Advice for coping with next-door construction?

SlitheyTove
Tue, 17 Jul 2012 15:47:16 +0000

Great, everyone, we can start freaking out now. (smiley with mouth smiling but eyes look panicked). Keep the horror stories coming, please.

The general contractor is actually a neighbor down the block. So he has additional skin in the game, but the cell phone number he gave us a few years ago was disconnected without forwarding info which means a bit more legwork to go talk to him. Getting the site manager’s phone number makes a lot of sense. The new housing is being built on spec, so it is in the owner’s best interests to keep us in a moderately good mood. He’s told us that he’ll be putting up tarps along the landscaping on the property line to keep down dust, and is planning on erecting 6’ vinyl fencing down the property line to replace the current chicken wire. Not what we’d choose, but we’re not paying for it.

Noise/construction rules around here are that they can’t start construction until 7 AM weekdays. I’m sure that means they’ll get here earlier, but we are early risers so that’s not a conflict. I am concerned about traffic and delivery trucks. The street is a dead end, and with cars parked on both sides there’s only room for one vehicle to get through. If there’s heavy delivery traffic that could bottle up the entire street. The parking enforcement folks hereabouts are generally very eager to generate revenue, so that should get sorted quickly.

Good points about trees. A few overhanging trees are oaks, which are protected hereabouts with big fines if they’re damaged. We’ve pointed those out to the owner, and will do so again to the crew boss. It’s in no one’s interest for those to be damaged.



at 6 a.m. I heard jackhammering. I waited…until 9…to call them and tell them this wasn’t good. (We had the cell.) Guess what? I disturbed him in shul. Weeks of illegal 6 a.m. start times (which during the work week isn’t good, but not terrible) and I DISTURBED HIM IN SHUL!!!



This is just excellent. Please, please, please tell me it was during Yom Kippur and that he hadn’t silenced his phone. :D