Working as a gardener.

[Milou]

Hello,

If and when we again move to France.

 I have a French partner who will have a wage enough to keep us from poverty.

Myself, I would like to not work in a factory... again...

My question for the honourable members of the panel is....

 Are there actually any French registered landscape/maintainance/arborists who manage to make it beyond 3 years in business?

Can an Anglo-French couple make it viable?

 Any advices welcome.

 

[cooperlola]

I happily do not have to work so would not presume to advise you on the technical ins and outs.  However, I have noticed an increasing number of requests from forum members with "maisons secondaires", asking for people to maintain their gardens, etc.  I can't help thinking that there is an , albeit small, market out there somewhere, for your talents.

[Will]

On the other hand, at least in areas were there are a lot of British second home owners, there are quite a lot of people doing gardening work, including some 'on the black'. I think I recall correctly that it has been posted on the forum before that, by the time a properly registered gardener has paid all the charges and taxes, plus covered costs of equipment, transport etc, in order to earn the equivalent of the SMIC, they would have to charge about 25-30€ per hour. And not many second home owners are willing to pay that much.

If it is only a part time activity, you could look at the cheque d'emploi (CESU) system, but that is not really a lot more attractive to the employer, although it is legal.

[zeb]

Yes, our garden and property maintenance business lasted for over three years, but my partner then registered in his own trade with the Chambre de Metiers and we wound down the garden maintenance (I found it extremely hard work (probably an age thing), garden machinery is expensive to buy and maintain, and during the winter months there is little to do except hedging and vine pruning, so it was not worth carrying on by myself). For a proper business you need all your own equipment - tractor mower, hand mowers, strimmer/brushcutter, hedge cutter, chain saw, van and trailer etc as well as all the hand tools - garden maintenance in France is nothing like garden maintenance in North London!!!

Think hard and do plenty of research in your area. We had a thriving business, mainly second home owners; British, French and Dutch and it was great during the summer and good weather but we had to take on other work for an income during the winter. Weeks of rain can be a real drag.

You could start off working under the cheque d'emploi system and see how it goes. We found it easy to get work but as Will says, you won't be able to charge decent rates for maintenance gardening. How much would you pay a gardener in the UK?

Beware of the MSA (the agricultural organisation who you have to pay your cotisations to - I'd rather work on the black than have anything to do with them ever again - and our accountant won't have anything to do with the MSA either! Sorry to sound bitter and twisted - I cancelled my registration with them last March, but had to pay cotisations for the whole year!!

Good luck.

[Milou]

Hi,

 I have been a busy bee recently so a belated thank you for your replies.

I have researched with our French family alot of informations about working as a paysagiste.

Its a case of working backwards.

How much do we want to earn per hour.

Add social charges and tax.

Allow for: Level of investment

Business costs.

I have to say that Will is quite correct.

 We are looking at 26 euros plus for a basic service with minimal equipements and 36-50 euros for bigger machinery.

We know two French paysagistes who have been in business for many years and have been very helpfull to us recently.

Plenty of  Brits offering gardening at 15euros per hour, but with what equipements and what level of service/work rate?

Howlong can they stay in business charging such a low rate when a mower and car alone take several euros of juice for each client?

Gardeners in the U.K charge £10 for a 'basic service' but don't face 50%social charges.

I shall try to keep in touch.

Thanks

[Hereford]

We pay our gardener using the cheque d'emploi sytem.  We pay him €12 per hour net (his request) and the cotisations dedcucted later from us by URSSAF amount to about €5 per hour (more or less depending on age of employer!).

However this works out cheaper than it looks and so is a selling point for French taxpayers as half the gross amount is dedcuted from you tax bill. The extra cotisations paid include money for insurance.

Our gardener is very happy with this system, but the hours are restricted.  Someone else will know how many are allowed.  Also only "petit jardinage" can be done. This covers most things such as mowing and general maintenance.

H.

[Milou]

Hello,

Thats good to know.

 12 euros an hour in the pocket is very good indeed for gardening.

However, it is you the employer who pays for the investment in materials and running costs such as fuel, mower blades, strimmer line etc....

 Always interested to discuss this subject.

     Milou

[Milou]

Hey!

 Good news is that my French partner has got a job with Brittany Ferries!

This just leaves me to scratch around with the gardening.

 Still making plans here in the U.K for the permanent move to Bretagne.

Always happy to discuss gardening business and life in France.

 Milou

Not the same Milou as on Anglophilia forum...