It’s clear the lintel above our cave door is failing , who do I get to replace it? Do I need a structural engineer or just a builder?
When you say “just a builder”… perhaps we are not on the same wavelength…
The Builders I know locally… build houses etc (or bits of them) … and any of them would get my vote to safely replace the lintel…
I’d certainly want a Registered Builder, ie someone with the 10 year Insurance to cover Work and Products used. … don’t want the house cracking/tumbling… 
not simply a Handyman… very useful, but might not be Insured for such work… ask for the Siret/siren number and ask for Insurance doc to see what it covers.
make enquiries locally… ask neighbours etc
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Thanks , I do always check for SIRET. I did just wonder if there were specialist lintel replacers. Fair to say I know nothing about building.
Often the Mairie will have business cards or info… it’s worth asking their advice…
best of luck
It’s a standard part of the work for any maçon. we’ve had two different sets working on our house in recent months - one a reasonably sized firm and the other an auto-entrepreneur working on his own who mainly does renovation work on old buildings. Both of them are well up to replacing lintels so if you already have experience of one you like, go for it!
Which one always should BUT exactly what is covered by their assurance professionelle is equally/more important. Structural work is top of the list for this need & is also often one that is missing from certain artisan’s cover as it, obviously, is one area that pushes premiums up a lot.
Do not engage anyone who is not prepared to provide you with a copy of their policy in advance.
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Thank you. Any idea about the cost?
Sorry @shunt - the work we had done was a great deal more extensive so i’ve lost track of individual bits! If you have a local (small-scale) maçon properly SIRETed, he should give you a quote but I wouldn’t expect it to be massive…
Thanks, I’m hoping its not too small a job. S
Our recently discovered autoentrepreneur maçon has been doing some small jobs for us so fingers crossed for you!
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We found an auto entrepreneur who will put in a new lintel fir €250 , sounds reasonable, we signed the quote a few weeks ago, he confirmed he has it but hasn’t got back about a date when the work may actually start. Is this normal, will i just hear from him randomly when he’s ready to start?
If you’re lucky. Or he may just turn up when you are out. 
I agree with @SuePJ - it really depends how busy they are. Generally speaking, I’ve received a phone call saying something along the lines of “Can I come next week?”
The usual advice is to ask when they can start before signing the devis, but it’s something I usually forget to do so I’m certainly not in a position to criticise 
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I did ask, but got a shrug in response.
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Bien sûr - what else would one expect. 
did you get more than 1 quote???
Indeed, I’ll call him in a few weeks and see if I can get an update. Email seems to be a bit of a non starter in France for some reason. I think this chap only looks at his emails on Saturdays, but given how many folk don’t respond at all, it’s a move in the right direction.
No, inspite of contacting 8 masons, this was the only guy who showed any interest at all. We are pretty rural and almost all of the local businesses have at least 2 trades: the taxi company, which naturally operates the school run and ambulance is also the funeral director and bike hire company. The chap who did get back to me is the only one who only operates as a mason. But his quote of €250 sounded pretty reasonable to me.
I’m just thinking that if the lintel really is “a risk”… your Insurance company might have contacts … just a thought.
You know how to open a can of worms Stella. Next year they would probably leave that out of insurance or request a structural engineer to inspect it at x3 the cost of the mason.