German arboriculture/sawmilling?

[Big J]

Just wondering if anyone on here has any experience working in Germany?

 

I'm half German and speak the language pretty fluently, and it's always been at the back of my mind to move there. There are many good reasons, including:

 

* 33% forest cover in Germany

* Better standard of living

* Potential kids grow up bilingual

* Much better climate

* Houses are incredibly cheap

 

On that last point, here is an example of what about £50,000 gets you:

 

Renoviertes Bauernhaus mit Stall und Scheune Bauernhaus Niederhosenbach (2HHGQ33)

 

That's near to Trier, half way down Germany near to Luxembourg. I have family there.

 

Just wondering if anyone has worked there and how they found it. The impression I get is that the quality of work will generally be higher as they are trained for far longer before being let loose in the forest. I suspect the sawmilling would be easier to get into.

 

I'm just sick of the rain, over inflated property prices, the grim Scottish architecture and neds!

 

Jonathan

[Rob D]

I have no experience whatsoever of Germany - but if you have family of there and speak German then I have no doubt you could carve a better standard of living over there than here....

 

 

Is it worth going over there for a summer for a couple of months to test the water?

 

 

If it had a coastline I'd be interested!

 

 

[TimberCutterDartmoor]

There are many good reasons, including:

 

* 33% forest cover in Germany

* Better standard of living

* Potential kids grow up bilingual

* Much better climate

* Houses are incredibly cheap

 

* It is clean

* They have much better standards of social behaviour than the UK

* They still manufacture top stuff

* They are much nicer people than the delinquents that the formerly "great" britain is now run and populated by.

 

[Minotaur]

Christ thats cheap, didn't realise it was that cheap over there!

Other positives - loads of space for off roading, cheap Unimogs!

Some Uber cool G-wagens, camping trucks, etc, etc,.............................

 

They do however, have their own social problems, due to illegal immigrants, legal but unwanted immigrants, paying for the rebuilding in the East, and the way they have saddled themselves with bailing out the Eurozone.

 

Think I might learn German!

[teepeeat]

Very personal decision, but everywhere has its pro's and cons and it is best if possible to go for an extended visit to get a good feel of the place, having removed any rose tinted glasses before you go.

It is too easy to focus on what you dont like about where you are living and think instead about what you have heard is good about another place.

 

On the subject of renovations, I believe German building regs are very different to the UK with much more stringent criteria and you might find you have to get people in to do certain things that most capable UK DIY's will do themselves.

(on the assumption that the place you linked to at 50 000 will have a few issues to be sorted out)

 

I agree that people in Germany train for longer before they are let loose any any particular job, definitely in the building trades, but would this also not apply to sawmilling?? Would you have all relevant tickets etc that might be required, regardless of experience or ability.

 

My 2 pence worth, but let us know how much greener the grass is over there

[Big J]

Rob - can't really leave the business for that amount of time unfortunately! It would need to be a clean break kind of thing. My uncle was suggesting building up contacts through timber export - there are a number of species that we have here that they don't there. I could continue with that once we had moved there.

 

The lack of coastline is a plus for me. Can't bear the maritime climate - looking at the weather forecast for the house that I linked to, it's minus 2 to minus 12 the next 10 days. Not a hint of rain.

 

TCD and Minataur - good points! It is always a very nice place to visit, with everyone friendly and keen to use their English.

 

Treepeeat - the house linked requires only one bathroom finishing (and possibly the hideous main bathroom pulling out - it's strange that the rest of the house is quite nice and then there was a complete lapse in good taste there!). My wife is an architect, so getting to grips with regs (albeit in another language) should be fine.

 

I suspect that as I would be working by myself on the Woodmizer (or equivalent), I might not need tickets. Certainly worth investigating though.

 

Here is another house, this time in Thuringia (forested mountain chain) which is further east and south. Tell me that isn't a picture postcard of a house! For reference, it's got a biomass boiler system and it's also about £48000

 

Ländliches Einfamilienhaus / Thüringer Bauernhaus Haus Döschnitz (2UL9L3G)

 

Jonathan

[treequip]

Very personal decision, but everywhere has its pro's and cons and it is best if possible to go for an extended visit to get a good feel of the place, having removed any rose tinted glasses before you go.

It is too easy to focus on what you dont like about where you are living and think instead about what you have heard is good about another place.

 

On the subject of renovations, I believe German building regs are very different to the UK with much more stringent criteria and you might find you have to get people in to do certain things that most capable UK DIY's will do themselves.

(on the assumption that the place you linked to at 50 000 will have a few issues to be sorted out)

 

I agree that people in Germany train for longer before they are let loose any any particular job, definitely in the building trades, but would this also not apply to sawmilling?? Would you have all relevant tickets etc that might be required, regardless of experience or ability.

 

My 2 pence worth, but let us know how much greener the grass is over there

 

Well I spent six years in the fatherland back in the 80s / 90s and the DIY stuff was just as it is here. No better or worse.

 

I can't comment much on the state of play now but back then it was a good place to be. Better in some respects worse in others but on balance it suited me.

 

The rules are the rules in Germany and you just don't break them because they are enforced, one night some toe rag stole the bumper end caps off my transporter and before I saw it the next day a passing plod had put a ticket on the van ordering me to get it fixed, now that's efficient policing.

[MattyF]

Thuringer district is Amazing, were a former girl friend was from...we had some good holidays there , would move there in a shot if I could speak German and as you said cheap!

[difflock]

I cannot comment re working in Germany but I dd marry a 1/2 bred Army brat (Scottish/Prussian cross) and forby that my sister moved out there when their children were in Primary school, and made a good life there, the children are absolutly fluently bilingual which I envy, never getting past ordering 2 large beers:001_rolleyes: in German.

Bytimes I regret not moving out there 30 year ago, but the Mrs. was only too happy to settle into the close knit agricultural community here in NI.

Far off fields often look greener.

[Big J]

Been thinking about this considerably more and we're more or set on moving to the Hunsruck region east of Trier. My uncle is in the area and used to run a tree surgery company, so there are contacts that I could use.

 

Here is a link to the Hunsruck tourist board:

 

Hunsrück-Touristik - Vacation, Hiking, Cycling and Culture in the Hunsrück region

 

It's a pretty basic website, but gives you an idea of what the area is like. It's not the Alps in terms of scenery, but in terms of a place to live, I think it's pretty lovely.

 

Also, in terms of cost of living it is amazing. This house is the one I like the most:

 

Ehemaliges Bauernhaus mit Backhaus und gemütlichem Garten Haus Schauren (2KB9C3W)

 

A third of an acre, a barn, a disused bakery and a terrace as nice as that for £40,000.

 

There don't seem to be too many sawmills in the area, and certainly none that do any specialist timber (as far as I can find).

 

Other things that I quite like are that everyone has a right of access to all forests, which essentially means that a third of the country is available for hiking/cycling etc.

 

Weather wise, the best climate data that I can find is for towns in the valleys and it's around 3 celcius warmer in summer and 5 degrees colder in winter (compared to Edinburgh). Less rainfall too if you are on the eastern side of the range of hills.

 

Anyone want to buy £50,000 of sawn timber!?!