Workmen starting at 6.30am

Another day of angle-grinders cutting paving stones for (I'm assuming from what I can see at the front and back) a patio and front drive! From 8.00am till 5.00pm, with barely a pause. Their patio must be the size of Wembley Stadium!

And this after the whole of last Summer constructing a wrap-around extension (side and back including demoltion of a garage) and a loft extension.

Even my normally very tolerant OH was grumpy today with the continual noise and dust clouds...

By contrast another bunch of neighbours had "proper" workpeople in - logo on van, protective clothing, warning signs on pavement, sign with their phone and VAT number displayed while they were doing the job. As a result two more neighbours hired them to do jobs while they were in the area.

Our LA forbids building work on a sunday on its website. When my horrible neighbours had (cash in hand cowboy) workmen in to do a noisy job I told them I was phoning the police. The "workmen" fled pretty quickly as they are not of the ilk to usually charge VAT or pay tax and dont want to get involved with official bodies. They were back on the monday but I just wanted to put the frighteners on them.

My roofers got to my house at 07.30, they did not start until 08.00 am. They said that was the time they could legally start.

This company did a very good job, in the words of the company director, there will be no effing and jeffing, and the work will be finished in a timely manner. My neibours said to me they were very impressive. No complaints whatsoever.

Please see my post on page 1 as regards the law.

I didnt realise there were laws limiting builders, can we start a campaign to stop neighbours mowing lawns at unreasonable times

Im sure there is a noise restriction in force like 7am and 9pm...I would check for future reference .

I wish the rules about working before a certain time applied to our bin men; they are lovely friendly men, but I swear they are getting earlier every week; today they were merrily crashing wheelie bins about at 5.45 - the lorry was changing gear and the engine roaring. I tried to sleep, but they came back half an hour later to do another part of the road.

Thank you for the advice on this post. My 97 year old neighbour went into a care home in November and her house will now be sold. Its a 1930s house and she lived there for 60 years making no changes to the house at all. We are quaking in our boots at the thought of what might now transpire. It sounds as if getting a few ground rules in place earlier rather than later might help us survive the refurb (or possibly even re-build).

I live on an estate and the management office impose strict working hours: 8.30 - 5.00 excluding weekends and bank holidays. These rules include noisy DIY.

It was 10am this morning so that bit is over. We wait for the next irritation.
We could hardly sit in the garden last year and hoped this one would be better. Fingers still crossed.
They MUST be near the end.

I think a 6.30 am start to loud work is unacceptable and would contact local council. We had seven months of loud radios - music in the house, talk radio in the barn conversion at the back; foul language - one of the workers couldn't say a sentence with f* in it; drilling plaster off the walls; cement mixer in the back garden. We survived the winter months but come spring and I couldn't even escape to the garden, I became murderous. In the end it was worth it because the renovations must have added thousands to our property.

Pop over and ask them could they please not start at 6.30 as they are waking you up! 7am is fine, think that’s the legal time to start noisy work, and you’d really appreciate it. If they ignore you well they aren’t going to be particularly good neighbours, that’s if the neighbours are there and aware the work more starting that early.

Cossy

Starting any kind of DIY work at 6:30am is completely unacceptable frankly.

I agree. What time must they be getting up to start work then? I think a start of 8.00 or thereabouts leaves time at the end of the day to go to get supplies if they need them, but 6.30?

Starting any kind of DIY work at 6:30am is completely unacceptable frankly.

I am sure that 8am is the earliest they can start. In Cornwall last week, the builders started drilling at 7.45 and we had to speak to them. They were apologetic and knew but thought they could get away with it. They should also not work during weekend afternoons. We have had endless building where we live and it is an absolute pain especially the jangling radios when they sometimes join in!

Oh no, VS. It's really trying. We had this a while ago when next door changed hands and was renovated. It was the son of the previous owner who inherited it, and he did it himself around his work, so it went on for ages. We couldn't complain, as we'd just finished having a kitchen refit, but being unable to relax in your own home is very stressful.

We have new neighbours who are gutting the house... Floor, plaster, everything... The noise has been something else, if anything louder than having the drills and bangs in the actual room... 3 weeks so far

I'm trying very hard to be stoic but the Sundays and bank holiday Mondays make me want to throw things

PamelaJ1

*Sarnia*- precisely. The new people should have come round at the beginning of all this. Our attitude would have been so difficult I think. It is such a shame that they are *** us all off.
Wonder if they will invite us all for a drink when it’s all over?
Will we go.💁🏼‍♀️

I’d go , just for a nose !

Oh yes, Sparklefizz, the reversing beeping noise!

Last year, one of the houses three doors along from us was having the house completely gutted and gardening work done as well. The frequent delivery lorries AND the two diggers in the front and back garden had beepers and they beeped for blooming hours at a time! At one point we did wonder whether they were permanently going backwards!!

And no sign of occupancy for nearly a year...how do people afford to buy a house, spend tens (or hundreds in this case, I suspect) of thousands of pounds to change it out of all recognition without being on site at least in the later stages? These are family houses, not grand mansions by the way!

When my neighbours had a big extension built, all lorries etc had to pass my house as we are at the end of a cul-de-sac. The noise and mess went on for about 5 months. I had to keep dust sheets permanently down in my hall because of all the mud on the road, and my car was filthy both inside and out. There was the noise of lorries beeping as they reversed when it was still dark and I was still in bed.

At the end of it, my neighbour came round with a bottle of wine! Actually I could have done with a voucher for my car to be valeted and my hall carpet steam-cleaned.

But they are nice people so I said nothing.

We wondered why the builders would disappear for months leaving the work half finished but we were told by a neighbour that they were leaving it for a while so that they could return later to put an extension on which they are doing at the moment. I don’t know about the legality but we were just pleased the land was being built on instead of being left as a dumping ground.

Sarnia- precisely. The new people should have come round at the beginning of all this. Our attitude would have been so difficult I think. It is such a shame that they are *** us all off.
Wonder if they will invite us all for a drink when it’s all over?
Will we go.💁🏼‍♀️

It would have been polite and thoughtful if you had been contacted before the works began, especially as it is such an early start. As previous posters have said, there are steps you can take about this but as it only going to be for a short time maybe you feel least said is soonest mended.

It isn’t necessarily against the law for construction work to begin before 8am. The Control of Pollution Act 1974 gives local authorities power to prescribe construction working hours and if planning permission is required for the work, there will usually be a condition prescribing working hours - typically 8-6 Monday to Friday, 8-1 Saturday and no work on Sundays or bank holidays. Contact your local authority to report working outside these hours or other nuisances such as dust, bonfires or excessive noise. They may already have made local regulations or if there is a planning permission it should stipulate working hours. If there are no existing local regulations or planning conditions controlling working hours the local authority can serve notice to impose controls on how the works are carried out.