karlstephens

We are hoping to move next year to the Frigiliana area. Myself, my wife and two kids (age 8 and 5) love the area and would like to relocate. My wife runs a hairdressing salon in the UK and would consider opening another in Nerja/Torrox/Frigiliana area. Any thoughts on this? We don't speak Spanish but are starting a course in September. I was a bricklayer and would be happy to do general maintenance work or anything thats going. Any info of any kind would be of great use! Thanks

Sue

Hi and a big welcome to BE.

I'm going to move your thread to our Spain forum for you in order that you can hit the ground running so to speak. We've got great members and I'm sure they will be happy to share some pointers. In the meantime takes some time to read through some of the other threads in the Spain section, as I'm sure you will pick up a few tips.

Rosemary

As Concierge for the Spanish section of BE I would like to say hello and welcome.

BE is a very large expat website, so if you have problems finding your way around we have concierges who will try to direct you. The moderators for the Spanish forums are Mitzyboy and Fred James, moderators are there to ensure that the site runs smoothly within the rules of BE. Problems and complaints should always be addressed to a moderador who will look into the matter and deal with it efficiently and fairly. Our members who post in the Spain Forums are friendly and helpful with a wealth of knowledge of the issues of living in Spain. At the top of the page you will find a quirkily named thread called Free Beer which is full of important and useful information. Hope you enjoy your time participating in the forums.

Please let me know if you need any further help.

Rosemary

Lynn R

Just the usual depressing warnings about the general economic situation and lack of employment opportunities, I'm afraid.

Hairdressing salons are not in short supply in the area, so your wife would have a lot of competition. Prices are a bit lower than Nerja where I live, but just to give her some idea of charges, I pay €30 for colour, cut and blowdry. When you have rent to pay on premises, and all the other business expenses, you need to attract an awful lot of customers at those kind of prices in order to make a profit.

The construction industry has been one of the worst affected sectors during the recession in Spain and again, you would be competing against thousands of unemployed people who are willing to work for very low wages.

cricketman

As a hairdresser and bricklayer, you have very little chance of being able to make enough money to live, even if you were fluent in Spanish. Unemployment is over 30% in Andalucia

Probably 10 years ago you could have made a go of it as there were 1,000s of British people arriving in the area at the time, all looking for English speaking tradesman

But now the numbers are dwindelling and those who are established here already have contacts. I can't imagine how you could make it work unless you have 10,000s or even 100,000s of euros to bring with you

lyric030250

I hate to write this as negativity is not my style, but I live in your chosen area and all I can say is Lynn has it right. There are hairdressers on virtually every street corner, I can think of six in Frigiliana which, as you must know, is quite small. Torrox is full of them and Torrox Costa is unbelievable there are so many. In T.C. many are fully tri-lingual as there are many Germans. My wife goes to a tri lingual lady, 19€ for a cut and blow. I know one who charges 12€ but he doesn't listen to what she wants! He speaks five languages and struggles.
For another example there are two English girls on T.C. who have been brought up here so are fluent, they have a little rented shop and are doing anything in the beauty field as well as hair to try to make ends meet. They even sell clothes. It's failing.
As for odd jobs in the building trade there are many offering to do anything remotely building or gardening at around 8€ an hour.
I know a gardener who charges 70€ a day 08.30 till dark, all his own equipment and including fuel. I have never seen a man work so hard for his money.
Sorry to be doom and gloom, but seriously think deep and long before you leap.

cricketman

When I lived in that part of the world I had a number of Argentinian friends who charged 50 euros per day for building or labouring work, and they knew people who were charging 35 euros per day!

We got 2 young building painters to paint the outside of our flat and terraces etc, quite a big job. It took them one full day, they charged 90 euros which included the paint!

And this was 3 years ago, things are worse now