The Bath St upgrade project, starting in April, will replace damaged stormwater and sewerage pipes running underneath the street, some of which date back to the 1800s.
The council clarified the timeframe for the project on Thursday, and announced "most" of the lower Stuart St block would be closed off to vehicles.
Co-owner of The Wayfarer, in Bath St, Mark Harte said he and his wife took ownership of the business in May last year.
They were both working 60-hour weeks to get everything up to standard and had not found the time to even get accustomed to the city yet, he said.
"We’ve also missed the bus on anyone coming to talk to us about any of the roadworks and things.
"We’re literally just learning about things as they come out in articles in the paper."
He had received no communication "at all" from the council by yesterday morning, Mr Harte said.
"Even just a knock at the door — we’re right next to the council building."
He finally received a letter and an email from the council later in the day, but was still unpleased by the level of communication, Mr Harte said.
Roadworks were inevitable and it was good the council was doing work to fix the pipes underneath the street, he said.
But businesses needed advance warning.
"I think it’s going to be a huge interruption.
"We’re going to have to put in a lot of extra hours and plan a lot of events to try and bring people in."
His landlord had been keeping in regular contact to inform him about the upgrade project and there had been communication as far back as February last year, prior to his arrival, he said.
He was worried about how the work might affect his business.
"Turnover is going to decrease — it’s a matter of how much.
"I don’t know how much it is going to decrease. We have no control over that."
He had to proactively approach the council to get more information, and was meeting a project manager and a business advocate on Monday, Mr Wall said.
The only thing he was nervous about was a lack of clarity about electricity and water interruptions, and he wanted to know if the council was obliged to compensate the business.
While it would have been nice to receive more information about the work, it would not have changed anything as the work had to be done, he said.
"It absolutely does need to be done.
"I think Bath St is one of those hidden gem areas and I’m really looking forward to seeing what it looks like at the very end of all this."
Council climate and city growth general manager Scott MacLean said the council had sent Mr Harte an email and letter about the project.
The council was actively in the process of communicating with business owners in Bath, lower Stuart and Princes Sts, as well as Moray Pl and the Octagon, he said.
Three-quarters of the first block of lower Stuart St, from the Octagon to partway past the intersection with Bath St, would be closed after the size and depth of the excavation at the intersection was deemed unsafe for vehicles to access.
