The short answer
Party wall awards often set working hours, but those restrictions apply only to the notifiable works under the Act, not to the whole building project. A party wall award is not a general site management document.
Why it matters
Surveyors can determine how and when notifiable works are carried out — cutting into a party wall for beams or padstones, excavating close to and below neighbouring foundations, raising or altering a party wall, building certain new boundary walls — but general activity like internal refurbishment, plastering or decorating is normally outside their control. Awards often mirror local authority construction hours, typically:
- Monday to Friday: 8.00am to 6.00pm;
- Saturday: 8.00am to 1.00pm;
- Sundays and bank holidays: no notifiable works.
Hours may be refined for particularly noisy works (breaking out, piling), sensitive neighbours (care homes, hotels, medical premises), confined sites, or works very close to occupied rooms, but the test is reasonableness — the Act does not let an adjoining owner eliminate every inconvenience.
What to do now
- Apply award working hours to the notifiable works, not the whole site.
- Where works are unusually noisy or neighbours sensitive, consider reasonable refinements.
- For complaints about general construction noise, use the local authority or the ordinary site management route, not the party wall surveyors.
Common mistakes
- Treating the award’s hours as governing the entire project.
- Expecting surveyors to police the site.
- Trying to use the award to remove every inconvenience of building work.
When to call Coburns
If working hours are in dispute, send us the award and the complaint and we will confirm what the award actually governs.