Would you buy a house next door to a builder?

[DecisionTime123]

Is there any reason why I should be worried? I've been three times, twice to view house then once to check things outside again; it's a quiet cul de sac. Builder's drive is full of cars and he then parks his van across it, if that makes sense, and his second van in the street. Doesn't appear to obstruct my garage or drive (next to his) but I can imagine it could be a tight manoeuvre. What would be my house has been empty for some time and the vendor has never lived there (probate).

Is there an issue I am missing here or am I just being daft? Should I expect multiple vans, deliveries of materials etc? Would it put you off?

I wouldn’t expect deliveries to be made to the builders house. Surely he’d go and collect anything he needed from a builders yard? If you’re worried, ask other neighbours in the cul-de-sac how disruptive the business is.

Don't do it, it's an absolute nightmare.

@Laughanotherday have you had this experience?!

@JustGotToKeepOnKeepingOn well I suppose that's another question, is it really ok to knock on neighbours doors when buying a house? I think I've got a pretty good brass neck but it seems a guaranteed way to get off on the wrong foot?

No, my neighbour across the road is a builder. His hobbies seem to be renovating his home and garden at 7am on a Sunday morning and talking about Trump being his hero. He has all his lads meet him outside his house at 7am mon-fri. With all their vans, turning round on our small cul-de-sac, loading his mini digger onto a trailer or having a delivery on the back of a truck loaded into one of his with a crane thing. Its never ending. Even today hes been in his giant shed using heavy machinery since 8am. Last week he filled my bin up with insulation and the binmen refused to take it (not great the week before Christmas when its only every two weeks).
His poor immediate elderly neighbour has had enough.
I realise not all builders are selfish people but this one is.

Yes, our whole street has, hardly anyone is speaking to them - multiple vehicles, storage of excess materials, deliveries. Applications to build another house in their garden. Applications to destroy TPO trees. Work on their own house with multiple trades at the same time with no care for their neighbours, blocking access. All of the above happened to us. Resale also may be impacted. Don't do it.

my next door neighbor for 25+yrs was amazing very helpful and always available to help with projects.
he did however have a dedicated separate property and garage for his heavy equipment.
his work truck was a basic pick up truck and his wife's car was kept in the garage.
i'm not a fan of congested streets/driveways but you can't count on that esthetic staying the same long term.

Dh is a builder (runs a building company), he doesn’t materials delivered here unless it’s for a home renovation project! They get delivered to site.
we have space on the drive for 4 vehicles, 2 are his work ones, one is for mine and it’s pot luck for the dc as to who gets the 4th.
we bought the house as a Reno project and it’s all done now but we have obviously caused disruption over the years with having noisy messy work done, exactly the same as when our non builder neighbours have had work done on their houses.
When we’ve planned work we’ve gone to the neighbours on both sides out of courtesy to let them know what we’re doing and then taken round wine/beers afterwards to thank them for their patience and understanding during the project.
i’m really not sure what’s causing your reluctance tbh, if someone’s blocking your drive go round and ask them to move it!!

Oh god some of the other posters have had crappy experiences!

@TheChosenTwo I never said anyone was blocking my drive and I am not reluctant, where are you getting this information from? I asked if others would consider it an issue. Asking for opinions.

My neighbours would say yes. We are friendly with them and my husband is always doing little jobs for them and he's the 1st person they ask in the event of a household emergency.

Maybe it's in response to where I said blocking access, the point being is I don't want to go out multiple times to ask people to move their vehicles. Its a pain in the butt and often confrontational. It's simple - have some awareness / manners and don't impact other people access.

My neighbour on one side (not attached) was a builder in my last house and he was a lovely guy. Very helpful and chatty when we bumped into each other on the street. He was a commercial builder though so had a van with his tools and a family car for his wife. It was all on street parking and the only thing was that he liked parking his van directly under the street light for security purposes.

My neighbour on the other side was also a painter which I know is not technically a builder but he was in the trade and he was awful and dodgy as hell. Always doing DIY late into the night and having his other building mates round from 2.30/3pm everyday for a rowdy drink until late in the evening.

If its only parking that you are worried about then I would suggest you go round at different times during the week and check things out for yourself but if you are worried about noise like DIY and other stuff then you will probably have to ask other neighbours but it will be difficult to gauge because will people be comfortable having a frank discussion with you on their doorstep about one of their neighbours?? I know I wouldn't unless it was something really obvious like bringing his Hells angels mates round on their motorbikes every single day or blocking the entire road with deliveries once or twice a week.

I definitely wouldn't, no. Its too risky - you might be lucky and get one that doesn't operate from home and is helpful. But the alternative would be majorly disruptive.

Surely the answer is you will have some who are inconsiderate and some who aren’t just as with any walk in life? My worst neighbour experience by far was living on the ground floor of a block of flats with a communal garden in the middle. Lots of mums with young children there, especially in summer, and the constant screaming, balls against fence etc. Some of the kids were for want of a better word feral and would climb into our front room through the window at times. Utter horror show of a year until we could get out.

A builder may or may not be a tosser. If I liked the house it wouldn’t put me off per se. Do you know his company name? Could look for some reviews online to see what kind of person he is? I.e there might be lots of one star cowboy type reviews? Even then you’re clutching at straws a bit.

I live opposite one (the owner of a building company, not a one man band) and it’s great, he did our big renovation project for us. Not sure why they would have building materials delivered to their home address, presumably they would be delivered to the site. The vans are driven by the guys that work for him so no reason there would be multiple vans on the driveway. There is occasionally one van on the driveway, that’s all. Even if there are a couple of vans at the house in addition to cars, it’s no different to living next to some families that have four cars.

We used to live across the road from a family with a building business. They were friends and we got them to do various pieces of work on our house - we figured if they had to live opposite they would make it look nice! And wouldn’t rip us off!

We had a cowboy builder next to us, he built a v dodgy extension then sold the house - current owner has had no end of issues. Rats in the house as pipes weren’t properly sealed etc!! How he got away with baffles me.
We are set back off the main road and no drives, so no issues with blocking in etc, but he would’ve been the type to do that!! I was v glad when he sold the house.

On the other side of the scale, the builder/handyman opposite us is great, always happy to help us with small issues. So that is a great bonus!

I would be most concerned about all the vehicles and if the parking/drive is tight, I would worry about that. Can you check by a few more times at different times of day/week to see how the parking differs?

Check weekends and evenings for parking, that's most likely when the vans will be there, if they're parked there.

Our next door neighbour in a small semi-detached has his own building company, grown from a one man band. He parks one van and 2 cars at home but has a yard for the other vans and building materials. Never had any problems at all living next to them.

One advantage is that the house next door and the fences are very well maintained.

Was fantastic when we did - he'd help us with little jobs and if we ever needed a trustworthy tradesman he invariably knew someone - we've stayed friends since we moved house.

I have lived next to builders and never had an issue.

My worst neighbor ever was NOT a builder but a horrific amateur DIYer who spent every weekend like a wreaking ball. I was worried if he knocked any more wall down the whole house would come down. Sounded like he was trying to jail break through the party wall half the time. He also did illogical things like put his boiler in the middle on the party wall (no easy access to pipes, vents, over flow) and it vibrated through our wall. On top of that he was also a terrible threatening person with awful anger issues (probably why he spent so much time smashing up and rebuilding his house).

He then sold to a builder flipper who quietly and respectfully renovated and undid all his horrible disruptive handy work. He then sold it on to a father and son building team who lived in it quietly and seemingly never bothered doing further work (which makes sense, who wants to work after a long day/weeks work). They occasionally knocked to politely ask if we could move our car a bit to fit their van in but never caused any bother.

The three builders that lived their after the horrible neighbor where like a breath of fresh air.

I think to sum up then, some of you share my concerns, some have said it was all ok so it's not conclusive evidence either way! But thank you all who replied. Just off to start another thread about a conservatory.