Living next to a building site

moneyistooshorttomention

Well, that's what it must feel like to my long-suffering neighbour living next to me at the moment...

Comings and goings and noise and disruption etc etc.

I'm thoroughly loathing the whole "Get from A to Z" process virtually gutting my new-to-me house personally. My only consolation is "It'll be all right on the night...worth it in the end". I'm trying very hard to remind myself of that whilst putting up with all this and the endless noise/filth/money going out at a rate of knots..:(

Any suggestions for long-suffering neighbour also having to put up with all this going on...if not to nearly such an extent as I am. It isn't making for a quiet life right now having me for a neighbour and about the only consolation to it must be thinking "Well at least my new neighbour is obviously not going to let the house go to rack and ruin and I'd have a dump next to me"

I'm thinking maybe a little pressie for having to put up with all this and, after all, there is Christmas coming up...;)

Any thoughts?...

Better_Days

Money, I think it is an excellent idea to buy a small token for your neighbour for putting up with all the renovations. They have all the noise and none of the benefit. Also it may be worth giving them an idea of how much longer it will be going on and what still needs to be done (not always easy when getting people in to do x,y,z I know) but managing expectations can reduce stress levels considerably.

If they have a pretty garden, what about a plant (although I am biased I always love a plant as a gift ) Or an indoor flowering plant would add colour to the house at a very dull time of year. Are you a cook? Perhaps a home baked cake? A lot depends on how well you know them.

Hope you can see the end of your renovations.

moneyistooshorttomention

A plant sounds good:) and worthy of further investigation...thanks...

I'm trying to keep the neighbour "in the loop" on this ...so they know the disruption isn't going to be endless.

I'm definitely no fan of DIY and the like for the sake of it...I would have just loved to move into a place that was perfect at the outset...but it wasn't to be...

lessonlearned

How nice that you have stopped to consider your neighbour.....so many people wouldn't.

You can come and live next to me anytime:rotfl:

Definitely a little pressie, you can't go wrong with plants or flowers.

dancingfairy

Bottle of something? If you are nearly finished then you could invite them to a house warming type thing, with mince pies/mulled wine/nibbles at Christmas?
Depends on what sort of relationship you think you'd like with them/other neighbours and what sort of present you think they'd like.
If you /or they are a homey type person you could cook them a nice cake or make them something crafty if you think they'd like that. Obviously this depends on having access to your house to make said item/bake something so it might be easier to buy something
df

phoebe1989seb

Getting/making them a little gift is a lovely idea.......not that we've considered that with our extremely long-suffering neighbours (30 months in with our own renovations now ) but then we did agree to chop down a very attractive tree abutting the boundary to keep them *on side*

Tbh though money, don't be feeling too guilty - if the boot was on the other foot would they be feeling the same? As I say, our neighbours have had to tolerate [STRIKE]months[/STRIKE] years of building work and its associated dust, noise etc - for example last year when prepping for our extension we had to demolish an old stone outbuilding about 5m from the neighbouring property (DH and DS did this themselves over a few days ) and the result was 8 tonnes of boulders piled sky-high for around ten months.......not a pretty sight!

That was followed by mini diggers up/down our private driveway that is directly next to their house and I've lost count of the number of skips/builder's vans parked on our drive/outside in the street.....they must really love us, lol - but as you rightly say, at least it shows that you/we are taking a pride in the property. We even had a note through our door a few months after moving in, from a resident of our village saying how pleased they were that our house was looking loved again.....I should have framed that but it got lost in the rubble :T

Hopefully the end is in sight for you - only wish I could say the same - enjoy it when it's finished

Thrugelmir

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Comings and goings and noise and disruption etc etc.

Providing the work is done at reasonable times. Shouldn't be an issue.

Contessa

Ear plugs?
Sorry!
But I think your attitude is spot on-acknowledge that you're aware of the inconvenience to her (although it's inevitable with the work) and a gift that expresses this.
Or, when it's all finished, and you don't have to stay in, take her out to lunch?

moneyistooshorttomention

The work is certainly being done at reasonable times. I wouldn't accept it being done at odd times myself:eek:. Just "standard type hours" on Monday-Saturday. I wouldn't dare disrupt Sundays round here (if the workmen would do so themselves...) ...as they keep their Sundays very "quiet" and traditional round here:rotfl:.

I can see that the environment I'm in now is one where they still do the "look out for the neighbours" type stuff. So "When in Rome....". With that..it makes sense to keep the neighbours on side...

cattie

How refreshing to hear of somebody concerned at how the noise & mess of their refurbishment might be affecting the neighbours. So many people couldn't care less these days.

In my last house I had major refurbishment that needed to be done & went to live with my sister for 3 months. I'd put notes in all the near the neighbours doors apologising in advance of any noise or disruption & once work was completed I bought the neighbour attached to me, who would have suffered worse, an assortment of various alcoholic drinks; some wine, some spirits & a thank you card. They were very appreciative & it definitely got me off on the right foot with them.

moneyistooshorttomention

Staying elsewhere whilst the work was done comes under the heading of "I wish....:(" in my case. Needs must...and I've got dust in my hair, on my clothes, on all available surfaces and I think I should have a degree in project management after all this...:rotfl:

I guess one advantage of living amongst all the chaos is being better able to keep tabs on whats what. There's various things that wouldn't have been "done proper" if I hadn't been here saying "That's not quite right", "That bit of the job hasn't been done at all" etc etc.

I'm being very pragmatic here. I have to live here and get accepted by people here..hence not wanting to inadvertently put their backs up.