I am dreading the house at the bottom of our drive being demolished.

Not recently and not right on our doorstep but I do remember the hell when builders were given permission to build a row of houses on a supposedly protected site opposite us years ago, the noise was the worst thing.

I can sympathise.
If this truly disrupts your life, can you ask for compensation?

How would I ask for compensation? Right now I've just opened the bottle of Bailey's I bought for Christmas and I'm going to bed with a small glass of it, my book, and a bar of chocolate.

🙂

You could check with your local Council.

Definitely check with your local council

25Avalon

How would I ask for compensation? Right now I've just opened the bottle of Bailey's I bought for Christmas and I'm going to bed with a small glass of it, my book, and a bar of chocolate.

Sounds like a plan😁

I really feel for you, I am having some work done, it is messy and due to the weather taking ages. Its nowhere as bad as what you said though.

I really feel for you.
Very minor to what you will be experiencing but our neighbour had a large garden room built last year. We have a very tiny garden and the builders were noisy, radio blaring continually and the work went vastly over time. Instead of 12 weeks it went on for nearly 5 months, all through the summer. During this time my Dh had a stroke and was trying to recover at home, with noise, music and the builders talking loudly and singing along to the radio.,
We couldn’t sit in our garden at all as the construction was slap bang up against our fence. Couldn’t put our washing out as the dust was blowing over and the our windows were filthy.

It was a nightmare. Our neighbours are a young family who are very polite and thoughtful and I did ask how much longer would it be going on. They were apologetic but it was beyond their control as things kept going wrong.
They paid for our windows to be cleaned and brought round a bottle of wine.

I’m afraid you are in for a very unpleasant time. Sorry to be so negative but be warned.,

Presumably they sought planning permission? Were you not notified?

* I’m not going to be able to drive in and out freely without fear of some kind of confrontation. Even walking the dog will put me on edge. *

Enough drama; the builders will be far too busy to bother with you. You'll just drive/walk out (and back) as usual.

The builders MUST provide a clear vehicle access to your property, at all times, for you and emergency services vehicles.

We've had a building site behind the house for three years. The noise, the dust but the worst was a stand of mature trees at the rear just beyond our garden being cut down.

We've been told the only compensation we can try to get is for the change to the road.

Have you checked the planning permission,? For the developer behind us we checked times they could work and lodged complaints if the didn't stick to them, contacted environmental health when the dust was very bad in the summer and they were made to damp everything down.

It is very difficult to live with but not much choice.

It’s not uncommon for neighbours to be very inconvenienced by new builds and replacements in my area. One house will be replaced by three. The building doesn’t last forever. Families need housing.
So if it’s just a straightforward replacement, the long term repercussions should be minimal. Where a new road has been constructed then road noise can become annoying. Maybe a holiday would help step away from the problems?

I am surprised that the developers haven’t communicated with you directly if you live in such close proximity to the place. As stated upthread, planning permission must have been sought, investigated and granted. Didn’t the local council write to you?

Perhaps having a polite chat to the site manager/project manager will help establish some resolution to your concern regarding inconvenience etc.

Have I got this wrong? The builders are only working two days a week for a year. Never heard such a thing, it's usually daily to get the job done.

Allsorts

Have I got this wrong? The builders are only working two days a week for a year. Never heard such a thing, it's usually daily to get the job done.

I think it means 5 and a half days per week, so presumably Saturday mornings too.
Nightmare for the OP.

Has the local Council actually granted full planning permission or is it going to be yet another case of applying for permission retrospectively with fingers crossed?

'Build Now and Get Permission Later' just seems to be almost the norm these days.

Sounds absolutely horrific!

I can only wish you luck and many Baileys!

I can understand your feelings at the moment, a lot of which is that you are unable to change anything and are dreading what is to come and feeling helpless. There is much that you cannot alter of course, but I think you now need to look at what you can do, and try and focus on that.

So as others have said , you can check up on the rules and regulations re access and blocking drives, causing problems such as water cut off or whatever. Once you have the information, you will see what you can and cant do anything about. Then once they really get down to the job, can you notice if there is a pattern to the weeks. So that if they tend to finish early on a friday , then that is a day to stay at home and make the best of that quieter afternoon. If the worst day is monday with lots of deliveries of bricks and noise etc, then make that a day you try to go out early, have your shopping list at the ready, or have a plan to go somewhere you can enjoy something. Maybe that could become a day to start going swimming, or visiting NT properties or arranging to meet friends for coffee. Whatever would make the day better for you. DONT think of it being a day you are pushed out, but that you are choosing to do something other than stay and listen to the racket which upsets you. Next look in your local library to see what courses might be happening, that would appeal to you. Let this get you to make that effort to join and learn something new.

The point is that we only own the place we live in and are just lucky if the neighbours are pleasant and things stay the same for some time. You see so many people saying how much they like the outlook from their property, and I always think that they need to check on the likely or possible changes that could occur. Having moved 19 times both in this country and abroad I have experienced a wide range of situations , and have been sad to see a lovely meadow taken for building etc etc. However the only things you can change are yourselves and what you do and your pattern of things.

Whilst you are naturally sad about the changes and no doubt feeling very frustrated that you are unable to alter things, turning your attention to what can make life easier for yourself is your only positive thing you can do. Today you could at least buy some earplugs , perhaps change your furniture round so that you are not looking at the mess going on, and then check out the rules re passing by and blocking the way etc. You might also start taking pictures of any lorries blocking you in, showing their number plate etc., but I dont think you will help the situation to deliberately look for problems. You can only look at your own situation and think of the things that you might choose to do. So, for example at one extreme, would you want to move yourselves, and spend some time looking for a place that would suit you better? If that thought fills you with horror, then you will see that finding a way to cope with this temporary situation is your best way to feel in charge of your own response and change what you can and find ways to limit the effect on you of the things that you cant alter.

Another way of looking at this is to realise that our own property may well have caused someone else some temporary inconvenience when it was constructed. Does that help?

madeleine45 what a useful and constructive reply.

I often have to remind myself that I can change my reaction to things!
I would also look at planting some new trees or tall shrubs near the boundary, ready to give me some joy in the future.

My experience is somewhat different to yours in that I bought a new house at the start of a development of 1500 homes, so I lived on a total building site for 2 years and then the building moved on, but still with the lorries and supplies and stuff, trundling through. Though there was still intermittent work around me like making up the roads and green spaces etc

My advice is to make friends with the builders. They are just people doing a job, not the enemy.
If they do anything that causes a problem tell them, but equally if it isn’t let it go. My driveway was sometimes blocked but if I wasn’t going out anyway, it didn’t really matter. I learned to abandon my idea of what they shouldnt do for practicality. It didn’t come easily to me😬

It paid dividends though because as we got to know each other they started to help me out with a few little jobs that come up on new builds, sorting an never doorstep. Helped me carry furniture and garden stuff and even helped me put up a shed 🙂

I hope your builders will be just as nice when you get to know them.

I can totally understand where your fears and disappointments are but I think Lathyrus has given you very good advice don’t make enemies of the builders, they are only doing a job, and may be more than helpful to you if you ever have a problem.
I do wish you well though and as others have said do make sure all the necessary permits have been put in place
I m surprised you haven’t had information through the post as to what to expect etc
Good luck

I think my first stop would be the planning department at the local council. Ask them questions about boundary walls and everything you have mentioned in your post. I would have thought that with being so near this house that you would have been informed about the plans and have the right to object to them. Ask the council why this hasn't happened. The builders need to treat you with courtesy. Your home and access to it should not be compromised in any way and if you have problems with them and a face to face polite chat hasn't improved matters then I would be back on to the Council for their advice.

I had a very similar experience to Lathyrus when my house was new and the house behind me was in the process of being built. I was friendly towards the builders and in return they were polite and helpful to me. I have only good memories of that time. I hope it will be the same for you OP.

butterandjam

* I’m not going to be able to drive in and out freely without fear of some kind of confrontation. Even walking the dog will put me on edge. *

Enough drama; the builders will be far too busy to bother with you. You'll just drive/walk out (and back) as usual.

The builders MUST provide a clear vehicle access to your property, at all times, for you and emergency services vehicles.

Big sunglasses worn whenever you go past them.

Personal recommendation - as I've had bad neighbours deliberately standing and trying to eyeball me as I've gone past them before now and I know I have an expressive face - so was concerned in case I looked at all offput by them in any way.

So - on went the sunglasses and, after a while, they realised I knew about hiding my eyes and making sure I stood as upright as I could and firmly stepping out (ie walking) confidently past them.

I guess tell yourself it could be worse, ie "Bulldozers moving onto a field next door at the start of a bank holiday etc".