Can anyone find a Date for the frenchpropertylinks Electrics in France Norms… as I reckon they might well be out of date.
The article is, as it says, just to give one an idea for “tweeking/understanding” the house electrics. It makes it quite plain they are not recommending DIY for rewiring a property.
From the original Post, rewiring is what is being considered/suggested, hence my concerns.
Yes, I am aware however my comment was more about how the consuel would view the installation. They obviously have to approve the norms of France but from experience they can be very pedantic even when a fully registered French electrician has done the installation so doing the work as @Chippy57 has suggested surely introduces another level of potential problems/knock backs.
As already mentioned it sounds like there is already an installation in place so no need for the consuel but come the time when the property is sold it will have to be inspected and that’s when there might be problems.
Hi ive looked into this and consuel do certification for self installs, diy.
Given he’s asking how to make it comply using someone who understands what they’re doing is obviously a really bad idea…
As already said no notifications/inspections needed if the house is already connected.
You won’t find the full regs in English - but all the main players do guides of varying complexity - there are enough guides that you can find on the web that chrome will translate. It’s not that hard to understand if you understand electrics. Search Schneider Hager etc. It’s better to try and work with those than random undated stuff off the web that can be out of date - or that truly crap book in English about French wiring.
The thing to remember is your sparks is no more qualified in France than you - so it is effectively a DIY job.
My friend re wired his entire hotel and they were very helpful and passed it.
Hi Graham
It will be my main residence at the end of next year. So giving myself about 15 months to square it away. Plus ibdont intend to sell as im retiring there, 57 in the building game is mot good 
I had a complete rewire many years ago by a ‘qualified French electrician’ - I finally got to the bottom of the reason why one of the power sockets in the sitting room didn’t work - it hadn’t been connected 
and when I went to isolate my induction hob in the kitchen I found one of the power sockets also went off in the bedroom. I personally think I could have done a better job, and that’s precisely why I now do all my own work around the house - with the exception of electrical work as it was ‘rewired’ by a ‘professional’. 
Similar here, we had our kitchen newly wired by a qualified French electrician - he somehow managed to disconnect the outside lights despite swearing blind that they were connected - I recently called in another electrician to try and find out why they weren’t working - turns out he’d just left the wires unconnected in the switch…
Hi letsmile
I have been to france many times over the years and not been too impressed with the electrical work at times. My house especially. Thats why a trusted mate and i are doing it. Thanks very much for the reply.
And I can also tell you plenty of stories of building work completed by a local ‘expert’ - cutting corners and I guess hoping that nobody uncovered their inadequate work - since moving over permanently just before Brexit I’ve been very occupied correcting ‘expert’ mistakes, or just plain incompetent workmanship - makes me quite emotional just mentioning it - I’m now outside the famous 10 year guarantee period which is somewhat frustrating, but I guess I’ve learned the hard way - either be present when the work’s getting done by someone else, or do it yourself - after my experience, and the fact I’m now here full time, I’m now in the latter camp, and very pleased to be 
You didn’t actually answer the question about the qualifications being recognised in France. Never mind. I was in no way doubting your friend’s professionalism experience friendship, just whether he will be seen as a personne habilitée in a country which demands qualifications from virtually everyone to do practically anything.
So it has already been partially rewired by some non-French electrician?
The difference is, if you engage a French artisan to do work for you (and we have engaged many over the years on our new build project) and you get the necessary paperwork associated with the work (ie not done on the black) it beholds you to challenge the artisan if the work is below standard and get him/her to put it right.
It’s folly to absolve yourself of responsibility by just delegating the work and not keeping an eye on what’s going on, expecting more than is being paid for or specified. The shortcomings of the the person letting the contract should not be allowed to reflect on the ability of a qualified experienced artisan.
I spent years designing and writing software for business applications. Agreeing a specification about expectations of the performance of the software is essential and there is no difference when letting building contracts.
Please just don’t diss French (or any other nationality for that matter) artisans just for the sake of it. It’s most unhelpful and sends out the wrong message.
Just out of interest, have you had a couple of quotes from French electricians?
We have now had 2 houses completely rewired - the costs initially were more than I was expecting - but very thorough with an excellent system afterwards.
As a guide on price last year we paid approx 8000 euros for a 110m2 3 bedroom house and 2 outbuildings for an entire rewire including: new consumer unit, all sockets, light switches, internal & external lighting (excluding fittings), wired network, kitchen appliance points etc.
The other question about having something entirely rewired à l’anglaise is that if you need a French electrician to do things to it at any stage they will probably say no when they have had a look.
Indeed - though to do it to UK wiring regs would now be illegal anyway
Occasional horror stories go around regarding people who wired, or plumbed to UK standards and then had to have *everything* re-done to French standards because no-one would touch it afterwards.
I am witness to just such an incident. It was some years ago, now… but this is just one of the reasons why I advise folk to use French fully-qualified and fully-insured folk.
However, it’s up to the individual to make the decision… as with so much in life.
As in all cases… only time will tell if the correct decision has been made.
Sometimes a decision which can seem dubious can actually work out well… fair enough.
Of course, anyone can have an incident/disaster and it is then that the minute details are scrutinized… with not always a happy outcome.
Which is why France is perfect, yes with all that paperwork in place and qualification etc nothing is badly done haha.
From really bad swimming pools to wiring and general building some things are badly done. I have seen them. Anyone familiar with how wiring is done and with the various guides can make a good job of it. By the time you come to sell the wiring regulations would have changed again and then it wont get top marks because they on both sided of the chanel keep moving the goal posts.
Wiring L’Anglaise was not what chippy was doing.
I don’t think anyone was saying that - I only said that I was surprised to learn that pre-Brexit it would, technically, have been legal - but even then probably wasn’t a terribly good idea. Chippy57 was clear that info on French regulations was being and had been sought.
Obviously there are potential footfalls other than just the regs - which people have pointed out.
On your more general point I agree - the focus on qualifications is an excellent idea, but it does not, in practice, always protect against shoddy workmanship. Indeed by reducing the number/availability of artisans it encourages those who are minded, or forced by workload to do a less than perfect job and they are more likely to get away with it.
not on my watch they won’t 
It helps having a school teacher wife… one look from her and they get into action fixing any mess…
OK, so they do a shoddy job and you notice. What then if you can’t get anyone else in to do the work? Or the person that you did get to do the work says they will rectify it but have half a dozen other jobs they need to attend.
To be fair none above is unique to France and, so far, we haven’t had too much bother but it is definitely the case that there are fewer electricians/plumbers/carpet fitters/plasterers/etc than there are in the UK.