Whichever way you go - there will be forms to complete and Permits to obtain.
You will want to befriend your Mairie and the lady who deals with such matters (Urbanisme).
They can/will guide you every step of the way - but you have to be clear on your plans/project. Tell them what you want to achieve and ask their advice about how to go about this.
Time is precious - they will help as that is part of their role - but they will lose patience if one messes them around.
Nothing worse than getting everything outlined/organized and a spanner is suddenly thrown in the works - Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention … I’d like to do … " aaaargh 
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Oh I would never assume that either of the options is easy… But I would imagine (correct me if I’m wrong here) that submitting a plan for a renovation project is easier and faster to be accepted by the Mairie than for an entire new build? Particularly if the renovation project isn’t major and mostly involves interior.
Don’t talk yourself out of it Andre.
With full time availability (which we also had) you can be on-site early morning to keep
on top of things/people and to see in any deliveries.
My simple advice - don’t trust others with your brass; pay for things yourself and
check everything. Keep simple records and receipts (you may need these if you have to return unwanted or defective goods).
Whichever Plan you submit - reply will be swift. (although it does help if Batiment de France are not involved - so avoid Monuments when looking at Land or Property)
If you have discussed with the Urbanisme person prior - the Plan finally submitted should meet all criteria/requirements.
External and Internal changes - Permits of one sort or another are required these days - again, reply will be swift.
Both a Build and a Reno can be fun. Do your homework well before making any decision.
There’s no urgency but if you could possibly post a photo I’d really appreciate it at some point. The veranda feature sounds exactly like what I am after for our eventual new build project…!
I did a self build in the UK. Actually I bought a book to help me. It did seem like a daunting task, but once you broke down the tasks it was pretty straightforward.
Building is all about method. The tricky bit is the design. How do you want to lay out your space. How many bedrooms and bathrooms. Do you want outside space? All these factors feed into a plan which denotes your base budget. Of course if you want a Bulthaup kitchen and gold plated taps you will need deep pockets. A good design will make the space work and you will enjoy the home. A bad design can be an annoyance. These are the benefits of having a clean sheet to start with.
Don’t be put off.
I myself are trying to buy (if the agent ever gets back to me) an old wine barn in SE France. Its a shell and it needs everything doing. We have started the ideas phase and up to plan idea number 35 already.
Go create your personal space. It will be one of the best things you will ever do.
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Would love to hear about your experiences and adventures, Darren! Keep us posted please!
I will be buying a small investment property in one of the major ski- resorts in Haute Savoie first in January. We’l use it as our temporary home and a base camp so we can look for our main spot without pressure.
In 2007, we bought a 1-acre plot in Italy which held two ruins. One - an old barn - was largely rebuilt and converted into three holiday rental units. The other - an enormous stone house of 350m2 - was demolished and our new house built within the existing footprint (Italian law !)
We could’ve renovated/downsized this property, but bearing in mind that no renovation project in the history of the universe has ever come in exactly on time and on budget…and that you don’t actually know what horrors an old house holds until you start poking around…and that needing to get our new biz up/running/earning money asap…we knocked it down (in May 08)…started again…and moved in in March 09.
Even allowing for the recession that saw the £/€ come down from 1.52 to 1.09, we came in pretty much on budget, though we did have to rein in our plans a little to achieve this. Result was a home built to our exact needs/specs and energy-efficient.
The estimates we got for a renovation job were all based on a seemingly universal figure of €1000/m2 - though we never got straight answers as to what this actually bought. Self-building - with a project schedule; materials all listed; and a contract that nailed the builders to being on site all day/every day worked for us.
Had we had the time - and the budget - to lovingly take the old house apart stone by stone and put it all back together in an aesthetically pleasing way - sure…we might’ve done that. But if speed…and keeping a real lid on spending is important (and getting a pretty nice house too) then for me - only one way to do this.
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Funny I’ve always dreamt of dating Claudia Schifer. Guess that won’t happen either. 
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Well, some dreams are more realistic than others 
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The pitch of both bits of the roof varies, as does the width of the “skirt”. But the traditional vernacular is to have a skirt. Sometimes filled in, and sometimes left open. To me it really grounds the houses and connects them to the land.
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There is another option that you’ve not really mentioned much which is off-site built homes. The range and variety now is extremely good, and although there are few manufacturers in france there are plenty in germany and belgium. Our daughter is just embarking on a self build this way, as many advantages not least a fixed price for the bulk of it. The speed is there and the project management miles easier.
As I recall Graham’s house is a typical french style self build (I know you posted a photo somewhere Graham, just can’t remember which post). If that is the sort of thing you like then just look round your area to find local firm and get them to do it! Planning permission is free in france, and building firms will project manage for you. This is what a huge number of young french families do: they buy a plot on a lotissement and then get local firm to design and build the house. Search locally for “constucteur maison individuelles clé à main”. And if you fimd a good firm you can have a large say in energy efficiency and design style. I’ve popped a photo below of local maison passive built that way by a local family.
(I spent many years in housing construction including running lots of off-site projects, so admit I am biased as I do think they are great and get better quality than most self builds. We were horribly torn, but ended up going for a renovation project as we loved the idea that we were bringing an old building back to life and giving it a new future)
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We purchased land with a very old farm on it, in a bad way, but interesting. So we had the options:
- Demolish and start again with a new build
- Try to make something of what we had to preserve the old house, and add on to meet our needs
Being both of a logical mindset, and driven more by hard facts than sentiment, we went for the demolish and rebuild option as we could not bear the uncertainties that came with a large renovation, underpinning the foundations etc.
Result: 12 months later we had a fabulous new house, with brilliant insulation, underfloor gas fired heating system, and the layout exactly as we wanted it. All delivered ahead of schedule and on budget.
So, it is very much a personal choice, but you may need deep pockets and lots of reliance to go the renovation route! Whichever you choose, have fun!
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Thanks for the input, Sandra! May I ask you what the size of the house is and what budget you had for the build?
House is 200m2 - prefer not to share financial info online…!
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I was about to suggest - use the Private Message facility
Did this attract the tax for a new build please?
Yes it did. We had to give a full declaration of the build, size of the pool, size of the terraces, rooms, how many bathrooms, and were asked to pay the tax in two installments. Similar basis to calculate the Tax Fonciere.
