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Roof Repair/Replacement Estimates


Scott50
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It appears we will need to replace our roof sooner rather than later.  I intend to get at least three bids and vet contractors before selecting one.  It would be helpful to have my own estimate of the cost prior to requesting bids.  Wondering if anyone out there can point me towards a French estimating reference for common construction/renovation tasks?  Scott
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Hi Scott,

I can't help you with a specific refrence, but we had our roof done recently and it was 12,000 euros TTC to replace asbestos tiles with slate, and also to replace most of the wood except for the main beams. I don't know the surface area, but the house is 12m x 6m, with about a 45 degree pitch, and no roof windows or other complicated bits. We are in Brittany, so I don't know how the prices compare with other depts.
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Hi - just looking into the same problem. Try http://www.francethisway.com/renovation/roofs.php

We have just had an estimate for a roof repair (using existing tiles and not including woodwork) of 14,000 euros!!! This is on a small 2 bed cottage.
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[IMG]http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q103/cooperlola/gallatieres508.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q103/cooperlola/Gallatieres12.jpg[/IMG]

45k with the chien assis (new), all the roof timbers plus the terrace supports, new tiles to rear and old re-used in front, guttering, replacement of two timber walls of the garage (rhs), removal of all rubbish etc.  Five years ago.

Get saving![:-))]

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Nice looking roof but ouch!

I have a good friend that owns his own roofing company here in the UK.  What would be the implications of me hiring him to carry out repairs on our French house?  Is there any reason British contractors can't work in France what with the free movement of goods and labour?  Obviously he would have to be insured but other than that, he would be paying his taxes in the UK.

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[quote user="crossy67"]but ouch!

[/quote]Quite.  And then I looked at the five other estimates which were at least 10k more....

There's lots on here about using labour from eslewhere in the EU and indeed the insurance is the issue.  In spite of the free movement principal, everything is done to make it difficult to employ workers and companies from abroad (I will leave it to you to decide if this promotes local traders or stifles competition!) One of the major problems is healthcare, since an EHIC is not valid and thus costs for insurance would be high.  Nick Trollope used to be one of the best authorites on this subject but we don't see much of him these days[:(].

The heavy cost of running a French business certainly means that things like this cost a packet here but, afaik, any workers from elsewhere will be subject to the same kinds of costs and this makes bringing in "mates" a lot less appealing than it may first appear.

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[quote user="cooperlola"] ...... Work carried out in France is taxed in France, not the UK, thus he'd have to declare here, possibly through either a factor or by setting up a subsidiary company here......  [/quote]

Coops, in practice you may be right about the type of difficulties, including needing and getting insurance, but in principle the Tax Treaty between the UK and France says that a UK builder working short-term in France need not pay tax in France.

What the treaty says (and some of this is a paraphrase, but you wouldn't thank me for the exact words) is that a UK business that carries on work in France will only pay tax in France if it has what the treaty calls a "Permanent Establishment" in France. And a permanent establishment is defined quite closely - it includes obvious things like a branch, an office, or a factory - but it only includes a building site if it lasts longer than twelve months.

The basic principle is that UK businesses pay tax in the UK. It's modified when the UK business carries out some activities in France, but what the treaty is trying to avoid is the situation where trivial activities carried out abroad by a business in one country are subject to tax in the other country. Hence the twelve month rule for building sites. And the treaty is probably serious about this: the UK's treaties with other countries sometimes specify shorter periods (and very occasionally longer ones). This aspect of the tax rules is actively negotiated when the treaties are renewed, and the UK-France treaty is one of the new ones.

I have no idea whether France would ask the builder to declare the income and then formally claim exemption from the tax under the treaty. But I wouldn't be surprised if this was necessary, and again it would make it all the more difficult in practice to get the exemption. Having said that, if the builder pays tax in France when under the terms of the treaty he doesn't have to, he would still have to declare and pay tax on the same income in the UK, and in such circumstances he won't be entitled to a credit against his UK tax for the tax he has ("unnecessarily") paid in France.

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Can'o'worms lol.

Thanks for the replies Coops & Araucaria, could be worth looking into the Tax Treaty then.

 

Most of my friends are either builders, plumbers, electricians, roofers or associated with the building trade in one way or another, just seems to be me that hasn't stuck there after briefly falling into it.  I would do the roof repairs my self if it were not for there no being any land round the building.  I am not trying to avoid employing local, I would much rather if possible but I have a budget to work within.  Wait and see what our quotes come in at I suppose.

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Thanks to all who responded. Thread seems to have taken a bit of a left turn, but interesting nonetheless. we were just at the house and noticed our neighbors are having a partial replacement done exactly as we's planned--repair framing as necessary and new nested tiles. We'll need to have them over for an Apéro and try to get a square meter price out of them.

As to the question of free flow of labor within the EU, I work for a German construction firm. We do not work in France only because our Frtench parent--VINCI--won't allow it, but we do work elsewhere in the EU. I can tell you that legally firms can work in other countries, but some make it more challenging than others--Spain and Italy are probably the most challemging.

Again, thanks.
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We had our roof replaced last year, a local french firm, and they quoted 150€ per day for each worker, 3 of them, and the same for the hiring of the manitou, which they arranged.

We bought in all the materials - husband had to keep dashing off to the woodyard. So that is to add on.

We were lucky with the weather and it was finished in 5 days. But it's a smaller roof than Coops' - about the same as  her house alone, without the curve and the dormers.

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