Need to earn £3K to £4K. Will villa maintenance do it? Your opinions please.
 

Hi Everyone :)

We are looking at living somewhere inland (but not too far) to benefit from a cheaper cost of living and a nice peaceful lifestyle. Not looked at anywhere in particular, but open to suggestions as to where might suit our needs.

Having read some recent posts on the cost of living we have estimated that we need to generate between £3K and £4K per annum to have a reasonable lifestyle in Spain.

We were considering looking after about half a dozen villas/apartments for UK based owners. The usual things like cleaning, tidying the gardens, etc etc. We would like to do it on a small scale so we can offer a good personal service for each client.

I do not know what the established villa maintenance companies are charging for this service, but I was wondering if anyone can tell me whether the amount of properties I am considering is likely to generate the level of income we require? Are we being realistic?

If not, has anyone else any suggestions? We want to wind down a bit and do not really want to work full time.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Cheers

Graham & Pauline :beer:

Re: Need to earn £3K to £4K. Will villa maintenance do it? Your opinions please.
 

As I mentioned somewhere else on here, I pay EUR 40 for a changeover which includes cleaning the place over and washing all the used linen and making up the beds etc. If theres no one in the place then I pay 8 EUR per week for them to go up and check the place over, flush the loo's etc etc.

Your biggest problem will be getting your name around. I'm with the person I use because I asked around locally for recommendations. You can try putting your name in one of the brit papers like Codsta Blanca News.

The further inland you go in general the more difficult properties will be to rent out, therefore the less your revenue is likely to be. To generate £3-4K from villa maintenance I guess you're going to have to get quite a few people on your books who are letting their properties regularly. If you learn to clean pools you can probably get EUR50-60 per month extra as they need constant maintenance throughout the year.

Good luck

Re: Need to earn £3K to £4K. Will villa maintenance do it? Your opinions please.
 

Gotta ask, must be me but why do you need to have the loo flushed regularly :scared: , I mean if there's no one there :confused:
With regards to the actual thread, can we assume you have a separate income and that you just want to top it up? so you need 5 change-overs per month at 50euros per c/over, hard pushed I'd say as you need more in peak time to make up for the low time. why not look at being a caretaker or similar, must be loads needed with all the golf property/complexes being built, easy work if you can get it. also do you speak spanish or maybe German as this would give you a wider audience.

Re: Need to earn £3K to £4K. Will villa maintenance do it? Your opinions please.
 

Hi

Luckily we do have a separate income we can bring to Spain. I am estimating that we will need about £12K to £14K to live reasonably comfortably (family of 3 with no, or little mortgage). Is this assumption reasonable?

As for your suggestions I had not considered a caretaker type role, that is certainly one to consider. Years ago my Spanish was reasonably good, but I have now forgotten most of it, but would hope that when we move it will improve again.

Regards

Graham

Re: Need to earn £3K to £4K. Will villa maintenance do it? Your opinions please.
 

Ahhhh well without going into too much detail we are not on mains sewerage. We have an underground bacterial tank at the bottom of the garden which basically digests itself. It needs to be disturbed regularly, hence regular flushing. If its looked after it doesn't need emptying very often. If it "dies" it has to be emptied. Sounds strange I know ..... we have to be careful what chemicals we put down the loo / down the sink incase we tip the balance down there

I'd say that was a reasonable assumption, of course always dependent on the area you live in.

Re: Need to earn £3K to £4K. Will villa maintenance do it? Your opinions please.
 

Thanks, you have just confirmed what we thought

Re: Need to earn £3K to £4K. Will villa maintenance do it? Your opinions please.
 

If you were on mains sewerage, you'd still want to flush it a few times during the year and add some bleach to the bowl to ensure it that it doesn't dry out and to stop any sewer dwellers making their way up the pipes and invading your house.

I'm talking primarily about cockroaches, of course. Need to keep those sink, bath, bidet and shower plugs in, overflows taped and toilet bowls loaded to keep them out.

Re: Need to earn £3K to £4K. Will villa maintenance do it? Your opinions please.
 

Always check the loo basin when going to the loo if you've been away for a while :D

Re: Need to earn £3K to £4K. Will villa maintenance do it? Your opinions please.
 

Don't forget to add your 2-3k€ a year autonomo fees to your budget

Re: Need to earn £3K to £4K. Will villa maintenance do it? Your opinions please.
 

Hi

Is this the fee for being self employed? If so, how does it work. There would be no point in earning 3k euros to pay a fee of the same amount, that would be working for nothing.

Have I got the wrong end of the stick?

Graham

Re: Need to earn £3K to £4K. Will villa maintenance do it? Your opinions please.
 

That is exactly the case. Depending on what your business is registered as determines how much you pay, but I pay 2496€ a year as a caretaker. This registers you as self employed and gives you all the rights you would expect, national health, pension (15 years contributions before you get a bean !!!) etc etc.
If you are not self employed and doing it 'cash in hand' not only do you risk being found out but are entitled to nothing. National Health for example would only be available if you are signing on or register yourself as an out of work immigrant with social services. The e111 from gives you access to the national health system but not if you live here permanently.
A good solicitor or someone who specializes in relocation services would be able to give more concise information, but the above is just how I found it.

Re: Need to earn £3K to £4K. Will villa maintenance do it? Your opinions please.
 

I believe there is a lower contribution rate for "gardeners" and such. If memory serves (my Spanish tax collector cousin in law told me this), it's around 80 something Euros a month. Obviously the detail needs to be looked into.

Re: Need to earn £3K to £4K. Will villa maintenance do it? Your opinions please.
 

Hi

Is caretaking something I should consider to generate the income I require?

Thanks

Graham

Re: Need to earn £3K to £4K. Will villa maintenance do it? Your opinions please.
 

do you really think that you are going to get a job as a caretaker on a golf course if you are english and "fresh over the water" ?? think again :(

Re: Need to earn £3K to £4K. Will villa maintenance do it? Your opinions please.
 

Who said anything about a golf course? I was thinking of caretaking in general, not just golf courses as kindly advised by a previous poster. I am open minded and will consider any sensible suggestions from all of you good people who know Spain a lot better than I do, as to what is a good work opportunity or not You may think I am naive, but the reason I am asking these questions now is because I do not want to find out the hard way when we arrive in Spain. I do intend to think, and think again, before I make any decisions that will affect my family's future!

This is why I am asking questions no matter how silly you may think that they are. For someone who has lived in Spain for a while and knows the ropes, it may seem a daft question to ask, but for anyone still in the UK and thinking of ways to make a living in a foreign country, it is a perfectly acceptable question to ask. :(