Helmarion Posted August 2, 2005 Share Posted August 2, 2005 Hi everyone,my husband and i have been in France for 3 years and he is a registered builder but things are not good at the moment no work and i need some advice, where do you other builders advertise? we are in Normandy dept 50. Also what happens when work dries up and we still have to pay cotisations is there any help available to self employed artisans? Any help would be most greatful,thankyou Karen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Posted August 2, 2005 Share Posted August 2, 2005 Presumably you are talking about targeting the English speaking market.Living France magazine carries advertisements for builders.You could also leave a handful of cards with local agences immobiliers who sell to English speakers, as they are often asked for builders. If doing this, it would help if you have former satisfied customers who would be prepared to give references. As far as we are concerned, there is still a shortage here of reliable, fairly priced and versatile English-speaking tradesmen who can do jobs at comparatively short notice.Make sure you put your valid Siret number on your ads, cards etc because more people are becoming aware of the risks of employing black market tradesmen and no Siret number shown is often interpreted as no Siret in existence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helmarion Posted August 2, 2005 Author Share Posted August 2, 2005 Thankyou Will for your reply i am in the process of printing off cards and yes we always put on the siret no and can give references from pleased customers i have just put an advert on Artian anglaise who advertise in the French news their adds are only 15 euros so hopefully we will start to pick up work again.Our main problem has been with english customers either being refused planning and it all taking much longer or /and then running out of money there seems to be alot of English returning to the uk in our area not able to make a living, anyone thinking it's easy to make a living in France beware ..... you still have to pay your cotisations even if you are not earning a penny or does anyone know any different?Again thank's for the ideas Will, anyone else have any we would be most welcome,Karen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val_2 Posted August 2, 2005 Share Posted August 2, 2005 Things are quiet on the building front at the moment BOTH here and in the UK (My brother is the site manager of a multi-million pound project and has no end of builders coming in looking for jobs to do as they have not much either). Do you advertise in Pages Jaunes?(about 1000€ for a decent ad) - we get a great deal of work from local people out of it and by word of mouth. Other than that, you MUST inform your accountant times are hard and there is no money coming and also all the people like URSSAF because they work on estimates if you do not inform them they will continue to charge you although you must continue with certain payments like pension,health etc for your own sakes. Your husband could also try looking to work for a local building firm if his french is upto it also, good workers are like goldust here and as the UK, apprenticeships are at an all time low. Never aim just for the brit market, it is disappearing fast and people are not spending money on renovations so much as they were five years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helmarion Posted August 2, 2005 Author Share Posted August 2, 2005 Thank's Val,i will write to Urssaf and hope for a reduction ! You are right about the brit market and we need to widen our horizons,again thanks for your help,Karen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacks Posted August 3, 2005 Share Posted August 3, 2005 You can advertise on www.angloinfo.com, we have found it useful when looking for builders, joiners etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sue702 Posted August 4, 2005 Share Posted August 4, 2005 We can't get builders for love nor money around here (71), maybe you would be prepared to travel? One of my neighbours finally found someone to do her work she booked him in May to come next January! She's not convinced that he will come even then. We'll see.Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted August 4, 2005 Share Posted August 4, 2005 Up to two year wait round here (11) for registered builders and never mind the nationality anyone will do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helmarion Posted August 5, 2005 Author Share Posted August 5, 2005 Thank's to everyone for you advice and Rita for her private message of good luck.Today we have been to sign on at a couple of agencies loads of forms and loads of information needed! Also dropped cards off with estate agents so fingers crossed.If things don't improve then we may have to move to another area it seems very quiet on the building front in Normandy at the momement, after talking to other builders there seem to be the feeling that there isn't the work arround, and it's raining today, you lucky lot in the south!Again thank's again Karen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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