Is it common decency to inform neighbours who wfh about loud noises?

[Pouche]

Neighbours have literally removed their entire hedge and whilst that is being wood chipped down on their drive there is also a drill being used for the construction of a new fence. The noise is unbelievable. Detached houses with wide-ish plots.

Am I being unreasonable in thinking the nice thing to do would be to inform next door neighbours?

Especially when you know they wfh and have young kids.

They're allowed to do work on their property and make noise, as long as it's not outwith the allowed hours. It's not their fault you chose to work from home, and they shouldn't have to work around you.

Depends on your relationship with neighbours.
I worked from home until recently and I don't think for a minute one set of neighbours would give it a second thought. The other side are lovely and definitely would. Guess which ones I would extend the favour to? Both work from home too!

I don't agree.
It's a clear indicator that people who've started to wfh since Covid expect others to change their actions because of that.
I am self employed and have wfh for over 20 years and don't expect any neighbours to consider that at all when planning work they need done.

I might chose to go into the office if I knew would be too noisy to wfh. I would never expect them not to do the work, but a heads up can be helpful.
We had neighbours who said they would be doing noisy work for a week, so I took my child to my mums for their daytime naps.

My neighbour and I always ping a message across if we are having noisy work done. We both WFH though so just common curtesy, I always thought. I was working from home long before Covid, I might add.

Our neighbour does things like this frequently, he’s a lovely person, you couldn’t get a nicer neighbour but honestly it wouldn’t even be on his radar to let us know. But we are live and let live type people so, not something I would get upset over.

@Pouche how sure are you that your neighbours know that you are WFH if you have your young child at home?
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What difference does it make? Maybe it would be nice but as you appear to WFH and do childcare at the same time it’s not like you could have gone into the office anyway.

Not in the UK so conventions are obviously different.
The few times our neighbours have specifically visited to drop around a note was to warn of an upcoming 18th/21st that was likely to be late/loud. Long term building renovation is usually casually mentioned when work utes start appearing.
It genuinely wouldn’t cross my mind to worry about carrying out normal maintenance/cleaning/activities during allowed hours. It wouldn’t bother me hearing a neighbour doing the same, as it’s their right, it’s to be expected occasionally throughout the year and it might be annoying, but it’s temporary and it’s not done with any bad intent.

Well… so what, though? It’s day time. Noisy things happen during the day. People can’t stop having work done just because a child might be having a day time nap.

Roadworks, wood chippers, hedge cutters, drills, lawn mowers, pressure washers … these are all noisy things that happen in any street. If I was having my house renovated or an extension built, then yes, I’d tell my neighbours because it could be weeks of potential out of the ordinary disruption. But I wouldn’t knock on my neighbour’s door to warn them about the presence of a wood-chipper for one afternoon or that I might be using a drill and I wouldn’t expect them to do that for me either.

No, you don't need to warn anyone you're getting work done in the middle of the day.

Yes that is what considerate and civilised people would do but most people are dreadful 😂 YANBU!

Arguably though you can behave as you want if you’re not breaking any laws. The issue is the noise/shaking house, not the lack of pre warning. Knowing about it doesn’t stop it happening.

This would never cross my mind tbh

Not really. I’ve worked from home since 2016 and I think the OP’s being ridiculous.

Obviously but people can plan ahead - i.e. if they were thinking of taking a few days leave, or go into the office or a working space, or rearrange calendar to do less noise sensitive things over those days, or even just give them notice to buy a decent pair of headphones!

Some of these replies are acting as if op asked the question "do they legally have to" rather than "is it literally the bare minimum as decent neighbours."

I don't understand why you wouldn't-you don't even have to talk to the neighbours directly just stick a note through the door. For the sake of 30 seconds effort it seems ridiculous to me given the multiple advantages of being on cordial terms with your neighbours....

Not only is it selfish -inconvenience myself a negligible amount to potentially help someone else out a lot but also stupid and short sighted-inconvenience myself a negligible amount vs long term being on poor terms with neighbours, not getting parcels taken in, them thinking "well fuck them then" and not giving you notice when they decide to have building works done or large parties or a bbq just when you've put your washing out, or take your bins in when you're on holiday or keep an eye out for break-ins when your house is empty.....
All for the sake of spending 30secs writing a note.....
Seems stupid to me

This^ Or if a party with music going into night. But daytime gardening that didn't even start until 9am? A big wood chipper is currently being used outside the house opposite. They didn't forewarn me and it hadn't occurred to me that I should be indignant and yes I'm WFH at the front of the house.

The regulations don’t apply to residential gardens so you can cut anytime. Obviously it’s best not to in nesting season but maybe they checked for nests before the work

Its polite to let your neighbours know if you are getting big or noisy works done.

It doesn't mean they shouldn't get the work done and I don't think there is any need to be quiet just because people wfh or have small children.

Its just polite to give a heads up.

Wouldn't even cross my mind for one day's work. A long job, yes of course, not for a single day. Wouldn't annoy me to be on the receiving end either. Houses need upkeep, everyone takes their turn to be the ones with work happening.

I think it is polite to inform neighbours regardless, but I wouldn’t personally be annoyed or upset by it.

Long time remote worker here. My neighbours and I would generally let each other know stuff like that regardless. Nothing to do with work or kids.

I think it is common decency; I agree with you that a heads up would have been the neighbourly thing to do. Sadly, the voting and early responses give yet another indication that society is crumbling 😞 if nobody has common decency anymore then we are all doomed. As a dear friend of mine said sometime ago: “Manners cost nothing.”

I wouldn't bother.

I told my neighbours before our extension work began, as that was to be a 4-5month project and I knew the various vans and equipment parking was likely to piss them off (not that those vans don't have a right to park on the road where they did). They already knew we were planning the extension anyway, from the planning permission notices.

For general other household noise and work. Nope. Never told them. And we've had quite a lot done in the past few years. My thinking is that noise in the day hours is fine and should be expected. If it was noisy in the evenings/night then I'd give them a heads up.

edit to add:
I WFH
I have young kids

Yes it is neighbourly to let people know when there is going to be excessive noise or disruption.