bobbi2

I am interested to hear from anyone who has done a house renvation project in France please. We are looking at a 120m size barn which has come on the market, and their progress from the initial purchase, survey, through to the Marie, and whether you had good or poor knowledge with the language? I also understand that local tradesperson are either rubbish, or don't want to work, or very expensive, so am looking at english tradespeople who come recommended. I know this can be frowned upon locally, but being new to us, want to be sure we do this right. The place we are renting has been renovated, so may be able to use those builders, but am a bit hesitant, and wonder wether we may open a can of worms using locals. We are in a known area for high unemployment and fills me with dread finding anyone locally.The area is the Savoie region.

bobbi2

Just wanted to add....we have found a very useful surveyor, who speaks anglish and french. He has said he can help beyond the survey, and has a very comprehensive website. Has anyone else had good service from their surveyor beyond the purchase, and can they normally put you in touch with a project manager or a good builder in renovation.

grannybunz

We did extensive renovations on our home. Because we knew it would be our only home eventually (it has been for some years now) we used entirely local workpeople. We asked our local friends and neighbours to recommend people. No problems with language as we have good French.

With one, very swiftly resolved exception, they all worked hard and well and their prices were correct.

Several of them have since become really good friends and so were asked to help when daughter and son-in-law bought the house next door. They offered advice and suggestions willingly and were content to do the skilled work and leave the new owners to do what they could and wanted to do.

Recently we met an English couple who had employed a British team and left them to get on with it. They turned out to be real cowboys and the whole thing not only became a nightmare, but really put the local residents backs up so when they needed to find good workers to right the wrongs, they were quoted massive amounts if indeed they would do the work at all.

dennerlymum

I find the comment that local tradespeople are either rubbish, dont want to work or are expensive surprising!!

We have used mostly french tradespeople for our renovation , having got quotes from both uk and french. The most expensive electrician by a long way was English; the cheapest by a long way was french. With the plumber we negotiated the price down and the builder was really cheap... all worked at varying speeds but hard and for long hours.
For the plastering (a job I couldn't find a french person for) we used an English guy. He was cheap (certainly in comparison to the other English quote which was laughable..) However he waas totally unreliable and never turned up when he said. Last summer he disappeared completely leaving us with one day's work left to do.. although we owed him money too which he seems to have forgotten about??

When the conversion began our English wasnt good but the french were patient and understanding!

All this to say dont disregard the french...they may surprise you!

dmu

Hi, there's also the question of working in accordance with French building regulations, and being able to sign off the work for the Mairie and the Insurance. If a British entrepreneur is qualified and legal, then fair enough, you can choose him over his French competitors, but you wouldn't be regarded very favourably by your neighbours, in view of the ever increasing unemployment rates here. French artisans are desperate to find work in the present economic climate, and the sweeping statement that they don't want to work is unjustified...
As suggested, ask your neighbours who they'd recommend...

Chatter Static

Im also surprised at the innuendoes towards local trades persons, Since January we have had new windows fitted our house rewired and lots of plumbing done. Every trades person has turned up when he said he would charged as was on the quote and been very helpful.

Renovation here is not cheap and don't let anyone fool you in to thinking it is English or French. Avoid Brico Depot it will damage the resale value of your home. Avoid English electricians I have seen far to many homes here with twin and earth which will fail the electrical test.

I have come across a builder here who was a Policeman in the UK and is being sued by a number of his previous clients for failing to meet French regulations.

I would recommend a large pinch of skepticism when dealing with peoples opinions on French tradesmen, there are far to many folk that rest in a little England attitude when moving here and falling into that clic can be catastrophic to your future here because you will never fit in to your local community.

I will point out again that 99 percent of people never use a surveyor here with little or not issues as pretty much all of us are buying into a building project lifestyle and to be fair I'm a little concerned with what he or she could cost you in the long term. If I were you I would get quotes from builders at the same time because a tradesman does not have to agree with what a surveyor thinks it should cost to renovate a property. Also how do the surveyor's qualifications hold up here and what does their insurance cover in case of misjudgement.

Old barns will always swallow twice what you think they can without making them fancy. Peeling back one stone means re'cementing 10. Cement vs Lime Oak vs pine Wood vs pvc little decisions can make a big differance to the overall outcome.

MillieF

I can only mention that I lived for 25 years in France, and we only used French renovation teams on the three houses that we lived in. I had a dodgy electrician, but once out of many years isn't so bad! I am presently planning to kidnap the lot of them so that I can get reasonable, trustworthy and decently priced honest workers here in Canada!

Novocastrian

I have to plead guilty to using English contractors for several jobs as well as French ones for others.

The English ones are, respectively, from Bradford and Nottingham and they have been very reliable and professional to date, They're also quite fun to have on the property.

My French is OK for normal purposes and SWMBO is basically bilingual, but when it comes to stuff to do with renos, she's illiterate in both languages.

It's my little peccadillo.

To the OP. I found them using a site I've linked to before...

www.findatradeinfrance.com

It's quite useful.

bigglesworth

I would echo all the positive comments re French tradesmen. I have found them professional, punctual ( within the French definition of punctuality) and helpful.
Some of the English. I was told "they get on the boat as a labourer and get off as a builder". Not always fair but be careful.

Nectarine

Id' recommend going to the Mairie and seeking his advice on local tradespeople. That's what we did, and we found good local workmen. My reasoning was that the mayor wouldn't recommend rubbish people, and they'd presumably have to work to some credible standard and I could take up any problems (there weren't any) with teh mayor and get him to sort it out, plus it put us in good stead with the mayor (seeking his advice, etc.). Whether the price was 'topped up' with us being English, I don't know, but we had good work done. I know people who've used French and English workmen and had good and bad experiences with both.

At a holiday home we had for 12 years we used French builders exclusively and one of them told me that they value their English customers because we make them tea, are courteous to them and pay our bills promptly. I'm sure that he didn't say that he charged xxx% extra and we never quibbled whereas his local French customers would haggle and know the price that should be paid ... that bit was left unsaid!


But I wouldn't generalise. There's good and bad in both nationalities and ultimately getting references and more references is the only way you will be able to select the builder who suits you.

DKP

I think one of the most important factors here is whether you have any experience of organising builders and running a renovation project?

If you do not and your french is limited, then really you need to engage a good architect/surveyor to run the project.

I would then expect to see three very comprehensive quotations from builders that come with references, the nationality then becomes somewhat academic.

Peabrain

Exactly. I've had a house renovated using solely French labour (this is France after all). The estate agent had the builder come along to give an estimate; he had already done some work on the house, and he put me in touch with a carpenter, plumber, plasterer and electrician he was happy working with. Coordination between them was fairly smooth and I'm delighted with the result. Whenever I need further work done, there is quite a wait, as these people are in demand, so they must be OK.
I also understand that local tradesperson are either rubbish, or don't want to work, or very expensive.
This remark I find extraordinary. I don't think French television runs programmes on cowboy builders ripping people off, a common feature on British television. There are cowboys everywhere and dishonesty or shoddy workmanship knows no frontiers. In fact the thought of using a British builder simply because he's British would never have crossed my mind. In a previous life I used the services of a Portuguese maçon, couldn't understand everything he said because his French wasn't very good, but never had cause to complain.
All the best in your project.
PB

bobbi2

Nectarine....that is a valid point, a Marie I think is going to be a safe (ish) point of contact for local tradespeople.We do know some, in fact the ones who have done our rented barn conversion, but obviously have to have back ups for quotes etc.
I am aware of some shocking or expensive work being done locally with friends, hence my hesitation. I know the the bad workmanship also came with a hefty quote, and this was often work done through rental agencies, for repairs to rental homes!!!
I would obviously prefer locals, but knowing what I know.....also their long lunchbreaks, bank holidays, other work AND how lng it has taken us to get some trees pruned in the garden(5 months), I am righhtly hesitant!
Thanks all!

dmu

When our house was "improved", all the various artisans used to bring their lunch and ate it within 1/2 hr., then went back to work. It was in their interest to get the work done ASAP since the price had been agreed on and they weren't going to waste time. Bank holidays are hardly a factor for complaint, no one works on those days. Can't comment on your long wait for the tree pruning, except that in my area, there are a dozen "woodmen" competing for work.
You've done well to ask all your questions on this forum, you seem to be going by hear-say which often isn't true.

Chatter Static

If it's noisy work they cant legally work out of hours anyway, Our window fitters only took an hour and a quarter for lunch which we suspect annoyed the old folk next door but they wouldn't complain to a French Artisan.

On a side note whats a Tree Pruner called here?, As we have loads of fruit trees in our new garden which need some professional attention.