Hi a quick question me and my husband are planning on moving to spain with our three kids within the next 2-3 years and want to start up a window cleaning buisness is there much call for it? it won't be our only buisness as my husband will be doing mobile mechanics but was thinking about the extra income idea, your comment would be appreciated thank you x

Most domestic properties have "rejas" - metal bars at the windows, which make window cleaning quite a long, time consuming job. There is mass unemployment in Spain, so now isnt a good time to come over unless you have an alternative income

Jo xxx

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Please let me know if you need any further help.

Rosemary

and most windows open inwards, too - making it easy to clean them yourself - no ladders needed

Not to mention that the lady of the house - certainly in the pueblos I know - tend to take care of every last dot and squeak of the external cleaning so are unlikely to spend money on someone else.
Maybe you meant commercial buildings? Can't help on that one I'm afraid.

I have a friend who's partner cleans windows for shops etc in Benalmadena. They get by, but she was saying that as companies close, there are less and less windows to clean and of course companies can save money by doing it themselves, but they're hanging on - I assume its the same across the costas and therefore "a new kid on the block" wont be too popular???????????????

Jo xxx

It's a silly idea sorry. There are 1 million people unemployed in Andalucia, many with zero income because benefits have run out

Anything such as house cleaning, pool cleaning, gardening etc has been done a million times before. These people are now charging as little as 5 euros per hour to get any work they can get

You could open a bar?
Or you could trail through the rubbish bins looking for scrap metal to sell on

Lots of people doing that

You'd have to be crazy to consider moving to Spain at the moment if you have no job unless you have a pension or hundreds of thousands of euros in savings

Totally agree, stay where you are.

I agree too... now is not the time.

well to be fair - she IS saying 2-3 years & fingers crossed things improve by then



@ Mrs_Mac5 - even when things were great & easy here, there was more supply than demand with the two jobs your OH - but use the next couple of years to learn some Spanish - do a few recces -& when things here improve you'll be reasonably well placed to take advantage of it

The mobile mechanic thing - As I understand it, in Spain its a legal requirement to pay for roadside assistance thru your insurance company. Do we assume that your husband is going to be employed and endorsed by an insurance company or affiliated garage??!

jo xxx

Thanx all for your comments and yes we are still looking in to it and it will be atleast 2 years yet until we consider moving we are all learning spanish at the moment. No he will not be employed by an insurance company but will hopefully have a garage to work out off.

There are lots of mobile mechanics in the Costa Blanca, well there were wehn we were there 4 years ago, all looking for a declining English market. Unlike in the UK, repairs etc usually have to be endorsed in the vehicle log book so that the authorities can be certain approved parts have been used, this will, of course, be all in Spanish. When I had to have a new wheel fitted, then that had to be noted in the log book.

Hi

Just last week my Spanish next door neighbour was offered a commercial cleaning job - 20 euros for six hours work !!!!

Times they are hard - people are taking these jobs cash in hand

Davexf

Hi there,
We r in the same boat as what to do if we ever get to Spain!
I'm the one who thinks it will be an adventure while the OH says we
Can't move unless we have jobs!! As I've been told before jobs
R like hens teeth. So we have a few options but not sure if I have
My rise coloured spectacles on!
Option 1: buy 2 houses and rent one out while we live in the another.
Option2: just rent a house and live off our savings.
We will be selling one of our houses in Oz and renting the other out just
In case we have to come back to Oz.
Roughly bringing over 300,000.00 euros.
We have two children to put through school so that will eat into savings!
Hubby is an air conditioning/ refrigeration mechanic. We haven't even
Starting Spanish lessons and we r hoping to move December the earliest!!!
Is this a pipe dream? I really need to get closer to home .....