Guides
Building work, and the people around it
Everyone near a building site is arguing about something that happened weeks ago, and nobody holds a record of it. These pages answer the questions people search before and during the works, set out the rules with links to their source, and show what a shared, dated record does for each person involved. Start with who you are.
Homeowners and neighbours
Having work done on your house, or living next to someone who is. What you can ask for, what hours are normal, and how to keep the street on side.
- For homeownersSet up a page for your building work in a few minutes, invite the builder, and see every neighbour issue and reply without having to ask how it is going.Read
- Building work next door: your rights, the hours, and how to report a problemCan your neighbour do building work on a Sunday, what hours are normal, how to report a problem, and a message asking the builder for a site page.Read
- Building work on a house: keeping the street informedWhat neighbours need to know when an extension or renovation starts next door, and how a public page for the job keeps the whole street informed.Read
- What time can builders start work? UK building hours explainedWhen builders can start and must stop, whether they can work on a Saturday, Sunday or bank holiday, and who sets the hours: your council, not one UK rule.Read
- How to tell neighbours about building workA letter template for telling neighbours about building work, what to put in it, when to send it, and what a one-off letter cannot do once work starts.Read
- Party wall award: what happens after it is servedWhat a party wall award is, what it settles, what the surveyors still do once works begin, and what neither owner is told about the months in between.Read
- How to communicate with neighbours during building workA phone number on the hoarding, a WhatsApp group and a public site page, compared on what each one does well and what it leaves unrecorded.Read
Builders and contractors
Running the site. Notices that reach the street, complaints that reach you instead of the council, and a dated record if anything is escalated.
- For buildersNeighbours contact the site team through a public page instead of at the gate, no phone number goes on the hoarding, and every issue and reply is dated.Read
- Building work on a house: keeping the street informedWhat neighbours need to know when an extension or renovation starts next door, and how a public page for the job keeps the whole street informed.Read
- Section 61 sites: what neighbour liaison should look likeA Section 61 consent asks for arrangements for liaison with neighbours. A letter drop cannot be checked. What a visible route and a dated record add.Read
- Major works on a block: one record for residents, agents and contractorsHow residents, the managing agent and the contractor keep one dated record of noise, issues and response times during major works on a block of flats.Read
- What time can builders start work? UK building hours explainedWhen builders can start and must stop, whether they can work on a Saturday, Sunday or bank holiday, and who sets the hours: your council, not one UK rule.Read
- Section 61 consent for construction noise, explainedWhat Section 61 consent is, who applies, what goes in the application, how it differs from a Section 60 notice, and how five London boroughs handle it.Read
- Section 60 notice for construction noise: what it means and how to respondWhat a Section 60 notice is, when a council serves one, what it can require, how to appeal within twenty-one days, and how a site avoids one.Read
- How to tell neighbours about building workA letter template for telling neighbours about building work, what to put in it, when to send it, and what a one-off letter cannot do once work starts.Read
- A neighbour is complaining about my building workA builder's checklist for a neighbour's complaint: acknowledge it the same day, write it down, fix what you can, reply with a photograph, keep the record.Read
- How to communicate with neighbours during building workA phone number on the hoarding, a WhatsApp group and a public site page, compared on what each one does well and what it leaves unrecorded.Read
Blocks and estates
Major works on a managed block or a housing association estate. One record that residents, the agent, the board and the contractor all read.
- For managing agentsA public page for major works. Residents report problems to the site team, every issue is timestamped, and your average response time is on the page.Read
- For residents in a managed blockEvery issue you raise gets a timestamp and so does every response, so a complaint or a service charge negotiation starts from a record, not a memory.Read
- Major works on a block: one record for residents, agents and contractorsHow residents, the managing agent and the contractor keep one dated record of noise, issues and response times during major works on a block of flats.Read
- Works on a housing association estate: a record residents and the landlord can both seeWhy building work complaints on a housing association estate go wrong, and how one dated record of notices and reports serves residents and the landlord.Read
- Section 20 major works: what the consultation covers, and what it does notSection 20 consultation ends before the scaffold goes up. What it covers, what it does not, and what leaseholders and agents need during the works.Read
Councils and surveyors
Environmental health teams and party wall surveyors. A visible liaison route with a record, at no cost to the council and with no endorsement asked for.
- For councils and environmental health teamsLiaison arrangements on a Section 61 application are usually unverifiable. A public site page with a dated issue log gives officers something to check.Read
- For party wall surveyorsThe award is served and the surveyor hears nothing until something goes wrong. A dated record of the works shows the sequence if you are called back in.Read
- Section 61 sites: what neighbour liaison should look likeA Section 61 consent asks for arrangements for liaison with neighbours. A letter drop cannot be checked. What a visible route and a dated record add.Read
- Works on a housing association estate: a record residents and the landlord can both seeWhy building work complaints on a housing association estate go wrong, and how one dated record of notices and reports serves residents and the landlord.Read
- Section 61 consent for construction noise, explainedWhat Section 61 consent is, who applies, what goes in the application, how it differs from a Section 60 notice, and how five London boroughs handle it.Read
- Section 60 notice for construction noise: what it means and how to respondWhat a Section 60 notice is, when a council serves one, what it can require, how to appeal within twenty-one days, and how a site avoids one.Read
- Party wall award: what happens after it is servedWhat a party wall award is, what it settles, what the surveyors still do once works begin, and what neither owner is told about the months in between.Read