Lewc

[quote user="Nick Trollope"] Do a search on the forum on how to work legally, but here is my tuppenceworth; a) Plenty of call for good capernters in France (plenty of call for good artisans of all flavours in fact). BUT, I reckon that the Brit market is shrinking (less people buying, more projects getting finished) so unless your French is good, then you will struggle - especially when you are setting up. I don't reckon my French is bad, but I struggle to communicate at a "technical" level with a lay (French) person and as a consequence, only 20% of my work is for the French - disprorportionately low. b)  B&B's and Gites, unless you are exceptional (and established) is an inconvenient means to lose vast quantities of money.   [/quote] thanks everyone for your advice.  Nick, is the other 80% of your work with british expats then? 

Hi there I am new to this site so I apologise in advance if I am asking the same questions as others! My boyfriend and I are thinking of moving to South West France around this time next year. We are both currently learning french (as best we can!), so hopefully by the time we come out we will have the basics and can build on it from there. My boyfriend is a carpenter and I work in interior design and project management of domestic refurbishments. Do you think we would struggle to get work, or is this something which is in demand? Another option for myself is to run B&B/gite business. Also, what processes do we have to go through in order to work legally here? Any advice would be welcome! Thanks.