ᐅ Site Planning – Which House Type and Size Makes the Most Sense?

Winniefred schrieb:
The problems with neighbors... dogs don’t live forever.

But neighbors age just like you do. And they simply get a new dog. Where’s the problem with sealing the dog waste in plastic bags before throwing it into the trash bin? Is it possible to educate the neighbors?

It still smells even when it’s in bags. We have a dog ourselves, and luckily the general waste bin is under the carport... far away from any seating area. The same goes for the organic waste bin.

Dogs come and go, just like other pets and neighbors. That’s just how it is. Unless you get a complete nightmare neighbor, I wouldn’t move because of it (yes, I’ve had impossible neighbors too).

Yaso2.0 schrieb:
The neighbors rent their home there, and the house owner is a wealthy snob... (he owns 3 out of 6 houses in our row)

He placed the garage there without even discussing it with us first. When I met him once, he bragged that the garage cost $40,000 because it’s so solid and oversized...

I don’t even need to contact him at his residence in Mallorca. He would hang up as soon as he hears that we want to paint the garage.

If he is allowed to do it according to the building permit/planning permission, a discussion wouldn’t have helped anyway, and he’s not obliged to talk to you!
As frustrating as it is.

My neighbors had an unobstructed view of the forest for 3 years until 5 months ago, before our construction phase started. Suddenly, a few houses appeared there.

Now we have the unobstructed view from the living area, and he is visibly disappointed, which I can understand.

Winniefred schrieb:
You can also improve the wall without the neighbor’s consent,

How did he get to your place?

Bad neighbors are always awful, but you can find them anywhere.

The garage is located right on the property line but still entirely on his property. I can’t imagine that I’m allowed to simply alter the brickwork of his garage, can I?

The properties are separated by "arborvitae" trees, with no fence in between, and the dogs always crawl underneath. But we are going to build a fence now.

The neighbors aren’t terrible at all. We get along well! But somehow I feel uncomfortable telling them about the smell.

chand1986 schrieb:
Is it possible to educate the neighbors?

I feel quite uneasy about it, but I’ll probably have to do it. Of course, nothing smells in winter, but we aren’t out on the terrace then either.

Winniefred schrieb:
Residual waste bin thankfully under the carport... far away from any seating area. The same goes for the organic waste bin.

Dogs come and go,

Their bins are also by the garage, about 7-8m (23-26 feet) from our terrace. But the wind blows everything over to us.

By the way, there are three dogs. Two are quite old, and around six months ago they got a younger one.

Zaba12 schrieb:
If it’s allowed according to the building permit / planning permission, then a conversation wouldn’t have helped anyway and he doesn’t have to talk to you! As frustrating as that is.

He doesn’t have to get permission from us, of course, but I would have expected to be informed beforehand. After all, the workers constantly stepped into our flowerbed and also placed things on our property, and repeatedly blocked our parking spaces while the garage was being built. But there’s nothing the construction company workers can do about that.

One day it was really cold, so I brought the workers some hot drinks and a homemade cake. One of the workers told me that the client was really difficult and told them that they could feel free to go onto our property because his own gardener would fix anything that might get damaged.

Yaso2.0 schrieb:
The worker just told me that the client was really annoying and had said they could freely enter our property, as his own gardener would fix anything if something got damaged..

Well, that’s quite cheeky.

You have to admit, having a situation where one building is completely finished, including the garden, and the other is not, is definitely not a relaxed situation. As someone building, it’s easy to accidentally make mistakes since you can only guess the other person’s thoughts.

But just doing that without asking... that’s not acceptable.

The crew dumped our excavated soil on the neighbor’s property. Later, they didn’t even know that I had asked the neighbor for permission. They were just surprised no one complained :-p. Luckily, the neighbor is only starting work this year.

It’s pretty frustrating that 613 sqm (about 6,600 sq ft) isn’t enough space to store excavated soil.

This also shows how valuable it is to get to know all your neighbors before construction begins, so you know who to discuss things with if issues come up.

Well, when it comes to construction work, I wouldn’t be too narrow-minded. When you’re building something yourself, your own workers will probably end up crossing over to the neighbor’s property sometimes. That’s just how it is. But you made the best of it.

I would address the dog issue politely. You could say something like, “This is a bit awkward for me, but I need to mention something. Unfortunately, your dog’s mess in the bin is noticeable on our terrace. We’ve already started thinking about possible solutions... blah blah blah.”

Our dog also used to go on the neighbor’s property without us knowing. Eventually, the neighbor let us know, and we were very embarrassed. Of course, we immediately put up a fence. We were glad that he told us and remained so kind about it.