Neighbours hate extension plans

[OMeOMy]

Any advice on how to handle this situation please? We've recently had planning permission granted on our extension plans- this wasn't really a surprise as our plans pretty much all fall under permitted development anyway and to us seek relatively modest. Prior to applying for PP we gave our neighbours a heads up and shared our plans with them- some were initially okay and others less positive. We genuinely don't think the extension should have a significant negative impact on neighbours (and this view was shared by the planning officer who approved the extension plans). Our immediate neighbours are now all up in arms - lots of personal and emotive comments added as objections on the planning portal, and now some are avoiding eye contact in the street while others are accosting me to tell me how 'shocked' and 'gutted' they are and how awful the building work will make their lives etc, how awful the finished result will be, how could we do this to them, etc. So far I've just tried to be friendly, smile and wave etc, and counter any specific concerns when they come up, but not sure if this approach is just adding fuel to the fire of their negative feelings towards us. I don't think anything will appease them except cancelling the build (we need more space so need to either extend or move). I'm starting to feel very uncomfortable/ stressed when out on the street and wondering if anybody had encountered similar and/or had any tips for managing the situation. Thanks.

Someone on our street had planning approval and work done last year. They wrote to us all stating they would be firm with the builders about sticking to hours of work so to minimise noise at annoying times like weekends and they made a lot of effort to avoid heavy lorries on the street. At one point they even used a smaller van to transport material off a large lorry (that could have fit down our street but would have blocked it for a while and been really irritating) that was parked in a disused car park half a mile away instead. Everyone really appreciated their efforts and it made the whole thing much easier. They paid promptly when next door had a paving slab on the edge of their drive broken and at the end we all got a bottle of wine delivered with a thanks for being so tolerant card!

Good ideas thanks

I have been on the receiving end of this (neighbours building) four times. If its possible in your circs, you might like to talk to them about what you are doing to mitigate and talk about communicating any problems. One of my neighbours had building works done three times. The first two times the first we knew was when the work started and both times we had to go and ask for stuff to be moved so we could drive in and and use our own parking on multiple occasions. The first time the workmen had actually set up work benches and so on on my drive and I had to really get brusque with them to get them to move. the third time they actually TALKED to us and things went much more smoothly. Neighbours the other side have had stuff done and again they have come to us first and talked about it and again no problems even though part of their work was erecting a scaffolding tower on my front paving...so for me communication is key......although they may of course just be a bunch of grumpy arses.

Basically that's tough isn't it. Do you need party wall agreements? That can make it problematical as they will probably insist on appointing their own surveyor and some can be assholes. Our neighbours did this and we all discovered their extension was built on nothing so we had to make sure our proper foundations for our extension did not adversely affect theirs - in effect I think we had to pretty much underpin it.
Otherwise unless they have solid planning objections too bad. Buy your immediate neighbours a bunch of flowers as work starts, make sure your builders do not leave mess out front, make sure they respect your neighbours property (don't park in their drive for example) and stick to noise restrictions.
You want lo be unpopular but unless none of them have extended surely they have all been or will be in the same boat?

@OMeOMy , I’ve remembered something else that was hugely irritating. The builders were cutting wood (absolutely fine, not too loud or anything) but it was a hot, sunny, breezy day and we had laundry on the line and the windows open. Everything was covered in a film of sawdust, even our pillows. It would have been a 5 minute job to bring things in/close windows, but they didn’t warn us and we didn’t realise until too late.

Our neighbours (mid terrace) had a loft conversion done done last year. No dormer, just Velux windows. It took 5 months!

Clarify your boundaries with neighbours before work starts. Ensure your builders don't pile a mountain of crap against the neighbour's fences.

If you are having scaffolding then talk to neighbours about the likelihood of bars sticking over the boundary. Ask if that will be OK (or even better stand and watch the scaffolders put the stuff up and tell them to back off from the boundary)

Don't leave piles of materials on the pavement or road. Clean up pavements and road at the end of each day if they are getting mucky.

Use dust suppressant techniques like damping down.

Don't work beyond 5 or at weekends. It's not just the noise disturbance but the trades and deliveries coning and going that are annoying for neighbours.

Be upfront with neighbours. Don't show them your plans after you've submitted the planning and pretend that it is for a personal consultation.

Planning department has agreed your extension and plans, so it's not up to the neighbours now. I agree it is about minimising impact of building works on others

Planning dept don't really take into account the noise and impact of building works on those WFH as many of us mostly are still. Nor of SAHM with young children having naps so I understand that is frustrating for neighbours

But you can only do your best and try to reduce impact where you can. Two of neighbour has had works ongoing for 4(-6!) months a piece one starting just as the other finished!

They apologise to me regularly but really I just take my hearing aids out at worst points

But the impact on my DD during revising for her A levels was tough going. She had to leave our home and study at friends houses some days as building works were too noisy and there were times I couldn't hear what people where saying on work calls.

We survived it and appreciate that our neighbours building work had to be done. I was glad they tried to stick to schedules & kept us updated verbally (don't put it in writing!) (When they over ran by two months.. at the time rain stopped building work quite a bit )

No one wants the noise and disruption of building work on their doorstep but it’s a part of life. It sounds like you’re handling it well.

Before the work starts you could head off some potential problems. Make it clear to your builders where you’d prefer them to park and remind them not to block driveways. Ask them to be as accommodating as possible to your neighbours if they’re asked to move their vehicles. When deliveries are due ask them to get the drivers to park up while they unload rather than just stopping in the middle of the road for five minutes. Ask your builders not to burn waste. Try to keep any skips needed on your property if possible.

Good luck. The dust, noise and having workmen in your home all the time can really get to you but it’ll be worth it in the end.

Our neighbours are in the middle of building an extension. We really get on well. When they told us, they invited us for a meal to show us the plans, and if we had any concerns. We didn’t.
their builders have been brilliant. No radios, friendly good mornings, considerate parking etc, and we now have scaffolding on our side path, which we agreed to. It doesn’t make any difference to us but it does to them.
They have agreed to pay our windows cleaner for three cleans, more of the build lasts longer and they will pay to have our path and driveway cleaned when all the scaffolding has finished.
we have also been able to put stuff in their long line of skips, which has been brilliant.

It'll be the aspect of the noise whilst it's being done op, possibly jealously too. Just go for it and let them get on with it x

The house next to us was torn down and replaced by flats. It wasn't that bad but I did lose my shit twice - once when the builders were parking on our driveway and once when they did some sort of earthworks that made our house shake at 7am on a Saturday. I was not a big fan of the view from my bedroom being the builders' portaloo either.

You have permission OP, you aren’t doing anything wrong, of course building work is disruptive, but it won’t go on forever. Just get on with the project, make sure builders adhere to the stipulations in the contract, work within the permitted hours. Once it’s done, the neighbours will soon forget. Good luck.

Well I’ve hired a concrete breaker for next week to break up the old conservatory foundations………….and I haven’t told the neighbours 😀.

The house next door was redeveloped last year, it took 5 months. They were quite considerate but the noise was terrible sometimes and when DH was on a work call it was a pain. The people, that bought the house are lovely which was a relief.

Same here.

You say 'minimal', I hear impact.

It may be minimal, but it still negatively impacts on them, so I can understand why they're upset.

I can appreciate that this will be inconvenient for them in the short term. However if I was them - personally - I would value maintaining a relationship with my neighbour enough not to accost them in the street etc as how is that helping anything from a practical perspective? It just screams to me that they're not bothered about maintaining a decent relationship with us. It's personally quite upsetting to feel as though the entire street is against us although I'm aware that's my problem. And if nothing else it makes it harder for us to have the necessary conversations around minimizing impact on neighbours. Is this how most people would behave? I'm genuinely surprised if so.

Choose high end respectful builders for the job. Ones who won’t drop cigarettes, play Radio 1 full blast and shout all day long.

Choose materials that suit the local area.

Be approachable. If your builder is playing Radio 1 at top volume and your neighbours are upset. Allow them to approach you and always be kind and resolving.

Drop in the fact that your extension will increase your house value and MAY increase theirs too. Prospective buyers will be looking around at possibilities and pay higher. Planning MAY be easier to obtain for your neighbours (and neighbours in the future!) if they ever wanted an extension too.

Make your curb appeal beautiful. Not flashy - just beautiful.

keep dust to a minimum! Be prepared to hose down the road and pavements after hot days

Our attached neighbours have planning permission for a 2 storey side and rear extension and loft conversion. We have 2 toddlers and due a baby in 3 weeks. DH and I both work from home 3 days a week. We didn’t object because they are nice people but if we could move tomorrow we would. It will be a year of hellish noise and disruption.

Forgot to say, give them notice on when work will start, and ask your builders to strictly stick to working times etc.

I live on a corner, both sides of neighbours have had extensions, both not as big as each wanted. I did object to one as it would have blocked out sunlight to my garden and my other neighbours. This was before you could see objections online and my neighbours never knew we objected, but don’t talk to the other neighbours they knew they objected. We’ve also had a brand new 4 bedroom detached house built opposite next to a house that had a big garden. Everyone opposed it, but it got passed. We still talk to them but just hello, all other neighbours won’t speak, but now it’s built it’s not too bad.

I'm on the fence here. At the end of the day it's the local authority that has responsibility for making sure that the works are acceptable and they have deemed they are.

By all means be as considerate as you can, keep them informed and be on the ball with neighbourly relations. That's just common decency. But make sure you keep some firm boundaries in place. Yes you want to get on with your neighbours, but you don't need to be best friends with them or put up with unreasonable reactions. Building work is a pain all round, but it ends. I'd have more sympathy if the finished product was going to be problematic. The process to get there is just one of those things.

Given how ridiculously expensive it is to move up the ladder, building work is often a necessary evil. To the pp asking why they didn't buy a bigger house in the first place, it's simply not possible a lot of the time. Especially if you're buying into a desirable area / school catchment.

I just think approach it as if you were in a professional capacity at work. So keep relations cordial etc but don't allow yourself to be in a position where someone is knocking every day with an issue. As time goes by they'll get over it I'm sure. It's just all the initial panic and worst case scenarios taking over.

You probably have your reasons for not telling them Diyextension, but if you were my neighbour I would have really appreciated being warned about this level of noise in advance, so I could make alternative arrangement for wfh.