Too old for DIY

[Hotrodder]

Have you paid these two chaps for the unfinished work?

Happily no. I don't play that game. I paid promptly for the work that was completed. Happy with the results and was looking forward to the rest. The beauty of hiring Expats is it is so much easier to communicate what is wanted so there is no misunderstanding. Baffled why I am being ignored ever since. I have heard it said that around here the only way to see a French artisan is to marry into his family.

[Blaze]

@Hotrodder Do you live in an area with lots of expats ?

[Hotrodder]

Much of Brittany was like a magnet for Brits looking for a second home (or a project) seeing property was dirt cheap but unaware that it wasn't a get rich quick scheme like it is in UK. I live about 15 minutes from a small town that was once full of UK reg. number plates. Houses nearer to the coast were mostly bought by the Dutch and Germans. Brits whose pockets weren't so deep ventured into the darkest recesses of Central 22 where old houses with land were going for the price of a secondhand Ford Escort. Most went back to blighty with their tails between their legs having found it too difficult to make any sort of living here with their big plans of living on the income from a gite or two. Many that stayed learned to live on their P&O qualifications once they found how difficult it is finding (and affording) French trades.

[Blaze]

Many Brits bought properties in la France profonde without doing any sort of research first, such as checking the infrastructure, for example, the availability of good medical services and artisans. And, I suspect, most would not have any knowledge of French. On a similar note, I remember 20 to 30 years ago, loads of horsey Brits bought in areas like the Limousin then bemoaned the fact that there was a lack of farriers and other horsey facilities. Hardly surprising really because at that time, the Limousin was an area known for its beef, certainly not its horses !

[MAD87]

@Blaze I suspect there's still a lack of farriers here. I knew one (I did his translations), a very nice young man, who reckoned he was the only one in the region.

[Blaze]

@MAD87 Most people with horses will look for areas with good grazing. Normandy and Mayenne have the ideal conditions - you only have to look at the number of equestrian establishments and stud farms but very big bucks ..... The Limousin was understandably attractive in terms of grazing and price. But it's also understandable that there would be a dearth of farriers - cattle don't wear shoes

[Polarengineer]

@MAD87 Most people with horses will look for areas with good grazing. Normandy and Mayenne have the ideal conditions - you only have to look at the number of equestrian establishments and stud farms but very big bucks ..... The Limousin was understandably attractive in terms of grazing and price. But it's also understandable that there would be a dearth of farriers - cattle don't wear shoes

Sorry to correct you, but you can still find iron shoes that were fitted to oxen when oxen were the work animal of the farm. I even found one in my garden. They often appear at vide-greniers.

[Polly]

We’re both unable now to do DIY we used to happily carry out. We had no trouble finding people to carry out work we needed doing in France as there were always friends who could recommend locals, such as plumbers to fix water leaks.

Back in Berkshire we’ve used the same people for roof work for about 35 years but finding gardening help very difficult, apart from hedge-cutting. There’s a very useful ‘Green book’ locally, a directory f local workers, which we’ve used a lot for finding decorators etc.

Quite a few jobs around the house have been done by mostly by ‘Hire a Hubby’, a franchise that we find very good if a bit pricey, although my husband still does small jobs - which rather annoys him, as he used to do everything necessary.

Luckily our son who lives nearby does anything small like changing light bulbs and swapping hanging baskets around - both things he did this morning.