Why Does Having Work Done in my House Make me MURDEROUSLY INSANE.

The electric saw in my front yard

The front door banging open & closed

The constant noise of the generator they use for their saw

The sander or planer or whatever the fuck that is

The hammering

The constant yakking of the workmen

WHY CANT THEY SHUT THE FUCK UP FOR 5 MINUTES?

My cat constantly throwing up because the noise is freaking him out

No, I can’t take a Xanax or smoke copious amounts of weed. I don’t have any . I’m a clean livver.

How would you survive living in an apartment OP?

There are always noises around you.

first world problems

I lived in apartment in a 1200 unit highrise complex in NYC for 20 years. Nothing sounded like this

When I first moved to the city I lived between 1st & 2nd Avenue — Hospital Row.

The VA, Bellevue, NYU & NY Presbyterian (then Cornell) with ambulances going all the time.

It was nothing compared to this.

I think spending money for a hotel might help your sanity

You sound unhinged . "People are talking!!!" , "saws are loud !" Freak .

Perhaps you and your family ought to go for a vacation, OP. Might I suggest a nice hotel in the snowy Colorado mountains?

You and your cat should wear noise canceling headphones.

I can't stand indior construction work either OP and I don't know wtf is up with contract workers these days - they're on their fucking phones nonstop to their wives, their girlfriends, their baby mamas, their kids. I've had to tell them - yo, I'm working here. Just because you don't hear me doesn't mean I magically disappeared & the house is empty. My touchpad is silenced, but I'm working

They all yell because they're used to yelling instructions at each other over the sound of machinery. Problem is they don't lower their voices when they're on their phones. Pipe down & keep your phone calls short. This is someone's house.

I guess they're used to working in empty houses.

You should not be living at home during renovations.

Don't renovate. Sell and get something else that's already done.

The issue is not the work - it’s the fact that they NEVER SHOW UP to do the work, it’s a disease that only affects contractors. For some reason it’s a critical character trait of every co tractor - don’t show up when you say you will. Other than that, I can deal with the dirt, noise and filth.

You have my sympathy, OP. My nice little neighborhood is a nonstop work zone--the saws, the drills, forever. I know: everyone wants and needs to fix things and make improvement, they have a right, blah-blah-blah. Doesn't matter. It drives me NUTS and works my nerves until I could SCREAM.

Who was it who used the phrase "the terrible, terrible nerves of the invert"? Well, I got 'em.

The reason why they don’t show up is the same reason why they’re contractors. It’s because they can’t keep a regular job. They drink, they drug, they’re lazy, irresponsible people. I’m from a huge extended family with relatives who were contractors - house painters, carpenters, electricians. They all believe they're “professionals” as If they’re doctors or college professors and they have a hard time taking direction. They resent the homeowners they’re working for and they can’t tolerate having a boss.

The only ones who are different are the illegal immigrants. They show up. They need the job. Problem is a lot of them don’t really know what they’re doing because they have no experienced. Once they get experience they’re good, but they yammer at each other all day long in their language at a million miles a second. I guess it’s a perk of their job that they get to blab all day long. They’re not doing brain surgery,

[quote]The reason why they don’t show up is the same reason why they’re contractors. It’s because they can’t keep a regular job. They drink, they drug, they’re lazy, irresponsible people.

You got it! Also, a lot of them do half assed work. I had remodeling done at my house 2 years ago and I’m STILL finding shit those assholes fucked up (i.e stuff not being installed properly or falling apart already) and then have to keep having them come out again each time I find a new problem. It’s fucking ridiculous.

I don’t understand how come there isn’t some sort of organization that contractors have to join to show they’re legit and keeps track of how reliable they are and the quality of work they do to weed out the bad ones.

You have my sympathy. My neighbourhood went through a long transition of constant construction phases.... over the last ten years, finally slowing to each summer, when three or four yuppie condo 3 & 4 flat buildings would replace several Victorian single family homes. I worked from home, (or tried to) the last ten years before I retired. It seriously affected my ability to think.

Between the noise of the old being razed, to the constant power tools, I definitely aged from it. Each day, they began "earlier" than ordinances allowed. They began early each and every weekend as well. I finally began to vacation in the summer for long periods, which was the reverse for me, as I frequently preferred leaving during winter. A hotel room for awhile will re-set your brain, and up your tolerance.

Many find they cannot stay in the home during such a project or reno. At the very least, gain your solace in the fact it will not he going on for a decade non-stop. They ruined my neighbourhood too.

[quote]You and your cat should wear noise canceling headphones.

This. Get ones with bluetooth and you can make calls through them, or listen to music or audiobooks or a radio. Or quiet nature sounds.

[quote]I don’t understand how come there isn’t some sort of organization that contractors have to join to show they’re legit

They do, it's called a licensed contractor. And they can get in trouble if you report them for doing sub par work. But if you are a cheapo and hiring unlicensed contractors they you get what you pay for so stop bitching.

[quote]The issue is not the work - it’s the fact that they NEVER SHOW UP to do the work, it’s a disease that only affects contractors.

You need a GC. General Contractor. If its a big remodel like a totally new kitchen or several rooms they handle all the sub contractors for you. They also are licensed just like contractors.

Bottom line, if you want responsible, professional people to do the work, then you need to pay for it and hire people who have training and licensed. But if you are just going for the cheapest bid, then you get what you pay for, shoddy work, half assed knowledge, and spotty adherence to agreed schedule.

I can't stand repeated noises either, OP. Drives me mad. Go stay somewhere else or wear noise cancelling headphones.

Great one of my cats is now peeing & shitting out of the litter box. Apparently this is a thing with some cats. I had to cancel the stair construction since I’m going to be away all day.

Painting to be done the basement only, workers told to keep noise to a minimum, cats locked into one room day & night to protect my furniture (cat peed & shit on sofa overnight) , but my mattress will be in the “line of fire” today since I’ve no time to buy a waterproof protector before leaving.

Christ .....

[quote] Bottom line, if you want responsible, professional people to do the work, then you need to pay for it and hire people who have training and licensed

Bottom line, if you want the work done within the next 3 years, you’ll take who you can get.

This is who general contractors work for in my area.

Not homeowners who need a few things done.

When GCs have tons of this kind of work available (and they do - the rich keep getting richer, in case you hadn’t noticed, and have more & more money to launder via real estate) people like me never see them. Unless your name ends in LLC, you get the leftovers.

Nonsense. General Contractors work on middle class houses all the time. Iv hired them just to work on a bathroom. As long as it's a good chunk of work and not just painting your bedroom.

And, General Contractors are like managers, they are not the ones picking up a hammer. They don't have to be onside 100 percent of the time. That's why they can handle multiple projects at a time.

You can always go to a hotel. One of my clients did that for 4 months just because she didn't want to deal with the dust, noise and strangers. And she had a brand new puppy with her at the same time.

And most construction work ends at 5pm or end of the day. It's not like you cant go back to the house to cook, sleep, do some laundry or whatever it is you like doing.

Depends where you are. In SF, NY or the Hampton’s, no one will deal with a five figure job. There is soooo much demand for construction right now. That why I’m waiting for a housing downturn before I do the work on my house I’ve wanted to do,

They've been doing construction on the building across the street for 5 years now. 5 years. Try that, OP.

[quote] Nonsense. General Contractors work on middle class houses all the time

Nonsense.

In my area, a GC only comes near a middle class house to demolish it.

I didn’t post that article as some fantasy.

That’s where I live.

In a middle class house that hasn’t been torn down and replaced by a Farrell tract mansion .... yet.

GCs don’t take phone calls from numbers they don’t know. They 100% work on demolition of middle class houses and/or new construction tract mansions.

I was delayed by a police blockade at the end of my block for 15 minutes this summer waiting for shithead Trump’s motorcade to pass on his way to Joe Farrell’s place for a fundraiser. Farrell is a greedy pig and he begged Trump to stop deporting Central Americans from the Hamptons because there aren’t any legal US construction workers out here .....they can’t afford to live here. Only undocumented labor who are willing to live several families in one small house (owned or rented by the GCs who employ them & with the blinds closed 24 hours a day) can afford it.

People like me bought their houses 25 years ago or before then.

Does anybody know who the patron saint of remodeling is? Seriously, I went through this a year ago at my place. The hotel living is a double edged sword: if you're present and you hear a crash, you can run and investigate it i.e. damaged property. If you're miles away at an hotel, you can bet your sweet bippy that the oik who dropped the valuable object has done his or her best to hide the evidence.

Expect your own personal version of sanity to take a hit. Expect violent ideation. Expect screaming fits out of nowhere. I actually had homicidal ideation (I did a temp job at Children's Hospital in their behavioural health clinic file room, so I find 'ideation' to be the perfect anodyne term for 'I thought of it.') one morning when my father was visiting. He wanted to do something like organize something. I said no. He began to do it. I stood there, stock still, screaming at the top of my voice. Not a little screaming, I mean one freeway exit from Unglued screaming.

He immediately got the picture and fucked the fuck off, faster than you can can 'knife.' If anybody has ever experienced roid rage, you'll understand how something like this erupts, then quickly goes away. Except that as I was screaming at him, I saw myself pulling a Kennith Halliwell and bashing his head in with a claw hammer. So scared shitless was I by what had just happened, I phoned him I think no fewer than four times that day just to be sure I hadn't done it. The previous recounting is not meant to be humorous.

It's been nearly a year since the remodel was completed. I am almost, but not quite, done with putting everything away where it needs to be put away permanently.

OP, I'm gonna buy one of those big Saint Whatever candles they have at QFC, the West Coast version of Kroger. I'm going to light it and say a few words (I can't talk for long as I'm busy downloading porn, arranging for hook ups, and... erm... well... you know...) to whomever this saint is, to intercede (Christ! Being raised Roman Catholic enhances the most mediocre vocabulary!) on your behalf and prevent you from experiencing anything really awful. A word of warning: if you haven't already done so, remove anything of any value that those fuckers can touch. They will damage or destroy your personal belongings with casual disregard.

The houses are grotesque @ R23. Check out the builders own home. It deserves the Tasteful Friends treatment.

Backing away slowly from R30.

OP, dear, don't you have a second home you can move to for the duration?

[quote] Nonsense.In my area, a GC only comes near a middle class house to demolish it. I didn’t post that article as some fantasy.

For Christ sake that's the Hamptons, if that post is where you live, that's like Beverly Hills of the north east. That is NOT a middle class neighborhood. So yes, the GC there is not going to do you shitty little job. But for most people in average INCOME neighborhoods, you can find a GC no problem.

Get a Dohm white noise machine. My neighbor was burglarized a few days ago and I slept right through it. The thieves broke out four of her windows using bricks and I never heard a thing. The head of my bed is directly under the window that looks out at her back windows 25 feet away. I work at night and sleep during the day.

Those thieves are lucky amateurs.

[R32], that's the perfect reply. Because I felt my sensibilities slipping away.

[quote] For Christ sake that's the Hamptons, if that post is where you live, that's like Beverly Hills of the north east. That is NOT a middle class neighborhood

I live in a neighborhood in the Hamptons that was built for middle class people. Most of the Hamptons was middle class & working class farmers, fishermen, construction workers, hospital workers, office workers.

The estate section existed for a century, but lots of summer homes were flimsy, poor construction "beach houses." They were rented out in summer & baymen & beach bums lived there in non-summer months.

It wasn't until the late 90s that tons of McMegaMansions started getting built because of people who invested in tech stocks, Glass Steagle was overthrown and media burst into a thousand cable channels & reality tv allowed tons of cheap shows to be produced. You have no idea how many people have invested in those reality shoes.