They say babies smile in their sleep because they're listening to the whispering of angels.

Not in Tauranga they don't – and certainly not in Otumoetai.

One Tauranga mother is fuming over builders not sticking to the specified noise controls set by Tauranga City Council. Photo: File.

They're wide awake and bawling, because an orchestra of nail guns, circular saws, power planes, concrete trucks and pumps strike up ‘fortissimo' at the same time the sun is coming up.

And that can be distressing for a newborn and sleep-deprived mum.

It's also illegal, but as one new mum points out, no-one seems to give a damn.

'I have spoken to the council, I have spoken to noise control and I have spoken to the builders,” says the distressed mother.

'There seems to be a lack of willingness to enforce the rules.”

There are no names in this story. The complainants, young parents, spoke to The Weekend Sun on the understanding of anonymity. They didn't want to niggle the neighbours.

We've given the builder the same courtesy.

So it's about the issue – noise pollution from building sites and abuses of noise controls that affect many of us.

Last year there were 22 complaints made to Tauranga City Council – one every 12 working days. This is not an isolated case.

So what are the rules?

It's a national standard and it's on the Tauranga City Council website.

'Construction work can be undertaken seven days per week” as long as the following rule is adhered to: 'Loud work noise (use of noisy machinery, hammering etc) Monday to Friday 7.30am to 8pm and Saturday 7.30am to 6pm.”

So no loud work noise and no noisy machinery before 7.30 am and none after 8pm, Monday to Friday. It's quite clear.

Work can continue outside those hours – however nothing louder than a paintbrush is permitted.

But our mum says the men on the construction site next door are regularly on the job by 6.45am – three-quarters of an hour before it's permissible.

Hardly a hanging offence, but if you're a sleep-deprived new mother with a baby who has disrupted sleep patterns, then any shut eye is vital shut eye. 'Ask any parent,” she says.

Last week, when a concrete truck and pump truck emerged from the gloom at 6.45am, mum had one eye open and a fractious 10-week-old as she met with the site manager.

'I reminded him about the 7.30am threshold.”

He politely disagreed. 'We can start at 7am” he said. Even if that was the case, why then was he starting at 6.45am? The concrete pumps fell silent but thundered back into life bang on 7am – a full 30 noisy minutes early.

'Seems to me if you are a builder you would know the rules,” she says, 'so it comes down to blatantly disregarding what the rules are.”

Our complainant is absolutely right according to the Tauranga City Council. But spokesperson Darrienne Daubney doesn't work with builders regarding their responsibilities.

However, they would advise builders to talk to residents in advance and to maintain dialogue throughout the job.

But meaningful dialogue wasn't working in our case, and our mum called noise control at the council. Noise control told her the threshold was 7am, even though its own website it states 7.30am. No-one could explain the discrepancy.

Mum understands people have a job to do. 'But at the same time,” she says, 'the council rules are there to protect people, to ensure the community isn't inconvenienced by work like this.”

So mum went above the site manager to the building company's headquarters.

'The man was sympathetic,” she explains, 'and he remembered what it was like being the parent of a newborn.”

He also reassured her he would tell the site manager she didn't want them starting until 7.30am. 'I said it's nothing to do with what I want. These are the rules and you should know and obey the rules.”

Perhaps builders are more focused on completing jobs on time, within budget and to the satisfaction of their clients. 'That might be okay for the people paying, but what about everyone else in the neighbourhood?” asks our mum.

On another occasion the builders blamed the concrete workers who liked to start early. 'Well they might like to start early but they are not allowed to,” she adds.

'True to his word, the concrete truck was there 6.45am. So they know the rules but are deliberately flouting them.”

The Weekend Sun also went to the construction company with some obvious questions: Are they aware of the hours of the work rules? Do they enforce those rules? Do they monitor their building sites?

They declined to comment – apart from saying it was more of a case of sour grapes and an issue between neighbours.

And yes, our mum confirmed there had been some added issues over a fence and the construction work encroaching onto their property.

'There were times when we did not have enjoyment of all our property,” says mum. Those issues, however, have since been resolved.

But isn't the building site a small inconvenience for a short time?

'Yes,” she says, 'but then who else will suffer? They will be going down the road and doing exactly the same thing to someone else.”

It's understood a council environmental health officer has since visited the offending work-site. Order now reigns. A baby now sleeps.

Despite the 22 noise complaints in the last 12 months complaints, TCC confirms there have been no prosecutions for excessive construction noise.