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Does the council class DIY as Construction


ultramods

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Most of my house is being constructed by the joiners and builders during the week during normal hours.

 

I have been doing some work during the evening and weekends, up until the last week the work I have done has been inside and quiet.

 

However last Saturday I hired a nail gun to attach the timber battens to the garage ready for the cladding. I started using the nail gun at 14:30 and finished at 19:30 as I am conscious that we are building in a residential area.

 

Monday night I used the nail gun 17:30 - 19:00.

 

Today I started using it at 15:00 and was only going to need to use it for 1 - 2 hours. However a neighbour (that I hadn't spoken to before) came over to the site with his wife and started complaining about all the noise and that I am breaching council regulations.

 

He said I shouldn't be using it after 7 and shouldn't be working on Sundays or public holiday (such as today).

 

I explained to him that I have also been conscious about noise and try and keep it to a minimum and don't start as early as I could on a Saturday for example. But he kept on complaining.

 

The thing that upset/annoyed me the most was that he could see I was almost finished but still complained in a very confrontational way, having no foresight that it would destroy any future neighbourly relationship that we would have had.

 

One ironic thing was I said to him that I hear one of the neighbours playing a drum kit loudly every weekend, I would never complain about it as I would like to get on with my neighbours and have to accept a certain amount of noise - It is their son playing the drum kit.

 

So my question is if I am putting up the cladding on the house evening or weekends is that classed as construction by the council or is it DIY?

 

I tried calling the council today, however they were closed as it's a bank holiday.

 

Edited by ultramods
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8 minutes ago, daiking said:

No, f**k him.

 

(And try to enjoy the passive aggressive non-confrontation)

 

I kept level headed and restrained but I let him know exactly how disappointed I with the way he was behaving. 

 

I also said he was being very pedantic about the noise as there is lot of other noise on the street, but because this was "Construction Noise" he felt that justified complaining.

 Even although the noise was a one off for a few days. - Not like I have been doing it every week for the last few months.

 

I also said that all the other neighbours have been nice and very supportive as we are building on what was an eye sore on the street.

 

His teenage son cycles his mountain bike up and down the "pedestrian" pavement and does wheelies on the road. Thing I am going to have to educate them on the Highway Code.

 

Edited by ultramods
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If I lived near you and heard it I wouldn't be bothered. Must be a different issue that is annoying them. Did they comment on your planning application, prehaps it's the building noise during the day or they have young children etc

 

Is there anyway you could surprise them with a token gift like a bottle wine, hold off the work for the next few days and have the opportunity for a proper introduction? We can all overreact sometimes, prehaps on reflection they might be apologetic.

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

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If they are having to put up with construction noise in the week, wouldn’t it be nice to give them a break at the weekend. 

It depends what tool you are using and when, nail gun at 7pm, nope your not being a nice neighbour. 

Doing some painting at 9pm what’s the problem 

i think you need to evaluate each job and work out if you would like it, I personaly would have the hump with you. 

 

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1 minute ago, Thedreamer said:

If I lived near you and heard it I wouldn't be bothered. Must be a different issue that is annoying them. Did they comment on your planning application, prehaps it's the building noise during the day or they have young children etc

 

Is there anyway you could surprise them with a token gift like a bottle wine, hold off the work for the next few days and have the opportunity for a proper introduction? We can all overreact sometimes, prehaps on reflection they might be apologetic.

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

They are both at work during the week and both children are teenagers.

 

They didn't object to the planning application.

 

I just think they are the sort of people that like to complain and enjoy confrontation.

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1 minute ago, Russell griffiths said:

If they are having to put up with construction noise in the week, wouldn’t it be nice to give them a break at the weekend. 

It depends what tool you are using and when, nail gun at 7pm, nope your not being a nice neighbour. 

Doing some painting at 9pm what’s the problem 

i think you need to evaluate each job and work out if you would like it, I personaly would have the hump with you. 

 

I could understand that if I was making noise a lot, but as I said this was a one - off for a few days.

 

They are both at work Monday to Friday when the builders are there.

 

 

 

 

 

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1 minute ago, ultramods said:

 

They are both at work during the week and both children are teenagers.

 

They didn't object to the planning application.

 

I just think they are the sort of people that like to complain and enjoy confrontation.

 

Ohh I see.

 

If the rest of the neighbours are normal and not bothered then I would just crack on.

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Have to agree with Russell on this one. I've been through a neighbour who thought he would work when ever he wanted and it ends up being Chinese torture. I don't believe for a second you're doing anything to upset them on purpose, but maybe they just want to enjoy some peace and quiet on a bank holiday weekend.

 

It's the exact reason I'm not on site over this weekend

 

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1 minute ago, Thedreamer said:

 

Ohh I see.

 

If the rest of the neighbours are normal and not bothered then I would just crack on.

 

Just after the confrontation I spoke to another neighbour and asked If they were finding it annoying as another neighbour had complained. He said not at all and what do they expect when you are building a house.

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2 minutes ago, Vijay said:

Have to agree with Russell on this one. I've been through a neighbour who thought he would work when ever he wanted and it ends up being Chinese torture. I don't believe for a second you're doing anything to upset them on purpose, but maybe they just want to enjoy some peace and quiet on a bank holiday weekend.

 

It's the exact reason I'm not on site over this weekend

 

 

TBH other than the hours I was working at I hadn't really thought about not working on holidays etc.

 

I am in the situation that I need to save most of my holidays for childcare, which means I can't take them when ever I want, such as during the week during term time.

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My experience with neighbours and noise was not good.  At a former semi detached house It was inevitable that noise I made would be heard by the neighbour and it was equally predictable that they complained.  So I tried to be reasonable and asked that they could let me know when they went out, so I could do all the noisy jobs while they were out.  They blew their top and said "why should we have to go out so you can make noise"  I tried to explain I was not asking them to go out especially, but just to let me know whenever they were going out so I could do the noisy jobs when it would not bother them.

 

They never did tell me when they were going out and we didn't speak much at all after that.

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Before we started the build we went round each neighbour and introduced ourselves and gave them our mobile number if there were any issues with noise or vans being parked where they shouldn't etc. 

 

As I said previously, it was just they way he went about it that I didn't like. 

 

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I don’t think they can do much about it but TBH being able to sit in your garden on a bank holiday weekend without a load of racket is nice. 

 

Last night they shut the A1 from 8pm and diverted the traffic past my house meaning that there were lorries thundering past all night and the rest of the weekend apparently (just started again now). Was there any warning? No. Can I do anything about it? No. Is it annoying? Yes! 

 

 

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1 minute ago, newhome said:

I don’t think they can do much about it but TBH being able to sit in your garden on a bank holiday weekend without a load of racket is nice. 

 

Last night they shut the A1 from 8pm and diverted the traffic past my house meaning that there were lorries thundering past all night and the rest of the weekend apparently (just started again now). Was there any warning? No. Can I do anything about it? No. Is it annoying? Yes! 

 

 

I know they can't do much about it, but I was really hoping to get on with all the neighbours.

 

But really can he complain about noise when literally the whole street can hear the son playing the drums every weekend.

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3 minutes ago, ultramods said:

I know they can't do much about it, but I was really hoping to get on with all the neighbours.

  

But really can he complain about noise when literally the whole street can hear the son playing the drums every weekend.

 

You'll never get on with ALL the neighbours - there is always some arse that lives in the vicinity :)

 

People never hear their own noise though, or at least they find it tolerable compared to anyone else's ... 

 

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@newhomeexactly that was kind of my point.

 

Every weekend the neighbours will be cutting their grass and using pressure washers.

 

I on the other hand will have a very quiet robo mower, rarely wash the car with a pressure washer and never play the drums.

Edited by ultramods
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6 minutes ago, Simplysimon said:

put the ear defenders on and pretend you can't hear them and keep going! your house is obviously better than theirs, green eyed monster.

 

I am now planning how best to finish the cladding on the garage as I can't cut the wood before or after work, on a Sunday or after 12 on a Saturday as it's too noisy.

 

So I basically have a 2 hour noise window 10 - 12 on Saturday or I need to take more holidays to do the work during the week.

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30 minutes ago, ultramods said:

I know they can't do much about it, but I was really hoping to get on with all the neighbours.

 

 

I wouldn't be too sure about that. I had one complaint from a neighbour during my build. It was about 9.30am on a Sunday morning and he complained that I had woken him up. A few days later I received a letter from the Environmental Health Dept at local council stating that they had received a complaint about my 'activities'. The letter went on to warn me that I was only allowed to work on the site from 8.00am to 6.00pm Monday to Friday; 8.00am to 1.00pm on a Saturday and no work at all on Sundays and Bank Holidays. The letter listed a number of 'penalties' if I failed to comply. Although it annoyed me at the time, I did try to save all my 'quiet' jobs for weekends.

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I am sure that the distinction will pass the Council by should someone complain.

 

And work going on at x time is something far easier to decide upon, whereas a noise complaint is something that takes months to gather evidence.

 

Personally, I think there would perhaps be more loss from extra attention later when you are working quietly inside 

(if you have good window it would be a good soundblock) compared to the loss by grinning and bearing  it now.

 

Based on how English Councils would probably operate imo.

 

F

Edited by Ferdinand
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