Property Renovation

When people talk of home renovation they are talking of a wide range of different things. For some people renovation is adding insulation in an attic, replacing some slipped roof tiles, fitting a new kitchen or perhaps refreshing the interior of a property with some paint. For others it is buying a complete ruin or a derelict farm building and starting to construct a home from almost nothing.

For most projects, renovation falls somewhere between the two of these options.

Commonly, a building ‘for renovation’ suggests a building that has fallen into disrepair or been empty for some period of time. Also common are buildings that have been inhabited until recently, but have no modern conveniences, 50 year old electrical systems, no insulation and so on.

Luckily France can offer buildings in all possible states of repair. True, in some popular areas it is now hard to find a ruin to renovate at a bargain price, and in some areas at any price, but this is simply because the price in a popular area represents the value of the final building less the costs involved in restoring it, rather than the value of an old heap of stones in a field. Most areas still have plenty of places to renovate, but they might be a bit hidden away, and they might be a bit rural.

That bargain property you saw on the TV for £20,000 and needing a few hundred spending on it to convert it into a house worth a fortune may or may not have existed. To say the least you will be lucky to find it nowadays. The French (especially the estate agents) have certainly got wise to the idea that a pile of rubble with planning permission can actually be worth quite a lot of money.
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Reading the factsheets and information should get you started on your project and help you during the process. But what about renovation projects in the real world? What really happens? In ‘Real life projects’ you can see stories of actual projects as they unfolded.

Fonguilleres

Our own renovation project included a cottage, a house and a barn conversion all on the same site in south-west France. During the renovation of the barn I kept an online diary. I’m afraid it is a bit rambling and there are not many pictures. You can still see the diary at our Holiday Rental in Villereal site.

Meydieu

Jean and John Smith have been carrying out renovation work at Monbahus also in SW France. Much more sensibly, they have kept an extensive and fascinating photographic story of their renovation that you can visit HERE

Chalais

Our third project is at Chalais, in the Charente region of France. Pat and Yvonne arrived in France less than six months after holidaying here. The house they bought had not been lived in for at least 50 years. Taking on a house with a leaking roof, no water, electricity, or drainage was very brave or extremely stupid depending on your point of view. Based on the work done so far (all their own, except for the septic tank), they are both in the throes of mid-life career changes. Yvonne has proven to be a talented designer and Pat is a competent all round builder able to work to French norms. Start HERE for the beginning of the story - again with an extensive collection of photographs to make it easy to follow the weekly progress.

One option taken by a lot of people is to find a project manager or building contractor who will run the whole project from start to finish, and will deliver a completed building in due course. This project manager will sometimes be an architect who will also advise on the initial planning of the renovation.

After initial discussions the involvement of the client should be reasonably low during this kind of project. Costs, of course, will be higher. If there are language problems, it will be possible to find an English speaking project manager, although experience suggest that this also substantially increases the costs.

It is absolutely essential to only use a project manager approach based on personal recommendations of people who have been satisfied with the work of the individual, or to ask for references from existing clients. You or I or anyone else can call themselves a project manager, but it will not necessarily mean we are good at the job.
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Legally Required pre-purchase checks

The following aspects of a property are always checked as part of the purchase of a property in France. While all renovation projects in France are going to uncover some surprises (some welcome and some not) there are some problems that you do need to know about in advance. It is the responibility of the person selling the property to provide a report prepared by a certified specialist verifying the following items

Asbestos

This check applies to all properties with a ‘permis de construire’ (planning permission) dated before 1st July 1997. The most common places where asbestos is found is in insulation, especially near very hot surfaces (eg built in fireplaces), and various other roofing materials. Before panicking if you are told tht asbestos has been found you should be aware that:
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A swimming pool is not really an urgent part of renovation, but many people moving to France think that a pool is as important as the house itself. After all, what point is there in moving to France if you can’t relax by the pool when you get there.

Swimming pool placement and size

It is worth thinking carefully about the location of the swimming pool before the bulldozers arrive - before you submit plans to the planning department in fact.

Many people have their pools immediately adjacent to the house, separated only by a terrace. In the summer we are very envious. Then autumn arrives and all the swimming pool covers go on. The view of a pool in the winter, with a dirty cover on it, is not very elegant. The alternative is to leave the pool uncovered, and keep up the cleaning and filtration all year round. This rapidly loses interest when you can’t actually swim in the pool.

The size of pool you want will depend in part on your budget and partly on whether it is for ’serious’ swimming or just for splashing around in. Pools are typically 8*4 metres, 9*5 metres or 12*6 metres. Apart from initial installation costs, most subsequent costs are also dependent on the size and volume of the pool, from the amount of chemicals required to the amount of water you need to add every week or two to keep it filled up.
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I am not an expert on planning rules and you will need to seek advice for cirumstances particular to your particular property. Nonetheless there are some guidelines you should be aware of - the basic rule is always ask at the local mairie before making any change:

At the time of buying a property you can specify that the purchase is conditional on receiving the appropriate CDU or planning permissions. This needs to be written into the contract (ie not a verbal agreement outside the contract). Your notaire will then be able to help submit the appropriate applications, and the mairie will respond within two months. Secifically, ask for a ‘clause suspensive’ to be inserted to this effect.

• A CDU (Certificat d’urbanisme) shows whether the building or land has, in principle, the right to be developed as habitation(s), and what development is acceptable. The local mairie holds a plan of the commune, which shows which areas are likely to be permitted development.

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Lime comes in various categories and types. Not all are commonly used in the DIY environment.

The lime used by ‘amateurs’ is the lime called (in France) ‘chaux aerienne eteinte pour le batiment’ (CAEB). It is prepared from very pure limestone, and is an extremely fine powder. It is sometimes also known as ‘fleur de chaux’.

‘Chaux hydraulique naturelle’ is also sometimes used, but is less pure and has a slight grey tint.

Stand well back after emptying lime into a cement mixer. It tends to come back out in a fine cloud, coating you head to foot ‘Laurel and Hardy’ style, and making you choke at the same time.
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Below I have listed the approximate order in which tasks will occur during your renovation project.
I have not attempted to estimate the time required for each part of the project because it will vary too much between projects. Few projects should take more than six months to a year in total.

You may have additional tasks such as an internal heat circulation system, geothermal heating, air conditioning, built in sound system etc that you will need to factor in to the project plan as necessary.

Even before the project starts you will have a moving-in date in mind. You should therefore also have a reasonable understanding of how that target date will be achieved, and which jobs should be finished by which date. Some degree of delay might be unavoidable, due to weather conditions, injury, etc. You need to be in a position to follow these delays, so a plan based initially on the list of tasks below should provide you with a starting point.
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It will frequently happen that your ruin or barn will have a shell but no internal ‘upstairs’ - so it will need a whole new first floor adding (or replacing).

To add a new floor using exposed beams is practical and attractive, but it is quite a large job. In principle you are simply going to build the new floor with your (hopefully reclaimed) beams, and leave the beams visible rather than plasterboard the underside. If you are starting from nothing you can put plasterboard on top of the beams, so that from below you have a ‘proper’ ceiling on top of the beams. Go the whole way, and paint the plasterboard first - much quicker than painting it in situ.
Before you start you will need a structural engineer or similarly qualified prefessional to tell you what size of beams (cross-section for what length of beam) to use for your particular floor size, and the spacing between them - 60 centimetres is usual.
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Important: Please read also the comments that follow this post, which mention the changes in the regulations since this post was made - it is now harder to get reduced rate VAT on conversions and renovations than at the time of the original post (note added 3/5/07)

VAT on building renovations is usually charged at 5.5% instead of 19.6 %.

This reduced rate applies only to the ‘improvement, transformation and making habitable’ of buildings more than 2 years old.

Will VAT (TVA) at a reduced rate apply to your renovation project? Read more