suzy2

Sounds optimistic to me for a start-up, you are talking about 30 weeks in all.  You don't say how many people the gites are for, ours are 2 person gites and we get a very different booking profile than places with a pool catering for the family market.  The other thing is the amount of gites in your area offering the same facilities as you.  Why would someone go to your gites and not the one down the road?  You have to think about your unique selling points. In your calcs don't forget that you will have to register as a business if this is your main income, so there are those dreaded cotisations to pay as well. BTW you jump from the frying pan into the fire.   Anyway good luck with your venture!  Suzy

Keith, do check out your builder, make sure he is registered, make sure he has insurance and check references from people who have had similar work done.  I agree 40k sounds like a lot of money for such a small roof, but so does 20k to me, but if all the French are asking 40k and he is the only one asking 20k and he is available immediately, something doesn't add up here.  Make sure you are comparing apples with apples.  There are some dodgy blokes around. Sue

The only people that stay in our gites free are very close family and friends with whom we have stayed in the past couple of years. It is amazing when you live abroad how many friends are just passing by and want to drop in for a night or two or three or...... after having suffered this sudden love and interest from long lost friends in a number of houses in other countries I have become hardened.  Your accommodation is to be rented out not given away, if people want free accommodation we offer them the floor in our living room and that soon sorts most of them out!  What is worse about a lot of these people is that they expect you to take them out everywhere, feed them and entertain them and expect you to enjoy doing the same.  Real friends, we love to see them, these scroungers get struck off the Christmas card list! Sue

Sounds like a good deal to me we paid 55 a ster last year, delivered, cut to 30, not stacked.  Checked out loads of suppliers and that's the going rate here, the French neighbours paid the same so it's not our bad communication skills! Sue

On earlier postings I have seen people make comments about SIRET numbers and they have been able to tell what someone is registered to do by looking at their SIRET number.  Can someone tell me how the number is put together and if part of the SIRET or SIREN can tell me what the registration is for or if it is only the NAF which is significant. Secondly, can anyone tell me which NAFs have to register with which type of "Chambre".  IE I know of a company that offer building work according to their NAF, but they are registered with the CdC.  Confusing.