working in France

[maljack]

Thinking of moving to france and maybe taking my stumpgrinders but have no idea how practical this might be ? Would there be a market for my 66 horsepower and walk behind grinders in france ? I would welcome any feedback or sugestions

[Ty Korrigan]

Hello,

Bring it all friend!

You need all the kit you can muster to turn a coin here believe me.

However, you are unlikely to earn enough to live on purely from ex-pats so be prepared to learn French and have a crack at making headway with adverts on the Pages Jaune and Le Bon Coin for Dessouchage and offering your services to other companies large and small.

Here, there are almost no companies who purely do stumps so you may do very well or you may fall flat on your face.

It's up to how well you can 'integrate' and learn the lingo really.

I wrote some rot about working in France based on my trials and tribulations to have a read and digest. There are several others on here in France who may wish to share their thoughts on this.

Best of luck to you.

Where are you planning on moving too?

Regards Ty

[Ty Korrigan]

Hello AGAIN...

Welcome to the most complicated and yet also simple world of French business administration.

If you are just doing grinding you can register as an Auto Entreprenure online.

You will pay your 'cotisations' (taxes effectively) at a flat rate of 26.5% of your turnover.

So for every euro you get to keep 73.5cents

Earnings ceiling limit is around 33k

It would cost you around 450euros for insurance.

It is a pay as you go scheme with little admin other than a basic account book of debits and credits and all can be done online.

You may register for several occupations to broaden your earnings scope.

However, you cannot register to be an arborist under this scheme or even a full time gardener although a small amount of gardening is permitted.

This is a peculiarity of the French system where you must stay in you chosen occupation and not encroach on others.

Land based workers pay their taxes into a different pot than the rest of France and this includes gardeners to farmers to oyster men.

If you jump into this pool you will likely drown so lets get you treading water first eh?

Later Friend!

[maljack]

Many thanks Ty, i am considering the pays de la loire region .The whole idea of moving to france is a bit scary in the cold light of day, however the more i look into it the more the appeal.I know the obvious speaking french will be a challenge and if i decide to go i will practise and learn.The big question is are the french bothered about stumps?.I am finding that people have less money to remove stumps in uk recently and is stumpgrinding in france any different?

[Ty Korrigan]

I'd think about earning your coin via many routes other than just by stumps.

Ex-pats with larger gardens here and limited pensions are not too worried about an awkward stump but urban French with small gardens can be sold the idea IF you take the tree down or they will not go looking for a stump buster agency as here grinding is not a separate stand alone trade.

Regardless of this, before you buy here, rent for a year.

Do not sell up in the U.K if you can avoid doing so.

Come here with 3 years living money.

It's not a French Dream, it's the same old daily grind in another language:001_rolleyes:

Regards

Ty