Has anyone here had a travelling tradesperson stay at their property while helping with repairs or renovation work in France? I’m particularly interested in arrangements that included accommodation, meals or a place to park a camper.
What kind of work was done, and how did you agree on the scope, payment and materials? How did you handle questions about registration and insurance? I’d be interested to hear what worked well, what caused difficulties and what you would do differently.
For transparency, I’m working on a project related to travelling craftspeople, which is why I’m keen to learn from real experiences. I’m here to listen, not to advertise.
In France the classic travelling journeymen carpenters are the Compagnons. I suggest you contact their guild.
I believe the amazing George Sand wrote a novel about them. I have it somewhere but confess I found it somewhat didactic and never finished reading it. For her class and time her interest in the lives of working people was remarkable. The novel is
Le Compagnon du Tour de France (1840)
Regarding information about contemporary trades and their arrangements: this is a veritable minefield and I think you will struggle to get authentic personal information
Don’t know if this counts but several years ago an English chap working his way around France helped to finance his journey by offering to do odd jobs for a meal and a bed for the night. We hosted him here and he helped me in the garden and a few other things and came with me to the to the tip to help me unload the trailer.
A brief breakfast in the morning and we said goodbye and waved him on his way. I think he had no trouble finding somewhere each night as we knew about him from the forum I was on at the time.
I remember him, he had a wood in Brittany he used to camp on for some months per year - Jamie??? If so, he was well known on the AI forum and made a lot of friends travelling in his camper van and he was welsh I think.
I used to fall into the category of travelling trades person working on swimming pools. I was often hosted sometimes put up in a gite, they may have owned or not, gratefully some people shared their meals, others not. Worst one wasn’t even there when I was asked to come and fix their pool, fortunately I had a tent in the van so pitched it in their garden.
That is very similar to the principle upon which WOOF and WorkAway were run except I think the host supplied bed and board for, say, a week and the volunteer worked maybe 20 hours a week (4 or 5 hours per day) with enough time off to explore the area.
I must make a note to see if they are still running, I vaguely remember reading something about how the need for work permits was causing problems for them. Or perhaps I dreamt that
I think the chap @Shiba mentioned is probably the bloke who came to me. Not saying we didn’t get on, we did, but one night and a day is all I want to spend with someone that I don’t know. For the first time anyway. This was many years ago and the thought of permits and insurance was not something anyone worried about and I don’t think it would be different today, rather like a mate coming up to help out for a while.
WWOOF has changed dramatically quite recently. It used to be a recognised umbrella for people, not necessarily trades persons, to travel around the country doing odd jobs in return for keep. Now WWOOF will only send their folk to agriculture places specialising in bio. My gf was a supporter of WWOFF and used them for free work on her equestrian centre in return for lessons and keep, but was told t’other day, no more, as she ain’t bio - despite her protestation that the poo to be cleared up is very much bio…
As for the OP question, there is Work away - an organisation for those who wish to visit and work their way around France. Check out their website for the criteria.
I guess it is up to you how you accommodate a travelling tradesperson, knowing the associated risks. As for insurances, I doubt that travellers will offer much, and if you are paying said travellers cash, bear in mind that this is against regulation if paid ‘under the table’
Well in my case I had never heard of any organisations like that, it was just 1 bloke who posed a question on a forum. I think I would have been suspicious of WWOOF.
I remember working on organic farming collectives in the UK and Ireland 50 years ago when WWOOF people arriving at weekends were a regular occurrence. It always was an organic farming programme, so it must be going back to base.
Working for nothing is technically illegal in France, I believe. So working for bed/board while working for nothing is a contentious area because bed/board are benefits in kind and also taxable.
It may be that WWOOF has returned to the original blueprint in order to conform with the organic ideal and thus qualifies as voluntary work in some way. I’m only guessing.
Informal friend/acquaintance one-off arrangements are one thing, but someone travelling and working regularly for benefits needs to be aware of their full tax and work status and so does anyone employing them.
We are in difficult times politically and there are plenty of people ready to report on other people they regard as threats to their own livelihoods unfortunately.
I’m not paranoid, I just run away when I see people…
We have several compagnons working for us at the moment, and it is not just carpenters that can become Compagnons but a range of trades.
They are not travelling journeymen, in the sense of setting up shop on an itinerant basis, but more a long drawn out apprenticeship. So they do their Tour de France working for masters of their trade in different places to learn. (Not just France now, the carpenter spent 6 months in Henley on Thames).
So not quite what Nomad is looking for unless he has specialist skills to pass on.
Yes I’m aware of the set-up of the Compagnons, as I looked at their prospectus years ago at one stage for carpentry, which I mentioned because I do oakframing (the focus of their carpentry skills) and that’s what I know best.
I bet your Compagnons don’t work for their board only, they are highly sought-after and with good reason! I’m not sure that they have to go from one “master” to another though, I think it’s more to do with the level of craft they are engaged in and achieve, but I could be wrong as I don’t work in France (only on my own projects).
The Sand novel I mention contrasts the advantages of working in a system (compare with unionised labour) which protects its workers through identity with it, to acting as a lone individual where one is easily exploited.
Anglo Info, going back years now it was an online forum like SF here for people in Brittany and also in other regions of France to ask questions etc. Don’t know if it is still going or not
It is. I once mistakenly joined it many years ago but didn’t like something about it, it wasn’t my first forum and the format didn’t suit me.
So I left. but still now, more than 20 years later I get regular emails from them filling up my spam box.
Just out of interest, I wonder if anyone remembers my first forum. It was based in Bordeaux and was linked to an English language newspaper, like the Connexion, which eventually packed up and the forum closed with it. Can’t for the life of me remember its name now though.
BTW this is not thread drift, it was there that this bloke made his connection to me.
. No way!