What It's like to Live Near a Building Site

If you choose to move into an area that is right beside a building site, you will need to prepare yourself in advance for a daily ritual of drilling, digging, banging and chatter among construction workers as they carry out their job.

The area where I live is one big building site. It is a new housing development that has only been around for a few short years. New houses are being built before my very eyes and as I write, I can hear building work going on nearby as the newest homes are built. My house was built almost a year ago.

But when my husband and I first moved into this house, we were not left in the dark as to what it would be like to live in this area. Our estate agent showed us around the area and we could clearly see construction work going on around us, foundations being laid and shingles being put into place. As a result, we bought our house knowing that there would be some disturbances and early morning work done on homes around us. I grew up listening to F-15's and F-16's taking off and landing and my husband was also used to being around planes for a long time, so the prospect of some construction work taking place right on our doorstep did not make us reconsider our purchase.

If you move into a new housing development you must take the inconvenience of construction work into account and accept it rather than fight against it. If you have babies and young toddlers who need to be put to sleep at a certain time you will need to carefully consider whether it would be in everyone's best interests to live near a building site. Can you handle drilling at 8:00am every morning? How about groups of construction workers who get together during their breaks and start noisily chattering away?

Living in a new housing development can also be exciting as you see new homes being built and occupied. The landscape of your housing estate will change very quickly as new streets are invented and you get to see new neighbours.

One of the benefits that my husband and I will soon see is the building of a new school near our home. This will help to increase the value of our home and is an incentive to stay put for a while.