neighbours' building work running late and baby due!

[goodstuffhappens]

My neighbours are completely redoing their house. The noise in our house is considerable. After a summer of banging and drilling at all hours (late in the evening and all day on the weekend...breaking all regulations), I had to get the council and the police(!) involved two weeks ago and they no longer work past 6 at night or on a Sunday.

I am having a baby in 4 weeks and am absolutely DREADING the idea that the work may still be going. The project just seems endless and the deadlines the very difficult owner have given me have always been broken. It was going to be 6 weeks back in June... we are now in September and the place still looks like a building site to me!

She is completely uncooperative and has shouted at me that she doesn't want any contact with me unless it is an emergency. The builders seem like cowboys so as well as being concerned for her and her family, I am worried this job is going to roll on.

Does anyone know what I can do to get a firmer idea of deadlines etc? I feel very powerless and the idea of having to be out all day with a newborn because of the noise feels unbearable.
Thank you in advance.

Oh poor you, that would drive me up the wall.

The only things I can suggest to get an idea of timescale is (1) speak to the builders and (2) if the builders won't talk to you, see if the council can tell you what work they are doing (if they have applied for planning permission or building regs then the council should know). Then if you know what work they are doing, at least you could estimate (with help from MN perhaps) how long it should take.

If you do find it carries on when you have a newborn, do you have friends in the area whose houses you could camp out at if need be?

poor you. building works combined with a grumpy neighbour sounds a bit grim.

i think your neighbour sounds a bit unreasonable about limiting contact with you but at the same time there is clearly a long back story and things have got acrimonious.

if you can, i think you have to try to get hold of her. ask if you can meet up to discuss the programme and your imminent arrival. if she agrees you can get some info. if she refuses then she has forced you into taking matters into your own hands so you can contact building control and the builders for info instead.

i would be wary of contacting the authorities tho. if they are not doing a proper job they are not going to thank you for alerting the local authority. and once the builders leave you both still have to live next to each other.

another way of gauging progress is to monitor what is going in and coming out. if it is bags of plaster in then that might be roughly half way but with less noisy work? kitchen/bathroom fittings nearing the end. carpet would be great news! obviously rubble out is not a great sign....

another thought is that the neighbour may be getting told rubbish dates by her builder. if they are cowboys and it is all late then she is probably at the end of her tether. some bad builders can get aggressive and she may feel that they are holding her hostage.

you probably don't feel like it but making peace with your neighbour to make life easier would be a good plan once it is all over. i lived next to a nasty neighbour once and it is not good. if they hadnt moved we would have had to.

Awful for you. One possible silver lining, though: your baby will probably be used to the noise in utero, if it's as bad as you say, so s/he may be completely unfazed by it on arrival.