Hi new poster here.

I would like to pick the brains of the good people on this forum with a few questions about moving to Spain.

We are looking at the Malaga area but to be more specific the villages and towns inland such as Alora, Almogia and Alhaurin el Grande where you get so much more for your money.

I am a Groundsman by trade in the UK currently working for a professional football team.

Q1, I have noticed that a lot of the property service companies are run by British people, do they tend to employ local people or would they favour someone like myself a fellow Brit?

Q2, Do the expat community on the Costa del Sol prefer to use expat people to do such work as gardening and grass maintainance?

Q3, Would setting up my own garden/grass maintainance company be a viable option or is the market flooded with such people?

I appreciate the unemployment rate in Spain is very high and I will not be able to earn as much as I do at my present place of work in England but at my time in life I am looking to wind down and just earn enough to live on.

Thanks in anticipation of helpful replies received.

Hi and a warm welcome to the Spanish forum on BE. Myself and Fred James are the moderators for the Spanish forums whilst BEVS moderates Europe. Moderators are there to ensure that the site runs smoothly within the rules of BE. This is so that members gain the information that they are looking for and find their experiences on the forums to be friendly and worthwhile.

Problems and complaints should always be addressed to a moderator who will look into the matter and deal with it efficiently and fairly. Our members who post in the Spain Forums are usually friendly and helpful with a wealth of knowledge about the issues of living in Spain. I hope that you enjoy your time participating in the forums.

Please let me know if you need any further help.

Rosemary

Good luck with the move and for your work you would be better near the coast where the more expensive villas are with gardens that need maintenance. Inland may be cheaper to buy but there is very little work. The property managers I know do all their own work so working for them would be unlikely. Gardening contractors are popular in and around Marbella and along the Golden Mile but there are very few vacancies. Most people already will have a gardener and so there will be little opportunity to find a new client.
It takes time to build a client base and if you go solo you will need to be self employed and that means paperwork.
The existing gardeners I know have had their work trimmed back because of the crisis so for example they are expected to do the same work on a garden in one day a week that used to take two and of course that means half the salary. Like most jobs here you are the whim of your clients and that leaves a lot of uncertainty in your life.
Its not impossible but you need to come and gauge the possibilities.

Thanks for that excellent feedback Chris, much appreciated.

When It looked like I might be going away for a while, I asked a local handyman about watering our garden and general upkeep. He was asking for 40E a month (probably for about 8hrs a month)

Thanks Maybe1day.

That is some quality information.

I guess I should also add that we regularly get fliers in our mailbox offering everything;- cheap garden/pool mantenance, house painting, locksmiths, mediums and even African gurus/voodoo doers..................

Im beginning to get the impression this is a saturated market.

We are planning on coming out for a two week break/fact finding trip in May with the view to finding a property for a long term rent (6/12months) in an area we like and hopefully where we can make a go of things.

Try Grass Europa near Alhaurin el Grande. They are on the internet.

Thanks for that suggestion, very useful