Builder looking for work

Hi my name is Hannah and I am a new member, as I'm based in a rural town in Seville province, I'm looking for advice on local forums to join.

At present I'm looking for work for a builder friend of mine. He's from Ireland and would like to come over to my area for the winter/spring/as the weather at home isn't great. Any advice would be very welcome, thank you in advance.

Welcome to EOS Hannah. Without going into detail your friend has about as much chance of winning 1^st prize in the lottery as finding work in Spain.

Hi thanks for your reply, local Spanish people are telling me builder's are always working, I just need to find a contractor.

Rosnashane,

You are right there's plenty of work - but at the right rate.  I tend to use Spanish contractors who charge 30% to 50% what northern european contracts expect. 

Some of them can earn more if they establish  contacts in ex-pat communities, but these are largely limited to the semi tourist areas.  You need to do your research.

Yes acer there is only 7 million recorded unemployed in Spain who all speak Spanish. Hannah’s Irish friend will just walk into a job.

Thanks Acer, you're right, research needs to be done and that's exactly what I'm doing on this forum.

As for just walking into a job kavanagh, I did, and he can but try.

Rosnashane, is your Irish friend fluent in Spanish, the ** EDITED - Inciting -Against forum rules **

Kavanagh - you say "...there is only 7 million recorded unemployed in Spain who all speak Spanish"... that's as maybe, but how many of those 7 million recorded unemployed are experienced builders?

Equally important how many of the many hundreds of thousands of so prospective wealthy north european customers prefer to deal with a builder who speaks fluent English!

In practice there are thousands of UK, Irish and other north european contractors working successfully in Spain who don't speak Spanish, so why shouldn't Hannah's friend do the same?

Yourself and angeleyes seem to delight in spouting unpleasant negative comments.  Why?

Actually just over 3 million unemployed but let's not let the real figures get in the way.

I totally agree Acer.

The forums are not for continued negative comments.

but hopefully to help people or give impartial advice, the it can help them make the right decisions.

I am a great believer that there is plenty of work out here for reliable, trustworthy, tradespeople who produce decent quality workmanship at sensible prices.

The unemployed in Spain is currently 3 million people not 7 million people,  Mariedav has given the correct figure.  You must also consider that quite a few of those are working in the hidden economy.

I do believe there is work for a builder that speaks little or no Spanish, in certain areas of Spain, specially in areas where many foreigners own properties.  The friend of Rosnashane will just have to research and look around to see which areas are preferrable for them to settle in.  If he makes the effort of learning enough of the local language and is good and reasonably priced, he might get work from Spanish people eventually.  I live in the Costa del Sol and in general this would be a good place to start the research.

I agree with what has been said about the negativity and figure exageration of some people.

Population Spain 46.72 million

Unemployment rate June 2019 14% = 6,540,800

Angeleyes, the fact is that a good builder who works hard and builds up a reputation can easily succeed if he speaks either Spanish or English. 

I admit I use a Spanish builder, he's skilled and is very imaginative with solutions to problems.  I've used him regularly for over 5 years.  At first we communicated in Spanish (with difficulty) now it's in English as he's made a big effort to learn the language to expand his business!

So I reckon there's a bit more too it than the unemployment figures you continually recite.  With good research and right business ethic and plan Hannah's friend will succeed.

Angeleyes

Population Spain 46.72 million

Unemployment rate June 2019 14% = 6,540,800

Right, of course it is. Counting all the children and babies now in unemployment figures? 

Angeleyes,

Perhaps you attended the Diane Abbott School of Mathmatics?

Surely, also, with an Irish passport Hannah's friend will shortly be better placed than many to start work here!

Angel eyes, in addition to babies, children and young teenagers, you are counting  everyone over the age of 65 as unemployed?

Thank you to everyone for your encouragement and positive comments, I was beginning to think I had joined a hostile forum of nutters 😂 but Acer and others kindly shared their good advice, I'm in La Campana Seville province, a little remote, so my friend maybe should be looking elsewhere. A good jobsite would help.

Thanks again everyone.

Hannah

Thank you Hannah, members are always here to help and counsel within the capacity of their knowledge.

I don't think the idea is that far off.

After a long recession in the real estate business, Spain is clearly once again building. I see new houses going up everywhere. 5 years ago or so I could call any builder in my area and he would offer to start work the very next morning. There was so little work for them to do. These days they have much more work and you need to wait a long time. So I think there is sufficient work if you know how to market your services.

The builders who did all the work around my house are all Spanish and I manage to explain what I want in Spanish. But I can definitely see a market for builders who speak English. Although they should ideally speak Spanish too as they need to talk to all sorts of people and file the paperwork

That's a very fair comment Lobin.  

I'm currenty trying to refurbish a bathroom, including a few features like underfloor heating. 

I tried a couple of Spanish recommendations but the need for complete understanding of the detail drove me to a British plumber/builder - even though I'm going to have to wait until the New Year, as he's so booked-up.