+1 on the wife just keeping the peace, de-escalating.

I think you did him a favor by knocking on his door. He could have been ticketed or worse. Give your wife a pass. I don't think she knew the whole story.

It's a real shame when cars spontaneously combust. It's so easy to happen when they're not looked after and all.

;)

1. Tell the neighbor Mrs. and MIL you're sorry they are living with a dickhead.
2. Ask your Mrs. WTF?
3. Buy a MadMax mobile to clear the road of debris when obstructed.

1. Your neighbor is an entitled jerk.
2. Calling the po-po or parking enforcement would be the proper procedure but we both know in our city that could take hours or even days (people in my hood get ticketed for having their cars hanging a few inches into the sidewalk when parked in a drive way... but my hood is also blessed with parking Nazis
3. We are all human... if I started writing down all the times I "lost it" and behaved badly it would be a multi volume encyclopedia.
Having said that yes it would have been nice if you kept your cool and if your wife had backed you up.
4. Perhaps you could cut a deal with that guy, if he goes door to door and apologizes to all the neighbors' for being a selfish arsh and blocking the road you will apologize to his wife and MIL. ;)

You asked to be told you're wrong, so... SmileWavy

Yes, these are taken out of context, but that is the way life works. You have your side of how life is on the street, he has his. What if he works 3rd shift and tries to sleep from 6am until 4pm? And you've had construction going for 8 months (the entire length of his wife's pregnancy). And his MIL is living with them. You're surprised he's pissed at things?

Plenty of people prefer to be called or texted rather than personally visited. Maybe he knows he's a hot head and doesn't want a real-time physical confrontation.

It sounds like your wife was attempting to diffuse the situation with him. It made it worse with you, but likely her goal was to end the confrontation and then deal with other issues later.

I'm not saying the guy isn't/wasn't a dick, but I can also imagine why he might have acted that way.

Todd always wins the empathy award.

I prolly would have reacted the same way you did only worse.

People in LA suck big time, (except you) ;)

Post a picture of your street and his car. That would clear up a lot. If it's one of those goat path canyon streets where there is barely enough room to pass with parked cars on one side and you're trying to run a cement mixer up to the end plus have a bunch of PUs or other construction trucks taking all the parking, (and making noise starting @ 8am every morning), there MAY be another side to this.

I'm sure that you see this as your right to make a living and fuch anyone who doesn't like it but if I was next door, you might find your access blocked. :)

From the OP "we are quiet (dont start until 9) "
Every house on the street got built and some noise was made in the process. It is unreasonable to expect to live in the last house built on the street and it's unreasonable to get ticked off if someone else does some construction.

Truth. It's like those folks who complain about lawnmower/string trimmer noise on the weekend. Hey, Saturday is sometimes the only day I have for those sorts of yard chores. You know, having a real job and all? As long as folks don't fire up their gas-powered leaf blower before 0900, it's all good. I had a neighbor once who would, without fail, run his lawnmower starting at 0630 on Saturday. Super-nice guy, very generous, great to talk to. But 0630 on Saturday. Damn. Nobody ever said a word to him, but it was because he was just a great guy.

I think 0900 on a weekday is absolutely acceptable. Frankly, I think 0700 on a weekday is acceptable.

Link to video neighbor posted all over the net?

Reality is perception. One side says, "if the neighbor didn't have his car sticking out, then traffic can go around the cement mixer." The other side says, "if the cement mixer isn't there, traffic can flow around my car."

One side says, "I'm trying to improve my property and am being as courteous as possible." The other side says, "8 months of construction hassles next to where I live so this guy can make a bunch of money flipping his house."

The "reality" of a situation is highly dependent on POV.

These houses were likely built decades ago. What is happening is renovation. LA if rife with this right now, typically it is a flipper who buys a property, brings in a crew, then sells at a profit (e.g. they don't live in the neighborhood). Real estate is a serious profit center in LA, and often at the expense of people who just want a place to live.

In this case the OP does live in the neighborhood, but he's not working on the house he's living in, so it is a financial thing. Which is fine - everybody's gotta make money. But I think people living in a neighborhood have more patience when an owner is improving their own house as opposed to a rental or property to flip.

^^
I don't see how the profit motive changes anything. The douchnozzle's house could have been remodeled in the past or will be in the future. The process is makes noise. If a house needs to be rehabbed, you rehabb it, necessarily making noise in the process, or you let it rot. Let it fall into ruin and it ticks off other homeowners, fix it up and you tick off jerks like this guy.

Not sure that your area has the same dynamic as LA does. In some cases, a neighborhood will see a series of "rehabs" that aren't about fixing something that has fallen into ruin, but rather a money grab by a developer. In some parts of LA on any given street you could have essentially constant construction with one house, then another being either cleaned and flipped (which is a couple months of work) or adding a second story/gutted and turned into a Dwell box (which can be closer to a year of construction).

For the people who just *live* there, the profit motive does figure into things. The quality of life drops because someone wants to make a quick buck or a big buck.

There is a spectrum of housing construction that happens in LA - but since there aren't a lot of empty areas for new construction, most everything is remodel, and often strictly for profit. It is fairly easy to see how people get frustrated with construction going on around them...

NO they don't. they are goddamn transplants from Texas. Not saying people are bad in Texas, but have noticed the lay back Californian attitudes do not exist any longer. Its been replaced by folks from all over the country. I haven't seen too much bad behaviors from people when I was a kid. The people in our old neighborhood always said hello and wave you through when driving. Now, no more. Plus, they are the 30 something year old crowd, so they are just a little different with their attitude.

Not flipping this one. keeping it for my kids college education and so I can squeeze em'.:D

The owner did their remodel 8 years ago, when my wife was pregnant with our second child. We left then alone and it had to be done. So we dealt with the noise. My wife just went downstairs to read a book to get away from the noise, not a big deal. Folks do work, they make noise, dogs bark and babies cry. No one died today. :cool:

I am still pissed thinking about this as I drove home today. Its NOT about his car sticking out into the street. Its NOT about his parking. It is about his demands for an apology to his wife and MIL that very moment because I KNOCKED ON HIS FCUKING DOOR. He wanted me to call or text. WhoTF does that? With that said, he's telling me that I will answer when I feel like talking to you. That's what I got from the "Text or call thing". Who the hell get bent from someone knocking on their door? They are having a baby, so the whole world must stops for them? Talk about entitlement?

Here's the latest. I come home today, both their cars are parked right in front my house (street parking is empty) and one of their car is 2" up against my wife's van with their tails sticking out almost 2' into the street. I am right at the bend and hope they get hit.

I am thinking about sticking my truck right up against their 4runner. I know she is due any day now. I love to have him knock on my door or call me on the phone so they can try and get his cars out to drive his wife to the hospital. I wouldn't do that because that's what little people do. I love to pay my guys to come up tomorrow, start breakfast at 6am, talk loudly which is acceptable (to me anyway). City of LA's ( I cut and paste for you)
Allowable Construction Hours:

Monday through Friday between 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Saturdays and National Holidays between 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Sundays, no construction except for residents.

I love to run my compactor, jack hammer, and chain saw until the boys get tired. I will vibrate their inner soles. But I can't do that to the rest of my neighbors. They don't deserve it. he just might send my his Utube video. Hell, I love to see it myself. I am on my way to movie stardom. It will be posted for your view. Get your pop corns boys.