by Rachel Smith
03 February 2016
Hi guys. I’m writing this to you from my usually quiet home office which is currently being smashed by noise of jackhammers and banging. My next door neighbour is renovating and while they’re very apologetic about the noise, it goes on for most of my entire work day. I feel like they’re actually causing me to lose money as I can’t do interviews or work productively. What would you do? Anton
I’ve been there – in my own house, as it happens – and it sucks when you’re used to working in a nice quiet space. However enraged you get though, I don’t recommend going like a bull at a gate to your neighbour’s door, complaining that they are costing you money. Renos are temporary and good neighbourly relations are worth preserving! Perhaps you can negotiate quiet times during the day, though, so I would start there and see what you can compromise on.
The other options would be to shift your working day to hours after the builders stop, or work in a local cafe – not always an option, especially if it’s for the entire day; I tend to get the guilts about taking up a table and ordering endless cups of tea around the third hour. So the best option would be to choose a local library to work in. I personally love the Surry Hills library for working in – it’s light, bright and quiet, has free wireless internet and printing/scanning facilities.
Of course, neither of these options will work for phoners – so that’s when you might need to rethink your strategy. A friend’s place, who works during the day but doesn’t mind you camping out and working there? Could you relocate to your parents or the inlaws’ for a week or two while the work’s being done? Or is it a chance to have a cheap holiday down the coast in a beach cabin where you get a view while you work?
I hope some of these options work for you – I know when I had renovations going on, I had high hopes of being able to move to my front room and work there. But it didn’t work. I moved out and the accommodation cost became a tax deduction.
Listees, what would you do or have you done in this situation?
Hey there – I have had this dilemma many times, in various ways (once i moved into a place that had no telstra phone connection JUST in my place, phone calls could only get through on the driveway – it was in far north NSW). The phone interviews is always the hardest bit to work around. I know this might sound strange but I ended up setting up camp in my car and driving to a picnic ground, parking there and doing my phone calls with headphones on and typing/recording away.
Hope this suggestion helps. The other option is hotel lobbies – they are usually nice and quiet. I used the Westin in Melbourne once and they even shuffled me off to the ‘business room’ which had a fax and quiet cubicles when i was tapping on my laptop as they assumed i was a guest?!
I wouldn’t go splashing out on accomodation to work around as that would make me angrier at the neighbours, but hopefully some nice hotel lobbies or if you have a car might be good alternatives. And library for any typing/wifi work.
Louisa
You sound pretty resourceful Louisa – I have never done an interview in my car! But we do what we have to, right? 🙂
Love the hotel lobby idea… my pick would be the Sheraton (if you’re in Sydney). Lots of quiet corners, big comfy chairs and big windows with peaceful views over Hyde Park.
I lost a substantial legal book editing contract due to the negligent conduct of my neighbours’ renovations in an apartment block on the northern beaches – that took nearly twelve months to complete, were not properly advised to strata and were done without licensed contractors onsite, at all times of the early morning, day and evening. The renovations were a long ongoing issue that caused major angst to all occupants of the apartment block, and turned into one of the worst personal experiences of my life. As I was on an option to buy the apartment I was in at the time, I had contacted strata, my apartment owner, the real estate agents involved with the sale/renovations (it was a deceased estate at the time) and then the CTTT help line – all to no avail and with no reduction in disturbance to existing occupants until the work was completed. The upshot of my experience was I lost nearly $20k in income over a year, and now have no further contact with that publisher for work, with whom I had previously had an excellent reputation. I also rescinded my option to buy the apartment when the owner, who had also had enough of the problems with those neighbours, listed it for sale unexpectedly in 2014. I’ll never live in an apartment block again under those circumstances – and I urge all other work from home editors affected by such circumstances to take it straight through to the tribunal for resolution ( it was way too late by the time I was advised to go with my experience, as far as my freelance work went!) No one should have to put up with that sort of excessive disruption – but I do have the resolution of knowing that karma will take care of those neighbours!
That sounds terrible Jen. So sorry that you lost such a lucrative contract over something like that – something so out of your control. Good advice re the tribunal for anyone in a similar position.