Richardk

Ahh....so I'm wrong in my thinking on how the UK works...in which case the as you say it seems that both the French, Spanish UK systems (& presumably all EU countries) work the same whereby locally everyone pays VAT whether tax registered or not. It's simply that those who are tax registered can claim the tax element back. Unfortunately I still need to find some official info to state this as I need to it to illustrate to a German s/w company where thy need to make some changes to some billing s/w we're starting to use! Any ideas on references anyone? English, German or French sources are good.

Thanks for that, however, I've already had a look through the site. If someone is aware of an actual web site page / document that would help. It's easy to find generic info on the charging of TVA, however, I've had more trouble regarding the specifics of charging a fellow French registered business.  All help appreciated....!

I'm looking for a link to some offical infornation on how to handle TVA between 2 French (TVA) registered business' based and operating in France. Does anyone have any ideas? I've spent a little time looking around but to no avail so far. I believe that the TVA must be paid at the time of purchase as opposed to simply swapping VAT numbers as 2 UK VAT registered businesses would do for example. This does seem a little strange though when the rest of Europe (to my knowledge) operates as per the UK system. Thanks in advance, Richard

Qillan  -  can I ask what size berth you have? We've just taken a berth in Spain but would prefer to be in France due to it being closer (obviously...). We need a 10m berth which in our experience are very hard to come by without purchasing a lease. If you're in a 10m berth I think we'll be talking to Gruissan very soon! Richard

Sounds like you're after somewhere really...really quiet to do some 'quiet' illegal landings! Good luck!

I'm looking to source an external metal staircase for a house located at 1,600 metres, hence potentially lots of snow and ice in winter. As such I'm looking for the type that look as though they'd take your skin off if you scraped yourself on them! Does anyone have any ideas of who makes this sort of thing and even better, where I could source it? I'm looking for either a company who trades online (or at least has a decent web site), or who is situated in the Languedoc area (specifically we're in 66). Thanks, Richard

Nick  -  take a look at the many free CMS (Content Management Systems) out there. Joomla is a great place to start. If you happy going with on of the thousands of off the shelf free templates and if you needs are simply you'll be able to get something up and running yourself fairly easily. WordPress is another (simple) option. Regards, Richard

Big Mac is rocking along here now! Like the sleeper option. I've done a little work on that and had asusmed I'd have to have at least two tiers. I noticed one of your pics incorporated two tiers but in effect on butting up to the other hence using as little overall space as possible. Like it. I was thinking more along the lines of vertical sleepers / lengths of wood cemented into the ground with a suitable backwards inclination (6 / 10 degrees)and then horizontal sleepers laid infront and attached to the verticals behind them. The reality is is probably wouldn't be old sleepers, rather new but treated wood from Point P who are just down the road. Right now, decking, gabions or 'sleepers' are on the shortlist.

Love the decking idea....hadn't thought of that at all! The Gabions are an interesting one an by co-incidence I emailed a couple of UK suppliers about it a few hours ago. I also don't find them ugly. I got a quote in today from a local building company to build a rock wall using those boulders which are so big you nead heavy machinerary to move them....17,500 euros they wanted... Has anyone any experience of using the gabions? Keep the ideas coming....we're on a roll!

It's not so much renovations, as sorting out a wall in the garden. Our house is on a 'terraced' hill side, not very steep but still requiring some attention. The bottom of our garden has a natural rough bank dropping down c. 5 metres to the field below. We'd like to have some sort of retaining wall built to reclaim the land lost to the bank (the garden isn't big anyhow) and provide better boundary definition. Length wise its 15 metres in a straight line by the 5 metres high mentioned above. We're not capable of building this ourselves and are a little apprehensive of the sort of costs we'd be looking at for this sort of project. Before we (potentially) waste local builders' time as well as our own can people share their knowledge of potential solutions as well as some sort of indication of the potential cost. Location wise is in Les Angles, which is a ski resort village in the Pyreneese (66). Many thanks, Richard

Nearly 2 years on, and the time has come to finish the project that the previous owner began. Whilst we have a working swimming pool, just about everything else needs doing. The focus right now is on how to 'finish' the pool house which is of a breeze block construction, as follows: The question is how to finish it off and what preparation would need to be done? I've read some great ideas on here in the past, hence rather steer people in a particular direction, I'd prefer to open it up to your (practical...) creativity and see what people suggest! Thanks, Richard Link repaired by a mod

Really I wouldn't be put off by there already being lots of other companies already doing it. If you consider that from a different aspect, it means there is definately a need for that type of business. I'd be more worried if there wasn't anyone doing it! The next part though is whether you can do it better / attract the customers etc.. And really, that's down to your skill base now, how you can augment it before commencing and the research you do to help you decide how to approach such a new business. It's possible, it won't be easy, it probably won't be much fun at times but if you achieve your goal it'll be extremely satisfying! Good luck.

What it's acutally for is to raise the level of what will be a terrace by c.3.5cm to match in with an adjoining established terrace. Currently I have a solid, sound area of concrete. Subsequently it will be tiled.

We need to 'fill' a void of c. 3.5cm in height which currently has a concrete base. Upon looking round at forum posts relating to screed thickness people always say minimum 5cm. Further conversations and reading has 'led me to believe that there are two types of screed jobs  -  bonded and unbonded. Whilst the latter should have 5cm's or so, the former can I believe be much less - even just a couple of cm's for example. Can anyone verify this?

I'd appreciate any informed input people can make to this. We're in the process of getting quotes in for the following: 115 sq metres of poolside to have a screed laid (4cm) and then tiled. The surface on which the screed will go is concrete which is already in place. workman to provide everything except tiles which we will sourceAny ideas on what sort of cost we're looking at here? So too, should we expect to work on a per square metre rate for tiling as you might expect if getting a bathroom done, or should we benefit from economies of scale here? Thanks, Richard