Would this bother you?

Sure. Sounds annoying to me. But...what can you do? You can't really expect them to postpone their work because you were sitting on your porch (I'm assuming). And 30 minutes of inconvenient noise isn't that long over the course of a weekend.

Yes and you can call the town on the landscape company. I believe 9am is the start time rule on a Sunday

I don't know your local rules and regulations, but I would think 9:00am might be a more civilised hour for noisy work to start on a Sunday.

We were in Orchard Park yesterday morning and the town's very loud mowing crew came in at 8 and stayed for almost an hour. Would be curious to know the town's "official" start time for noisy outdoor work for Saturday, too.

9am is the rule is South Orange. 8:30 would annoy me, but just cause I think it's rude, not that the disruption would be any less bothersome 30 minutes later.

beppolina said:
We were in Orchard Park yesterday morning and the town's very loud mowing crew came in at 8 and stayed for almost an hour. Would be curious to know the town's "official" start time for noisy outdoor work for Saturday, too.

I'm pretty sure the town and the department of education work crews are exempt from the rule. I know that noise ordinances are not applied to school events or maintenance work on the school fields.

Yes, it would bother me, but I would chalk it up to life in the suburbs and let it go.

The only way the landscapers are forced to play by the rules are if people report them. I wouldn't let it go.

Yesterday at 8:30am my neighbor's landscapers were out with the leaf blowers, on, then off, then on, then off, then on, then off....it really bothered me, from INSIDE my house. I went out and asked if he knew the town ordinance start time for a saturday; he offered to stop the work, I said don't bother, just promise me you wont do it again at 8:30 while the rest of my house and visitors were sleeping. He said it was a one time clean out, so I was satisfied > until it started again . and stopped. and started...

Maplewood start time is 8am on Sat, 11am on Sun., to be making any noise.I think the town is exempt as well as local utilities.

Which means it is now relevant to find out what town the OP lives in. If in Maplewood, they have no leg to stand on to change their neighbor's landscaping habits, sadly.

(ETA: I was wrong about this, because I hadn't realized we were talking about Sunday. See below.)

Yes they do. The start time is at least 9am on a Sunday. Even later in some towns. Definitely not 8:30am for a private landscaper

I'd say something to the neighbor otherwise this might be your new normal for Sunday mornings. Honestly, I don't think professional landscapers should be allowed to work on weekends.

Is the issue that you don't want them there when you want to be outside? If that is the case, the time is not the issue unless you only want to be out early in the morning. If you are friendly, maybe you can ask them if they have a regular schedule for the landscapers so you can plan to not be outside during that time or if it is possible to have their lawn done during the week instead of the weekend.

Even if 9am or 11am is the allowed start time, it would be just as annoying if you wanted to be out then.

In my parents neighborhood, I was surrounded by at least 4 houses where the men tried to outdo each other with lawn care...so it would go on all day....one would come out to mow...so the next one had to..one would pull out the weed whacker..so the next one had to...you could tell they were showing off for each other...

If you make a big deal out of it, you risk them purposely annoying you 7 days a week for many hours to get revenge.

.

Somebody at least 1/2 block away was loudly mowing lawns (I couldn't see where they were but heard them fer sure) at 8:30am this morning. It was SO loud I had to turn my TV up to the maximum, and still had a hard time hearing the dialogue. Such is life....

Annoying any time for sure. But certain times are breaking the law, that's the difference

Actually, I hadn't noticed properly before now that this happened on a Sunday. That is definitely more annoying than I was thinking before. So I did a little more research.

According to town ordinance, landscaping crews may not begin using motorized equipment on lawns until 11 a.m. on Sundays. I'd have a word with the neighbor and ask them to request their lawn crew respect that ordinance.

http://www.ecode360.com/9420120#9420122

Note: This is about Maplewood, not South Orange. I still don't know which town the OP lives in.

I would find it annoying, but as others mentioned, it is a regular occurrence ... The other day (also a sunday) I had family over for some tea and chat outside and a crew came by and started blowing dust all over -- me being very allergic, had to retreat inside for the duration of the event ... I cut my own grass, with a manual grass cutter and wish others would do same ... but people love their lawns to look like they were shaved and look down on others who leave their grass more... natural looking.. oh well such is life in the suburbs

Double check that, Walker. It came from an old thread about noise pollution, and I'm not 100% sure they haven't updated that info since then. It's a couple years old. But the link still works, so it seems likely it's still correct.

georgieboy said:
Maplewood start time is 8am on Sat, 11am on Sun., to be making any noise.I think the town is exempt as well as local utilities.

That seems odd -- 8 on Saturday and 11 on Sunday. Even if you think people who go to church are more important than people who don't, that doesn't make sense -- they're already awake.

If it is a professional landscaper, I would call the police to have them cited, or at least officially warned.

Tougher if it is a DIY neighbor.

Exactly. I wouldn't even speak to the neighbor if it was a landscaper. The neighbor has nothing to do with the schedule. Call the town and report the landscaper. If they think they can get away with it, they'll continue to do it either by you or in another neighborhood.

Bear in mind that Monday, Tuesday, and , possibly yesterday, were washouts for landscapers. I'm sure tied rather be at home and not working today.

Steve said:
Bear in mind that Monday, Tuesday, and , possibly yesterday, were washouts for landscapers. I'm sure tied rather be at home and not working today.

Of course, but they still should obey the law.

And, honestly, we have already gotten to the point in the year/drought cycle where weekly mowing is really overkill, so I don't have all that much sympathy.

Sunday 8:30am highly inconsiderate. That type of selfish behavior never fails to amaze and disgust me. Politely approach the neighbors and ask them to ask the gardeners to come at a later time. I can assure you that you were not the only neighbor annoyed by this

I'd ask them to stop directly, then call PD if they chose to ignore the request. It's less about one instance than their willingness to flout the law (they're licensed, or ought to be, and should know) and do it again elsewhere. Consider it a public service.

If happily have them come at 8:30 if they'd cut my (across the street) neighbor's lawn, which has gone to seed and is beginning to look like the Serengeti. Forget bears, I'm starting to get worried about cheetahs