Living in a construction zone (condo, new home, roofing)

[DreamsofBoise]

We have an opportunity to jump on a great property in an ideal area in Ada County. The only drawback is new homes are being built all around. Can anyone provide info if they have lived in a construction zone? I'm thinking the worst (noise from dawn till dusk, nails in the street, dust). Any insight would be much appreciated. I'm thinking that this will be temporary and uncomfortable, but the long term value is worth it. Thank you for your input!

[f5fstop]

I lived in a Condo construction zone when in TN. However, it was primarily a legal address for me while I was overseas on assignments. However, when home it could be loud and most of the yelling back and forth between workers was not in English.

Nails were not a big problem till the roofing crews arrived. These morons would drop nails all over the road, causing problems. The existing neighbors got together and laid down the law and they were more careful.

Best advice for me, was to avoid the active working areas if possible. In my case, it was a circle, so I made sure to drive on the side of the circle that was not under construction at that time.

Another problem was, since I was not there most of the time, there was one time I came home and the driveway was filled with vehicles from the construction crew two plots away. And they did not want to move the vehicles till they were done. When I called the police, the police informed then it would be a good idea since the next step was a tow truck. But if not your driveway, believe me there were trucks and vehicles all up and down the road, with no place for visitors to park.

I believe that if I was home most of the time, it would have drove me crazy.

[Yabbhadou]

Of course it is going to be noisy as the workers build the houses. You will also have to contend with the lookyloo people as they drive through the area looking at the development. It just comes along with the deal. If you are at work during the day would it really matter though. If not you might not like it. I work from home and this is main reason I did not want anything under construction. I hate noise and lookyloo people.

[BrianX]

We recently did this same thing and found it was worth it. Once you get moved in, make sure you get "Owner occupied" signs up right away. Put something on your porch, so it looks lived in. That cut down a lot on people looking in. There can be a long lead time on getting blinds put in (depending on the type), get that scheduled asap.

The worst part is when the homes next door are being roofed. There will be a few days that sleeping in late is hard without earplugs. You will hear the workers' radios and chatter sometimes. There will be debris, but I found the workers and the job-site supervisor were very courteous about making it right. YMMV

On the plus side you get to meet your new neighbors as they move in and watch the homes around you be built.