And This Is Why I Live in the Jungle

Timbuck said:

When I was in Showbiz in my younger days...The Trio I was in, worked for a theatrical Agent "Ernest Johns" Ernest ran his business from an office at the rear of his luxury home..He had a neighbour repeatedly complaining about cars and group vans calling at his office and such, and it started to get him down .....So he put a fake "House for sale" sign up in the front garden for a few days and then got a couple of Jamaican Comedians and a Pakistani juggler(who worked for him) to turn up, and he made a big thing of showing them around the property with them pretending to be potential buyers..while the neighbour watched from the window...After that the complaints stopped.

Click to expand...

Ernest seems like my kind of guy.

One weekend years ago, the announcer, GM, and maintenance guys for Irwindale Raceway (dragstrip) went out to do some cleaning up, painting, etc. The strip was closed, no racing. When they turned on the lights, they got five noise complaints.

My small shop opens to an alley with a residential area just past the parking lot. I worried about whatever noise I was making until a tow truck came by to deliver a car to the local mechanic shop two doors down. Those idling diesels and roll-off ramps make more noise than I could ever hope to. Of course I have also made sure that the neighbors know I (my shop) can be used as a resource when they are doing small house projects. I've glued up many old chairs, repaired a table or two, built a few cat scratch posts. All to keep the neighborhood happy.

HOA? Never never never. It all well and good, right up until you want to park your own car on the driveway.

When looking to buy a house years ago, the realtors were stunned that I did not want to get out of the car at a particular house. No, I told them, the house in question looked OK. But the house across the street had two cars in his yard, one on blocks. Since I already know what he's up to, I would not have the "right" to ask him to stop once I moved in.

Seems to me that even in my semi-commercial shop machine tools are only occasionally on. It bugs me a little that they sit there doing nothing most of the time. It's a one-guy shop, what do you expect? Of course when I need something done quick, it sure is nice to have that machine waiting for me.

I'm resurrecting this thread with an update. I met the builder in the article, Adam, at a roots music festival in Massachusetts over the weekend. Although he won his case in court, the plaintiff appealed. Adam decided life is too short for neighbors like this and moved. He couldn't be happier now as he has a nicer house in a better school district and is sharing commercial shop space with another luthier. Judging by how well he did at the festival and the quality of the guitars he displayed, he has a bright future.

Adam sold his old house to a young family. Two weeks after they moved in, they threw a birthday party for their four year old. The neighbor called the cops. It takes all kinds, I guess.

This thread makes me feel glad I live where I do. My lot is zoned for commercial use and most of my neighbors grow medical cannibas so they do not bother me about anything. I work in my 2 car garage/ woodshop as late as I want which is really nice in the summer when the temp gets to 106 degrees. The only complaint I have had in the last 4 years is my chickens were getting into our neighbors flowers. I have lived near crazy neighbors before and we were really happy to get the house we have mostly because of the area its in. We could have gotten a house that needed less work but we would have been to close to our neighbors.

I rent both my house and workshop - they are one minute apart with the workshop across the road in an old Methodist chapel that has 5 other tenants. I have 50 square meters of fully serviced light industrial work space for just $470 a month including power and council tax, wash-room facilities, kitchen and storage space. My full liability insurance is purchased through a craft group contract that cost $200 a year. Add to that spectacular views on a National Park, workshops flooded with light and the security of an alarm system and out of the six I have either built or inherited, it is the best I have ever had and is likely to be my last...