beckyd

Hi, my partner has 27 years experience in carpentry and general building and as we will be living there from the start of March he will be looking for work. A long project would be good but if anybody needs any work doing small or big please let me know. He has references if needed. He is very reliable, hard working and trustworthy. English speaking only (for the moment!)
Thank you.

bobbi2

As long as he has good recommendations he would do well in the Rhone Alpes region. We live near Chambery, and the Savoyards are very poor at following up quotes, and whats more doing the job properly and at a reasonable price. I know lots of people here who struggle to get decent building work done. Fact...the Savoyards don't want to work!!! Good luck.

dmu

Hi, don't forget that he must register as a business before he can work legally and sign off his work for insurance purposes. The Auto-Entrepreneur is the simplest business structure. Make a forum search, as there are a lot of threads on the subject.
Where is "there"?
Don't hesitate to come back with other questions, e.g. your respective healthcare coverage, whether you are also looking for work, questions regarding children (if applicable)....
Without French, you are going to find it difficult to cope with bureaucracy, so Good Luck!

P.S. Just discovered that you've posted on the subject of school and that you'll be in the Nice area. Sorry I didn't notice your name...

Peabrain

Your partner won't be able to work without first setting up a company, as dmu says. If he doesn't do so, then any work he manages to find will be considered as moonlighting, done with the express purpose of tax evasion (VAT+charges sociales). He will not be insured whilst on a building site so in case of accidents would be about as far up s..t creek as is possible to get.
With no French, he is also going to find it hard, a) communicating with potential clients, and getting contracts, b) simply making his way around the vocabulary and understanding what people are on about when buying tools or materials, c) managing the red tape. In fact, without any knowledge of French, I'd be tempted to say that it can't be done. Gaining a working knowledge of a foreign language, especially if one has none of the basics, is a long and arduous task, and relying solely on an English-speaking customer-base means limiting one's range enormously.
What has triggered your decision to move to France?
PB

EuroTrash

As said - be aware that self-employment in France cannot be embarked on as casually as it can in the UK. DON'T send him out to work (even if he is offered something) before he is properly registered as a business with a SIRET number, and has his obligatory trade insurances sorted. Illegal workers who don't pay their dues and aren't insured are not popular with local artisans, and working 'on the black', looking over your shoulder and hoping nobody dobs you in, is not a great way to start your new life in France.

If he is offered a work contract that is a different matter. If that does happen, he will be one of the luckiest expats in France.

MillieF

Yes, do try to do everything as legally as you can, as ignorance is no excuse. France is very much a different culture, and the idea of informing the authorities that someone may not be adhering to the rules is not seen in a negative context. I was 'dobbed' on for not having a television licence....I had nothing in the house that would receive any form of signal! Then later we were reported for fishing without a licence...my three year old had a toy rod, with no hook, in the river, but we were reported nevertheless. With restoring the house and building, I got every permission available before I commenced with any works. France can be a super place to live, but you just have to conform to their, sometimes exacting, regulations.

Peabrain

This may be a little off topic, but I really must disagree with MillieF's statement. "La délation", or informing on others is most definitely taboo here, for reasons that go back to the denunciation of Jews and their subsequent deportation during the Occupation of France by the Germans; and beyond. France fondly likes to keep alive the idea that it is a country that favours anarchy over order, often merely in order to justify all sorts of behaviour that wouldn't pass elsewhere; parking on zebra crossings, allowing one's pooch to crap all over the pavement, fare-dodging and so on, but denouncing one's neighbour for such anti-social behaviour is not on at all. Admittedly government services get post-bags full of anonymous letters about the bloke next door not paying his income tax but this kind of activity is very definitely frowned upon collectively. In addition, the police, the state and the tax man are still viewed by many as an enemy that one should have no truck with whatsoever.
If you haven't already seen it, there is an excellent film, Clouzot's "Le Corbeau", made during the Occupation in 1943 and whose theme is that of poison-pen letters.
PB

Novocastrian

That reminds me of an amusing, but true, tale. Our immediate next door neighbour is one of two doctors in our small town, he has his office on the ground floor and lives in the two floors above that. He's now retired but when we first bought our house he would park his car on the zebra crossing outside his house every day. The amusing bit is, that rather than offend the doctor, the Mairie simply painted out the crossing.

Vive la France.

MillieF

That's lovely Novo and whilst it delights me, it doesn't actually surprise me.

Peabrain, apologies, I didn't mean anything of a particularly negative nature, just that I, and a number of French friends have been reported for all manner of real and imagined infringements over the years, by people that we know, who don't seem to have any particular axe to grind. Its because of this that I tend to advise getting everything properly signed up and registered with regard to SIRET, health care et al it smooths the way and allows one to say Vive La France with a certain Joie de Vivre and not mumble it through gritted teeth.

Peabrain

I quite agree on the necessity to be en règle, however much red tape one has to wade through. And dealing with the French administration is an excellent way of finding out a lot about the language and the way the country functions. It's good for you. Rites of passage and all that.
No need to apologise though
PB

Peabrain

Curiously, I've just read a little piece in this weekend's supplement to Le Monde, about an attempt by a store manager to stop graffiti being sprayed on his Leclerc supermarket, in Rosendaël, near Dunkirk. After spending €15,000 over four months on getting rid of graffiti, the management launched an advertising campaign promising a thousand euros' worth of vouchers to be spent in his store, for anyone who could help shop the culprits by providing definite, accurate information on them. However, the posters had to be withdrawn, as their appeal to people to grass on others caused an uproar within the community.
Despite the slogan "Ras le bol des incivilités", it would appear the inhabitants of this Dunkirk suburb would rather live surrounded by graffiti than give in to temptation.
Weird, innit.
PB

Garonne

beckyd, I'm quite worried about what your intentions are here. You say you will be living here from the beginning of March but have yet to find accommodation. You also mention on another post knowing nothing about getting health cover or a social security number. What health cover will you have? This is of paramount importance particularly as you have a baby.

Now you're asking about the possibility of your husband finding work so what are your plans if he doesn'? Do you have several tens of thousands to carry you through whilst your husband sets his business up? Competition for work is extremely tough. I wish you good luck, but I'm not sure you've done enough research to make the move without knowing all about health cover, the work situation, etc.

Incidentally, why are you moving here?

dmu

I share your worry, and wonder why Becky and her family want to move to the Nice area and not an area where there are more Expats (= possibly more work).
It would be good if she replies on at least one of her threads. Hopefully they are reconsidering their decision to arrive next month in view of the information that we have all given.

Domino

PB that sounds just like where I live - and thats in Spain

dog mess on the pavement - no problem, but I would like to get my hands on the kind person who regularly lets their dog do it right next to the door of my car. I get funny looks when I remove a small plastic bag if my dog poops on the pavement.

parking on pedestrian crossing - seems to be the de rigour (?) means of parking. leaving the a**e end sticking out if there isnt room for the car, everyone does it - except me, I'm a foreigner and will probably get towed!!

double parking - normal, in fact so normal that the other evening rather than cook after both of us had been out all day I went to the local pizza place to find a car parked, another double parked on that and as I approached it a van came the wrong way round the roundabout, double parked on the double parker, driver turned his lights off and walked off with the vehicle in the middle of the wrong side of the road.

the other day whilst walking in the big city saw a number of cars stopped at traffic lights, one of the drivers had a newspaper out on his steering wheel.

oh the joys of living in these places............

Matt_clark

Hi Becky,
I'm not currently in France but I've used this site for many weeks reading various threads, and like your partner I am also in the construction trade, my partner and I plan to move to France so I have kept a very keen eye in this subject, it would seem to me that a good Brit builder in France should never be out of work and when he picks up French that will help even more

Best of luck in your adventure!!