It was desperately needed as the walls had 1930s extension leads stapled to them. I know now why unsafe domestic wiring kills 160 a year in France.
I found a builder easily by asking at the boulangerie; he suggested a joiner, who in turn recommended an electrician who could do plumbing.
The builder was very efficient, as was the joiner, and all their work was soon finished.
The electrician/plumber sadly, was not. Starting work 10 days late, he almost immediately developed a debilitating back problem, meaning frequent extended tea-breaks.
Add to that unreliable vehicles, a sick dog, needy offspring, a list of prior commitments including French lessons on Thursday mornings, the fact he did not work Mondays... and he was also re-wiring three other properties.
I set a deadline, he missed it.
So I had no water for three days, then it poured through the ceiling for 24 hours, the downstairs toilet did not work for two months, plug sockets were feet away from where we had marked them on the wall, wires were run bare through skirting boards, sockets and switches were fitted crooked, circuits got mixed up so one had plugs popping up randomly all over, power to the barn was permanently disconnected, the TV aerial vanished, double sockets turned into singles, for over a month there were no lights upstairs or in the kitchen, the outside light got disconnected, and the walls in the kitchen were ‘too thick, too soft, too hard, too lumpy, too bumpy’ to install sockets.
By this time I had spent €3,000 and 11 weeks cajoling, begging and negotiating full time with him just to get him to turn up, let alone work.
I even graffitied the latest deadline on the inside of the back door in foot-high letters.
The house was a mess, and I would not trust him to wire a telegram, let alone a house... so I sacked him. But once that joy faded, I saw I had jumped from the pan into the fire. Who would want to sort it all out?
I asked the builder and the joiner who had recommended him to have a look. Luckily, they were horrified, embarrassed and eager to help.
There was no chance of getting my money back or the materials that I had paid for, but within days they found an excellent electrician who could start work immediately.
My new wiring is not a great job, but it is safe, it functions and, best of all, it is finished.
But what if the people who recommended me had just shrugged and walked away?
My goose would have been burnt to a crisp. I might not have found someone to do it for months; I might have had to get all done again from scratch, I might have become embroiled in a legal case, or had no heating all winter...
So, where did I go wrong?
I asked various people and it seems I was extremely careless in every way.
While I got the devis (estimate) in writing and in French, which was correct, it was unsigned, so not legally binding.
I did vaguely ask around about his previous work and various people knew of him, and one said he had serviced their boiler all right, but that was not enough. I should have insisted on visiting houses he had rewired... asked for references and followed them up.
Elsewhere, I should have:
l Asked for a copy of his “attestation d’assurance en responsabilité civile décennale” (giving a 10-year guarantee on work).
l Checked his siret number at www.infogreffe.fr to be sure he was correctly declared.
l Asked for a copy of his qualifications, and ‘carte d’identité’ from the Chambre de Métiers, which lists the trades for which he was registered and insured.
l Had ‘protection juridique’ in my house insurance to cover me for legal proceedings if needed. (Buy it one year, cancel the next – it is fairly cheap)
l Insisted on a deadline in the contract with a financial penalty. I did take the precaution of paying by cheque but got no receipts. And I should have made the cheques out to the name on his devis, rather than letting him fill in the payee.
But next time I will know better. Next time, I will check everything. Next time!
Kate Alexander’s shock – her roof had to be redone
ALTHOUGH Samantha’s story is appalling, Kate Alexander in Charente has an even more chilling – and costly – tale.
She and her partner hired an artisan roofer, who made such a hash of the job that it had to be entirely redone from scratch.
“When I confronted him about his woefully substandard work, he admitted he didn’t know what he was doing.
“But it was frustrating getting recourse through the French legal system, and worse, he’s still working in the area!”
Kate had checked that he was Siret-registered but by the time she sacked him, they had already paid him more than €17,000, which she says she will not get back. It cost another €28,000 to completely strip the roof and re-do the work to a correct standard.
“I’ve learned a lot from the experience. We did check his paperwork but not thoroughly enough, and we should definitely have inspected other work he’d done, because then we’d have discovered his local reputation.”
However, there was a sliver of silver lining as she used wood from the first roof to expand her business (katesemporium.com) selling up-cycled and shabby chic furnishings and accessories.
She urges Connexion readers to be careful, however. “It’s nothing to do with nationality. Any time you hire someone to work on your house, you have to check and double-check their qualifications and references.”
A tradesman says: Check all papers and references
Mark Spearing is an electrician in Haute-Vienne and says that since first registering in France in 2005, only two people have ever asked to see all his registration papers and followed up his references.
“It’s amazing how trusting people are, too trusting. There are some ruthless cowboys, both British and French, and the only way to avoid them is to go and see examples of similar work they’ve done recently.
“Go without the contractor, inspect the work, talk to the clients. Be meticulous about checking paperwork.”
But he points out there are also dodgy clients who refuse to pay for work even when the job is done to the highest standards, which is why contractors usually want at least 30% up front to cover materials.
