Others will be along with more details, but I'd be careful about assuming you can just set up shop doing handyman work. France is famous for its regulations regarding all sorts of "self-employment" and doing kitchen fitting and other sorts of residential repairs may require specific training and/or registrations.

The other big issue will be "how's your French?" It can be very difficult to try to eke out a living based solely on business with the English speaking expat community.
Cheers,
Bev

 

Agree with Bev.

From my experience there is not a big market for the professional handyman in France as there is in the UK. Here people tend to be self sufficient, or use friends/family , or use the qualified professionals who guarantee their work etc.

Two aspects of French. Yes you must be capable of carrying out a basic conversation in French. Second, if you do not already know French plumbing. electrical wiring, doors all tend to be diffent from the UK. Tools also. If you are serious buy a French book on bricolage, perhaps

https://www.amazon.fr/Grand-guide-b.../2212142706/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1523857474&sr=1-1&keywords=bricolage

....you may be surprised!

My French wife has just become an "autopreneuse" and I was shocked by the amount of paperwork that had to be submitted. Welcome to France!
DejW

 

... Here people tend to be self sufficient...

Absolutely. Just look at the huge number of "Brico..." stores, home decoration outlets and building supply chains. Ironically, one of the biggest Brico chains, Castorama (which is best to be avoided if you want top quality) is owned by an English company, Kingfisher.

It is not at all unusual to find a husband and wife together on a saturday buying plumbing, carpentry or electrical supplies.

Also, there are a number of kitchen centers that sell complete kitchens from bare bones to totally over the top, including complete installation.

My guess is a competent person could pick top a few Euros doing odd jobs, like fitting a screen door or fixing a leaky faucet. But, I would think it would not be easy to make a living doing such. Which might explain why there seem to to be so few handyman type services advertised.

On the other hand... qualified, licensed, trades people, plumbers, electricians, especially masons, etc., seem to keep pretty busy.

 

To register you will need to prove that you are "qualified" to do what you want to do eg City and Guilds/running a business for several years You will then need to go on a course in French re law and accounting but I believe an online version in different languages is being developed and you will need to get insurance to cover your work for 10 years and then you will need to be paying contributions and tax into France which can be very high Therefore having a working level of French is essential especially as you will need French customers as and I hate to say this most Brit expats want something doing for next to nothing However I am sure your quality of life will be better here

 

I believe it's possible to set up to do 'odd jobs' that don't require qualifications and at least here it is now hard to find a 'bricoleur' to do those little things - I know a number of older French women here in Pau who are having trouble finding suitable services as the people they previously used have recently retired. Not everyone has family or friends nearby to do this stuff. However I have no idea whether you would be able to make a living out of such work. Kitchen fitting is perhaps possible as long as qualified tradesmen handle plumbing and electricals. Suggest you talk to the local CCI (Chambre de commerce et d'industrie), in Bergerac - details here https://demarchesadministratives.fr/cci-commerce-industrie/eymet-24500

 

Handyman work, including kitchen fitting, bathrooms and general maintenance

As others have said, I think you need to carefully read up on how tradesmen operate in France (which, again as said, means either having good enough French language skills so you can understand the official websites, or be at the mercy of what other people tell you when you arrive, which might be right or might be wrong).

The main point here is that you decide what exactly activities you are going to do and you register for that/those specific activity code(s). You can't do any work other than the activities you have registered for. The system isn't designed to let you be a jack of all trades.

Handyman work very definitely does not include kitchen fitting and bathrooms. If you register as a handyman you're very limited what you can do. As I recall the rule is that you are restricted to small jobs that take no longer than one hour to complete and require no specific skills. I don't think you could fit a kitchen or a bathroom in one hour.

If you want to take on bigger jobs, you need to prove your qualifications/experience and take out the appropriate insurances. What insurance is needed, will depend on your activities. Most folk specialise in one activity so that they only need to pay for one lot of insurance - registering for 3 or 4 trades would likely mean paying out several thousand € per year in insurance before you earn a cent, makes no sense for a one man band on the simplified micro regime where you can't offset expenses and overheads.

Hopefully you have other strings to your bows because I'm not sure how realistic it is to hope to support a family of 4 by doing odd jobs for the expat community in Eymet. I suspect there are already plenty of Brits trying to scratch a living doing exactly that.

As to what it's like living in Eymet - well it's a a marmite place isn't it. People sometimes refer to it as Little England, and either you love being surrounded by other Brits or you hate it.

 

If there are as many expats in Eymet as people say, maybe you could open a poundshop?

And then open a B&B on the side. Because once your wife/girlfriend/mistress enters aforementioned establishment, the husband/boyfriend/toyboy will need to book a room for the night while he waits for her to emerge blinking into the daylight carrying bags of unknown cleaning items, which you will have to carry home.

 

If this all sounds too difficult and you then think of changing the country to Spain, Be aware, it is about the same here although, you might get away with it for a while but, eventually, the tax people will catch up with you and will require that you are registered as "autonomo" and require that you pay for Social Security (260€ per month, irrespective of whether you earn 1€ or 1,000€.) We get lots of Brits arrive here as electrician, plumbers, roofers, tilers, etc. having qualified at the university of Ryanair on the way over and they generally leave tears in eyes of ripped-off customers either because of incompetent work of disappearing with several thousands of Euros paid as a deposit 'for materials.'

 

Thanks all for your points of view and Intel. I do have a few strings to my bow, (more of a harp than a bow), but I can always fall back on my chiseled looks and glowing charisma. I will find some work, I am not too proud. We are just after a better way of life, in a warmer climate and not so 'rat racy'.

 

Well you have a great sense of humour so that will stand you in good stead
But please don't be under the illusion that there is no rat race in France, or that it's easy to find work just as long as you're not too proud. Unemployment is currently around 8.6% nationally which is more than double the UK's 4.2%, and Eymet is not an economically thriving town. The latest figures for Eymet put local unemployment at 15.8% in 2014 which was above average at that time
https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/1405599?geo=COM-24167
and also show average household income as being low, with only 44% of households earning enough to pay any income tax. Chiseled looks and glowing charisma are valuable qualities, but I'm not sure how much money there is washing around in Eymet to show due appreciation and take it from me, looking at an empty bank account and bills to be paid, takes the shine off the good life. Overall France isn't a cheap place to live.
Only you know what other strings you have, but with kids in tow it would be very unwise to move basically in the hopes that something will turn up when you get here. Healthcare is absolutely essential if you have kids and it isn't "free" here as it is under the NHS. You also need to plan ahead and ensure you are ticking the boxes so that the family will be allowed to stay after Brexit. Living under the radar with an income below the threshold for legal residency isn't going to remain an option indefinitely, and Brits who have been living here outside of the system for years and who know they won't qualify for a carte de séjour when the time comes because they don't have sufficient income, seem to be already starting to head back to the UK.

You sound resourceful and I'm sure you can do it but you need to plan properly and do it right, because coming here unprepared can end badly, as too many Brits have discovered to their cost.

 

To Roubous who started this thread...don't be discouraged.....there are always ways!

Here's a few ideas

1 Get your conversational French up to a reasonable level...essential if you want to get established.

2. Think about contacting kitchen/bathroom fitters and offer to work for nothing - just to learn the ropes. I've no idea if this is legally possible, or the fitters will want to play ball. From my limited experience the big kitchen/ bathroom people (Schmitd for examle), use local independent fitters to do the work. They are often one man bands because employing people in France is a major distraction from the real work.

3. If you have any qualification (C&G etc) then look at how to get them translated into the French equivalents. Unlike the UK, France values certificates at 99%, experience at 1%.

4. Be prepared to network in bars and weekday restaurants with white vans outside at lunchtime. It's here that a lot of business is arranged by local small artisans. Clearly you need a little more French than "can I buy you a drink?"

5. When you have moved get business cards printed (not sure what to print, different question!). Offer do odd jobs for local neighbours, the Mairie. Some mairies have support programmes for the sick and elderly. Even if you did not charge for this charity work it will get you known.???, Just put yourself about. Don't expect quick results, might it might work.

Good luck!

DejW

 

How about hanging around at Bricolage or places where kitchen units, or similar are sold and pitch for assembling/installing?

 

I know nothing about the Dordogne, but up here in Brittany there are a smattering of brits - the greater concentration being inland rather south of where I am - who are tradespeople. I recently had one do some heavy work/landscaping in my "garden", really a small field in the back of my house. I needed an old block wall removed, big stones moved, old fridges and god knows what old metal removed from hedge down the far end, general smoothing, gravel collected and spread. The price was reasonable and I am happy with the work. He is registered. Having sold his landscaping business in the UK he came over with his family 3 years ago. He brought his mini diggers, other landscaping equipment, trailers etc. He is not short of work. Its the mini diggers that swing a lot of it and people who want patios. His French is not bad.

 

Key take-aways...

...He is registered... ...He brought his [equipment]... ...His French is not bad.

 

Berkinny...very perceptive comment re French, equipment and registration.

Re the discussion re Baldi (go for it!) and EuroT (must follow the rules) I think both a correct. Yes, you need to put your self about in many ways in order to get work. If you are well received then your name will spread and you will get more work.....but don't expect overnight miracles. And yes, EuroT, once you start you need to enter into the French admin system and ALL that it entails. However, following the admin rules will not get you your first piece of work.

Welcome to France.

DejW

 

However, following the admin rules will not get you your first piece of work.

DejW

That is very true DejW but it is even truer that if you don't follow the admin rules you will never be in a position to even look for (legally) your first piece of work. You can't even (legally) begin to market your services as a self-employed person if you don't have, or haven't started the process for obtaining, a siret number.

If you start work first and then enter the system as an afterthought, you're going to be stuck for the next 6 years with a business papertrail that starts off with invoices and payments that pre-date the official start date of the business, the start date of any obligatory insurances, the setting up of a business bank account, etc, so you have broken about every rule in the book. After 6 years you can chuck the papers away and be done with, but for any kind of inspection eg URSSAF can demand to see accounts going back 6 years. Fair enough if the OP decides to take the risk knowing the implications. But call me a jobsworth or a party pooper if you like (oh you just did!) and I admit I'm very risk-averse, but I don't think we should encourage newbies to start off by bending the rules before they're familiar enough with the French mindset to fully understand the possible consequences of what may to a Brit seem a very trivial detail.

OK I've said my piece, I'll get off my high horse now.

 

Ok folks, net net I think what we're all getting at here is to advise the OP to be sure and have enough savings or other sources of income for at least the first several months while he and his family get the lay of the land here in France for his particular skill set. It may be necessary to work on the language skills (and for that, doing a stint with a local charity like Resto du Coeur or whatever group is in need of assistance wherever he sets up can be invaluable - both for language skills and simply for meeting people).

I don't think anyone is proposing violating the (many) local regulations - certainly not the OP. It's a fact of life that many folks looking to move to France from the UK, US, Australia or other places outside the EU have a tendency not to be aware of all the regulations that affect even fairly "simple" types of work here in France. That may be one of the trickiest things about France for newcomers to get used to.

We have in the past scared off new folks by assuming that they are proposing to fiddle the system when the simple fact is that they don't understand how the social insurances here work. One other factor that newbies don't understand well at first is that your chances at finding either gainful employment or potential customers for a business expand tremendously the more people you know. Word of mouth still holds sway in la belle France.
Cheers,
Bev

 

Methinks...(tell me off if you like) but I think the Op is on a bit of a wind up.

Gut feeling

 

Nah - just virgin.

 

There are 3 problems raised in the original post.

1. level of French language

2. how to set up the legal, financial aspects of a business.

3. how to get business.

For many people no 1 will be a major challenge.

For 2 and 3 the big danger is that you think it's the same as the UK.

nuff said.

DejW

 

There are 3 problems raised in the original post.
1. level of French language
2. how to set up the legal, financial aspects of a business.
3. how to get business.
...

I would add one more common problem, though it is not clear if it is represented in this particular case:
4. A romantic idea that french people and culture are just like home (wherever that might be) and the only difference is the quality of the food and maybe some "quaint" customs.

There is also a corollary to that in the fantasy that the french are super interested in learning about where we came from, what we eat and what we think.