23-year-old tells neighbor the whole neighborhood hates her because her house has been under loud construction for 7 months: 'People are tired.'

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Emmy Pratt • Writer and Editor
Jun 1, 2026 5:45 PM EDT

She shouldn't be surprised that her neighbors are annoyed with the construction.

Construction is often inevitable. You can't live in a neighborhood, drive on a highway, or live in modern civilization without having to deal with being around construction for some period of time. There was construction right outside of my dorm room window, Sophomore year of college, and there was quite literally nothing I could do about it. If I opened the curtain at 8 AM, there was a high likelihood of some random guy being right there, and I just had to deal with it because the construction needed to be done. 

In some places, it feels like construction literally never ends. In New York City, some buildings will have scaffolding for years on end, with no indication that any construction is underway that would make the scaffolding unnecessary. On the highways of the DFW metroplex, it always feels like another lane is being added, and the construction will never end. While your city might feel like it's always under construction, that's better than the house next door being under construction every day for months.

The young lady in this story is incredibly irritated by her neighbors, and she told them exactly how she feels about the noisy construction workers that are always at their house. 

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  • A construction worker loudly builds the exterior of the house, much to the neighbors' distress.
    via Josh Olalde

    A construction worker loudly builds the exterior of the house, much to the neighbors' distress.

  • Am I the bad guy or telling my neighbor that people hate her for the construction work being done on her house?

    I (23f) have a neighbour who's been at their house for just over a year. For 7 months out of that year, they've had basically non- stop construction and work being done to their house. I
    via u/Sad-Clerk-3161
  • have no idea what they could possibly be doing. The construction is mon- sat, starting at 8am (sometimes even earlier). Not only is the construction itself loud, but the workers
    via u/Sad-Clerk-3161
  • are loud. They're always yelling, singing, playing music. If you ask them to be quieter because it's 8am on a Saturday, they retaliate and get louder. They throw stuff into people's gardens
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  • and physically enter those gardens to retrieve whatever they threw down. Their vans block the roads when people are trying to get to work/school and they get really pissy when asked
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  • Cheezburger Image 10635426048
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    An unfriendly construction worker, who constantly bothers neighbors and makes more noise when they complain about the noise. 

  • to move them. Additionally, because our houses are attached, I'm having physical symptoms to the work being done (vibrations from tools giving me horrific migraines, etc).
    via u/Sad-Clerk-3161
  • I genuinely do not know what they could be doing that requires 7 months of continuous work. It's not an extension and all the work seems to be exterior.
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  • SHELLIS
    via Brett Jordan

    Exterior construction on a house, which shouldn't take seven or more months to complete. 

  • A few days ago, the neighbour asks me why there is so much tension between her and the surrounding houses. Maybe I'm cruel but I looked at her and said '[neighbour],
    via u/Sad-Clerk-3161
  • you've had loud construction work at your house everyday for the past 7 months. People are tired.' She looked genuinely upset but said ok. Her husband confronted me a few days
    via u/Sad-Clerk-3161
  • ago and said I was being a for getting mad at construction work. Because 'of course that sh is loud'. He accused me of blaming his wife for the worker's behaviour (which I
    via u/Sad-Clerk-3161
  • wasn't) and said the house needs this work to be liveable. He ended the conversation by saying he prays my house never needs construction work, which I honestly found kind
    via u/Sad-Clerk-3161
  • of funny. AITA for telling my neighbour why there's tension between her and her husband and the surrounding families?
    via u/Sad-Clerk-3161
  • EDIT: people have made complaints and gone to the local council. We were basically told that as long as the noise is between 8am and 6pm (and 8am-1pm), we can't make a complaint.
    via u/Sad-Clerk-3161
  • Neighbours do have permits as well.
    via u/Sad-Clerk-3161
  • shelltrice And they totally CAN deal with the bad behavior of their workers - they are paying them. If a larger company and you can see name on the vans, try contacting the office and ask their employees to be considerate. If me - and not saying this is nice - I might take those items out of my garden and lock them up.
    via u/shelltrice
  • welmanshirezeo Any business owner worth their salt is going to be furious that their workers are representing them in such a manner. It would be interesting to know what work they are doing. If it's multiple jobs/rooms ect, you'd think they'd provide a few days of respite to their neighbours now and then.
    via u/welmanshirezeo
  • InspectionSilent9315 Exactly. It's called property damage and liability. If they are leaving gear in your garden, they are treating your private property like an un-zoned staging area. Start charging a "storage fee" or document everything for a formal trespassing complaint. See how fast management acts when actual legal or financial consequences are on the line.
    via u/InspectionSilent9315
  • Nenoshka NTA. "Hey buddy, your wife asked!"
    via u/Nenoshka

  • It seems the neighbor picked up on the tension, was unsure of its cause, and genuinely wanted an answer from her neighbor. The truth hurt her feelings, but at least she knows exactly what is causing this problem and what she can do to stop it. She might not be able to speed up the renovations, but she can take steps to ensure the construction workers stop harassing her neighbors. 

  • Odd-Repeat6595 NTA. She asked and you answered her honestly. 7 months is a really long time for daily construction to be going on.
    via u/Odd-Repeat6595
  • Seguefare You could build an entire house in less time.
    via u/Seguefare
  • Own_Jackfruit_5246 Especially on a Saturday. Shouldn't be any construction on weekends period.
    via u/Own_Jackfruit_5246
  • oscillate_orchid NTA and honestly the workers sound worse than the actual construction. Blocking roads, screaming at 8am, throwing stuff into people's gardens and then acting shocked the neighbours are irritated is insane behavior lol
    via u/oscillate_orchid

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neighbors house Awkward construction tension weekend property loud parking entitled people
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