Relocation to France - The Life of a Brittany Carpet Fitter

Jan. 10, 2011 - PRLog -- It's a year and nine months since Jasen Saunders moved from Peterborough in England to Plenee Jugon in France and despite being a fluent French speaker whose services are in demand Jasen has noticed several differences between Carpet Fitting in England and Carpet Fitting in France.

Jasen is known as The Brittany Carpet Fitter but he fits throughout France travelling where and when required subject to his schedule. After being interviewed by the national English newspaper The Connexion in June Jasen has received calls from all over the country.

In this series we have been keen to uncover the differences for those relocating to France and Jasen told us the French legal obligations in terms of insurance requirements differ greatly in France. In England a self employed carpet fitter can buy a public liability insurance policy for around £150 per year while in France the obligatory 'Decennale insurance' is over 10 times that amount. Despite the fact that in Europe everyone is free to trade in any of the member states France will not permit a carpet fitter to fit carpets for a client unless he has the obligatory 'Decennale insurance'. Unless the carpet fitter is a French resident he can't obtain the Decennale insurance and while there are several carpet suppliers in France there are very few English trained carpet fitters.

"People are falling fowl of uninsured and unscrupulous due to ignorance. Very often the Expat community in France knows little or nothing about the laws of the country in which they live and that coupled with a lack of language skill puts them in danger of being taken advantage of by the uninsured and unscrupulous types claiming to be French registered tradesmen"

We ask, "How can a customer be sure the person he has engaged to fit carpets is legally insured to do so?"

Jasen said,  "The process should be the same for all tradesmen not just carpet fitter. Firstly be very cautious if the tradesman turns up in a vehicle still bearing UK license  / number plates. Secondly be cautious of tradesmen who only give a mobile phone number. Most importantly though;- check the tradesman out. A good tradesman will always be happy to provide references. In France when a person registers a business of any kind they will be given a 'Siret number’ which is 14 digits long and permits the person do carry out only certain types of work. Unlike the UK, where is possible to be a Jack of all trades and master of none, France is very strictly regulated."

By law when a registered person quotes a customer for a job his Siret number, trading name and business address must be shown on the quote the same applies to an invoice.
The customer has a legal obligation to ensure anyone whom he engages is legally registered to carry out the job for which he has been appointed. As crazy as it sounds if a customer engages a tradesman in good faith but does not carry out due diligence checks he can find himself in a very difficult position on the wrong side of the law. Firstly for employing people illegally and secondly should the person have an accident while carrying out the work for the customer he can sue the customer!

Jasen says advises buyer beware - using this link http://www.vigientreprise.com it is easy to check what work a tradesman is legally qualified and insured to carry out. The customer simply put the Siret number into the checker and it will display the name and address of the tradesman and detail all the work the tradesman can undertake.

For a qualified and insured carpet fitter the customer should see 'travaux de revêtement des sols et des murs' listed.  

For a carpet or floor covering supplier or shop the customer should see 'Commerce de détail de tapis, moquettes et revêtements de murs et de sols en magasin spécialisé' The customer though should note that the supplier or the shop in this instance is not legally insured to fit the carpet or floor covering and they must engage a tradesman who is listed as ''travaux de revêtement des sols et des murs'.

Jasen pointed out a very big difference between the method used to fit carpet in the UK and in France. In the UK the biggest majority of carpets are fitted with gripper rods and underlay while in France the majority of carpets are stuck to the floor all over using glue - rendering it hellish to uplift!

Jasen also advise that if the customer  was lucky enough to find a local French artisan who was able to fit carpets using gripper rods and underlay the current price quoted at France's main floor retailer Saint Maclou is just over 28 Euros a square meter for the fit alone ... vastly different from prices in the UK!  

Jasen charges nothing like these exorbitant French tariffs you can find out more from his website http://www.carpet-fitter.eu

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