AIBU to expect neighbours to stop building work by 6pm?

[Pinkroom]

We are in a terraced house. Neighbours are doing a some building work. They have shown us the plans and have building control approval, there will be some contractors but they are also doing a lot of parts of it themselves (they are in the trade) due to this there will be work on evenings and weekends. We have said can they let us know when they will be doing work and being considerate as our children go to bed between 6-6.30pm. They have said they will let us know when any major parts of the works start, but they won't be messaging us every time they do any work in an evening or weekend as they will be doing work at any available opportunity after work etc.
I think they should be considerate and stop working by 6pm as we have young children. They said that is too early and if they don't get back from work until then how will they ever finish the project, they did say they would be considerate and not work late maybe until 7/7.30.
Who is being unreasonable here?

The website doesn't say constant work? It just says renovating (which you are) and DIY which it is.
If your council has a cutoff for noisy work and your neighbours have already said they don't want the noise, you are likely to be getting complaints to the council. Can you save the really noisy stuff for Saturday's?

I feel for you @Pinkroom, been there and done that. My terrace was linked with a gunnel between the living rooms but that didn't make any difference as the sound travels through the walls. I remember getting "home" from work absolutely knackered and stripping tiles from the kitchen walls back to brick. I would have loved to be able to delegate it all to builders to be done during the day but I just didn't have the finances to do that. We tried to keep noise to a minimum but it's just not practical if you want to get the job done sometime this century (and if you do cut back hours they'll complain more about the length of time it's taking too, this is a no win situation).

I think you're being reasonable insofar as it's an unreasonable situation, nobody wants to hear building noise and as the property owner, only you benefit from the works. It just can't be helped. As long as you stick to your agreed time limits and maybe let them know if you've got to do something especially noisy like drilling, you can't do any more.

YANBU. If the neighbour’s work was being done by tradespeople they were paying for, you would expect it to finish by about 6pm and certainly 7pm. It does depend a bit of the level of the noise. If they are using power tools on the evenings, that is unreasonable. If it is more like an occasional knock or bang, that is not so bad.

I would contact the council and find out what the local regulations are.

Since when do I 6&7 year old have a daily nap?

People who have to get up early. Or DCs like my DC2 who from 9 months onwards refused to have a daytime nap. (Diagnosed with ADHD as a young adult).

Lots of people (although not me). You can’t expect other people to adapt their lives around it though.

OP I know it’s annoying, we have the same going on currently, but it’s hard luck. The bit that really pisses me off on top of all the machinery is the radio on full blast and men shouting over the top. But like I say, tough. As soon as that for sale sign goes up, I’ll be having a clear out though. Old sofa on the driveway, kids toys, household appliances - that kind of thing. Might even throw a few parties. Also tough.

Agree with this. Taking some of your annual leave should be used at times.

Your council set times for a reason, ours are the same timings and they will come out and speak to those doing the works if these aren't adhered to.

You are unreasonable. You are lucky they are not still going at 10pm tbh.

When I was renovating my first house (a terrace) the bulk of the work got done in the evening or weekends, due to the people giving up their time working in the day elsewhere. One of the pitfalls of living in a terrace I’m afraid, you can’t expect the world to stop at 6pm, if it was midnight yes but not 6.

I am puzzled when you said a party wall agreement was 'presented' to you / your neighbour. When our neighbour built an extension, we were advised that we could choose the party wall surveyors but that our neighbour would have to pay the cost. And once selected, the pws spent some considerable time with us, discussing things like acceptable working times, any access they might need to our property and how that would be managed. He also took lots of pictures inside our house so that if any damage occurred as a result of their building works, we had the evidence. It also safeguard our neighbours against any false damage claims from us. As a point of interest, our neighbours were 'in the trade' but the party wall agreement still covered any work on the extension and was very clear about the times work was allowed - 8:30 - 6pm on weekdays, 9am to 4pm on Saturdays and NO work at all on Sundays or public holidays.

Some really daft and unpleasant comments on this thread...

The law states that noisy works should be carried out between 8am to 6pm weekdays and 8am to 1pm Saturday with no works on Sundays.

I carried out a lot of work dor about 2 months when I bought my 1930 terraced house 3 years ago. I never had anything done at weekends & workmen were always done by 4pm on weekdays. I also kept my DIY noise to a minimum.

It is just common courtesy for neighbours.

I assume the people criticising you are the type who have no respect for other people and their right to enjoy their home.

OP, your local council will have on their website details of the appropriate time for noisy building works and how to report issues.

If you needed building work approval by your council, you surely have to go by the council regulations for noisy work. As someone listed :
"8am to 6pm Monday to Friday
9am to 1pm Saturdays
no work on Sundays and Bank/Public Holidays"
It shouldn't matter if the work is being done by a trades person or yourself. Its still work that required building control approval. So different to smaller DIY jobs.
I would expect you to follow the regulations. It's not your neighbour's problem that you want to do this outside of the regulation hours.

DIY noise in the evenings in a terrace is totally unreasonable IMO, especially if builders have been working all day too. The fact you've got to work is your problem, not your neighbour's. Get trades in instead.

If a complaint does go to the council, any value you are adding to your house with the loft conversion will be wiped off with a formal dispute that you have to declare when selling. Always worth looking ahead.

The bedtime thing is obviously a lie she's used to justify her annoyance. She didn't need to lie, you are being unreasonable.

No use of power tools past 6pm. Especially drilling into the party wall past 6pm or 1pm on a Saturday. This is not normal DIY noise but related to a renovation. Existence of DC or their bedtimes is irrelevant.

Having lived in a terrace previously the noise of neighbours drilling into the party walls is very disturbing to normal living and stressful as a passive recipient - can’t even have a conversation never mind listen to music/radio or watch TV. You ABU not to recognise this and the goodwill already extended. Your work hours and wanting to get it finished do not trump your neighbours rights to normally expected peace and quiet. Stick to council guidelines. Or risk an official compliant and alienating new neighbours (and wider neighbours who are inconvenienced by the work who sympathise with them but don’t have grounds for an official complaint).