude to them.

Working from home is your problem. If you can't be heard then you haven't got the background noise reduction settings on Teams/ Zoom/ Hangouts set properly. I know how effective they are because I took a call while builders used the pneumatic drill on the concrete outside my window and had no issues.

I'd just have a friendly chat with them about the schedule; just because they're half-way through the renovation doesn't mean there's another three months of that level of noise.
For example, my neighbours recently had an enormous extension built. They had workmen there for about 5 months, but the major noise was only for the first couple of months when they were actually building the thing and using pile drivers and drills. The other three months or so was people working internally on the property (plumbing, electrics, plastering, kitchen fitting etc.), so the noise was minimal for me.
As others have said, the 7am starts and - to a lesser extent - the 9pm finishes seem excessive and there are usually rules in place in residential areas about what time work can take place. In the first instance though I'd keep it friendly with the neighbours and just ask if work could start at 8am and finish at 7 or 8pm so you and other residents aren't disturbed at those fairly antisocial times.
As for the neighbour's project interrupting your work calls - I'm afraid there's not much you can do about that, other than working elsewhere. It's perfectly reasonable for people to do building work in residential areas and it's perfectly reasonable (albeit annoying) that the work is sometimes noisy and sometimes lasts for several months.
Might be time to head to the local library, coffee shop, or a friend's house if you have important calls where you don't want to be disturbed.

@neighbourhoodhell
Is an office type shed an option ?

Blahhhh. Now I'm just here for the apology 😂😂 massive passive aggressive fail there OP 😂😂

Absolutely agree 🤣

In the title…?

It’s definitely fine to knock and ask if it’s possible to get a schedule of noisy works from builders. Our neighbours sorted us one and it made a huge difference to life. They gave us a case of wine too which was a nice gesture.

If the brick walls of a house can't keep out the noise and vibrations what hope would a shed have?

Unless they're in a mansion, even major renovations can only involve so much "noisy work", at the level you describe, hopefully that will be over soon. I think it's reasonable to ask that they don't start too early or finish too late, and that they pack it in for at least some of the weekend. They might think they're doing you a favour by speeding up the whole process by working everyday, so I'd consider what's more important, a weekend break from the work, or speedier end to the project. Also, it's reasonable to ask how long the noisy work will be going on for, so you can plan accordingly. I think you'd be lucky to get a schedule however, it might not be that easy for them to organise. Going to the office is probably your best bet, there's not much you can do about building noise during the working day, council regulations etc really only cover night times and weekends.

Because it's not directly linked to the house with the building works.

Whoops!!

😂 also waiting for OPs apology!