Builder or us?

[Kate]

Can anyone tell us whether there are restrictions on 'do it yourself' enthusiasts to renorvate the majority of a an old property or must we have a qualified builders for certain tasks.

Chris and Kate.

[Brian_e]

Hi Kate,
As I understand it, in the majority the same applies in France as in the UK, provided you break no laws, you do what you wish within your own property. What laws I hear you ask? Broadly speaking, electricity and re-wiring must comply with French regulations, there are lots of threads on this in the renovation section, wire colours, NO ring mains, wire size and all properly done, all are important. Structural issues also are significant, if you don't know how to work out stresses and strains, unless you go for obvious overkill, get a professional to do the calculations, you can certainly do the work if you are able. As in the UK a great deal goes on whether you are a "competent" person. Largely that means if you are professionally qualified, you are competent, however, not exclusively. It would only be questioned if there was an accident and a court was susequently involved, then it would be up to you to show what precautions, calculations and safeguards you had taken. It is worth noting that if EDF come to connect up a new property, they will expect to see a certificate from the installer, and will not connect up unless they are happy that everthing is OK, generally, lots of headshaking, tut tutting, (in French, of course!) ending with an order to rip everthing out and get a French artisan to wire it up. If you have already had a supply there however, this should not be a problem, even if you've added to, or replaced some of the wiring. You don't say whether you are also going to be involved with main gas supplies. The same type of restrictions will apply here. They have building regulations as we in the uk do.
This is only an outline of course, if you need anything in more detail, please email me withspecifics and I'll do my best to answer.

[Mjc]

One thing to bear in mind. If you buy materials yourself, you will be charged VAT at 19.6%. However, if you have work done by a registered artisan, and the house (as yours obviously is) is more than 2 years old, VAT will be only 5.5%. This is a temporary concession, the final date not yet being finally announced - I believe.
This concession applies to any "improvement" to the property, including, for example, the laying of a fitted carpet when both the carpet and the labour will be at 5.5%.
There are also (temporarily)some substantial income tax savings to be made against the artisans bills for improving an older house, so you can winnboth ways. Do your costings before you decide.
Good luck.