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Morgan Lawley swapped a career directing TV commercials and music videos in Los Angeles for a chateau renovation project in rural France. She documents the whole thing publicly on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok under the name GoGo Chateau: the highs, the lows, the septic tank disasters and the tractor dancing. She’s funny, she’s honest, and she pulls absolutely no punches about what chateau life is actually like.

Rosie and Sue sat down with Morgan to hear the real story - from the moment she committed to the dream, to falling through a rotten stable floor with a camera in her hand.

Q&A with Morgan Lawley

What sparked the move to France - and the chateau dream specifically?

It’s definitely not something you do on a whim. This was a calculated, decades-long dream - a princess fairy tale chateau fantasy I’ve had since I was a little girl. After COVID, everything slotted into place. I’d been watching all these shows about chateau renovation - mostly Brits doing it - and for the first time I thought, okay, now there’s a roadmap. I can see how it’s done. My daughter was graduating from high school and I thought, if I don’t do this now, I’ll always regret it. When you have a big dream, you’ve got to take a swing.

You had quite a career before all this. Can you tell us about it?

I started dancing at seven, moved to Los Angeles and became an LA Laker girl - Paula Abdul was choreographing for the Lakers at the time, and she was just starting to work with the Jacksons. I ended up being in Janet Jackson’s What Have You Done for Me Lately video, and from there I was in the Dirty Dancing tour - I got to do ‘the lift’ - and danced at the Oscars. Then I transitioned to producing and directing music videos. My first nomination was for Diggable Planets, then I directed for What’s Up by 4 Non Blondes, Darryl Hall, Jamiroquai. After that I went into commercials, set design, event design, real estate. Home was always my canvas to express myself. And then, logically, a chateau.

What did your friends and family think?

Most people had heard me talk about this for so long that they thought I was full of it. When I actually did it, they were shocked - but not surprised. My daughter was the only one whose opinion I really cared about. Everyone else I’d figure out later.

What were the biggest culture shocks when you arrived?

I kept being told everything goes slowly here and I kept thinking, yeah, they haven’t met me yet. I was delusional about that. I love that everyone takes a two-hour lunch until you’re trying to get something done, and then you want to pull your hair out. The scheduling is relentless. And then there’s the phone call thing. I can’t speak French - it’s still not getting better, honestly - and everything here seems to require a phone call. I need things in writing so I can translate them. The admin is hardcore.

And the isolation. I chose a very rural area. Everyone told me not to. I did it anyway. And they were right. I’m an extroverted introvert - I like solitude - but not having restaurants nearby, having to plan food far in advance, remembering that this shop is closed on that day and that one doesn’t open until this time… it’s a lot.

How did you find the chateau itself?

I’d been actively looking for almost four years and made two trips to France, around eighteen weeks total, just driving around trying to feel my way to where. I’d narrowed it down to within a hundred kilometres of Angers because I loved it - it’s like a mini Paris and it has everything you need, including a Zara. But I couldn’t find what I was looking for and I nearly gave up. So my daughter and I went to Italy to see if maybe that was where I was supposed to be instead, and at the airport my buyer’s representative, Ben Denning, sent me this listing. It was everything on my list, at the price point I was looking at. But it was a feeding frenzy - nine visits a day. We put a full price offer in immediately. I hadn’t even stepped foot in it; Ben had visited on my behalf. I was in Italy. I said go get it.

The things the chateau didn’t tick - I wanted a chapel, for instance - have come to me in other ways. It turns out there’s a chapel on my farmer neighbour’s land, built by the man who built my chateau, Henri Latour. He’s entombed there. And my spirit animal - a turtle - is emblazoned on the front of it. One story after another like that. I feel very much that Henri chose me to bring this place back.

What’s the reality of chateau renovation versus the YouTube dream?

I think it could align if you were a DIY person. I am absolutely not a DIY person. I have other skills. But I’m learning - taking shutters down, sanding, painting - because some of those things will save me a significant amount of money if I can do them myself. What I wasn’t prepared for was just how slow it would all go, and how much of my time and energy would be spent just finding the right people. By the time I arrived I was so depleted from uprooting my entire life that I barely got out of bed for two or three months. I was exhausted and scared. What have I done? I still think that almost every day, actually.

Did you go in with a renovation budget?

A logical person or a real investor would have done it that way. For me this wasn’t primarily a real estate acquisition - it’s the backdrop for everything else I want to do with my life. Events, media, set design, photography, creating worlds for people. There’s still a very real financial aspect to it and it’s terrifying, but there was no way to know what it was really going to cost until I had solid relationships with people on the ground. Every artisan, every vendor - you’re testing them out, trying to figure out if it’s going to work.

What’s been your biggest unexpected cost so far?

The septic tank. The original tank was in the basement - in the actual building, as strange as it sounds. There was visible waste seeping out of old pipes. When it rained, groundwater would push it back and the smell was terrible. I spent a year and a half trying to find people I could trust to sort it, because I also wanted to future-proof it - if I eventually turn the attic into accommodation, I need a system that can handle a full house. The pipe runs 135 metres to the gatehouse at the entrance to the property. It tore up the entire front park. The lawn is only now coming back. And it cost around $60,000 - and that’s just the external part. The internal plumbing connecting everything is still to come.

See also: Episode #19 - Business costs and hidden expenses

How are you heating the place?

Slowly and expensively. I went round in circles on this for a long time. Geothermal - that’s around €150,000, so immediately no. Aerothermal - it’s complicated, you need panels, and nobody could give me a clear answer on whether it would even work given the structure. Right now I have an old radiator boiler system running on diesel, but the boilers are ancient and I probably have a leak in the underground fuel tank. I’ve brought three fireplaces back out of eight, which is wonderful for ambiance and almost useless for heating - but they’re huge beautiful marble fireplaces and I love them. The most sensible advice I’ve had so far is to replace the old boilers with a more efficient modern system and just burn fuel better. That could save around 50%. The other thing I really need is proper heavy draperies throughout. These high-ceilinged stone rooms retain cold in winter.

How have you found tradespeople?

It’s been one of the hardest things. Facebook has been something of a cesspool, frankly - there are very unkind people in those groups. Mostly it’s been word of mouth: one person introduces me to another person, who introduces me to someone else, often because something’s broken urgently and I just need to find somebody fast. I’ve asked other chateau owners, I’ve asked neighbours, I’ve used a list from the previous owner. You’re building a little black book gradually.

The other challenge is that in France trades are very specific - the electrician does electrics, the carpenter does carpentry, the plaquiste does walls, and they don’t step outside of that. What [Rosie and Sue’s] companies do - being multi-trade, being able to coordinate everything and hold it all together - is rare and genuinely necessary, but there aren’t many of them.

🪟 Special offer for French Reno Diaries listeners:

Renovating in France and need new windows or doors? Haute Gamme Fenêtre is offering a 7% discount to the first listeners who order made-to-measure replacement windows and/or doors through either S.R. Charpenterie (Sue’s company, based in the Gers) or Maison Bretagne (Rosie’s company, in Brittany). Quote FRENCHRENO7 when you get in touch.

Why did you decide to document the project publicly?

My background is in film and television, so it made sense to use those skills. There’s a real niche for chateau renovation content on YouTube and I thought the media piece would be the low-hanging fruit, the quick income generator. It isn’t, really - not until you have hundreds of thousands of followers. YouTube doesn’t pay much without serious volume, and building that audience takes time. I’m growing but it’s not overnight. The longer game is that once you hit a certain reach, sponsors start coming to you, and being a commercial director for thirty years means I understand that world really well. But it’s also about sharing the reality of what this is. Both things are true.

What are the downsides of doing it publicly?

People can be mean. At first it really affected me. It wasn’t the criticism - I’ve had plenty of that over a thirty-year career - it was more the state of the world that produces that kind of behaviour and normalises it. People writing nastiness into the void, not brave enough to say any of it to someone’s face. I’ve now put strong language filters in place, which might be one reason my growth is a little slower - if something even smells negative, it doesn’t get through. I spent sixty hours editing a video once. I can’t have someone tank that with a few nasty words. Stephanie Jarvis of Chateau Diaries talks about being thick-skinned about this and I’m working on it. I want to clap back, which I know is exactly the wrong instinct. I’m getting better at letting it go.

What’s been your funniest moment on camera?

I was up in the stables filming Vince, my handyman. There’s a lot of debris and dirt, and you’re not always sure where you’re stepping - and I asked Vince whether the floor was safe. He said, ‘Oh, yes’. My right leg went straight through it. Luckily, I had the sense to spin the camera around and catch my own reaction!

Has the project changed you as a person?

It’s aged me. I’m joking, but not entirely. My self-care routine is basically non-existent right now. I have two-inch roots permanently. I sleep in the dining room. I brush my teeth at the kitchen sink. My arthritis is getting worse. My energy isn’t what it used to be and I wasn’t really prepared for that. In LA I’d be doing Pilates, getting facials, shopping at Whole Foods. Here I found someone to do my nails and I was genuinely thrilled. But I think there’s something healthy about caring less about how you look on camera. If I only filmed myself when I looked good, I’d never film anything - because I’m working from dawn to midnight, I’m filthy, it rains constantly, and there are flies and hornets and bird mess everywhere. It is not glamorous at all.

And your one piece of advice for anyone thinking about doing something similar?

Learn French. That genuinely is my first piece of advice. But also: know that this is a long game. You have to have stamina, and you have to protect your stamina. And choose your location carefully. If you need restaurants and services nearby to function happily - not as a nice-to-have but as an actual need - then get closer to them. Don’t do what I did and go completely rural because you fell in love with a property and then discover that isolation is harder to live with than you expected. Location, location, location - we’ve all said it, and it turns out it applies to châteaux too.

Connect with Morgan

• YouTube: GoGo Chateau

• Instagram: @gogo.chateau

• TikTok: @gogochateau

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Email: frenchrenodiaries@gmail.com

Maison Bretagne (Rosie Ellis)

S.R. Charpenterie (Sue Peake-Russell)

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How to turn your French renovation into a successful business

Buying a French property and turning it into a business - a gîte, chambre d’hôtes, wedding venue, retreat or campsite - is one of the most common dreams among people renovating in France. It’s also one of the areas where the most expensive mistakes get made, often before a single artisan has been called.

In this episode, Sue Peake-Russell is joined by Lisa Clapisson, a freelance business accountancy adviser who spent years working as an accountant before going independent to focus on what she actually cares about: educating people. Lisa now specialises in guiding business owners through the complexities of French business structures, cotisations, tax planning and business planning. She’s seen the successes, the failures and every expensive mistake in between - and she doesn’t sugarcoat any of it.

Note: Rosie is away this week working on a chateau project in Normandy.

What’s the biggest mistake people make when buying property in France to run as a business?

Lisa’s answer is unequivocal:

The biggest mistake people make is first of all falling in love with the property and then trying to find a business that will fit their property instead of coming with a business plan and then finding the property that will suit their business plan - and they tend to think about the business plan far, far too late in the day.

This is the foundation upon which everything else in this episode is built. The property is not the business. The business plan comes first.

Is running a gîte business in France still a good idea?

The gîte market in France is heavily saturated. The question isn’t whether you can create a beautiful property. It’s why anyone would choose yours over the dozens of others in your area.

There’s also a structural problem for people using a gîte or holiday let business in France as their primary income source, particularly for British people coming over post-Brexit. To validate a work visa, you need to show a minimum of around €22,000 of taxable revenue per year. But a properly structured property-based business - one that’s been set up to be tax efficient - is specifically designed not to show much profit in its early years, because of the significant depreciation available on the property and renovation costs.

The two things are actually at odds. You can either choose to satisfy your visa requirements or you can choose to optimise your tax. You can’t do both at the same time.

Lisa’s advice: if you need to validate a work visa, have a separate income-generating activity - consultancy, freelancing, whatever your background allows - and treat the gîte as a secondary revenue stream. A holiday let business in France works well as a supplementary income. As a primary income used to satisfy visa requirements, it becomes an expensive way to give money to the state.

How do I know if a wedding venue or chambre d’hôtes business is viable in France?

Before you look at a single property, do the research. For a wedding venue specifically, Lisa recommends speaking with wedding planners* first - find out what kind of venues are in demand, what accommodation is required, what size of wedding is most sought-after, and what realistic annual turnover looks like. Then see whether a potential property could meet those requirements within your budget.

Sue Peake-Russell adds an important practical point: any property receiving the public - a wedding venue, event space or hospitality business - falls under ERP rules (Établissement Recevant du Public), which means laws around fire exits, disabled access, ramps and accessible bathrooms are applicable. These aren’t things you can retrofit as an afterthought. They have to be part of the plan from the start, and they can significantly affect the layout of an old building.

For more on ERP and what it means for renovating a commercial property in France, see Episode #13 - Do you really need a project manager for your French renovation?.

*Sue has a wedding planning business with her partner, Louisa, which she runs alongside the family renovation business, S.R. Charpenterie. Sue and Louisa offer consultancy services to people thinking about opening a wedding venue in France. You can contact them at Chic et Unique.

Is a micro entreprise the right structure for running a hospitality business in France?

Almost certainly not as a long-term solution - and possibly not even as a starting point if you’re renovating a property at significant cost.

Lisa is emphatic about this. A micro entreprise is the simplest business structure in France. It is not the cheapest.

Nobody ever in any of the official documentation said that a micro was the cheapest way to run a business. They said it’s the simplest way to run a business.

Here’s why it matters for property-based businesses. A micro entreprise does not allow you to deduct expenses. Any money you put into renovating, furnishing or equipping your property comes out of your own pocket with no way of claiming it back through the business - unless and until you sell the property. You also can’t reclaim TVA on artisan invoices as a micro, which on a significant renovation can amount to a very large sum.

A properly structured property-based business, by contrast, can depreciate the property itself, the renovation costs, the furnishings and equipment - meaning that for several years, that depreciation cancels out any taxable profit, leaving you with minimal tax and social charges to pay.

The danger is that people start as a micro because it’s easy and familiar, then invest tens or hundreds of thousands into improving the property, and only later discover how much that’s cost them in lost deductions.

Lisa has a client who finally made the move from micro to a limited liability company after years of operating the wrong way. When she sold the accrued value of her micro to her new company, it turned out to be worth tens of thousands of euros - money she’d effectively been leaving on the table every year.

If you want to get out of it you can recuperate some of that money. But you can’t do it if you stay in your micro. You need to make a move.

Can I renovate first and sort out the business paperwork later?

No. This is one of the most expensive approaches you can take.

In the UK, you can be relatively flexible about what you do with a property - flip it, rent it, live in it yourself. You can change your mind as circumstances change. That flexibility does not exist in France. The tax system is rigid, and every time you change your intended use of a property, there’s a cost.

You need to know right from the start when you buy your property: am I going to live in this myself? Am I going to do it up and sell it on? Am I going to hold it long term and rent it out? All of those things will have a separate approach.

Lisa gives the example of a client who bought a chateau specifically as a wedding venue. Nothing was done - no hammer was lifted - until a full business plan was in place, including research into the optimal number of bedrooms, bathroom requirements, the most bookable wedding sizes and the best layout for the purpose. The result: a property projected to generate over €300,000 per year in turnover once operational, with the renovation done once and done right.

Planning first saves money. Renovating first and working it out later costs it.

What business structure should I use for a property business in France?

This depends entirely on what you’re doing, what your revenue looks like and what your long-term plans are. Lisa doesn’t give a one-size-fits-all answer - but she does flag the structures most relevant to property businesses.

Micro entreprise - administratively simple, but you can’t deduct expenses, can’t reclaim TVA, and it becomes tax-inefficient above a certain turnover. For chambre d’hôtes specifically, the allowable tax deduction has just been cut from 71% to 50%, which is causing real problems for people who built their model around the previous rate.

Entreprise individuelle (sole trader France) - more flexible than a micro, but still carries significant social charges and limited tax planning options.

SARL / SAS (limited liability company) - more complex to set up and administer, but allows you to deduct expenses, depreciate assets, reclaim TVA on artisan invoices and structure the business tax-efficiently. For a property-based business with significant renovation costs, this is almost always the right long-term structure.

SCI (Société Civile Immobilière) - a property holding company. Lisa’s high-budget wedding venue client used an SCI to hold the property, a separate company for the venue rental business, and a holding company above both, allowing money to flow between entities without triggering tax or social charges at each step. Most people don’t need this level of complexity, but the principle of separating property ownership from business operation is worth understanding.

For English-speaking support in France with holiday lets, gîtes and hospitality businesses, Lisa Clapisson offers freelance business accountancy advice specifically focused on helping people navigate French business structures. See her details in the resources section below.

What does it actually cost to run a hospitality business in France day to day?

More than people expect - and in ways they don’t always anticipate.

Ongoing consumables - sheets, towels, mattresses (which don’t last long under heavy use), crockery, glassware. These need a regular budget, not a one-off purchase.

Kitchen equipment - fridges, cookers, pizza ovens. There’s always something you’ll want to add or upgrade.

Garden and property maintenance - the image of floating around the garden in a white dress picking wildflowers is, as Lisa’s chambre d’hôtes clients confirm, not the reality. The reality is weeding, cleaning and general maintenance - either done yourself in old jogging bottoms, or paid for.

Staff costs - and if you can only find people willing to work for cash, those costs aren’t deductible. That’s money straight out of your pocket with no tax benefit.

Accountancy fees - for chambre d’hôtes that collect tourist tax directly (rather than through platforms like Airbnb or Booking.com), you’ll need a traditional accountant rather than a freelance adviser. Budget around €300 per month - and that’s for compliance only, not advice. Your advice has to come from elsewhere.

Taxe foncière - property tax in France, payable annually as the property owner regardless of whether the business is trading.

How does capital gains tax work in France when you sell a property used for business?

This is the conversation almost nobody has at the start - and the one that causes the most shock at the end.

The common assumption is that because it’s your primary residence, there’ll be no capital gains tax on sale. That’s not necessarily true if you’ve been running a commercial operation from the property.

As soon as you start using your property for commercial reasons, you expose yourself to capital gains tax.

Stopping the commercial activity a couple of years before selling may help - but Lisa expects the tax office to look increasingly critically at this strategy as they become more aware of it, particularly where someone has been running a commercial venue for thirty years and stops two years before putting the property on the market.

There’s also the question of what stopping the activity does to the sale. If you cease trading before selling, you’re selling a property, not a business. That’s potentially significantly less valuable than selling a going concern with established bookings, reputation and revenue. But selling as a going concern means the commercial activity is live, which reintroduces the capital gains exposure.

What can offset capital gains? Renovation costs from registered artisans with proper invoices - new roofs, new plumbing, new electrics, new septic tanks - are deductible. DIY work is not. This is another reason why using registered artisans and keeping all invoices matters enormously.

The only clean exit from capital gains tax on a property sale in France is if there is no link whatsoever to a commercial operation and it is genuinely your primary residence. Anything else, budget for tax on the sale.

For more on artisan invoices and why they matter, see Episode #15 - Rants & Bants and Episode #17 - Don’t buy that French ruin until you’ve heard what veteran estate agent Dan Newton has to say

Should I rent a venue or buy property for a retreat business in France?

If you want to run retreats, you almost certainly don’t need to own the property. This is Lisa’s clear view - and Sue agrees.

There are already many beautiful retreat venues and chambres d’hôtes across France available to rent on a weekly or weekend basis. A retreat operator can curate and sell the experience - the programme, the catering, the activities, etc - without carrying the costs of owning, renovating, maintaining, insuring and paying tax on a property.

Sue references a woman in Provence who runs high-end retreats for American women at around €8,000 per person per week. She doesn’t own the property. She rents it from a partner property owner, curates everything around it and earns her income from the retreat. The property owner earns from the rental. Nobody has to do both jobs.

Why do you need to be the owner of this magnificent property to be able to do that? There are tonnes of beautiful places available. You can definitely find one to rent.

If you’re planning to run retreats, this is worth seriously considering before committing to buying and renovating a property for that purpose.

Is property a good investment in France?

Not necessarily - and both Lisa and Dan Newton (in episode #17) make this point.

France is currently one of the most taxed property investment environments available. Property may gain in value over time, but the combination of ongoing property tax in France, social charges, income tax on rental revenue, and potential capital gains tax on sale means the net return is often less impressive than the headline figures suggest.

This doesn’t mean property in France is a bad investment - but it means going in with clear figures, a realistic understanding of ongoing costs and a properly planned exit strategy.

What are the most underestimated costs when renovating a French property for business?

Renovation costs - they almost always exceed the original budget. Quotes go out of date. Material prices rise. Deliveries get delayed, adding months to the project and months of living costs to the bill.

Purchase costs - notaire fees on a French property purchase are significant and need to be in the budget from day one.

Social charges - the cotisations bill that arrives once you start earning is consistently one of the biggest shocks for new business owners in France. See Episode #15 for more.

Accountant’s fees - often not budgeted for at all, especially by people who think a micro simplifies everything.

The cost of doing it yourself - if you could be earning money doing something you’re qualified for, the hours spent on DIY renovations that take longer than expected and can’t be deducted from tax may actually cost more than hiring a professional. And only artisan invoices are deductible against capital gains at sale - so DIY work is doubly undeductible.

If you have another thing you could be doing which would mean a more productive use of your time - do that thing and pay a professional.

Lisa’s rant: the box problem

Every element of the French administrative system, Lisa says, is individually logical. The problem is that the individual elements don’t tie up with each other - and as soon as you’re operating outside any one of the predefined boxes, the answer is c’est pas possible.

All of us are outside the box just because we weren’t born in France and haven’t had our whole career here. So naturally we’re presenting an administrative problem right from the start.

The specific contradiction that frustrates Lisa most: what’s fiscally optimal - structuring a business to minimise tax - is incompatible with showing the revenue required to validate a work visa. Two legitimate goals. Completely at odds with each other. No logical solution within the system.

Lisa’s top-line advice for anyone thinking of running a business from a French property

1. Research first. Know the area, know the market, know what people are actually looking for and what they’ll pay. Dan Newton said the same thing in Episode #17. If it’s cheap, there’s probably a reason.

2. Do the figures. Don’t avoid the numbers. Run your projected revenue, your ongoing costs, your living costs before you commit to anything.

3. Think about your exit strategy from day one. What’s this property going to be when you want to sell it? How will you be taxed? What’s the optimal route out?

4. Get advice before you start. Not when you’re already 50 or 100 thousand euros in and wondering where it went wrong.

5. Consider having it as a secondary income, not a primary one. Seven times out of ten, a property-based business works better as a supplementary revenue stream than a primary income - particularly in terms of tax optimisation.

Glossary

Micro entreprise - France’s simplest business structure; no expense deductions, no TVA recovery, and a flat-rate tax allowance applied to turnover. Administratively simple, but not tax-efficient for property businesses with significant costs.

Entreprise individuelle - sole trader structure in France; more flexible than a micro but still subject to high social charges.

SARL / SAS - French limited liability company structures; more complex to set up but allow full expense deduction, TVA recovery and tax optimisation.

SCI (Société Civile Immobilière) - a property holding company used to separate property ownership from a trading business.

Cotisations - French social charges, paid by anyone working in France. Calculated on declared revenue and can be substantial.

TVA - French VAT (currently 20% standard rate). Recoverable if you’re registered for TVA; not recoverable as a micro.

Micro entreprise tax allowance - the percentage of turnover the tax office assumes you keep after expenses. For chambre d’hôtes, this has recently been cut from 71% to 50%.

ERP (Établissement Recevant du Public) - public-facing building classification with strict requirements around fire safety, disabled access and accessible facilities.

Capital gains tax (plus-value immobilière) - tax on the profit made when selling a French property. Exemptions for primary residences may not apply if the property has been used for commercial purposes.

Taxe foncière - annual French property tax, payable by the owner regardless of whether the property is earning income.

Taxe de séjour - tourist tax, collected from guests and paid to the local mairie. Handled automatically by platforms like Airbnb and Booking.com; must be managed manually for direct bookings.

Artisan invoice (facture d’artisan) - a VAT invoice from a registered artisan. Essential for deducting renovation costs against capital gains at sale. DIY works are not deductible.

Going concern - a business sold as a live, operational entity with established revenue, bookings and reputation. More valuable than selling the property alone, but with different tax implications.

Décennale - the 10-year structural liability insurance held by registered artisans. See Episode #5 - Why insurance IS worth the paper it’s written on for more.

Work visa (visa travailleur) - required for non-EU nationals (including post-Brexit UK nationals) to work in France. Requires demonstrating a minimum annual revenue of approximately €22,000.

🎁 Exclusive special offer for French Reno Diaries listeners

Haute Gamme Fenêtre is offering a 7% discount to the first customers who order made-to-measure replacement windows and/or doors through either S.R. Charpenterie (Sue’s company, based in the Gers) or Maison Bretagne (Rosie’s company, in Brittany). Quote FRENCHRENO7 when you get in touch.

Resources and further reading

• Lisa Clapisson - freelance business accountancy adviser specialising in French business structures, cotisations and tax planning for English-speaking business owners in France. Contact Lisa via her website www.abcaccounting.fr, and get free advice from Lisa on her YouTube channel and Facebook page

• Chic et Unique Events - Sue and her business partner, Louisa’s wedding planning business, which includes wedding venue business consultancy services. Contact them via the Chic et Unique website, Instagram or Facebook.

• Dan Newton / Agence Newton - estate agent featured in Episode #17 - Don’t buy that French ruin until you’ve heard what veteran estate agent Dan Newton has to say. His point that cheap properties are cheap for a reason, and that location determines resale value, correlates with Lisa’s advice in this episode.

• ERP rules and public-facing renovations - also discussed in Episode #13 - Do you really need a project manager for your French renovation?

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Email: frenchrenodiaries@gmail.com

S.R. Charpenterie (Sue Peake-Russell)

Maison Bretagne (Rosie Ellis)

If you prefer using another podcast app, you can also find us on: Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Amazon Music | Deezer | RSS.com

Whether you’re decorating a French property on a budget, trying to figure out what interior design in France actually looks like beyond the glossy Paris magazines, or wondering whether to hire an interior designer at all - this episode is for you.

Christina Rougerie is an American-born interior architect based in Brittany, and she brings a rare dual perspective: the precision and clarity of the US design market, and a deep understanding of French architectural heritage and how people actually live here. Sue and Rosie aren’t short of questions for Christina - and her answers are very revealing…

In this episode

• French interior design vs American: what the differences actually are

• The mid-market decor gap in France — and where to find affordable decor

• Over-renovating for your market: the mistake that costs expats the most

• How to elevate an IKEA kitchen in France

• Interior design principles for DIY renovators

• When to call in a professional — and why it saves money in the long run

• Sourcing home decor in France: Christina’s recommendations

• Renovation and resale: what adds value in the French market

• Rants and bants: anthracite, bifold doors, and why design isn’t just the “fun bit at the end”

🎁 Exclusive Plum Living offer for French Reno Diaries listeners Use the code FRENCHPLUM5 to receive 5 free samples — you just pay €3.50 towards postage. We earn a small commission on orders placed with this code, which helps keep the podcast going. Thank you for your support!

Q&A with Christina Rougerie

You moved from Houston, Texas to Brittany. What was your first “we’re not in Texas anymore” moment?

Everything is just so much smaller here! In Texas, everything’s bigger - the meals, the drinks, the cars. I arrived and felt like I was driving a toy car. I thought someone’s feet must be running it along from underneath.

You operate at the intersection of French and American design cultures. Before we get into that, can you explain the difference between an interior architect and an interior decorator in France?

In the US I’m an interior designer - that’s my title. In France, the literal translation of architecte d’intérieur is interior architect, but it essentially means the same thing as interior designer in the US. The key distinction in France is between that and an décorateur d’intérieur - an interior decorator - which is a different diploma and a more purely aesthetic role. As an interior architect, I can produce technical drawings and I’m licensed for spaces up to 150 square metres, so I can work with structural interior elements, not just styling.

What’s the biggest difference between French and American clients?

American clients give me everything. Long Pinterest boards, detailed questionnaires, very clear on what they want and don’t want. French clients are the opposite - they expect me to just know. I’ll send a full questionnaire and get back very little, because the attitude is: you’re the professional, figure it out. I’ve had to learn to rely a lot more on intuition with French clients.

What’s the biggest mistake expats make when decorating a French property?

Over-renovating for the market. Expats tend to go in with a renovation-and-resale or renovation-for-rental mindset, and they spend on high-end materials that the local market simply won’t return. Putting a €10,000 bathroom into a small one-bedroom apartment, for example. The French approach to quality is different - they guard it, they don’t strip out characterful features in the name of modernising, but they also don’t over-invest in ways that don’t make financial sense for the property.

You mentioned the French aesthetic is different from what we imagine from magazines. What does French style actually look like in everyday homes?

The aspirational interiors you see in French design magazines - wrinkled sheets, imperfect styling, a lived-in feel - that’s considered good taste here. In the US, good taste means everything is perfect, crisp, hotel-ready. In France it’s the opposite. When I visit my husband’s family, their homes are comfortable, curated, and very well thought out - but function comes before aesthetics. It needs to work before it needs to look good.

Let’s talk about sourcing decor. The mid-market gap in France is a real frustration for many renovators. What do you recommend?

The gap is real and it’s frustrating. In France you’re often choosing between low-quality mass-market options - Centrakor would be the equivalent of Hobby Lobby in the US, or Home Bargains in the UK - and very expensive boutique pieces. There’s not much in between.

That said, here’s where I’d look:

Vide greniers - go early. Some run all year round; there are several in Normandy that are permanent.

Brocantes - hit or miss on price, but worth going regularly. Some have inflated prices, some are slim pickings, but you can find genuinely beautiful pieces.

La Redoute / AM.PM - their catalogue has some really good mid-to-higher-range pieces, and the sales are excellent.

Maison du Monde - yes, it leans into the French shabby chic aesthetic, but it’s where a lot of French people actually shop, and for good reason. The mirrors especially are great value.

Lights.ie - an Irish lighting brand that’s a favourite of mine, because good lighting in France can be painfully expensive.

Plum Living - more on this below, but a real find for upgrading an IKEA kitchen without the custom price tag.

Ferm Living - a Danish brand, well worth knowing for quality mid-range pieces.

Cdiscount - think of it as French Amazon. You can find higher-end pieces at a significant discount, and there are showrooms in larger cities if you want to see things in person.

🎁 A note on Plum Living — and an exclusive offer for French Reno Diaries listeners Christina recommends Plum Living for upgrading IKEA kitchens with quality replacement facades (more on this below). We’ve secured an exclusive code for our listeners: use FRENCHPLUM5 to get 5 free samples — you just pay €3.50 towards postage. We earn a small commission on orders placed with this code, which helps keep the podcast going. Thank you!

IKEA kitchens come up a lot. Do you still get requests for them, and is there a way to elevate one?

Absolutely, and I don’t have a problem with IKEA kitchens depending on the budget and the market you’re working in. The carcasses and base units are perfectly good - it genuinely doesn’t make sense to go custom unless you have the budget for it or you’re dealing with unusual wall angles that require bespoke solutions.

Where IKEA lets you down is the fronts. And that’s exactly where Plum Living comes in. You keep all the IKEA bases and units - which are significantly cheaper than any custom alternative - and you replace the cabinet faces with Plum Living’s higher-quality facades. Then change the hardware. That alone transforms the look completely. It’s a smart way to get a kitchen that doesn’t read as IKEA without paying custom prices.

What are your key interior design principles for DIY renovators?

Start with the light, not the colour. Before you fall in love with a paint shade, understand the light in the space, especially in older French houses, which often have limited natural light. A north-facing room will kill a colour you loved in the shop.

Then ask yourself: how do you want this space to feel when you walk in? Not what style do you want - how do you want to feel. Cosy? Energised? Calm? That’s the real starting point, and everything else - furniture layout, colour, materials - follows from there.

After that, think about how you actually use the room. A French client’s living room is often used for aperitifs with guests - lots of seating, functional, inviting. An American client’s living room is for movie nights with the family - comfortable, cosy, TV as centrepiece. Neither is wrong, but they lead to completely different design decisions.

What are the most common layout mistakes people make?

Two big ones. First: pushing all the furniture against the walls. It kills the flow of a space and makes it feel static. Furniture needs to breathe, and circulation paths matter.

Second: buying the big sofa before measuring the room. I’ve been called in so many times - both in France and the US - where someone has spent €2,000–5,000 on a sofa that simply doesn’t work in the space. Measure first. Always.

How do you approach colour in a property with existing architectural character?

Let the architecture lead. Colour should complement the space, not compete with it. That doesn’t mean you can’t be bold - it means the boldness needs to be in conversation with what’s already there. If you have dark floors and strong architectural mouldings and a south-facing room with plenty of light, you can absolutely go dark and moody on the walls. That creates warmth.

If you’re nervous about colour, go neutral on the walls and bring it in through accessories - throw pillows, rugs, artwork. That way you can evolve the palette without repainting. And if you want to experiment with something dramatic, the downstairs toilet is the room to do it. Everyone expects something unexpected in there.

For resale, keep walls neutral. Save the personality for things you can take with you.

What about renovation and resale in France - what actually adds value?

Kitchens and bathrooms. That’s where the French market responds most. Beyond that: storage. It’s consistently undervalued in French properties and genuinely sought after by buyers and renters alike. Built-in wardrobes, understair cupboards, fitted shelving - these add real value, particularly in properties where armoires have historically done all the heavy lifting.

One caveat: if you’re thinking about adding built-in storage, think carefully about scale. Any wall you add takes up square metres. A walk-in wardrobe needs circulation space - a minimum of about 60cm just to move around in. Make sure the maths works before you commit.

For rental properties specifically, think about DPE. A better energy rating means a better rental position and a better resale value. If you’re renovating to rent long-term, the DPE isn’t optional.

Find out what French estate agent, Dan Newton, says about DPE in episode 17

When should a DIY renovator call in an interior designer - and why does it save money?

Think of it this way: spend €3 at the start and save €10 later, rather than saving the €3 and spending €13 fixing mistakes. The cost of undoing decisions made without a spatial plan - knocking out a wall and then realising the bathroom layout doesn’t work, or putting in a staircase that blocks natural light - is almost always more than the designer’s fee.

The other thing that rarely gets mentioned: an interior architect can act as a bridge between you and the artisans. When everyone’s working from a clear set of drawings, there’s less ambiguity, fewer mid-project changes, and less of that domino effect where one late decision delays everything else. The French renovation industry is very trade-specific - your electrician does electrics, your plaquiste does the walls, and nobody’s going to step outside their lane to flag a design problem. A designer will.

Do you need a project manager for your French renovation? Listen to episode 13!

Any final advice for someone just starting a French renovation?

If you’ve just arrived in France, live in the space before you design it. Give yourself at least twelve months. You’ll go through all the seasons, you’ll understand how the light changes, how you actually move through the rooms, what you use and what you don’t. Your perspective will shift - especially if you’re transitioning from another culture - and what you thought you wanted at the beginning often turns out to be completely different from what you need.

Rants and bants with Christina

Christina’s rant: Design is not the fun bit at the end. It’s the strategic framework that should be in place from the beginning. Treating it as a nice-to-have you get to once the building work is done is how people end up with beautiful renovations that don’t quite work to live in.

Her other rant: Anthracite. RAL 7016. On every window, every garage door, every fence in France. Christina doesn’t recommend it, doesn’t source it, and might have it written into her terms and conditions!

(Sue’s update: bronze powder coating - RAL 8001 - is quietly becoming the new anthracite for higher-end clients, and against stone it looks genuinely beautiful.

Glossary

Architecte d’intérieur - interior architect/designer in France; a qualified professional licensed for spaces up to 150m² who can produce technical drawings and work with interior spatial planning

Décorateur d’intérieur - interior decorator; a different French diploma focused on the aesthetic side of interiors

Vide grenier - literally “empty attic”; a French car boot sale or flea market

Brocante - a second-hand or antique market; more curated than a vide grenier

Plaquiste - the tradesperson who installs plasterboard and internal wall linings

DPE (Diagnostic de Performance Énergétique) - France’s energy efficiency rating, from A (best) to G (worst); increasingly important for rental and resale

RAL 7016 - the colour code for anthracite grey; ubiquitous on French windows, doors, and gates

RDC (Rez-de-chaussée) - ground floor (French/UK equivalent); what Americans call the first floor

Devis - a formal written quote for works

Resources and links

• Christina Rougerie - website: christinarougerie.com | Instagram: @christina_perez_rougerie

• Plum Living - Use code FRENCHPLUM5 for 5 free samples (€3.50 postage). This is an affiliate link - we earn a small commission, which helps keep the podcast going. Thank you for your support!

• La Redoute / AM.PM

• Maison du Monde

• Lights.ie

• Ferm Living

• Cdiscount

Connect

Facebook | Instagram

Email: frenchrenodiaries@gmail.com

Renovation enquiries

Maison Bretagne (Rosie Ellis)

S.R. Charpenterie (Sue Peake-Russell)

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The art of buying and selling property to renovate in France

If you’re thinking about buying a property in France - whether it’s a ruin to renovate, a half-finished project or something more liveable - this episode is essential listening. Dan Newton has been selling property in France for nearly 40 years. He was the first British person to hold a full real estate licence in Brittany, he’s overseen hundreds of sales, and he spent years running renovation projects alongside his agency work. He’s seen it all - and he’s refreshingly direct about it.

In this conversation, Dan joins Rosie and Sue to talk about the buying process, renovation budgets, the DPE, property investment in France, and the things people consistently get wrong before they’ve even signed anything.

Who is Dan Newton?

Dan arrived in France at 16 for what was meant to be a year out after his O-Levels. His parents - a painter and a writer - had moved there for the good life, and after a bureaucratic dead end trying to get art school funding on both sides of the Channel, Dan stayed. A magazine article about his family’s life in France prompted 450 letters from readers asking about property - all arriving by post, before the internet existed. A business was born.

His parents’ original company, Find and Renovate, oversaw around 400 renovation projects across Brittany, with Dan’s father working as maître d’œuvre and Dan himself going around sites to check progress. He later qualified as a fully licenced agent immobilier - something that requires serious credentials in France, as he explains - and set up Agence Newton, which has been running ever since.

Why renovation budgets catch people out

One of the most striking things Dan shares is that when buyers get proper renovation estimates done, around two thirds of them walk away from the sale. That’s not a small number.

The reasons are familiar to anyone working in the French renovation industry. Buyers from the UK often arrive with the old rule of thumb - buy the property and double the price to cover renovations. It doesn’t work, especially now. A full renovation project at €100,000 could easily need €50,000 of roof repairs before anything else is touched.

American buyers, Dan says, often apply the logic of timber-frame construction - houses that go up in weeks - to solid stone properties that play by entirely different rules.

And then there’s the square meterage problem. A London townhouse might have an 80m² roof. A French farmhouse bought for the same money could have a 300m² roof. The scale of everything - labour, materials, time - multiplies accordingly.

Dan’s advice: if you’re seriously considering a renovation project, get proper estimates done before you fall in love with the property. And if you can’t face the estimates, think carefully about whether a property that’s already basically liveable might be a better fit, even if it costs a bit more to buy.

The roof: look at it first

Dan’s single most consistent piece of advice for buyers is to check the roof. Even if it looks okay, ask: if you’re going to spend two or three years renovating this property, do you want to find out five years later that the roof needs replacing too?

A good roof isn’t just about keeping the rain out. It affects the DPE, it affects the structural timeline of everything below it, and it’s one of the most expensive single items in any renovation. As Sue says, their own house cost less than €20,000 ten years ago - and the roof cost more than the purchase price.

Does flipping property work in France?

Short answer: not really, not in the way people think.

The market works against it. The system works against it. And if you do it without the right legal structure, the tax office can come after you too.

The official status for property trading in France is called a marchand de biens. It comes with specific tax rules - including paying only a third of normal notary fees on purchase - but the property must be resold within five years. Most French marchands de biens aren’t doing full renovations; they’re finding off-market deals or splitting large properties into multiple units.

If you want to make money from French property, Dan’s view is that it’s more about location and DPE than aesthetics. A well-insulated, energy-efficient property with a good rating will sell more easily and for more money to the French market than a beautifully decorated one with a G rating.

The DPE: what it actually means for you

The Diagnostic de Performance Énergétique (DPE) is France’s energy efficiency rating system, running from A (most efficient) to G (least). It takes into account the heating system, insulation, glazing and more.

A few things worth knowing:

For old stone properties, Dan is sceptical of the current DPE methodology. The calculations are based on modern building techniques and don’t fully account for the thermal mass of thick stone walls - walls that can keep a property at 21°C inside when it’s 42°C outside, without air conditioning. A low rating on an old house isn’t necessarily a true reflection of how it performs.

For buyers, a low DPE on an old property is almost the baseline - it’s where the market is. A good rating is a bonus that adds value; a bad one doesn’t necessarily subtract it in the way it would for a newer property.

For landlords, the rules differ depending on whether you’re doing long-term or short-term lettings. For long-term rentals, the property currently needs to meet a minimum DPE rating. For short-term holiday lets of fewer than 90 days per year, the DPE requirement doesn’t currently apply, though Dan expects that to change.

For sellers, if you’re renovating to sell to the French market, prioritising the DPE (insulation, heating system, glazing) will do more for your sale price than the aesthetics will.

The French buying process: what to expect

The French system can feel bureaucratic to buyers from the UK or US, but Dan argues it’s actually more robust and safer for everyone involved.

Once an offer is agreed, a compromis de vente (initial contract) is signed by both parties. Everything is set out in writing from the start - conditions, clauses, timelines. The notaire then does the legal work, which typically takes around three months.

What surprises most buyers: after signing the compromis, there’s often almost complete silence for two to three months. In the UK, solicitors and agents are in regular contact keeping everyone updated. In France, because everything was agreed upfront, there’s simply less to say - until about two weeks before completion. Dan says this is probably the single thing that causes most anxiety for foreign buyers, and it’s worth knowing in advance.

Clauses matter. If your purchase is dependent on getting a loan, or on planning permission for what you intend to do with the property, those conditions need to be written into the compromis. Rosie and Sue know of cases where buyers pulled out and lost money because the right clauses weren’t in place. Your estate agent - if they’re properly licenced - should guide you through this.

On deposits: a deposit of up to 10% of the net sale price is typically paid at the compromis stage, though it can be negotiated. Five to six percent is more common currently.

5 essential questions to ask before you buy property in France

Dan’s advice is that French estate agents are legally obliged to answer questions honestly - but they won’t always volunteer information. Ask directly, before you commit:

1. What’s the septic tank situation, and when was it last inspected?

2. Are there any planned developments nearby - e.g. wind turbines, new roads, infrastructure?

3. Are there any known neighbour disputes or rights of way issues?

4. What’s the roof condition, and when was it last worked on?

5. What’s the DPE rating, and how was it calculated?

Vice cachée — what it is and what it isn’t

Vice cachée (hidden defect) is a clause in French law that allows a buyer to claim against a seller if a defect was deliberately concealed, wasn’t visible at the time of purchase, and makes the property partly or wholly unusable for its intended purpose. All three conditions need to be met.

Dan says vice cachée claims have gone from almost unheard of to around half a dozen cases a year at his agency - most of them unfounded. People discover a leak a year after buying and try to claim it was hidden. The process to prove a genuine vice cachée involves expert reports and can take several years. It’s not a quick route to getting money back.

A word on unlicensed property finders

This is Dan’s rant - and it’s a good one.

In France, agent immobilier is a legally defined, licensed profession. Dan was the first British person to hold one in Brittany. Commercial agents and negotiators can work legally under the umbrella of a licensed agency, but they shouldn’t be calling themselves estate agents, even if that’s the natural English translation.

More significantly: property finders are increasingly operating without licences, often via Instagram or Facebook. Under French law, anyone who intervenes regularly in property negotiations is considered an estate agent and needs the appropriate licence or to work under a licensed agency. Most property finders operating on social media don’t have either.

If you’re using a property finder, check they’re licensed or working under a licensed agency. If everything goes smoothly, it probably won’t matter. But if something goes wrong, it will matter a lot.

Similarly, Dan flags the growth of AI-generated property listings and unofficial property portals. A portal that just hosts listings is operating legally. The moment it starts syndicating those listings to other portals - Rightmove, Greenacres, etc. - it becomes, legally, an estate agency, and needs to be licensed as one.

Dan’s tips for buyers

• Location first, property second. Find the area you want to live in before you find the house. The house is the easy part.

• Check the roof. It’s the most expensive single item and everything else depends on it.

• Research planned developments in the area — your notaire will find some things, but ask the agent directly too.

• Sort the septic tank question early. Costs vary from around €5,000 to significantly more depending on the land and property size.

• Ask about neighbours. There’s no official report on this, but the agent knows and must answer if asked.

• Don’t choose off the internet. Visit the area first. Fall in love with the place before you fall in love with a property.

Dan’s tips for sellers

• Depersonalise, but don’t sterilise. People want to feel a house is lived in — they just don’t need to see 500 photos of your kids on the fridge.

• Listen to your agent on price. They know the local market. Setting your own price and expecting a quick sale at the top of the market rarely works.

Glossary

Agent immobilier - a fully licenced estate agent in France; a legally regulated profession

Commercial agent / négociateur - someone who works in property sales under the umbrella of a licenced agent immobilier; not the same as being a fully licenced agent

Marchand de biens - an official legal status for property traders in France, with specific tax rules

Compromis de vente - the initial sale contract, signed by buyer and seller once an offer is agreed

Acte de vente - the final deed of sale, signed at the notaire’s office at completion

Notaire - a French public official (lawyer) who handles the legal side of property transactions

DPE (Diagnostic de Performance Énergétique) - France’s energy efficiency rating, from A to G

Vice cachée - hidden defect; a legal clause allowing buyers to claim against sellers for deliberately concealed defects

Fosse septique - septic tank; required in properties not connected to mains drainage

Décennale - the mandatory 10-year structural liability insurance held by registered artisans

Dommage ouvrage - a complementary insurance taken out by the project owner before works begin, covering defects without waiting for liability to be established

Maître d’œuvre - project manager; the person contracted to manage renovation works on the owner’s behalf

Find Dan Newton

• YouTube: The French Estate Agent

• Facebook: Dan Newton Pro

• Website: agencenewton.com

• Facebook group: French Homes for Sale

Connect with French Reno Diaries!

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Email: frenchrenodiaries@gmail.com

Maison Bretagne (Rosie Ellis) | S.R. Charpenterie (Sue Peake-Russell)

📢 The noisy bit! (what’s been happening on the podcast this month)

We’ve had a big ol’ moan and a big ol’ laugh this month, starting with Episode 15 - a Rants and Bants episode that covers everything from misguided Facebook comments about refusing to pay deposits to artisans, to Londoners who think renovating in France is just the same as it is in the UK (spoiler: it isn’t).

And, nobody’s Instagram feed is showing you this - but Rosie, Sue and Micala are! In Episode 16, we share our own living-on-site stories. Expect to come away knowing how to make living on site work - without getting burnt out, destroying your relationship, or going without a wash!

By the way…

The eagle-eyed (or eared) among you will have noticed that we’re now publishing every fortnight instead of weekly. Need more FRD Uncensored? Check the list below to see if there are any you missed in the bumper five-week month that was March! (Or, even better, contact us about sponsoring the show and we might be able to publish episodes more frequently again. That’s a genuine offer…)

• Episode 14: Rants & bants (The one where we consider doing Bulgarian Reno Diaries)

• Episode 13: Do you really need a project manager for your French renovation?

• Episode 12: Rants & Bants! (The one where everyone’s an expert)

• Episode 11: Women in reno in France (and why visibility matters more than ever)

• Episode 10: Rants & Bants! (The one where the dream meets French paperwork)

What we’re seeing ‘on the ground’

Across our own projects and client consultations, a few patterns keep coming up:

1. Timelines are still being underestimated
   Projects are rarely quick. Planning, permissions, ordering materials, and coordinating trades all take time, and delays can happen at multiple stages.

2. Costs are continuing to rise
   We’re seeing ongoing increases in fuel, and suppliers have already started warning of further price rises on materials. This has a direct impact on overall project costs, especially on longer renovations where prices can shift mid-project.

3. Budgets are still being underestimated at purchase stage
   For full renovations, we’re consistently seeing figures that surprise people once they get into the detail. These aren’t ‘worst case’ figures - it’s just the reality of doing things properly with qualified trades.

Ce n’est qu’un au revoir…

There’s been a big change behind the scenes this month, which will become apparent to you, dear listener, from Episode 17 (due out Tue 12th May) onwards. Our co-host, Micala, has taken the tough decision to step away from the podcast for now, due to other commitments. We’ve loved having her on French Reno Diaries and she’s been a big part of what it’s become. She’ll definitely be missed, but we’re comforted by the fact that we’ll still be be seeing her on the online French reno circuit - and, who knows, maybe she’ll be back on the show one day…

Sue returns - with tales a plenty (and muddy hands!)

Sue recently spent time in Kenya volunteering with the Nasio Trust - and she’s come back full of inspiration and admiration.

“It was a completely different pace of life and a real eye opener, working alongside local teams and being part of projects that make a genuine difference to families and the wider community.

“One of the hands on moments was helping to “smear” a house, a traditional process using mud to finish and protect the walls. It’s simple, physical work, but plays such an important role in creating safe, liveable homes.”

Needless to say, it’s an experience that’s stayed with her - and one she’ll no doubt share more about over the coming months. In the meantime, if you’d like to support the charity and the work they’re doing, you can donate via Sue’s JustGiving page 🫶

French Reno Hacks

Trade tip of the month: If you’re hoping to have work done before summer, don’t just ask “When can you start?”. Instead, ask:

• Are materials available and what are the lead times?

• Who is actually going to be on site and when?

• What needs to happen before work can begin?

Because in most cases, it’s not the start date that delays a project - it’s everything that comes before it!

Good to know: If you’re buying a property to renovate in France, the purchase price is only part of the story. By the time you factor in notaire fees, surveys and reports, initial securing or safety works, and the first stage payments to trades, you may need access to funds much earlier than expected. We often see projects stall before they even begin, simply because the upfront costs weren’t fully planned for.

And finally…

We’ve got some cracking episodes coming up, featuring a strong mix of guests - from estate agents and interior designers through to business consultants and YouTubers who’ve documented their own renovation journeys. As well as quizzing them on everything they’ve experienced in the French reno world and extracting as much advice as possible, we’re inviting them all to join in with our Rants and Bants, which you’ll now find at the end of each episode. We’re also including a round-up of your comments and emails - keep an ear out if you’ve had something to say! 👂

Until next time, happy renovating!

Sue & Rosie

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Everything you need to know about living on site while renovating in France

Living on site while renovating is one of the most common - and most romanticised - decisions that people make when they buy a renovation property in France. It sounds practical. Save on rent, keep a close eye on progress, be there when the artisans arrive. What’s not to like?

Quite a lot, as it turns out. In this episode, Rosie, Sue and Micala share their own stories of living through renovations - flannel washes, frozen toilets, hosepipe showers, sleeping by the Rayburn and all - along with some brilliant (and at times heroic) tales sent in by listeners. There’s also some genuinely useful advice for anyone currently in the middle of it, or seriously considering it.

Contents

• The reality of living on site versus the Instagram version

• Personal stories from Rosie, Sue and Micala - the good, the bad and the flannel wash!

• Listener stories: monasteries, straw bales, frozen pipes and wooden pallets

• Practical tips for surviving on-site living with your sanity and relationship intact

• When it might actually be better not to live on site at all

• Renovation burnout - how to spot it and how to manage it

The reality nobody puts on Instagram

When people buy renovation properties in France, the plan is often to live in the house while the work happens. And sometimes it works out beautifully. But the reality can involve months - or, mor often, years - of dust, no proper bathroom, a camping stove for a kitchen, extension leads running everywhere, and that special kind of psychological wear that comes from always being able to see exactly how much you haven’t finished yet.

Rosie moved into a barn conversion mid-renovation with no window in the bedroom, a makeshift kitchen and very limited sanitation. Sue spent years in a house with a tarpaulin for a roof, a lean-to bathroom and a kitchen that doubled as the living room. Micala’s horror story involves a hole where the staircase used to be and a desk chair she had to be very careful about pushing back.

All three of them made it through. All three have opinions on how to do it better.

The non-negotiables: what to sort first

If you’re going to live on site, there are a few things worth prioritising above everything else - including the nice finishes you’ve been dreaming about.

Sanitation first. A working toilet and some form of shower, however temporary, should be the first thing you sort. Everything else can wait. As Sue puts it, once you’ve got sanitation and electricity established, you can manage most other things.

One decent room to escape to. Having even one space that’s finished, clean and comfortable makes an enormous difference psychologically. It doesn’t matter if the rest of the house looks like a building site - having somewhere to shut the door on it all is worth prioritising early. For Sue, that was a clean bedroom with a good bed. For Micala, it was getting a proper office set up. Pick yours.

A functioning kitchen, however basic. A camping stove and a bit of worktop space is enough to get by. What wears people down isn’t the lack of a dream kitchen - it’s having nowhere to make a cup of tea after a long day on site.

Heating. French winters are not to be underestimated, particularly in rural areas. Rosie’s partner, Jon, once spent four months sleeping next to a Rayburn in Burgundy to stop it going out overnight. If you’re moving in during autumn or winter, have a plan for heat before you arrive.

Managing the dust

Dust is the constant companion of any renovation, and if you’re living on site it will find its way into everything. A few things that help:

Use heavy plastic sheeting on doorways between the works area and the living area. It won’t keep everything out, but it makes a significant difference and saves hours of cleaning time afterwards. Sue and Scott use it on client sites as standard practice - the same approach applies at home. Dust sheets over furniture, especially anything you’re sleeping on or using daily. Accept that if you’re in rural France, there’s agricultural dust on top of renovation dust, and some level of it is just going to be part of life for a while - or forever!

Looking after yourselves - and each other

This is the bit that the renovation programmes don’t tend to cover, and it might be the most important section of this blog.

Living in a building site puts relationships under real pressure. Rosie, Sue and Micala have between them seen a lot of people arrive in France with a shared dream and leave - either the property or the relationship - before the project is finished. It’s not inevitable, but it’s common enough to take seriously.

A few things that help: take regular time away from the project together. In the early days, Sue and Scott used to find small local restaurants and go for the three-course lunch. It doesn’t have to be expensive - a picnic somewhere nice can be equally effective. The point is to spend time together that isn’t about the renovation. If you’ve got children, this matters even more.

Try to keep the end goal visible. When everything around you is unfinished, it’s easy to lose sight of why you’re doing it. Revisit the vision regularly. Look at the before photos. Walk through the room you just finished and notice it.

And if you’re also working in the trades - as Rosie, Sue and Micala all are - be especially mindful of renovation burnout. Spending your working week on other people’s projects and then coming home to your own building site is genuinely hard. Sometimes the most practical decision is to bring someone else in to move your own project forward, even if you’re perfectly capable of doing it yourself. Progress at home matters for your wellbeing, not just your to-do list.

Should you live on site at all?

Honestly, not always. If you can afford to rent somewhere nearby while the heaviest work is done, it’s worth seriously considering. The money you save by living on site can be offset by the toll it takes on your health, your relationship, and your ability to work effectively.

If renting isn’t financially possible, a decent static caravan or mobile home on site is worth considering. You keep your costs down, but you have a self-contained space to retreat to at the end of the day. Several listeners mentioned this as something they wished they’d done sooner.

If you do live on site, be realistic about timelines. Coming over for a fortnight twice a year and thinking you’ll have a property renovated in five years is, as Sue notes diplomatically, optimistic - particularly for a house that hasn’t been lived in for sixty or seventy years.

Listener stories

You sent in some brilliant ones for this episode. A few highlights:

John and Mandy (aka OK With a Lick of Paint on Facebook) moved to Brittany in January this year with their two dogs, Eddie and Dougal. The house had been empty for sixty to seventy years, cost under thirty grand, and the roof alone cost more than the purchase price. They’re living in a caravan on site. Mandy’s verdict: cold, cramped, and caravan showers are a form of torture - but opening the caravan door every morning and seeing the house reminds her exactly why they’re doing it.

Russell Matthew arrived near Bordeaux in 2003 with three-year-old triplets, a thirteen-year-old and two dogs - and took on renovating an old monastery. They ran out of money fast. He was a builder but had no work to start with. He lived off porridge, was permanently covered in dust, and says it was the best time of his life. No regrets. Those triplets are twenty-six now.

Tanya Ham spent January 2021 in a mobile home during a sudden cold snap that froze the pipes, knocked out the shower and the toilet, and left her sleeping on wooden pallets surrounded by straw bales and mice. She installed a reversible air conditioning unit, got a kettle and bucket for washing, and brought in two cats to deal with the mice. The pallets now form part of her library - because, as she puts it, they can tell stories.

A note on the dream

Lawrence Fleming, who commented on the French Reno Diaries Facebook post, had this to say: he blames the book, A Year in Provence and the TV series that followed for selling pipe dreams - and notes that renovating a house has put the nails in the coffin of many a marriage.

He’s not entirely wrong. But as Russell’s story shows, it can also be the making of one. The difference, as Rosie, Sue and Micala have found between them, usually comes down to going in with realistic expectations, protecting your relationship as carefully as you protect the project, and remembering that the chaos is temporary even when it really doesn’t feel like it.

As the team conclude, the day you finally sit in the finished house and remember where you started, it makes the whole experience worth it.

Happy renovating!

Glossary

Fosse septique — septic tank; essential in rural France where mains drainage is rarely available

Devis — a formal written quote for works

Artisan — a qualified tradesperson operating in France

Mairie — the local town hall; the body responsible for planning permissions

Rayburn — a range-style solid fuel cooker and heat source, popular in older rural properties

Franglais — the cheerfully improvised mix of French and English that gets most of us through the early years

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Maison Bretagne (Rosie Ellis) | S.R. Charpenterie (Sue Peake-Russell) | Paul Wilkins Electricien (Micala Wilkins)

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Micala’s back! And she arrives with tales of a ladies’ business breakfast, International Women’s Day, and the revelation that getting dressed properly is optional when you work from home - but it is still worth looking in the mirror, as she recently learnt!

From there it only gets livelier as the team go all in on the great deposit debate (spoiler: yes, you absolutely should pay one), the French government’s crackdown on cash-in-hand work, a very London person who thinks rural France is crying out for a pulled pork sandwich, ending with a shout-out to one of our favourite French renovation groups on Facebook, who very kindly mentioned us - though apparently our French pronunciation needs work. Nous sommes désolés. We’re working on it!

Resources and things mentioned in this episode

• Deposits and devis — Rosie, Sue and Micala discuss why established artisans absolutely do ask for deposits, and why refusing to pay one is a red flag for both parties. If it’s in a signed devis with clear payment terms, you’re protected - and so are they.

• E-invoicing and e-reporting in France - new rules are coming later in 2026 that will require businesses in certain structures to issue fully compliant digital invoices and reporting. Worth looking into if you’re a trade or running a renovation business in France

• URSSAF and social charges — the episode touches on the French social charge system, what happens when artisans (or their clients) don’t pay in, and why the homeowner can end up liable. We covered this in more detail in Episode #13: Do you really need a project manager for your French renovation?

• Working in France post-Brexit — a reminder that UK nationals no longer have the right to work in France without the correct visas and registration. Bringing a team over from the UK without the right paperwork carries serious legal and financial consequences

• Fix Radio podcast — a UK trades podcast that Sue references, discussing why clients only think they’re paying for time on the tools

• Renovations in France — a big thank you to Peter Gerrit, the tradesman behind this brilliant Facebook group, for the kind mention to his audience. We’d love to have him on as a guest. And yes, Peter, we will work on the French pronunciation!

• Small Profits (BBC) — the Mackenzie Crook series that prompted a brief but heartfelt defence of northern English pronunciation. That’ll learn ‘em

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Maison Bretagne (Rosie Ellis) | S.R. Charpenterie (Sue Peake-Russell) | Paul Wilkins Electricien (Micala Wilkins)

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It’s just Rosie and Sue this week - Micala is off doing charity work (we’ll hear all about it next time). So with no one to keep them in check, the conversation goes everywhere: renovation reality TV in Bulgaria, the murky world of YouTube chateau donors, eco villages, French new-build estates that nobody thought through, energy bills, solar panels, and a rather lovely manoir in the middle of Brittany.

Resources and things mentioned in this episode

• A New Life in the Sun — the Channel 4 series following people renovating and relocating across Europe, now available to watch online.

• Le Manoir Caché, Merdrignac — a beautifully renovated manoir in central Brittany run by Anoushka, a former London set designer. Available for stays, retreats and workshops.

• Sue’s Kenya trip — Sue is nine days away from heading to Kenya to help build homes and support a local community project. If you’d like to contribute, you can find her Just Giving page here — even the smallest donation makes a difference.

• Energy providers in France — Rosie and Sue discuss switching away from EDF and the merits of green energy suppliers. Sue managed to negotiate an 18% loyalty discount simply by asking - worth trying before you switch.

• Solar panels in France — Rosie is weighing up a solar installation and mentions the current government subsidy scheme. A topic to revisit in a future episode.

• Pavillon lotissements — the French new-build estate model discussed in the episode, where developers buy agricultural land, divide it into plots and sell them individually.

Please note: this episode was recorded before the start of the war in Iran. Energy prices mentioned in the show may no longer reflect current rates.

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Maison Bretagne (Rosie Ellis) | S.R. Charpenterie (Sue Peake-Russell) | Paul Wilkins Electricien (Micala Wilkins)

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Do you really need a project manager for your French renovation?

Project management is one of those things that renovators in France often try to skip - either to save money, or because they don’t fully understand what it involves. In this episode, Rosie and Sue pull back the curtain on what project management in France actually means, who’s qualified to do it, what it costs, and - critically - what can go wrong when you try to cut corners.

Contents

• What the law says about who’s responsible for your renovation project in France

• What a project manager (maître d’œuvre) actually does day-to-day

• Who should - and shouldn’t - be managing your project

• The ‘attestation de vigilance’: what it is and why it could save you thousands

• How much project management costs, and why it’s often false economy to skip it

• Special considerations if you’re opening a gîte or other public-facing business

• Red flags to watch for when hiring a project manager

• When you probably don’t need one at all

First, the legal bit: who’s responsible for what?

In France, when you commission renovation works, you are legally the maître d’ouvrage - the project owner. This means you sign the devis, approve any variations, pay the invoices, and formally accept the completed works at the end. Importantly, this role cannot be transferred to anyone else, even if you hire a project manager.

This surprises a lot of foreign homeowners, who assume that handing the keys to someone else means handing over the responsibility too. It doesn’t. You remain legally on the hook throughout.

The person you hire to manage the project on your behalf is called the maître d’œuvre. Their job is to coordinate trades, sequence the works, attend site meetings, oversee progress, and act as the link between you and the artisans. If they’re negligent in carrying out those duties, they can be held liable under their professional insurance - but only if they have the right insurance in the first place (more on that shortly).

What does a project manager actually do?

More than most homeowners realise. Here’s a flavour of what good project management involves on a renovation in France:

Scheduling and sequencing - knowing which trade needs to be on site and when, and in what order. First, fix electrics before plasterboard goes up. Floors after plastering. Tiling after plumbing. It sounds obvious until you’re the one coordinating four different artisans who each have five other jobs on the go.

Managing variations - renovation projects change. Walls come down and reveal surprises. Clients change their minds. Dimensions shift. Every change potentially affects the plumber’s devis, the electrician’s devis, and the timeline. Someone needs to go through every line of every quote, recalculate, and make sure it all still makes sense. (Rosie recently spent three days doing exactly this on one project after the clients expanded a bathroom from 4m² to 15m² and incorporated an extra bedroom - before a single tile was laid.)

Keeping the client informed - filtering what the client needs to know and shielding them from the noise. A good project manager doesn’t call the client every time a delivery is late or a minor snag appears. They deal with it and update when it matters.

Checking paperwork - including the attestation de vigilance from URSSAF for every artisan or subcontractor on site (see the glossary below for why this matters more than you might think).

Leveraging relationships - this one’s underrated. A project manager who works regularly in your area has a little black book of trusted artisans, and the leverage to get them on site. An artisan is far more likely to prioritise a call from a professional they work with regularly than a homeowner they’ve never met before - especially if that homeowner has been shouting down the phone at them.

Who should - and shouldn’t - be your project manager?

This is where Rosie and Sue get quite direct, and it’s worth paying attention.

Good options:

• A qualified maître d’œuvre - usually an architect or a courtier de travaux - with the relevant insurances and a track record of managing renovation projects

• A building company with multi-trade registration that can take on the whole project and effectively manage it in-house. Rosie and Sue’s companies both operate this way - there’s site management from the team on the ground, and client-facing project coordination handled from the office

Approach with caution:

• A sole artisan who subcontracts everything but also tries to project manage. The risk here is that they’re stretched between doing the work and running the project, with no backup in the office

Avoid:

• Handholders and property managers who’ve reinvented themselves as renovation coordinators. Unless they have genuine, extensive experience running building projects in France - and the insurances to back it up - they are unlikely to know the sequencing of works, the paperwork requirements, or what questions to ask. As Rosie puts it: you may actually be better off managing it yourself for free than paying an inexperienced person to do it badly

The attestation de vigilance - and why it matters

This is something most homeowners have never heard of, but it can have serious financial consequences.

Any artisan working in France pays social charges (cotisations) to URSSAF — the French body broadly equivalent to National Insurance in the UK. The attestation de vigilance is a certificate showing that an artisan is up to date with their declarations. If you - or your project manager - use an artisan who turns out to have unpaid social charges, you as the maître d’ouvrage could potentially be liable for those unpaid charges, which can quickly run into tens of thousands of euros.

A good project manager will request this document from every artisan and subcontractor they use. A handholder almost certainly won’t.

Note: Sue points out that the certificate confirms declarations are up to date, not necessarily that every penny has been paid - so it’s not a perfect safeguard, but it is a layer of protection you want in place.

Check your project manager’s insurance

Before you hire anyone, ask specifically about their insurance. A maître d’œuvre should hold décennale insurance (10-year structural liability) and appropriate professional indemnity cover. If they can’t tell you clearly what they’re covered for, that’s a red flag.

Property managers and handholders operating as project managers may not hold any of this. If something goes wrong on site and it transpires your “project manager” wasn’t qualified or insured to be doing what they were doing, the liability chain comes back to you.

How much does project management cost in France?

Typically 8–12% of the total project cost, though this varies depending on complexity. On a €200,000 renovation, that could be €16,000–€24,000 — a figure that makes many homeowners immediately look for a way around it.

But consider this: if hiring a project manager gets your gîte or chambre d’hôtes open 18 months earlier than if you manage it yourself, how much revenue does that represent? Almost certainly more than the fee. Rosie and Sue have seen homeowners spend five years on a renovation they could have completed in two…

A good project manager can also save you money by catching problems early, avoiding costly do-overs, and making sure you’re not paying twice because works were done in the wrong order.

When you might not need one

Smaller jobs involving just one or two artisans are generally manageable without a dedicated project manager, provided you’re organised, communicative, and available. If you’ve already completed a few projects in France and have established relationships with reliable trades, you’ll be in a stronger position to run things yourself.

The key questions to ask yourself honestly are: how complex is the project, and how capable am I of managing it? If you’re living abroad, if there are multiple trades involved, if you’re opening a business, or if the budget runs past €100k - seriously consider getting professional help.

Opening a business? This is not optional.

If your renovation project is going to become a public-facing business - a gîte, chambre d’hôtes, restaurant or wedding venue, for example - the stakes are significantly higher. You’ll need to pass an ERP (Établissement Recevant du Public) inspection, which covers fire exits, disabled access, specific materials, and structural requirements. An architect will handle the planning stage, but someone needs to be on site regularly making sure everything is being built to those approved plans - not just assumed to be.

If a staircase isn’t built to fire regulation standards and something goes wrong, “I didn’t know” is not a defence. The liability - potentially criminal - sits with the project owner.

Red flags when hiring a project manager

Before you sign anything, ask:

• What are your qualifications, and how do you define your role as maître d’œuvre?

• What insurances do you hold? (Ask specifically about décennale and professional indemnity)

• Can you show me previous projects you’ve managed?

• How often will you be on site, and at what stages?

• What exactly is included in your fee - and what isn’t?

• How will variations and changes be managed and communicated?

• What does the payment schedule look like?

If any of these questions are met with vague answers or deflection, walk away.

One last thing: calm beats loud, every time

If you do manage your own project, the single most counterproductive thing you can do is lose your temper with your artisans. French professional culture does not reward aggression the way it sometimes does in the UK or the US. Shout down the phone at an artisan who has five other jobs on the go, and the most likely outcome is that they quietly deprioritise you and go where the energy is better. A good project manager has no emotional stake (or financial investment) in the property - they can stay calm, keep things professional, and get results without burning bridges.

Glossary

Maître d’ouvrage - the project owner; legally, always the homeowner/client

Maître d’œuvre - the project manager; the person contracted to manage works on the owner’s behalf

Courtier de travaux - a works broker or specialist project coordinator

Décennale - mandatory 10-year structural liability insurance held by artisans and project managers

Devis - a formal written quote for works

Attestation de vigilance - a certificate from URSSAF confirming an artisan is up to date with their social charge declarations

URSSAF - the French body that collects social charges (broadly equivalent to National Insurance in the UK)

Cotisations - social charges; contributions paid by anyone working in France

ERP - Établissement Recevant du Public; public-facing building classification with strict safety and access requirements

Premier fixe / deuxième fixe - first fix / second fix; the two phases of trades work (structural and service installation vs. finishing and fitting)

TVA - French VAT

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Maison Bretagne (Rosie Ellis)

S.R. Charpenterie (Sue Peake-Russell)

Paul Wilkins Electricien (Micala Wilkins)

Got a story about renovating in France that you want to share? We’d love to hear it!

• Email us: frenchrenodiaries@gmail.com

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When does someone earn the right to call themselves a renovation expert? And why does your delivery driver think the church car park counts as your front door?

In this Rants & Bants episode, Rosie, Sue and Micala get into the thorny world of self-proclaimed renovation gurus on YouTube and Instagram: Why one experience of buying a property in France doesn’t make you the person others should be turning to for advice, and what the real difference is between an expert, a specialist, and someone who’s just figured out their own damp problem.

There’s also a conversation about the dangers of asking unqualified people - online or otherwise - to assess a property or recommend insulation solutions, and why the professionals who could share great content usually don’t have a spare second to film it.

Resources mentioned in the episode

• Facebook expat and renovation groups — where renovation questions get asked (and wildly conflicting answers pile up)

• Expert Bâtiment / Expert Débatissant — the qualified, insured professionals to call for structural property assessments in France

• DPE (Diagnostic de Performance Énergétique) — energy performance certificate that affects resale value (look-out for an upcoming episode on this!)

• Chambre de Métier — the French body that accredits artisans; 3 years’ experience for artisan status, 10 years for maître artisan

Mini glossary (for new renovators in France)

• Artisan — a qualified tradesperson operating in France

• Maître Artisan — master craftsman status, requiring 10 years’ experience

• Notaire — a French public official (lawyer) who oversees property transactions

• Charpente / Charpentier — roof structure / carpenter specialising in timber frameworks

• Voliage — the timber boarding beneath roof tiles

• Colombage — timber-framed construction (half-timbered)

• Torchis — wattle and daub (mud and straw infill used in traditional walls)

• Colissimo / DPD / Colis Privé — French parcel delivery services (results may vary...)

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Maison Bretagne (Rosie Ellis) | S.R. Charpenterie (Sue Peake-Russell) | Paul Wilkins Electricien (Micala Wilkins)

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The blog

If you’ve ever asked a renovation question in a Facebook group and immediately regretted it… you are not alone.

This episode was recorded with International Women’s Day in mind (8 March) and the theme this year, Give to Gain. What started as a conversation about women on the tools quickly became something bigger: how women are treated in online renovation spaces, who gets listened to, and why the behind the scenes work often gets dismissed.

For those new here, we are Sue, Rosie and Micala, and we all run trade related businesses here in France with our husbands. That usually means we are the ones juggling the admin, planning, client communication, quotes, logistics and project coordination behind the scenes.

So yes, this episode is about women in renovation. But it is also about women in the renovation world full stop: homeowners, project managers, designers, business partners and the often overlooked “wife behind the business” who is actually running a large part of it.

Here’s what we talked about.

Give to Gain: the value of a safe space

Micala opened the episode by thanking us and our producer, Katy, for something that sounds simple but is incredibly valuable.

For years we’ve had our own safe space away from social media. WhatsApp messages, voice notes and the occasional rant about things we see happening in the renovation world. Those conversations have often stopped us from posting something online that we might regret later.

That is the real meaning of Give to Gain.

You give support, perspective and honesty.
You gain clarity, reassurance and sometimes a much lower blood pressure.

Which leads to a bigger question.

Do women actually feel safe asking renovation questions online?

The honest answer is… sometimes yes, but often no.

The Facebook problem: same comment, different response

We’ve all seen it happen.

A woman comments something sensible and accurate, and the response is dismissive or flippant.

A man says almost the same thing, and suddenly the response becomes:
“Good point mate.”

It’s not always blatant. Sometimes it’s just tone. Sometimes it’s who gets taken seriously.

And over time it becomes tiring.

That is why many women (including us) have stepped back from certain groups. Not because we can’t handle opinions, but because there’s only so much time and energy we want to spend arguing with strangers on the internet.

The encouraging thing is that there does seem to be a slight shift happening. As people begin to recognise who we are and what we do, the tone does change.

But credibility should not depend on people “getting to know you” first.

Why more women in renovation will bring change

Rosie made a really good point during the discussion: more women in the industry will naturally change the tone of conversations.

Women tend to communicate differently. We ask questions, share experiences and are generally comfortable saying we do not know everything.

And that is actually a strength.

In an industry where there can sometimes be pressure to appear like you know absolutely everything, a more collaborative approach can only improve things.

None of us claim to know it all. What we do have is experience, perspective and access to the people doing the work on site every day.

We listen, we learn and then we share that information.

Women in construction in France: the reality

We looked at some statistics about women entering the construction industry in France.

• Women represent roughly 12–15% of apprentices in construction overall.

• In structural trades such as carpentry, masonry, roofing and electrical, that drops to around 3–5%.

• However, women represent a much higher percentage in project management, design and business leadership roles.

So while there are fewer women physically on the tools, there are actually many women involved in running construction businesses.

That reflects our own situation as well. None of us are swinging hammers on site every day, but we are very much involved in running the companies.

Rosie also mentioned visiting a training centre in France while her son was doing his carpentry apprenticeship and seeing girls working in several trade departments including painting, decorating and masonry.

So things are changing, even if slowly.

A brilliant example close to home

Rosie also shared a great example from her village.

A neighbour had their stone wall completely repointed, and the work was done by two women. They set up their own scaffolding, completed the job quickly and left everything incredibly tidy.

Anyone who has seen repointing work will know how messy it can be, so the attention to detail stood out immediately. The work was excellent and the finish immaculate.

Rosie’s partner, Jon’s response was simple: “Keep their number.”

Because at the end of the day, good work is good work.

Is construction male dominated because it’s physical?

We also played devil’s advocate for a moment.

Yes, construction can be physically demanding. There’s no denying that many men are physically stronger than most women.

But we also live in a time where:

• lifting equipment exists

• machinery reduces strain

• modern tools make heavy work easier

So why is the industry still so male dominated?

Part of the answer is cultural. Construction has long been tied to a very traditional idea of masculinity: strength, endurance and physical capability.

On many sites, strength is still part of the identity. The strongest person lifting the heaviest beam often gets the respect.

But ironically, we also know many tradesmen with damaged knees, backs and shoulders from years of doing exactly that.

Technology exists to reduce those risks, but habits and culture are slower to change.

The invisible women behind the business

This part of the conversation really struck a chord.

There are many construction businesses where the man is seen as the face of the company, but the woman is running the entire operation behind the scenes.

Quotes, scheduling, client communication, accounts, organisation and paperwork often fall to the female partner.

And yet those women can still be dismissed as “just the wife”.

Rosie mentioned training sessions that encouraged women not to remain indefinitely as conjointes collaboratrices (spouses assisting in a business without full professional status). Laws have changed over time because too many women were working for years without proper recognition or protection.

It is slowly improving, but there’s still progress to be made.

How we deal with online nonsense

We also talked honestly about how we handle unpleasant comments online.

Sometimes the best response is no response at all.

Sometimes we write the angry reply… then delete it.

Micala admitted she often writes what she wants to say and then asks ChatGPT to help turn it into a calmer, professional response.

Because whether we like it or not, our online comments become part of our reputation.

And we all have businesses to run.

Creating safer renovation spaces

We cannot change the whole industry overnight. But we can influence the spaces we are part of.

That means:

• supporting other women when we see dismissive behaviour

• sharing reliable information rather than arguing endlessly

• recommending specialists rather than pretending to know everything

• encouraging respectful conversations even when people disagree

The more supportive voices there are in the room, the less impact the negative ones have.

Got a story about women in renovation that you want to share? We’d love to hear it!

• Email us: frenchrenodiaries@gmail.com

• Send a voice note or written message via Facebook or Instagram

• Leave a comment beneath an episode on Spotify

Your comments may be featured in a future episode!

If you prefer using another podcast app, you can also find us on:
Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Amazon Music | Deezer | RSS.com

Win a château? Sounds dreamy. Until you realise you might also need a business plan, a visa renewal strategy and enough income to satisfy the prefecture.

In this Rants & Bants episode, Micala, Sue and Rosie chat about the Win a Château TV show, the realities of post-Brexit life in France, language requirements, titre de séjour delays and yet another heated Facebook debate about décennale insurance.

It’s lighter than our chunky episodes, but if you’re renovating or planning to move to France, there are some important realities woven in. So, as always, we’ve pulled it all together for your here.

Win a Chateau: Dream prize or financial trap?

Channel 4 has launched Win a Chateau, tied to the Chateau DIY universe. Twelve couples compete over several weeks, with judges from Chateau DIY, and one couple wins the property.

On paper, it is the ultimate fantasy.

In reality, we watched the first episode and went from:

“That’s a hell of a prize”
to
“Is it though?”

Because once you look past the title, it is not exactly Versailles. In our very honest opinion, it feels more like a maison de maître with outbuildings than a grand chateau. Lovely, yes. But chateau is doing some heavy lifting.

And the tasks? It is less renovation and more styling.

They are not tackling structural issues, damp, roofs, electrics, drainage, or the sort of problems that actually make or break real renovation projects. They are decorating spaces that are already prepped and ready for finishing.

Which is fine. But let’s not pretend that choosing panelling and building a wine rack is the same as maintaining a massive old building.

Win a chateau, sure. Then pay tens of thousands every year just to keep it standing.

The other big question is the one TV tends to skip over.

What happens after you win?

Do you run it as a business? Rent it out? Host retreats? Use it as a private home?

Any of those options comes with real costs, real admin, and real pressure.

Because a big French property does not just sit there looking romantic. It requires constant maintenance, constant spending, and constant decision making.

The bit they do not show: visas and renewal stress

If you came to France pre Brexit, you might recognise this feeling.

Some of us arrived with:

• not much money

• no huge plan

• an organic approach to building a life here

One of us earned 52 euros in year one. Glamorous.

And yet we built lives. We integrated. We made it work.

That version of moving to France is not really available now.

If you are coming from the UK, the process is more formal and more conditional. You need to prove income, stability, and in many cases present a business plan that demonstrates you will earn enough to support yourself.

And here is the bit that really matters:

If your income does not match what your visa conditions require, your renewal can be refused.

Which can be devastating if you are settled into a village, have bought a property, have kids in school, and have built a life.

It is not just about getting the visa. It is about maintaining it year after year.

Prefecture delays: when bureaucracy blocks your entire life

Then there is the prefecture bottleneck that can happen even when you have done everything right.

You can be perfectly legal, perfectly integrated, and still be waiting months for a card renewal or a first issue titre de séjour.

And those delays have knock on effects. You cannot always:

• sit a driving test

• finalise certain admin

• prove status easily when asked

It varies massively by region. One prefecture will move quickly, another will move at the speed of a sleepy snail.

YouTube builders, UK products and the reality of French sourcing

We also got onto the topic of YouTube renovation channels and what they do show well.

Not the polished bits. The chaotic bits.

The sourcing delays. The compatibility problems. The classic scenario where someone brings a UK product over and then you cannot get the correct fittings or parts in France.

In the episode we share a real example involving a roof window fitted with a UK brand or model that does not exist on the French market. The result? A simple repair turns into a full blown headache because you cannot get the right flashing kit.

That is renovating in France in a nutshell.

The decennial insurance Facebook wars

We have to talk about it. Again.

Because there was a lot of banter on Facebook recently and it came back to one of the topics we covered in Episode 5: insurance.

Decennial insurance is not a debate topic. It is a legal requirement for trades working in France.

We saw misinformation flying around, including someone implying a plumber does not need decennial insurance.

That is simply not correct.

Where things get nuanced is what is covered in a claim, especially when you are fitting onto an existing system.

But nuance does not equal no insurance.

Every artisan needs the correct insurance. Whether a specific claim is covered is a separate question.

This matters for homeowners because you need protection. It matters for trades because one claim can wipe you out.

We also touched on cases where grey areas and appeals have muddied public understanding. People see a headline and conclude insurance is pointless. It is not. The reality is more complex, and that is exactly why you need to hold the correct cover and work within the rules.

Language requirements and the end of the adventure era

There is also the shifting landscape of language requirements, especially for longer term residency. It is getting stricter.

We actually think learning French is a good thing. But it is another item on the list of obligations that people do not always anticipate when they start dreaming about a new life here.

The adventure era has become the admin era.

So what is the takeaway?

If you are coming to France, renovating in France, or dreaming about a chateau life, here is the honest summary:

• Winning a chateau is the easy part. Running it is the hard part.

• Visa renewal conditions can be unforgiving if you do not hit income targets

• Bureaucracy delays can block everyday life even when you are doing everything correctly

• Sourcing and compatibility issues are real and can snowball quickly

• Decennial insurance is not optional and misinformation helps nobody

If you still want it after all that, then you are probably the right kind of person to make it work.

Want more no fluff renovation reality?

We hear you - and we want to hear more!

We’ve been blown away by the feedback on the podcast, with some listeners even telling us that they couldn’t wait to get back to France to tune in.

It seems there’s a real appetite for the “gore and the guts” of renovation. You told us you’re fatigued by the 60-minute “miracle makeovers” on TV, and you want more horror stories.

So we’re opening the “Reno Confessional”! If you have a story that would make a mason weep, we’re all ears. And if it’s a real shocker and you’d prefer to be kept anonymous, just let us know.

You can send a written message or a voice note (which we might play in an episode) by email - frenchrenodiaries@gmail.com - or you can send a message via Instagram or Facebook.

This month’s episodes (in case you missed them)

• Episode 6: Rants & Bants! (The one where Rosie slips on her Riot Women shoes)

• Episode 7: Plan for a dream, not a nightmare: Everything you need to know about planning permits before renovating in France!

• Episode 8: Rants & Bants! (The one where Micala gets nostalgic about Burger King)

• Episode 9: How to be a good client (and get the best out of your artisan)

Beyond the mic: Rosie & Katy’s retreat 🧘‍♀️

French Reno Diaries co-host Rosie and producer Katy packed their slippers and comfy clothes last weekend, for a ‘Winter Re-awakening’ retreat in Merdrignac, with the inspiring Christina Rougerie.

Katy says, “We drank ceremonial cacao, moved and stretched our bodies, got playful with paint, ate copious amounts of delicious food, and did a LOT of talking! And all in the most magical (and appropriate) setting - a beautifully renovated French property! Tucked away in central Brittany, Manoir Caché has been lovingly restored by a former theatre set designer from the UK and oh my, can you tell!”

Sounds wonderful! It’s a reminder to us all, whether you’re running a business or renovating, it’s important to take time to find some calm and ‘fill your cup’!

Sue builds hope: From France to Kenya

Next month, Sue is swapping her devis and site visits for something truly life-changing. She is heading to rural Kenya to volunteer with The Nasio Trust.

She’ll be helping build a secure home for a family in need and supporting early years education. As Sue says: “A solid roof means safety, stability, and hope.” We are incredibly proud of her mission and can’t wait to hear the stories when she returns.

Want to support Sue’s build? 👉 Visit Sue’s JustGiving page here

French Reno Hacks

Trade tip of the month: If your renovation site is currently flooded, don’t rush to render! Trapping moisture in stone walls now will lead to salt and damp issues come summer. Let the walls breathe - make use of windy days.

Good to know: The government website vigicrues.gouv publishes a national information bulletin on flood risks in each department twice a day.

If you live in an area where flooding is frequent, you might want to consider the option of having various permanent protection devices installed: flood-proof entrance doors, flood-proof garage doors, flood-proof gates.

Coming up on the show…

One of the best parts of doing this podcast is coming up with ideas for episodes and we’ve got two real corkers for you in March: a ‘women in renovation’ special to coincide with International Women’s Day, and a info-packed dive into project management and ‘maître d’ouvrage’. And, of course, there’ll be our off-the-cuff Rants & Bants in between. Got an idea for an episode? Let us know.

Until next time, happy renovating!

Micala, Sue & Rosie

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What makes a French renovation project run smoothly? And what quietly destroys trust between a homeowner and their artisan? In this episode, we reveal the secret to being a good client in France - and what it’s fair to expect from your artisan.

And no, we don’t say you should stay quiet and accept anything. We mean a client-trade relationship that gets you better communication, better workmanship, fewer misunderstandings, and a far more enjoyable project for everyone involved.

And at the heart of it all is trust.

In this blog (and in episode #9), we break down what that means in practice, and provide actionable advice on how you can build trust with your artisan.

Trust is a professional relationship (not a friendship)

When you renovate in France as an English speaker, it can feel natural to gravitate towards artisans who speak your language, or who sit in the same circles. The expat world is small. People recommend their friends. You meet someone at the bar. You feel comfortable.

But there is a big difference between “I like them” and “I can trust them with a renovation budget and my home”.

The best working relationships we see are friendly, but professional. When a project drifts into “mate” territory, expectations tend to drift too. Clients can start assuming favours, quicker turnaround, evenings and weekends, or “just one more little thing”. Trades can feel pressured or resentful, and suddenly the relationship is messy.

So, yes, relationships matter. But keep it professional. It protects you and it protects them.

The first trust signal is paperwork

If there is one thing homeowners underestimate, it is this:

Good paperwork is not admin fluff, it is a trust signal.

A proper devis should be clear and specific. It should explain what is being done, what is included, what is excluded, the payment terms, and the legal details that show the business is legitimate.

When the paperwork is vague, rushed, or sloppy, it tends to show up later in the project too.

This is where we see homeowners take risks without realising they are taking them. No written quote, unclear scope, no insurance, paying upfront with no documentation… it can feel like you are being “easygoing”, but it often creates the exact problems you are trying to avoid.

Check out Episode #5: Insurance to learn more about the specific insurance details you should be looking out for

Communication is where projects are won or lost

When Micala surveyed homeowners about what they most wanted from trades for trusted artisan directory Artisan Central, the top themes were:

• reliability and punctuality

• timely communication

• honesty and integrity

That is exactly what we see in real life.

A renovation can survive delays and surprises (because they do happen). What it struggles to survive is silence.

If you are renovating from abroad, silence is even more stressful. You start to fill in the gaps yourself: Are they still coming? Are they ignoring me? Has something gone wrong?

That spiral breaks trust quickly, and once trust has cracked, it is harder to put back together.

On the trade side, many artisans are genuinely flat out on site and not sat at a desk. If they do not have someone handling admin, emails can slip. That does not make it ideal, but it is real.

The healthiest projects we see are the ones where communication expectations are set early and then respected by both sides.

Your artisan is not always on site… and that can be normal

This is one of the biggest misunderstanding points, especially for people used to UK style project scheduling.

Most artisans are not running one job at a time. They are often juggling two or three projects in tandem, sequencing tasks, waiting for deliveries, coordinating subcontractors, and managing the reality that sometimes you simply cannot do Job A until Job B is finished (for example, waiting for an electrician or plumber before closing walls).

A good artisan will tell you when they will not be there and why. That simple communication prevents so many issues.

A quick warning about day rates

Rosie shared a story about someone who hired an electrician on an hourly rate with no devis, no insurance, and payment upfront. The client later discovered the artisan was charging hours they were not working, including charging from 8am while arriving at 10am, and charging for lunch breaks too.

That story sticks because it highlights the risk:

If there is no written scope, no structure, and no accountability, it is very hard to protect yourself.

We are not saying day rates are always wrong. But they require clear tracking and clear boundaries, and they are not a substitute for proper paperwork.

What good clients do differently

Most clients are lovely. Truly. But the easiest, smoothest projects have clients who do a few key things consistently.

They prepare well

They give details upfront, have photos, plans (even rough ones), and a clear idea of priorities.

They decide the big things early

Small changes happen. But constant big changes mid job create chaos for scheduling, costs, ordering and labour.

They respect working time and safety

Trades use dangerous tools. Hovering and interrupting is not just annoying, it can be unsafe.

They keep expectations realistic

Second home deadlines are understandable, but not always possible. If you have a date you need, raise it right at the beginning so the artisan can say yes or no.

They do not treat the job like a power struggle

The chantier (the work site) needs someone in control. That should be the professional running it, not the client micromanaging without the technical background.

Homeowner checklist: be the client an artisan wants to work with

Save this and use it before you sign anything.

Before you choose your artisan

• ☐ Ask for a proper written devis (clear scope, clear inclusions and exclusions)

• ☐ Check they have a SIRET and the right insurances (including décennale if relevant)

• ☐ Make sure the paperwork looks professional and consistent

• ☐ Do not choose purely on “they seem nice” or “they speak English”

• ☐ If something feels off early on, pay attention to that feeling

Before the work starts

• ☐ Agree communication expectations: how often updates, and by what method (email, WhatsApp, shared folder)

• ☐ Agree payment stages in writing and understand what materials need paying upfront

• ☐ Confirm access arrangements (keys, neighbours, alarm codes, parking, site rules)

• ☐ Clear rooms and move furniture so the team can work safely and efficiently (your artisans may be willing to help if you ask, but don’t expect this as a given)

• ☐ Make your key decisions early (materials, layouts, finishes) to avoid costly mid job changes

While the work is happening

• ☐ Let trades work without hovering (save questions for breaks or agreed check ins)

• ☐ Expect that the team may not be on site every day (ask for schedule updates instead of assuming the worst)

• ☐ Keep changes minimal, and confirm any changes in writing

• ☐ Treat the relationship as professional: polite, direct, respectful

• ☐ Remember you are paying for experience, problem solving, and project reality, not just “time on site”

If something goes wrong

• ☐ Ask for clarification calmly and in writing

• ☐ Focus on solutions (what happens next, impact on timeline, impact on cost)

• ☐ If trust breaks down completely, consider stepping back before it escalates

A final thought

Renovating in France does require trust, but trust is not something you give blindly. It is something you build with the right professional, through clear paperwork, good communication, and mutual respect.

When that is in place, the whole experience changes. The project feels calmer, decisions feel easier, everyone works better.

If you want to hear the full conversation, you can find Episode 9 of French Reno Diaries Uncensored on your podcast app.

Had an experience you want to share? Want to ask a question?

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Are French renovation quotes getting more expensive? Why are trades being ghosted? And do cheap French properties even exist anymore?

In this Rants & Bants episode, we talk candidly about what’s happening behind the scenes in the French renovation world right now. From detailed devis being met with radio silence, to Facebook comment sections dissecting prices without context, we unpack why quotes look the way they do - and what homeowners might not see.

We also talk about the changing property market. Remember when you could buy a rural doer-upper for €30k? Those days are disappearing in many areas, and the maths of “buy cheap, renovate, sell high” isn’t as straightforward as it once was.

There’s also a frank chat about asking for insurance documents (yes, you absolutely should), choosing between quotes, and what actually makes a renovation business sustainable.

Plus, Mr Kipling, Burger King and ultra chic brackets from Poland…

À la prochaine!

Sue, Micala & Rosie

P.S. If you’re looking for more information and advice about insurance, make sure you listen to Episode #5: Why insurance IS worth the paper it’s written on (despite what you’re being told on Facebook)

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Renovating in France: What You Really Need to Know About Planning (Before You Start)

Planning rules in France can feel intimidating, confusing, and - if you get them wrong - expensive.

In episode 7 of French Reno Diaries Uncensored, we unpack what planning actually involves, why it matters so much, and how real homeowners get caught out every year. In this blog, you’ll find all the questions and topics we address, with checklists and resources you can refer to as well.

Not sure if it’s relevant to your project? Whether you’re buying, renovating, extending, or even replacing windows in France, it’s definitely worth getting your head around these topics!

Where should I start with planning when renovating property in France?

Your first stop should always be the mairie (town hall) - even before you start work (and, if possible, before buying!).

Whether you’re buying a townhouse, a rural barn, or a bungalow “in the middle of nowhere”, the rules still apply. Every commune has its own planning framework, and assumptions are where people get into trouble.

What to do:

• Visit or contact the mairie as soon as you know what you want to do

• Ask plainly: “Do I need authorisation for this?”

• Don’t rely on what neighbours have already done - rules change

One of the biggest mistakes people make is assuming rural France has fewer rules. It doesn’t.

What is a PLU - and why does everyone keep mentioning it?

The PLU (Plan Local d’Urbanisme) is the rulebook for what you can and can’t do in a specific commune.

It can dictate:

• Whether land is constructible

• What materials you can use

• Window styles, shutter colours, roof materials

• Fence height and design

• Whether extensions are allowed at all

In places like the historical town of Dinan in Brittany, the PLU even specifies exact window layouts and paint shades - including “13 shades of white that aren’t actually white”.

What to do:

• Check whether your commune has its own PLU or falls under a wider intercommunal one

• Download it from the mairie website or consult it in person

• If your French isn’t strong, get help from an architect or experienced professional

Some communes don’t have a PLU at all - in that case, national rules apply, which can actually be more restrictive.

Do I need planning permission just to change windows or a roof on a French property?

Often, yes.

If you’re changing anything that affects the external appearance of your property - windows, doors, roof tiles, colour, materials - you may need a Déclaration Préalable (DP).

Examples from the episode:

• Changing window styles in a historic area → DP required

• Changing roof tiles to a different colour or material → DP required

• Like-for-like replacement → sometimes no DP, but always check

What to do:

• Never assume “it’s minor” - ask first

• Submit a DP before ordering materials

• If refused, it’s often a request for changes, not a hard no, so don’t be put off resubmitting your DP

What happens if I’m near an historic building or area?

This is where things get serious.

If your property is near a listed building, church, château, or within a protected zone, it may fall under Bâtiments de France (ABF).

A real story from the episode:

A couple bought a 1960s house next to a historic monument. They wanted:

• A small glass veranda

• Modern, single-pane windows

Everything was refused - even energy-efficient upgrades - because the aesthetic didn’t match the historic surroundings.

Key takeaway:
Energy efficiency does not override heritage protection.

What to do:

• Check historic zones before you buy

• Don’t rely on what neighbours already have - they may have done it years ago, before a local structure was given heritage protection (see below for more info)

• Expect stricter materials, designs, and approvals

Can planning rules change after I buy?

Yes — and this catches people out.

Villages can become protected areas later, often because:

• A château or monument applies for heritage grants

• The commune seeks preservation funding

Once that happens, everyone nearby is affected.

In episode 7, we share a story about a village that became protected after funding was approved - and how the mayor warned residents not to compare their homes with older renovations, because the rules had changed.

What to do:

• Assume rules can tighten, not loosen

• Consider a Certificat d’Urbanisme before committing

What is a Certificat d’Urbanisme (CU) - and should I get one?

A Certificat d’Urbanisme confirms what can legally be built on a piece of land.

It’s especially important if you plan to:

• Build an extension

• Change land use

• Buy with development in mind

What to do:

• Include a CU as a suspensive clause in your purchase contract

• Remember: it protects you only for a limited time

• If it expires and zoning changes, you may lose rights

Do I need to tell my neighbours about my project?

Yes. Once planning is approved, you must display an affichage de permis (planning notice) outside your property for two months.

During that time:

• Neighbours can view your plans

• Objections can be raised

If you don’t display it, the objection period can extend to six months.

Real example from the episode:
A homeowner built a pergola without planning. A neighbour complained and it had to be removed.

What to do:

• Always display the planning notice - transparency protects you

• Keep proof it was up for the full period

What happens if I skip planning altogether?

Increasingly, people are being caught - even years later.

Authorities now use:

• Satellite imagery

• AI comparisons

• Historical aerial photos

One story involved a pool installed seven years earlier. The owner was contacted and forced into retrospective planning, which is harder and can be refused.

What to do:

• Never assume “no one will notice”

• Don’t rely on being able to apply for planning permission retrospectively if you run into problems

• Keep a record of your planning permits - missing paperwork can block a future sale

When should I use an architect?

You must use an architect for:

• A Permis de Construire if the total floor area after works exceeds 150 m² (this applies to new builds and extensions).

• Commercial or public buildings (ERP)

But even when not legally required, it can be wise to hir an architect to help you:

• Navigate PLUs and ABF rules

• Communicate with planning departments

• Adapt plans when rules change mid-process

One real case involved zoning rules changing halfway through an application - the project succeeded only because an architect knew how to handle it.

What to do:

• Use an architect early for complex or historic projects

• Make sure you, your architect and the artisans you hire are all working as a team

What should I take away from all this?

• Planning applies everywhere, not just historic towns

• Rules can change - sometimes quickly

• Paperwork protects your investment

• Skipping steps can cost you far more later

Peace of mind is worth the wait.

Mini Glossary of French Planning Terms

• PLU (Plan Local d’Urbanisme) – Local planning rules for a commune

• DP (Déclaration Préalable) – Simplified planning permission

• Permis de Construire – Full planning permission for major works

• CU (Certificat d’Urbanisme) – Confirms what can be built on land

• ABF / Bâtiments de France – Authority protecting historic areas

• Affichage de permis – Mandatory planning notice displayed on-site

• ERP (Établissement Recevant du Public) – Buildings open to the public

• Zonage – Land classification (constructible, agricultural, etc.)

Resources Mentioned in the Episode

• Service-Public.fr – Official French government guidance and simulations

• Local mairie websites – PLUs, planning submissions, local rules

• Géoportail – National mapping, zoning, flood risks, and cadastre (land register)

• Architects & urbanisme departments – For professional guidance

Got Questions or Experiences to Share?

Have you been caught out by French planning rules?
Are you mid-project and unsure what permission you need?

Email us: frenchrenodiaries@gmail.com
Send a message via Facebook: French Reno Diaries or Instagram
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What are you really paying for when you hire an artisan in France? Why do two quotes for the same work look so different? How much profit do artisans make on renovation work?

If you’re asking yourself these questions, you’ll find all the answers here!

In this Rants & Bants episode, Rosie, Sue and Micala talk openly about the realities of running trade businesses in France - and what homeowners often misunderstand about how those businesses work (spoiler: we’re not milking you for all you’re worth and driving around in Ferraris).

We also hear about Sue’s upcoming adventure in Kenya, where she’ll be building a mud hut for a family. Please consider supporting the project via Sue’s Just Giving page - even the smallest contribution will help provide tools, classroom resources, hot meals, and support for families who have so little.

👂If the money-talk in this episode grabbed your attention, make sure you listen to Episode #2 Why budgets blow: The brutal truth about renovation costs in France.

Resources mentioned in the episode

• Nasio Trust – UK charity supporting communities in Kenya through housing and education projects

• Facebook expat and renovation groups – places where renovation questions are often asked (and misinformation spreads)

• Riot Women (BBC One) – TV series about women finding their voice later in life

Mini glossary (for new renovators in France)

• Devis – a formal written quote for works

• Artisan – a qualified tradesperson operating in France

• TVA – French VAT

• BTP – ‘Bâtiment et travaux publics’ (the French construction and public works sector)

Connect

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Email: frenchrenodiaries@gmail.com

Maison Bretagne (Rosie Ellis)

S.R. Charpenterie (Sue Peake-Russell)

Paul Wilkins Electricien (Micala Wilkins)

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The blog

What is decennial insurance in France (and why does it matter for your renovation?)

If you’re renovating a property in France – whether it’s a farmhouse, stone house, barn conversion or full renovation project – you will quickly hear the phrase assurance décennale. It sounds dry, but it’s one of the most important protections you have as a homeowner.

As Rosie puts it in this episode: “It’s basically a 10‑year builders’ warranty in France – and it’s the law.” Every qualified artisan working on structural or permanent elements of your home must have it in place before they start work.

Who should have ‘assurance décennale’?

In short: almost everyone involved in construction or renovation works. That includes masons, roofers, carpenters, electricians, plumbers, plasterers, tilers and heating installers.

Sue explains it clearly: “Whether you’re self‑employed or a company, subscribing to decennial insurance is a legal obligation. If you’re caught without it, the fines are huge.”

This is where many renovation projects go wrong – homeowners assume someone is insured, without ever checking.

What does decennial insurance actually cover?

One of the biggest myths we tackle is that decennial is just a single, vague 10‑year guarantee. In reality, there are three key layers of protection:

• The one‑year guarantee (garantie de parfait achèvement) – covers defects or faults discovered after sign‑off.

• The two‑year guarantee (garantie biennale) – covers installed equipment such as heating systems, plumbing and fixtures.

• The ten‑year guarantee (garantie décennale) – covers major structural issues affecting the solidity of the building.

As Micala points out: “The guarantee only starts from the date you sign off the work – that moment is absolutely crucial.”

Why signing off the work properly matters

The réception de travaux (formal sign‑off) is often skipped – and that’s a costly mistake. Without it, your guarantees may never activate, or may default to the date of final payment instead.

Withholding payment as leverage is another common error. As Rosie warns: “If you haven’t paid and signed off, you’re not insured – and that does not work in your favour.”

What happens if a builder has no insurance — or abandons the site?

These are two different situations, and they’re often confused.

If work is carried out without valid decennial insurance:

• There is no 10-year protection for the work

• Any future defects fall back on you, the homeowner

• If you sell within ten years, you could be personally liable for problems linked to that work

• Your only recourse is through civil action against the builder — which is often slow, costly, and uncertain

As Rosie explains in the episode:

“If the work isn’t insured, there’s no safety net. Decennial simply doesn’t exist in that case.”

This is why verifying insurance before work starts is critical — you can’t fix this afterwards.

If a builder abandons the site or doesn’t finish the work

Decennial insurance does not cover unfinished or abandoned work, even if the builder was insured. In these cases:

• The issue is contractual, not insurance-based

• You must follow formal steps under civil law

• This usually involves registered letters (lettres recommandées), formal notices, and potentially tribunal action

As Sue puts it:

“People think decennial will save them in every situation — it won’t. It only applies once work is completed and signed off.”

What is assurance dommage‑ouvrage – and do homeowners need it?

For major renovations, extensions or new builds, homeowners may also be legally required to take out assurance dommage‑ouvrage. This insurance works alongside decennial and pays out quickly if something goes wrong, while insurers argue liability behind the scenes.

As Sue explains: “It removes the stress for the homeowner – the insurance pays first, then fights it out later.”

Common excuses to watch out for

We’ve heard them all:

• “I’ve never needed insurance before.”

• “It’s too expensive.”

• “I’m a micro‑entrepreneur – it doesn’t apply to me.”

• “I only work with friends I trust.”

Rosie’s response is simple: “None of those excuses help the client if something goes wrong.”

Will decennial insurance matter when you sell your house?

Absolutely. Any insured work stays with the property, not the person who carried it out. If you sell within ten years, those guarantees protect the next owner.

If work was done without insurance, you could remain personally liable. As Micala points out: “That’s when things can get very messy.”

Renovating in France: your decennial insurance checklist

Before any work starts:

• Ask for the full insurance attestation, not just a summary page

• Check the dates – insurance must be valid before work begins

• Confirm the artisan is insured for the exact type of work they’re doing

• Ensure decennial details appear on the devis and facture

• Re‑check insurance if works last many months - is it still up to date?

• Keep all paperwork – devis, factures, attestations

As we repeat throughout the episode: verify, verify, verify.

Final thoughts

Decennial insurance isn’t about bureaucracy – it’s about protecting your home, your money and your future resale. Or as we say in the episode: “It really IS worth the paper it’s written on – especially for the client.”

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In this Rants & Bants episode of French Reno Diaries UNCENSORED (the one where Sue sticks it to the man who bought a village), we let off steam about the realities of renovating - and living - in France. From awkward conversations about renovation quotes and why trades have to make a profit, to clients who insist they’ll “just do it themselves” (and are still tiling months later), this one’s full of familiar frustrations. The conversation turns to renovation TV and YouTube, including Help! I Bought a Village, unrealistic budgets, missing numbers, and the fantasy that buying cheap means renovating cheaply. The hosts also rant about hospitality dreams, gîtes in the middle of nowhere, rose-tinted expat expectations, French bureaucracy, customer service (or lack of it), and why enthusiasm alone won’t get your project finished. Expect strong opinions, real-world experience, and plenty of knowing laughs — this is therapy, podcast-style.

If you enjoyed the reality TV banter in this episode, you’ll love Episode #3 The reality behind the dream: What YouTube and TV shows don’t tell you about renovating in France.

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Email: frenchrenodiaries@gmail.com

Maison Bretagne (Rosie Ellis)

S.R. Charpenterie (Sue Peake-Russell)

Paul Wilkins Electricien (Micala Wilkins)

If you prefer using another podcast app, you can also find us on:
Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Amazon Music | Deezer | RSS.com

The blog

If you’ve ever curled up on the sofa watching a renovation show and thought, “That looks amazing… I could do that”, you’re not alone.

From glossy TV series to binge-worthy YouTube channels, renovating French properties - whether châteaux, barns, farmhouses or old stone houses - is often presented as dreamy, creative and surprisingly straightforward.

But as we discuss in this episode of French Reno Diaries UNCENSORED, what you see on screen is only a fraction of the real story.

“TV makes it look like you buy a ruin, do a bit of plastering, and suddenly you’re opening to guests. That’s not how it works.” - Rosie

This blog digs into what renovation shows don’t show you - and why believing the edited version can catch real-life renovators out.

What you don’t see on TV (but you’ll deal with in real life)

1. Real timelines

TV compresses years into minutes. In reality, renovations in France take time - even more so if you’re doing it yourself!

“People think they’ll be finished in six months because that’s what they’ve seen on TV, but they’re only seeing the highlights.” - Sue

2. The admin nobody shows

Planning permissions, declarations, diagnostics, insurance - none of it makes good television, but all of it matters.

“You can have the most beautiful design in the world, but if the admin isn’t right, you’re stuck.” - Micala

Skipping this stage can stop work entirely or cause problems when you try to insure or sell.

3. Budgets that quietly grow

Renovation shows rarely explain where the money comes from, where it goes, or why you need a contingency plan.

“Your initial budget is really just your starting point; it’s not the final number.” - Micala

Older buildings hide surprises, and those surprises usually come with a price tag.

4. The invisible professionals

Many shows rely on skilled artisans, architects and engineers, even if the project looks heavily DIY.

“People copy what they see without realising there’s an architect, an engineer and three artisans off camera.” - Sue

Trying to replicate this without expert help is where things often go wrong.

5. The problems that don’t fit the edit

Damp, rotten beams, unstable walls, asbestos, poor electrics, especially common in barns and old stone houses.

“These aren’t rare problems, they’re normal in old buildings.” - Micala

They just don’t often make it into a 45-minute episode.

6. Energy efficiency and compliance

Insulation, heating systems and energy ratings are becoming critical in France.

“You can’t just make it pretty anymore - it has to perform.” - Rosie

A beautiful renovation won’t help if the property is expensive to heat - it’s got to adhere to current DPE laws.

The French property shows we watch

Like many renovators, we watched a lot of renovation TV while working on our own homes - partly for inspiration, partly for reassurance.

“At the time, it felt motivating. Now we watch with a very different eye.” - Sue

Shows we still enjoy (with perspective)

• Escape to the Chateau (now known as Chateau DIY)

• A Place in the Sun

• New Life in the Sun
  

YouTube channels we watch now (and respect!)

These creators show more of the reality behind the renovation:

• Chateau de Purnon - thoughtful, correct methods and respect for heritage

• How to Renovate a Chateau - creative but practical DIY

• Oh No Another Chateau - clear explanations from an architect’s perspective

Final thoughts

Renovation shows are brilliant inspiration, but they’re not instruction manuals.

Whether you’re renovating a château, a barn or an old stone house, the reality in France involves planning, patience and professional input.

“The dream is still possible - it just doesn’t look like TV.” - Rosie

And that’s exactly why French Reno Diaries exists.

Resources mentioned in the episode

• Service Public – Official French government information

• FrenchEntrée – English-language resource for living and renovating in France

• Leroy Merlin & Brico Depot – In-store advice, materials and specification sheets

• Local mairie offices and professional artisans for accurate guidance

• Facebook groups (use with caution — advice is often mixed!)

Connect with us!

Facebook | Instagram

Email: frenchrenodiaries@gmail.com

Maison Bretagne (Rosie Ellis)

S.R. Charpenterie (Sue Peake-Russell)

Paul Wilkins Electricien (Micala Wilkins)