Great advice - also join in on existing threads that relate to specific questions, and then if necessary start a new one.
When you ask several questions at once people may not answer all of them and it gets a bit jumbled, especially when people like me chip in and drive the thread off-topic. 
My first (and could be second and third) consideration is to check VERY carefully the qualifications and insurance of anyone you are thinking of employing for the renovation work particularly (and I will get shot down for this, but it is my experience) if they are not French.) And ONLY use them for what their declared mĂ©tier is as their insurance wonât cover anything else.
The second is about the house itself - if you can get a builder or the like, plus neighbours if possible, to give you an opinion on how sound the structure is, youâll have a rough idea what you are in for. You can take your time over renovation work and will probably have to as good artisans tend to have very delayed availability times.
The third is the situation of the house. How accessible are shops and other facilities. You arenât at retirement age yet, but when you are, itâs not ideal being in a pretty little commune with the nearest shops/social activities/ medical care 20km away !
Having said all that - we bought our place over 30 years ago as a bolt hole, now live here and have never regretted it
My twoâpenneth as the widow of a french reg artisan for many years in France would be as follows
I remember those. I was closeted for week in a chateau somewhere north of Paris in 1985 (or 86) on a management course full of the things. I did get a round of applause from my spectating peers on one occasion when playing a manager doing annual evaluations. I seemed to excel in delivering bad news gently, even positively 
AngelaR. Thank you. Very sound advice and much appreciated. Unvarnished info advise is what I need (in bucket loads) so your experiences are invaluable to me & I imagine many others sitting (nervously if theyâre like me!) wondering if I/we should go for it. I had a builder recommended by the agent (who had done work for her as she too is rennovating a property but is local) spend 2hrs with me in the property on Friday morning during the viewing & we had a lot of good conversation about potential work & associated costs. He in turn has recommeded an english speaking electrician. The agent also has potentially connected me to somebody who (fingers crossed) might be prepared to be my local keyholder which is as you imagine bit of game changer in terms of peace of mind. The DTT man was doing his survey whilst I was viewin & I get that tomorrow. Itâs habitable if uncomfortable (a â1st world problemâ) & needs a total update as it was rennovated in 1970s so has some pretty funk wiring etc. But Iâm trying to think with my head not heart right now as you can probably imagine 
thank you, yes iâve spent most of last week reading posts about an ecletic range of topics, all of which i needed help with. I now more about septic tanks than i did this time last week (!!) this site is an absolute god send - thank you everyone 
Shiba, this is so great, thank you. what is reassuring is i have done some of these already so perhaps iâve at least started off on the right lines (plenty of opportunity to fall off them though!) ps this list is so good you could perhaps help me manage other areas of my life 
Welcome!
thank you Jane, we must think alike as i did indeed ask them to turn the mains on to check shower pressure i also checked the orientation to so iâm hopeful iâm on the right lines.
hello George, all very welcome advice, need to do some research on the phone bit so youâve kick started it for me, thank you!
When we bought in 1993 it was the first time I had come across a fosse and asked the agent when it would need it emptying. âNeverâ he said, so we took him at his word and despite somebody telling me âevery 4 yearsâ, it has been emptied only twice in that 32 years. Once when we noticed the toilet not flushing well and the other when an official looking man turned up and said it needed doing, and then inspected it and pronounced it ok. I canât remember which of the 2 came first though, the last was several years ago.
Welcome fff. Already lots of good advice. Not so much pitfalls as managing your own expectations. Good artisans are often booked up to 18 months ahead, so you may find you have to be patient. They also will often run several projects side by side, so some days they will be there, other days not.
Lunchtime is still pretty sacrosanct, so they tend to disappear 12ish and not reappear much before 14h.
Within working hours the French work hard and are very efficient. But they donât always think outside the box. If you come up against a problem or want something different expect to hear âcanât be doneâ but let them come round to a solution.
I know this is your project and depending on where you are it may not be an issue. Male artisans can be chauvinistic. Even thoâ your husband is not interested, there can be moments when itâs useful to say âIâll ask my husbandâ âIâll discuss it with my husbandâ - it reassures (life is too short to stand on oneâs dignity).
Also, the work will be done to the devis. If itâs not on the devis it wonât get done. Keep an eye on the nitty gritty. 18 years on we still have an entrance into our lounge where there is no light switch and a corridor where the ceiling has no insulation and no plasterboard - just the bare planks of the loft floor. It wasnât in the devis, so it wasnât done!
This is one advantage to living in the US with a fosse. We timed emptying it whenever there was a new POTUS. That made it very easy to remember. The one time we let it go longer, it overflowed and ruined the drainfield.
Having bought a âdoer-upperâ in Feb 2022 my advice (in addition to the above) is:
Be prepared for it to cost more having the house done up by professionals than if you had bought one already done. OTOH if you do most of the work yourself then it may work out a bit cheaper.
When employing people, describe EXACTLY what you want done in EVERY detail. There is no âobvious common senseâ about how things are done, and if there is a simple shortcut that will save time or money then it will be done unless specifically detailed otherwise, even if it invalidates the function of the work.
Materials, paints, plumbing supplies, kitchen stuff is often much more expensive that you expect. I fitted a handbasin on my last trip, and spent over 100 euros on a few meters of pipe and a dozen fittings. Hunting around between the bricos can save money, but materials are simply expensive, and thereâs no way round that - you canât even bring stuff with you, unlike us driving over from the UK.
3a) bonus answer. France partially shuts in May because of bank holidays. If you order something online, regardless of apparent online delivery dates, it will probably take at least a couple of weeks to arrive.
hello AM. wilco. v good to hear this unvarnished truth. i need and appreciate this. thank you! i have just made an offer. i feel equally sick & excited but i am stoical - if it work out, so be it. if not, so be it thank you for taking the time to share your expertise/thoughts with me
Sound advice!
But more seriously, itâs also a useful stalling tactic, if for whatever reason you donât want to be forced to give an answer on the spot.
Youâre welcome - call me Toni. The thing is that France is a different culture with different norms and expectations. My initial reaction was a mix of anger, scorn and puzzlement, but Iâve come to realise our norms are not their normes and nothing should be assumed or expected.
A funny example was when we had a couple of toilets moved while we were not in the house, and although we had marked clearly on the wall where they should go laterally, one of them was placed about 6 inches out from the wall instead of against it. Another example was a kitchen we had fitted, and although the drawing showed the sink/drainer in one orientation, which would have required a minor modification to a cabinet, it was put in the wrong way round so that nothing had to be modified.
As always, good coms really helps. We try to be friendly, generous, helpful and polite because weâre strangers in another country and appreciate the welcome weâve been given.
I am hoping to make a move to France, join me, I am interested in projectsâŠbut seriously good luck
Some afterthoughts that were important to us (but not everyone!).
Wills. We immediately created a French wills with the help of our notaire, shortly after buying our French house. We also then took advice from our UK solicitor to amend our UK wills to reflect the existence and scope of the French wills. We were UK resident at the time, and planned to remain so (how plans change!).
Some of the below is harder to obtain other than via informal, chance contacts with neighbours, chats with Mairie, local Facebook groups etc:-
Who owns/leases the fields/land around you, if visually important to you, especially (!) if itâs the Maire/his or her family, local councillors/their families
Does the local chasse regularly go across your land or near neighbours? Is there a nearby Maison de Chasse (and how near)
What are the voting trends in your town/village (are you buying into a hotbed of RN voters!)
Difficult not to if you live in rural France. And on a day to day basis what difference does it make? Our village has one of the highest % of RN votes in the country (weâre talking % in a total of 600-ish votes you understand). Our mayor and neighbours are all very friendly and helpful.