Advise Please!!!

[James-s]

Hi everyone. Im after a bit of advice! Any information will be greatly appreciated.
Im considering a move to spain with my partner. Im 31 years old and since leaving school at 16 I have trained and worked as a French Polisher/ antique restorer and furniture sprayer. My question is would my skills be required in Spain!
I have searched the internet trying to find jobs availabe or companies offering these services but cant seem to find much at all.
There are a lot of hotels in Spain with Polished wood inside that someone must be Polishing! Plus im sure lots of people have furniture that needs restoring.
Ideally id like to rent a small work shop but also offer an on site service.
Would I be better in a city or on the Costas?
Have you seen this kind of thing advertised much?

Many thanks for taking the time to read this and any help, hints of tips will be recieved with delight

James

[jojo]

Originally Posted by James-s

Hi everyone. Im after a bit of advice! Any information will be greatly appreciated.
Im considering a move to spain with my partner. Im 31 years old and since leaving school at 16 I have trained and worked as a French Polisher/ antique restorer and furniture sprayer. My question is would my skills be required in Spain!
I have searched the internet trying to find jobs availabe or companies offering these services but cant seem to find much at all.
There are a lot of hotels in Spain with Polished wood inside that someone must be Polishing! Plus im sure lots of people have furniture that needs restoring.
Ideally id like to rent a small work shop but also offer an on site service.
Would I be better in a city or on the Costas?
Have you seen this kind of thing advertised much?

Many thanks for taking the time to read this and any help, hints of tips will be recieved with delight

James

I honestly dont know the answer to this! I can tell you that work is scarce in Spain, I can also tell you that you would need to be fluent in both written and spoken spanish. However with a trade like french polishing, which I assuming is quite specialised, I dont know. I certainly think you should see whats available and what work is likely to be about before you commit to a shop.

Have you googled any furniture makers/restorers in Spain with you CV?? But of course thats where writing Spanish would come in and speaking should you be lucky enough to get an interview. But who knows???

Jo xxx

Jo xx

[Suenneil]

Hi ..... I agree with Jo´s comments, particularly about the specialist nature of your trade/work. You mention that Hotels etc will have a lot of wood that needs polishing ? .... cant say Ive seen too much wood in the hotels here, but lots of marble !!!

I would think that if there are potentially more corporate clients as opposed to individuals wanting your services - then you really do need to be fluent in Spanish - for advertising, quoting, etc etc ... but even with that you are going to have local Spanish competition I think, particularly in such a niche market.

If your Trade is specialist and needs qualification / certificates ? maybe the Chamber of Commerce or its equivalent here in Spain can provide a list of those already offering the service ? you may then see the amount of potential competition - or perhaps contact them all for a job working with them ??

Im not sure if I have helped or hindered!!! mmmmmmmmmmm but good luck you anyway.

[SteveHall]

I am with Sue - wood is relatively expensive here and you will see far more marble.

The Spanish phrase you are looking for is pulimento de la madera or pulimento de madera and if you google or check PaginasAmarillas or QDQ you will see plenty of people who are in the profession. So, I guess that's good news! Whether you could survive just in expatshire I have no idea but I can't see a Spaniard employing you without fluent Spanish or at least references from existing happy customers.

Te deseo mucha suerte

(You have reminded me of the old Yellow Pages TV ad about wood polishers and "Fly-Fishing by J.R.Hartley"!

[jimm1909]

I could see you working in Spain. With all the history and antiquity in Spain your skillset could probably be used.

-jim

[Tallulah]

Jim,

Apart from French polishing wood etc, do you have any craft skills/artesan experience??? See V2Steve's thread - there are a lot of ferias/craft fairs here in Spain - some restoration work of antiques, etc. I'm afraid it doesn't at present bring in a great deal of money - certainly not enough for a living, in my honest opinion. Were you thinking of this as a sideline to something else and what particular area in Spain were you looking at?

As you've probably read - employment's pretty dire here in Spain - contracts are pretty hard to come by and some jobs that are around are on the "black" - however an English couple I know who have moved here and dropped out of society, so to speak, are now restoring an old property to live in with their two young sons. The hubby is a carpenter and travels all over Spain to make money - basically wherever the job is - but recently word of mouth has been getting around and he's getting more and more work as a very talented carpenter....some times a little luck...although it's hard to come by.

kind regards,
Tallulah.x