The challenge for officials is to balance the quality-of-life concerns of city residents against the legitimate reasons for after-hours construction. Certain jobs that require heavy equipment, for example, are safer and less disruptive to traffic when done at night.

On Wednesday, Carlina Rivera, a councilwoman who represents Mr. Riley’s district, introduced a bill that would limit construction work to no earlier than 6 a.m. and no later than 10 p.m. on weekdays; weekend work would be restricted to 8 a.m. to 6 p. m .

The bill is co-sponsored by Helen Rosenthal and Keith Powers, two Council members whose Manhattan districts also produce a large number of construction-related noise complaints, and was welcomed by the Council speaker, Corey Johnson.

Mr. Johnson has vowed not to take donations from real estate interests for his planned run for mayor in 2021.

Mr. Johnson said that “late-night construction work is often incredibly disruptive to residential communities all over this city,” and that he viewed Ms. Rivera’s legislation as an “attempt to tackle this longstanding problem .”

The Real Estate Board of New York has opposed previous versions of the legislation, but Jamie McShane, a spokesman for the group, said that its members wanted to review Ms. Rivera’s bill before commenting. The New York Building Congress, calling the legislation misguided, vowed to fight it.

“I think we are living in an era where everyone wants to blame the real estate and construction industries for the woes of society,” said Carlo A. Scissura , president and chief executive of the New York Building Congress . “ In reality, we are building everything in New York that people take for granted like subways, schools and affordable housing.”