Bonsoir,
We had two quotes for a house renovation project to re do all of the rooms in the house including staircase in a simple fashion nothing extravagant and it cost more than what we paid for the house.
Just wondering if anyone has received quotes that seem much higher in France than it should be?
If so, did you outsource work to a company outside of France? Do you have recommendations of what company to hire?
Merci
Doing up a house is expensive, it is more expensive to renovate than to build from scratch. Get several quotes and talk to a maître d’oeuvre who will charge you 10% but save you more. Or do the work yourself.
Getting a foreign team in is a false economy, you have to pay them what you would pay a France-based team, legally, and will their work be guaranteed?
Renovation is very expensive, end of.
Unless you buy the property cheap and can do all or most of the work yourself a full renovation will cost more than the house will be worth at the end.
This is why France is covered in aesthetically pleasing semi-ruins inherited by people who live in a smart new bungalow next door 
And it will make it harder for you to integrate into your local community, and can build up resentment. We used local people for all our renovation, and it has paid off in many ways.
Agree with the above - I see many reasons not to use foreign labour.
The high cost of renovations is exactly the reason why doer-uppers are so cheap. If you could buy cheap, renovate cheaply and end up with a property worth more than purchase price + renovation price, everyone would be doing it. A generation back maybe you could, but not nowadays.
I agree with everything Anna says
Presumably the only way to make it work (if your aim is to sell at a profit) is to do the work yourself and live in the property while you do so to avoid CGT - that way “all” you have working against you is the high cost of materials in France, the ludicrous French estate agent’s fees, the French preference for new property and their inbuilt reluctance to buy a DIY restoration with no 10 year guarantees on the work done.
Simples 
So absolutely nothing to worry about there, you wont stand a hope of making a profit unless doing the work yourselves.
Except if they are European workers, as the right to work in Europe without impediment at least exists for a bit longer and EU rules are, as Sarkozy found out the ones to adhere to?
Yep, not supporting the locals may pee them off but supporting them will empty your bank balance faster than a bucket with a hole in the bottom and they will enjoy laughing behind your back when you try to sell at loss and run back to the UK.
Just my different opinion.
Not quite as simple as that I’m afraid John. Yes, under the EU FoM directive EU workers have the right to work in another EU state, BUT they are subject to the host country’s law. So, non French EU citizens working in France are subject to French law, exactly the same as French workers. (The requirement to comply with national law is not considered an impediment…)
https://www.sipsi.travail.gouv.fr/SipsiCasFo/login?service=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sipsi.travail.gouv.fr%2FSipsiFO
All employers based outside France with the intention of providing services in France must submit a prior declaration of posting of its workers to the labour inspectorate branch of the place where the service is to be provided, before the posting gets underway .
That would depend on what the objection raised would be? Is there a minimum wage in France? Taking out an insurance to protect workers is normal anyway. what do you see as the issues they could raise?
Phuong,
Can you give us an idea of what you call a renovation project & the size & actual condition of the house. For some, renovation is just painting & decorating and some small plumbing & electrical works & for others is a total rip out of all the existing installations heating, electric, plumbing, flooring etc etc.
Minimum wage in France is called SMIC and is currently 10€03 (before deduction of cotisations) per hour for over 18’s.
And they also have to comply with french regulations, so you need to be sure that your electricians and plumbers are able to do that.
Thanks Mandy
Yes, that’s normal although not always carried out as I have witnessed.
I wonder if Dick Strawbridge had any problems then. He used a lot of UK labour on Escape to the Chateau. His heating was all fitted by English guys at a cost of £18k, pretty cheap for a chateau I would say. He already had the rayburn though. We wanted a little Jotul stove fitted, it was €900 but the total bill was going to be €3k so we haven’t bothered. Our velux was €1400 fitted, without finishing the edging where it was cut, apparently it would have been about £700 in the UK.
Luckily any jobs in our house are just personal preference although I would love central heating.
I guess it depends what your attitude to risk is, and whether you’re prepared to deal with the problems that could follow. It also seems that the minute you get on TV there’s a different set of rules. I don’t watch the chateau programme but I caught the end of an episode of new life in the sun the other day, with gîte owners showing their first guests round the site that included a swimming pool with no fencing or other security at all! The risk a fine of €40,000+ and invalidating insurance… but no doubt it was cheaper to install.
John, “posted worker fraud” is a hot topic in France at the moment. This official report will give you an idea of how seriously France takes it
and if you google you’ll find plenty more media coverage/blogs etc
etc etc etc
They have tightened up on this for sure. I’ve worked as a translator in France for over 10 years and up until recently I never had anything to do with the subject, but over the last couple of years I have had screeds of inspection reports to translate, typically between 15 and 20 pages long, listing the violations identified and the corresponding penalties, and I’ve also interpreted at meetings with works inspectorates for several very worried clients who have fallen foul of the rules and are being threatened with fines that make your eyes water, and if enforced will put them out of business.
It’s not just a case of paying SMIC. France’s code du travail is a thick book and all of it applies to detached workers on the French territory. In terms of pay, yes there is SMIC but most trades also have collective bargaining agreements. So for instance, maybe you can pay your labourers at SMIC but your skilled sparkies, plumbers etc have to be paid the going rate, which can be much higher than SMIC. Other violations that employers get fined for include working hours, time off, holiday pay etc; for the building trade there is also an obligation to pay into a “bad weather fund”, which is a kind of insurance that funds workers’ pay if they’re unable to work on site due to bad weather.
Overseas employers have been ignoring the rules for years, and now France is having a field day pinning them down and throwing the book at them. IMHO this is not the time to risk leaving yourself open to prosecution if you use foreign workers in France. You need to find out your obligations and make sure you have all the paperwork to prove you’ve met them, in case you are inspected, and if you’re an end client using a company that uses foreign workers, you need to check that the company is complying otherwise you yourself can be regarded as complicit.
I’ve wondered this - presumably OK with in single market rules & posted workers as, in this case, they won’t have needed more than a few days/weeks to do the job. I think his main hired help “Steve” is based in France.
Other chateau owners featured on the programme seem to use a lot of volunteer labour - not sure how that is handled as I though that “food and board” for work was counted as payment in France.