Crane swing area in a very densely built-up residential area

It must be possible to build in such gaps, in cities this is the case with every gap filling. Your [GU] should know how this works, and not be able to shift the blame onto you. He already saw the tightness of the houses during the first inspection.

The 3 weeks were probably already borderline, it should have been 4 weeks. And you definitely should have informed that crane work is taking place and that it will swing over the property for that. If the work can only be done that way, then usually hammer-raising rights apply. But you must inform the neighbors in a timely and honest manner for that.

If the work cannot be done any other way than with a crane or if that would involve significant additional effort, the neighbor must tolerate it. This is regulated under hammer-raising and ladder rights. However, you must absolutely notify the neighbor in writing in advance in good time. Which notice period applies to you, whether 2 weeks or 2 months in advance, you have to look up in your federal state's neighbor law. As mentioned, this is under hammer-raising and ladder rights. Crane is at least not explicitly mentioned with us, but it is considered included. We also have a neighbor who nags out of principle. I can almost recite the neighbor law by heart...

Unfortunately, I only learned today for the first time about swinging over properties, after the call, after googling... I know ignorance is no excuse, but recently there has been really much for us to keep in mind, we distributed the notes and believed everyone was informed. We really could not inform the neighbors much earlier, the approval for the road closure was pending. It was communicated relatively short-term. We even distributed the notes before the "written" approval. Verbally, it had already been given to us, so we distributed them then.

It must be possible to build in such gaps, in cities this is the case with every gap construction. Your general contractor should know how to do that, and not blame you. He already saw the closeness of the houses during the first inspection.

Unfortunately, we were not informed that we should consider that. It was also not clear to us that we are not allowed to operate the crane far above the roofs. Otherwise, we would have informed everyone immediately, not out of obligation, but because we have communicated everything so far and have been open with the neighbors.

The 3 weeks were probably already borderline, it should have been 4.

That is not generally true. It depends on the respective federal state. For us, it is 2 weeks, in NRW one month, elsewhere 2 months.

I looked it up, for us it is 2 weeks, however, we only announced that the street will be closed due to our construction work.

That turned out quite badly with the lack of prior notice. I would speak to him, apologize to him politely, and tell him that I have since informed myself and that I should have notified him in time. That I will now follow up in writing and that I am very sorry that there is no other solution and that it is allowed under the hammer blow and pipeline rights. In the letter, I would also mention the § once again. You certainly won’t get a construction stop from the building authority because of this.

We will take the path tomorrow. We hope that we will be successful with it.