Recommendations for builder in Charente

[kristiny]

I'm looking for recommendations from people who have renovated their traditional French stone house in the Charente area. The scope of the work includes:

Structural: beams and installing door in thick stone wall

Insulate and replace ceiling

One new bathroom

Gut and redo kitchen

Install new windows and skylights

French is fine, have to be registered. Any help greatly appreciated!

[alittlebitfrench]

Apart from the British jack of all trades master of none types working in France....'builders' don't really exist I am afraid.

From what you have written, you need a...

- Maçon

- Menuiserie

- Couvreur

- Plombier

- Electricien

- Cuisiniste

......and just hope they all get along.

Welcome to the joys of renovation in France.

[kristiny]

Thanks!

[woolybanana]

cuisiniste - waste of time

[kristiny]

Any specific trades recommendations would be great. Already got ripped off redoing roof (finally came back and redid it 7 years later. )

[alittlebitfrench]

I personally would not trust recommendations from a forum.

You have two options. One, flip through 'pages jaune' and find yourself a plombier/electricien , i.e. one that does both plumbing and electricity. Get a number of quotes from people for the work you need doing and try and pick one that is under the age of 30. That is really important. The best guys (or girls) are the young ones who work alone. Older people, forget it.

Also, he/she will will know people/work with people who do roofs, ceilings, doors and tiling etc so they will help you find other tradesmen. But given your work, you need to start with a plumber/electricien and go from there.

Your other option is to find and interior design architect (again 'pages jaune') and let them manage the renovation. They will work with different tradesmen. That is actually the best option if you don't know what you are doing but it will add 8k-10k euros to your renovation budget.

Avoid, the British builder types. It will all end in tears. Whilst they might be cheaper and 'perhaps' know what they are doing, the chances are they will go back to the UK leaving you with no guarantee.

[minnie]

Why don't you just talk to your neighbours...this is what we did. We then had the macon locally and he sorted out his team. All macons have preferred plumbers, decorators etc and they can deal with it. The French locals like being asked for recommendations. If you wish you can then ask the macon if he could let you see an example of some work done. Simples.

[Chancer]

D.I.Y.O.D.D.I.A.A. [;-)]

[EuroTrash]

I would do as Minnie suggests, ask your neighbours, ask your mayor if you know him/her, local knowledge is a great thing. Each district tends to have its little nucleus of "go-to" tradesmen that everybody uses and they're less likely to rip you off than an artisan from the other side of Charente for fear that word would get around and they would lose their customers.

Chancer's advice is sound, but not everybody can.

[alittlebitfrench]

I'm not so sure about asking the neighbours. It can work, or it can turn out very badly.

I would stick to my advice, get a tradesmen in that is young. Like in their twenties. They will do a good job.

If you go for the older types, they will be expensive, angry, pîssed by lunchtime and bore you to death about their life.

[EuroTrash]

When I had my windows replaced a couple of years ago I consciously decided to support a young chap, probably late 20s/early 30s, who had recently set up a new business close to me. He does doors and windows and kitchens etc and he also has a shop where his wife sells home furnishings - quite an ambitious set up and I thought it would be nice to support him even though his quote was marginally higher than the established company I would otherwise have used. Can't fault his work, he did a good job, but a year or so later when I asked both him and the other chap to quote for another job the young one's quote was massively over the odds, and with the best will in the world I couldn't have justified choosing him again. Then their shop started being closed all week and only opening on Saturdays, and now they're in the process of liquidating their stock prior to closing down. Seems not to have worked out for them, which is a real shame. But business is business and I hope my windows don't develop a problem, otherwise I'll end up wishing I'd used the established firm which is still going strong. I agree young artisans do good work but I'm not sure how many 20 year olds have the mature business head necessary to ensure they will still be there if you need them to come back in 5 years time.

[kristiny]

Thanks - checking all sources and I agree here probably not best place!