Neighbour’s building work

[Frannyhy]

My neighbours want to improve their home which I have no problem with. After insisting on a party wall agreement, I’ve been sent the documentation.

This states that the work can’t start earlier than two months from the date of the letter unless I agree in writing. I won’t do this. Saving them money means I lose money, due to the fact I work at home. I can’t do this with construction noise going on.

All they can think of is that they might have to wait longer if their builders start another project and return later in the year. However, this timing would be more convenient for me.

AIBU

But surely you’re going to be working from home even if the works start at a later date?

I think they’re being reasonable.

I don't see why you can't work - I currently have building works near mine, and although a bit disruptive, it's not the end of the world, headphones, taking some meetings in a quieter room etc...

Also, the fact that you work from home isn't relevant, it's not an office space, there's no expectation that it should be silent at all times. Life goes on even if you're having a call.

If you're unable to deal with noise, you should work in a dedicated office.

Stop being awkward
yes it’s shit but it’s just part and parcel of having neighbours
at some point you will be wanting to have some kind of of work done so suck it up

don’t forget being awkward with them they will pay back 10 fold

why would you make an enemy out of people you live Nextdoor to

and I’m saying this as someone who lived next to a 12 month renovation

Why can’t you work from home? I have in two different semi detached properties and it was fine. Wear headphones. There isn’t that much of the construction process that is very noisy, only really if they take out a wall.

I worked from home while my own construction work was going on.

I have good noise cancelling headphones for calls and nobody else heard anything (I asked).

There wasn’t really enough noise to disrupt even me, and my office room is at the back of the house where they were working. The builders singing along to the radio was more annoying / entertaining depending on the track and their enthusiasm 😆

I don't see why you can't work - I currently have building works near mine, and although a bit disruptive, it's not the end of the world, headphones, taking some meetings in a quieter room etc

@FastFood I think it depends. We had work being done on the exterior of a neighbouring property and it didn't matter which room you went in you could hear it. My partner works from home and can have anywhere between 3 and 7 Teams meetings per day. As she uses two screens it's also not possible to keep moving rooms (assuming other rooms have tables or desks). She had to hire external office space for three weeks which the neighbours of course wouldn't pay for.

Just put headphones on and stop being difficult for no reason.

How long is the work expected to last?
What will be the start/finish times?

Loft extension and side return extension. Not sure how long? Normal council hours working - between 8am - 6pm.

No problem with it, but not now.

Why not now vs 2 m time?

if at least now, the days are longer, the weather more predictable, the work will have more of a chance of getting finished on time, than when the weather changes

if you just let them get started asap, it’ll be over and done with sooner

can you at least talk to them about which days are going to be the noisiest and plan meetings/work accordingly if possible?

I had some fabulous headphones that cancelled noise well and played my mic noise into my ears so that it didn’t give that horrible muffled sound that other headphones do. Jay lab Go or something, wireless Bluetooth too.

its going to happen, why put it off, get it done with over the summer, and ideally schedule your annual leave to get yourself away and on a break

I think you need to spell out why now would be worse than later if you want people to be able to respond to the thread properly

There's a good chance you can work at home with construction noise. Even if there were no party wall agreement required, there could be building noise outside and I doubt you would claim you are completely unable to work under those circumstances.

A good pair of noise cancelling headphones is the minimum investment anyone working from home needs in my opinion.

The neighbours said a party wall agreement can take two months to resolve. I still refused to consent without one, and insisted on a statement of condition of my property done by a surveyor of my choice. I was asked to find one to act for me and reply to correspondence as fast as I could. I have been happy to do this. Given that they knew that it could be two months before things were finalised I can’t understand why they didn’t plan on starting then.

So the 2 month start date is unrelated to you wfh then? It’s due to having a party wall agreement in place?

I think on the whole people do what is best for them, not their neighbours. YANBU.

You are coming across as being difficult for the sake of it. If you worked in an office and there was building work going on in the office next door or out in the street you would just have to suck it up.

I'm lucky to have no close neighbours but suffer from noise induced migraine so this would be a nightmare for me.In my workplace I worked in the vicinity of jackhammers for a day and had to spend 24 hours lying in the dark to recover.
Your neighbours need the extension so they need to work with you to get to that goal, don't be selfless.

I can’t say exactly what I do because it might identify me. I provide a service to clients in my home. I have bookings in the next couple of months because I did not know this building work would be happening when I accepted them. If I notify the clients they may cancel, why should I take the financial hit? Going forward into later in the year I’m just warning people who book to be prepared for some noise.

It's not going to out you.

Regardless we can assume its massage, reiki, therapy, hypnotism or something similar anyway.

I agree that's difficult but does the timing really matter? There's still plenty of time to notify clients and ask them to move stuff around, or come at a different time etc. You might even be able to negotiate with the builders to make no noise at certain times of the day.
Almost all options are better than being very awkward with your neighbours for not much incremental gain.

I work in an office. New homes are being built on the land next door. It definitely can be noisy but it’s manageable.

These days so many people WFH that nobody would ever be able to have home improvements done if a WFH neighbour was a reason not to go ahead. Securing good builders can be difficult too, I think it’s unreasonable to enforce a further delay.

something to consider ….

the closer the winter they start the longer the work goes on. The wet weather will mean days get rained off. Stuff happens in fits and bursts etc.

How to make friends and influence people - not!

I would ask them to consider covering the cost of renting a space that you need to accept clients during that time

You’re within your legal rights, but on a personable level you sound very selfish and obnoxious.

You get to use your home as a business but others aren’t allowed a few months to adapt their home to be the home they want? Good luck with that sour relationship as time goes on as I doubt you’re going to enjoy much friendliness from them if the builders are having to work through winter with the stops and starts.

If the builders work now it’d be shorter days for them and the job should be done quicker which is to your benefit too. But you’ve decided that only your needs are important and frankly, you’re lucky you have usually quiet neighbours who don’t mind clients coming and going down their street so you can have a home business. How nice of them to be so considerate…