Dave1963

We have had enough of the weather in the UK and have decided to give Spain a go. We are thinking of renting our home in England and renting a property in Spain just to see how things work out. There are just the two of us, kids grown up. Have some savings to keep us going for about a year. I am currently self employed Corgi registered. The area we move to will depend on where there is most work. As I want to continue with my current gas installation work I would like to know if there is anyone there who is doing this sort of work. Can you tell me how hard it was to get registered for working with gas, are the courses in english or spanish, what is the cost etc. Any help would be greatly appreciated to helping us with our descision.

valenciatim

The weather is horrible at the moment!
Renting is the way to go for now.
Corgi registration means nothing here.
If you want to keep working with gas, you will need to be in an area where there is piped gas! The bul of prperties have bottled gas and people do their own installs.
Any courses or qualifications will have to be in Spanish!
Unemployment in Spain is currently at 14% and rising fast. What work there is is being chased by the Spanish. If you were to seek an expat area to settle in and manage to find work, it will need to be signed off by a qualified professional.
Think very, very , very hard before making the leap!

littlelambfound

Hi Dave,
Aptly enough, just had a "gas" guy in to do some work, and as he was working, I was reading this forum!
His feeling was that there is very little work both at the moment and into the future. There are many Spanish qualified people looking for work at the moment. He said that there were pretty specialist exams to be taken....in Spanish. Without these you cannot legally touch anything. And he pointed out the high cost of self employment.
In the end we both concluded that your savings might be better spent on long Winter holidays, as money stress is no fun, whether the sun is shining or not.

debbieandkeith

hi we moved to spain 6 months ago, my husband is self employed in airconditioning which is what he had been doing for 30 years. We did loads of research before we moved over and had been visiting the place we moved to for 5 years, so knew we liked the area. Because my husband speaks very little spanish we knew it had to be somewhere there was alot of expats.
When we first moved over he had loads of work just from speaking to people. This last month there has been nothing so having to spend money on advertisiing which we should of done straight away. As long as you have some money to live on and can get used to a cheaper life style which in some ways i have found quite hard to do, but then it is a challenge to.
I think it is a good idea to rent so at least you dont have a mortgage to find. Sorry cant help with the gas courses, but then you have to remember that most houses dont have gas, they use gas bottles. Good Luck

jdr

Not wanting to put a downer on it, but it will be much worse for you in Spain.
The weather is worse than the UK at the mo, there is not a lot of work about especially if you don`t speak the language, about 1 in 5 are unemployed and that is only counting the legal ones.
You would have to pass plumbing and gaswork tests to be able to sign off your work, they would only be in Spanish.

Rosemary

Totally agree with you. We have been talking to our Spainish friends and they all say that the job front is dire at the moment and they cannot see when it will improve.

Rosemary

spain

yep I agree too, our Spanish friends are considering going abroad to try and find work

CBANDY

I am already making plans to move to the uk if my job goes tits up here. We have been told we are ok for one year at least.

Have a look here to see my situation.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=587834

steviedeluxe

If you've been told your job is safe for at least one year you're certainly better off than most, either in Spain, or in the UK where people are being laid off thousands at a time. Those in work are being sent home for weeks at a time (eg Mini workers in Oxford or Honda workers in Swindon). To be honest I wonder at the motives of the thread starter. Being a Corgi registered engineer must be as close as it gets to guaranteed work (and well-paid at that). If you must have lots of sunshine, do as others say and rent somewhere for extended holidays. You can probably negotiate a good deal at this time too, especially if you're prepared to rent outside the July-Sept peak season.

scampicat

I believe CORGI no longer have the tender for gas fitting in the UK, maybe this is why the OP may feel it is a good time to move.

OP, I think there will be no work for you here in Spain,as most places do not have mains gas and CORGI would not be recognised anyway. Do as others suggest and have extended holidays.

arko

If you had savings that would last into old age, where you wouldn't have to worry about money, then we'd all say DO IT! NOW!

Unfortunately as you say so yourself; you don't. It's pretty hard at the moment and that's putting it mildly. You only have to look at a handful of posts since I first joined to see the situation. Many people are worried and that's just the British!

So, if you have the money, a job to come to, good Spanish skills if you don't have a job and need to find one, and the contacts: come on down. If you don't, think more carefully. Many expats are having to take it day by day, hoping that the situation will at least get a little better.

Whatever you decide, good luck! This is a fantastic country but one long holiday it ain't.

bigglesworth

Arko - great post -thank you.

arko

Thanks Bigglesworth. I just hope people can follow their dreams without it all going wrong. As you've said in previous posts, we are a nation of 'doers', and it's this attitude and outlook on life that has meant we are in many different countries, enjoying many different cultures and adding to the diversity of those areas. However, we need to be aware of the (often painful) reality as well.

SaritaBarcelona

My husband installs aircon and we currently live in Barcelona, wanting to move to Andalucia (lifestyle change, as we have a young son and want to eventually buy a property which will always be impossible here). He is Colombian and I am British (I work as a translator so can work wherever I am). He is sure he would find something in aircon (here there is so much work his company is employing people believe it or not, but he wants to leave for other reasons; you may think we are mad but there are many factors). Are people still having aircon put in /repaired/ maintained? Anyone know anyone who may be good to talk to? We are thinking of Arroyo de la Miel as a place to start, as we want somewhere with lots going on for our little boy, who is about to start school. (I'm going to put this post elsewhere touting for advice as always!)