New Build - Diary Of A French New Build (Iss 184)
When we began this project to have a new house built in France, our command of the language was sketchy to say the least. We’d muddled through with the saleswoman, encouraged by how helpful she was – speaking slowly and clearly for our benefit; patiently waiting while we leafed through the dictionary; trying to understand.
Along with the detailed quote, we were given a technical specification listing exactly what they’d provide down to the thermal coefficient of the insulation, the type of door hinges, even the mix of concrete for the foundations – fifteen pages of details, all in French of course. We went through the spec carefully with our trusty French/English dictionary of building terms. Some of it remained incomprehensible and in the end we had to take it on trust.
We were assigned an ‘interlocutrice’, the charming and efficient Monique, who dealt with all the paperwork, handled the planning permission, sent us invoices at the seven defined stages, and patiently answered our questions. We had several meetings with her, discussing the finer details, such as where we wanted the house to sit on the plot, where we’d like the light switches, the re-positioning of a door a metre to the left, and so on. At each point she sent us the updated drawings for our approval. We also had an exciting afternoon at their show house, choosing the colours of tiles for floors and bathroom walls, of gutters and downpipes, of front door and shutters, and the shade of render for external walls. Luckily our tastes coincide!
Time and money
On the building company’s contract, they stated how long it would take – 10 months – but that counts from the opening of the site, not from when we signed the contract. And August doesn’t get counted at all! But at least we had a completion date – a penalty would be payable to us if it wasn’t met – and we just had to be patient. One huge advantage of having a ‘turn-key’ building project is that the price is fixed and provided you don’t change the plans, that’s all you have to pay. The ground works were arranged with a terrassier and priced separately as they have a habit of changing with variables unknown at the outset. Another advantage of using a building company was that they organised the application for planning permission which sailed through within eight weeks – no infuriating ‘dossier incomplet’ letters! Once permission was granted, while waiting for the building work to commence, we arranged for a water supply to the site, which turned out to be simple but expensive.
Making space
Then there were the trees. We had one massive hornbeam in the centre of the plot which, sadly, had to go, and a row of five enormously tall poplars that would have reached the house if they’d fallen down in winter storms. We had hoped to save a prolific walnut tree, but it was already leaning at a jaunty angle and just wouldn’t have survived the footings being dug so close to its roots. So one exciting day in April 2005, the chainsaws whirred and down they came. Suddenly the site seemed huge, the views expanded and so did our winter woodpile.
Work begins
It was a month later, on Friday the thirteenth, when a digger rumbled up the road. Its first task was to make a new access into the site. That took only a minute – it just drove through the hedge! Then as soon as it started scraping away the topsoil where the house was to be, the heavens opened. After skidding about in the mud for a while, work was abandoned until Monday. The next week the digger carved out a driveway which was then filled with roadstone to give clean access for the many visiting lorries. It also scooped out the trenches for the footings, and made the excavation for the pool. The latter was a separate arrangement with the terrassier as I wanted to install the pool for the summer – I couldn’t wait another 12 months! We bought the pool as a kit and installed it ourselves…but that’s another story.
The merry maçons arrived; a team of Turkish builders of whom only one spoke French, none English, so communicating with them was haphazard. But the project manager assigned to us by the building company directed them, and all they seemed to need from us was drinking water, an occasional baguette and the loan of a hosepipe. They worked hard and often late, without tea-breaks, having picnic lunches sitting on breezeblocks in the shade. Once the ready-mix concrete was poured into the trenches, these impressive men shovelled and spread it into the footings. A few days later a delivery of blocks arrived and by the end of the day they’d laid three rows all round. Our house had started to grow.