Neighbours and noise during building work

[lilcreed]

Myself and partner bought a house 2 months ago that needs renovation. We both work full time so choose to do the quiet jobs in the evening (out of respect for our neighbours) and do the noisy jobs at the weekend as that is the only option we have.

Our neighbours are an older couple who were really friendly and supportive when we moved in, but have been a bit off with us lately. I keep catching them climbing the fence to look over into our garden and they have been really quiet.

Today we were doing noisy work and our front door was open. The neighbour marched in and said that enough was enough. Where do we stand on this?

We never work past 6pm and weekends are the only time when we can do things. We are a young couple and need to move on quite soon as my partners mum is downsizing. Thanks.

It’s bank holiday, you should have given them some peace!

You should be only doing building work between 8am-1pm on a Saturday and nothing on a Sunday according to most councils. Perhaps draw up an agreed rota with them of when you will do building work? At least this way they can prepare themselves for when it’s noisy. Part of the stress of living next to a building site is not knowing when you will have peace and when the noise will begin.

Absolutely not, but do recognise that someone is taking the time and expense to keep your local area nice (at least as best as they can conceive it anyway) - maybe taking a bit of pride in the little bit of locale they occupy and the nearest neighbours will benefit the most but the ripple effect will hit you to some small extent.

Consider this: when a major public works like a tube line extension or Crossrail route goes through an area or the laying of high speed fibre-optics or renewal of decrepit sewering, it causes major disruption often for years; over a decade in some cases. The real benefactors are those that will use these new infrastructures but the locals who’s properties run along these routes see considerable benefit to them. They just have to put up with the short-term aggro. And before you ask, I am one such local who doesn’t use these new networks (in the case if the transport examples) but I’m happy to see them happen because I don’t want to live in a static pre-Victorian city that never keeps pace with the needs of modern living. I don’t see a difference between such commercial works and residential works. It’s all part of the continuous renewal process of the built environment. If you can pass on the contact details of the elves with their magic silent hammers that can do such works in complete silence, I would quite happily engage them on a future build. Until then, I’ll live in the real World.

I live near new fibre optic cabling and it was a bloody nightmare. The pavements are a complete mess of mismatched tarmac and I think a lot of people only benefit from major construction by selling up to the construction

We've had a site clearance and a bunch of houses built next door but one to us. The initial piledriving, or whatever the hell it was making pictures jump off the walls was awful at 8.03am, but thankfully, by the time I got in from work, everything had stopped for the day. They also finished at 12.30/1 on Saturdays throughout the build.

Even though they kept exactly to the laws, it was still stressful, as every moment I was hoping to have a restful day at home (I work M-F termtime), I was woken up and then had constant noise and vibration for either 4 or 7 hours solid.

Had the next door neighbour been doing building or DIY every weekend all summer, it would have driven me insane, as my one relief was knowing it would stop - with DIY, there isn't that respite.

Your neighbour's phrasing - enough is enough - makes it clear that it has got to the point where they can't cope anymore. I sympathise with them, as I spent some mornings crying because I'd been woken up again and the physical sensations of constant noise and vibrations were overwhelming. They don't have the security of knowing it's going to stop by 1.

Yes, that is an unfortunate situation when shoddy works spoil an otherwise welcome benefit, but don’t ignore the fact that high speed fibre benefits both many residential and commercial enterprises. Some people really don’t care, weak broadband is enough for them - but they should not set the standard by which the rest of us should work to. Progress isn’t always in the right direction but it definitely does not happen with stasis. That way lies stagnation and regression.

I lived for a long time by the construction of the London super-sewer which has taken years to build and still hasn’t completed. I went through the pain of road closures, diversions and construction noise and sold up before it was finished, but I didn’t complain. Yeah it’s a pain but if people of the past stood in the way of progress because it inconvenienced them, the environment of today would look very, very different.

Our council like most has rules on renovations (mon-Friday daytimes, Saturday mornings) diy however is different and you are old to be considerate and never before 8am after 10pm (think mowing lawns, hanging pictures, putting up a shed with an electric screwdriver). Most diy is not disturbing to neighbours, wholesale renovations weekend after weekend are. My advice is to look at what needs doing and split into noisy and less so, keeping the quiet jobs for Sunday's ... nobody minds 20 mins of drilling every sunday but 6 hours of jackhammering is enough to drive anyone to complain. Painting and plastering are silent, plumbing isn't very noisy either

Yes, that's all very laudable, jabbercocky, but it's a different issue from you doing up a house to sell on for your own profit - and I don't buy that you're doing that out of the goodness of your own heart to improve the locality. Of course you should repair flashings on your own property, and particularly so if it will impact adversely on a neighbour.
This isn't altruistic benevolence on your part.

@CallmeAngelina again, you bring your own prejudices to the discussion. I don’t do this for profit. I never said anywhere I did. Every single one of my projects has been on my principal private residence. I am old enough to have moved house a lot and I do so whenever my family or work situation makes it make sense. I am not a professional developer. I have a stake in each of the environments I choose to spend money in. I live there so I want the locality to be nice and I accept that the cost is ongoing maintenance and renewal. I don’t complain when others do it, in fact I’m pleased when they do - it shows someone is taking a similar stake in keeping the area nice or improving it. I would like to get on with my neighbours if possible but when (to my mind) they appear to be small-minded and nimby-ish, I choose to cut them off. I don’t do fake nice. If they are too short sighted that maintaining and improving the built environment comes at a cost, that is their problem. They probably think also believe in angels and the tooth fairy.

"Jabbercocky

I don’t want a plaque. I want their petty mindedness out of my business."
Except you clearly don't @jabercocky, you crave attention and endless gratitude.

And as for your 'I never said I do this for profit', conveniently your original post has been removed (not surprised tbh) but pretty sure you stated there that you do up investment properties. Ergo you do it to make a profit??

Smug off.

Wow! This thread has made me really thankful for having patient neighbours. 😐

One Easter weekend we spent completely clearing our garden. Lawnmower, skip, hedge trimmer, the lot. If my neighbours would have begrudged us this just for it being a bank holiday I’d have thought they were mental.

@CallmeAngelina again, you bring your own prejudices to the discussion.
No, I bring my opinion. Is that OK with you?

@lilcreed
I hope you don't let your neighbours put you off or bully you.
In the name of progress/standards you need to go through this to as there is no other way.
I personally would be seriously pissed off if a neighbour (retired or not) barged into my house uninvited - they would definitely be told not to.
What people fail to realise is that good building work (more so outside obviously) raises house prices for everyone, and helps to make an area look appealing/attractive etc.

All good positive stuff in my book. As the saying goes you've got to crack a few eggs to make an omlett.
I would go round and tell them politely but in no uncertain terms that you are hoping it will be finished by such and such (I would over-estimate the time period) and do NOT let them dictate anything.
As long as you work within the correct time periods 7pm at night(?) etc there is nothing legally they can do.

Lastly I would also educate them re what is allowed in terms of building times/days etc.

www.propertyroad.co.uk/should-you-buy-a-house-near-hs2/

I didn’t remove the post. Don’t even know how to. Any “investment” I make is in time, effort and money to define my living environment as best I can. Yes I have made money on (almost all) of my previous homes and yes, I have accepted money for people to do photo shoots and filming in my homes once they are done but that’s not the driver, that’s merely a bonus. Would you similarly criticise a young woman who woke up one day looking stunning if they then accepted a one off modelling gig? They haven’t exactly earned that genetic advantage have they? I don’t Instagram the work I’ve done (in one instance it won a design award, directly leading to more work for a local architecture practice), it’s not about “look at me now show me the money” - but it’s undeniable that the financial risk I undertake and the aggro I onboard leads to a benefit for others - neighbours and contractors alike. You’re welcome to live in an area that no-one cares about and let’s slip to ruin, be my guest. You won’t ever have to complain about people breaching your peace. I prefer not to and will act accordingly.

Jabbercocky you’ve made me feel better about the area I live in.

We were drilling today at 1pm and it would have only taken half an hour. We were just caught off guard as we were in what will be the kitchen doing work and I turn around to find the neighbour standing in the kitchen with us. This isn’t the first time he’s marched through the door either.

Granted the front door is always open to let some air in when we are working - but that isn’t an invitation to barge in.

I completely understand that it is a bank holiday and I (perhaps selfishly) didn’t see it from their angle, I saw it from ours that we have a rare extra day to get ahead on things.

We are going back in the evenings this week to do quiet painting but we will need to get the drill out again as we need to put the sockets in as the plasterer is due next week! Also having 4 new external doors fitted on Saturday !

Thanks again for your advice all.

Just keep them updated, but then some flowers and apologise. it’s really rude to do all that work without letting them know what’s happening x

Perhaps it would be better to ask when it might suit them for you to do a noisy half hour job. If you are there all day they may be popping out at some point and you be able to minimise the impact on them. They have after all tolerated it thus far but all summer weekends, with no end in sight, is frankly a bit much.

Granted the front door is always open to let some air in when we are working - but that isn’t an invitation to barge in.

They might be thinking that you’re rude enough to spread the noise with the open door, so they might as well be rude back?

Or maybe the drilling drowned out a polite knock or call.

It was deathly silent round here today. I thought people would be having parties/BBQs etc but there was nothing...so much so that I avoided mowing my lawn in case everyone was snoozing on sun loungers.

It would have felt really inappropriate to me to start drilling etc.

That said, it's very normal for people to do up houses during their time off work, so I think they're being unreasonable overall. Sounds like they let it wind them up over time and then blew up.

Maybe with hindsight talking to them in advance would have helped.

What did he march through the door about before?

They walked their son through the door the first time who is a tree surgeon. They are nagging us to have a massive conifer taken down at the bottom of our garden. The son quoted us £5,000 which we don’t have to spend money on that right now. We plan to do it in future - but it’s not the top of the list at the moment.

I think your neighbours are being quite unreasonable to be honest. If you're both working full time and doing the house in your spare time it's not like they have builders and their noise all day during the week. It sounds from the OP like they may be elderly/retired?

I'd ignore them personally, but I have just fallen out with my twat of a next door neighbour today so may be biased.

The noise restrictions continually being quoted apply to professionals builders only they do not apply to DIY like OP
Bank holidays have traditionally been a time for household projects in fact B & A adverts major on it
The only rules that apply to OP are general noise rules so after 8am and before 10pm there is no indication that Op is banging and clanging around from dawn to dusk, putting sockets into walls isn't really that noisy as OP said it was 30 minutes not 10 consecutive hours, the neighbors are being unreasonable but just a bit of reassurance that it will be 6 more weeks might help legally you are fine but it's best to go over heavy ground as light as possible