Nevin81

Is it worth me giving it a go in Spain working as a plumber solar engineer and all round DIY man or are opportunities rare because of the state of the economy

Domino

can you afford to pay out €295 every month for autonomo irrespective of how much money you make out of it ? (and thats from day 1 of registration).

if you read the local free papers on the CDS you will find a large number of already established businesses already doing the same, advertising, and sometimes getting business.

Friend of mine has a very successful electrical and ac business in the UK. Bought a place on CDS without any ac so decided to take a couple of his engineers out for a working holiday. All got cancelled when he found that he could buy ac fitted in Spain for less than he was buy the kit in UK.

Earlier this month Brico were advertising ac splits for under €200 (supply only), others are supplying well known names from €300 or so.

If you have plenty of money in the bank and this is just a hobby to keep your hand in then fine, otherwise stay in the UK

kr

pete_l

Provided you are fluent in Spanish there's no reason you'd be less likely to get work in Spain than any of the 6 million people currently unemployed.
(Just a long way of saying "no" )

snikpoh

Or, if you can find work, are you prepared to work for 6 euros/hour?

Out of that you would have to pay NI, tax etc.

spainrico

You may (I know electricians do) need to be officially registered to carry out legal works and be able to issue the official paper to allow properties to be connected to the mains.

Longlegpete

Yes times are hard in Spain so work is hard to find, if you are in a area with a large expat community you may get by without speaking much Spanish, to be fair if you are prepaired to work hard you may stand a chance, I have all but given up on giving work to expats, most of them I have used seam to think they have moved to Spain for a holiday with a little work so don't turn up on time if at all, rubbish work and high prices, I find Spanish workers much better so tend to use them when ever I can

Domino

forgive my asking but whatever happened to the Op??

chrisjolly

Big question but come and have a look for yourself. All the plumbers I know are busy but they have built up a clientelle over the years. Getting started right now would be very difficult and to pay for your Social Security, rent, car and cost of living would make it almost impossible.

Domino

so wouldn't that mean someone, no matter how good, how stuffed with "Editions" and expensive training would become a second icky just labouring and reliant on the work available from an SP qual'd/certed


I can see another sat tv "expert" coming on

Fred James

For normal plumbing work there is no problem but where the resultant work needs to be signed off on a Botelin then, like electricians, the unregistered plumber gets a registered plumber to inspect and issue the paperwork.

Most plumbing work is fixing problems and replacing items such as pumps and heaters which do not require certification - that's where all our plumbing costs have gone.

HBG

Since half-an-hour ago, I'm now an expert on the subject of Spanish plumbers. I was sitting on my sunny terrace, when to my horror I noticed the familiar signs of raw sewage floating along the lower terrace, right in front of me.

Having locked the dogs indoors, I've phoned one of my Spanish plumbers, I'm on first name terms with at least a dozen of them. Being Sunday tomorrow, he's going to charge me double, these disasters always seem to happen at weekends.

My house is 35 years old, Spanish built, I've owned it for 15 years. Concentrating on the plumbing alone, and only for the last three years or so, the replacement plumbing has cost me thousands of Euros.

Everything that could be replaced, has been replaced, and still shit happens.

I did try English plumbers in the past, but they don't seem to understand the Spanish system (and nor do I). It's different.