complaining neighbor
I’m just curious as for your take on this. We are doing a big renovation on a house in the South Slope. Before beginning, I met with my neighbors, apologized in advance, explained all my plans. I have filed all plans with DOB, doing everything by the book. But because I have a hydrant in…
I’m just curious as for your take on this. We are doing a big renovation on a house in the South Slope. Before beginning, I met with my neighbors, apologized in advance, explained all my plans. I have filed all plans with DOB, doing everything by the book. But because I have a hydrant in front of my house, the dumpster ends up in front of my neighbor’s house. He is furious, calling me complaining. I go by the job site regularly and I think the contractors are doing a good job of keeping it clean and closing up the dumpster, but the guy calls 311. The inspector comes by, says, keep it clean, but no citation, as we are doing okay. Should I be doing something different or is this guy just being a jerk?
It is possible to rent 2.5 cubic yard dumpsters, which have four wheels on the bottom. When full, a garbage truck comes around, the contracting crew rolls them out to the street — the hydrant is a plus here — and they get winched up and dumped into the back of the truck. The empty containers go back in your front yard. Now your neighbor(s) can complain about the noise.
As for your general approach, look in the mirror. A bunch of the folks above have said, ‘ef him.’ Others have pointed out that (presumedly) you are going to be neighbors for a while. How do you normally react when you get pushback that seems a bit unreasonable?
I too think the neighbor is being unreasonable. That said, your contractor could have the dumpster in and out on the same day (or put it in front of the other neighbor).
If it hasn’t been said elsewhere, offer the neighbor the use of the dumpster, make sure its kept cleaned in front of his house (even hose it down every day, whether it needs it or not).
I have people like that too and am now good friends with them. Although I have to say I never had the “honor” of being spit on. Both of you interacted in a much more personal way I think than OP and his neighbor, and obviously both of you eventually wanted to resolve the difficulty. since neither of us know the neighbor, it’s all conjecture on our parts, but it just seems to me the ball is now in the neighbor’s court.
Not so. I just had a woman to a party at my house who actually spit on me over 10 years ago. We were in a feud because she let her dog come to my window everyday to visit my dog, waking my sleeping infant. She now drops treats for my dogs and while not a close friend, is a smiling, waving neighbor. It took a lot of work but it was well worth it. We used to cross the street to avoid one another.
superstooper- I believe that too- but I’ve also learned through painful experience that some people simply don’t want to be gotten through to. In which case insofar as the neighbor is concerned, the damage is done. He’s already pissed off and nothing is going to fix it.
So the general consensus seems that you’re doing everything right in so far as communicating with your neighbors and trying to mitigate their concerns.
What about moving the dumpster to the other side of the hydrant when it gets full? Have them pickup on a street cleaning day and drop the replacement in front of your other neighbor.
You can get through to most people. I really believe that.
As someone who has lived in houses with dumpsters out front for renovations next door, I honestly have to ask, what’s the big deal? If the dumpster has all the proper permits and the contractor does his best to minimize dust and dirt, what is the big deal?
The dumpster is on a public street, it’s necessary to getting a particular job done, the inspector doesn’t see any problems. I’ve lived with dumpsters in front of my house several times over the last few years and other than being ugly, they just sit there. OP sounds a lot more conscientious than the contractors we had next door and of everything those jerks did, the dumpster was never a problem.
I mean, how much bending over backward is someone reasonably expected to do? It’s obvious the neighbor does not want to be “a good neighbor ” and I don’t see how OP is going to be able to change that. I mean, what’s next? Homeowners call 311 because they don’t like the color of a car parked out front, and want it towed? Spray chemicals on a neighbor with a dog because they don’t want them walking them past their house? Good neighbors are about understanding each other and the common good.
“But the contractor says this is impossible.”
This really means “I don’t want to do it that way” and/or “that will cost me money I didn’t budget for.” Truly impossible is, e.g., a floor not supported by beams. A container each week is merely inconvenient; the question here is inconvenient for whom.