One of the lovely things about buying a property in France is that it is incredibly easy to find somewhere with a home plus another building, be it a barn, large shed or simply a separate little house, on the same property. The advantage of course is that if your main residence is in reasonable order, you can spend time doing up your outbuilding at your leisure. If you are thinking of doing this in order to make money from a gite business, this is perfectly achievable as long as you follow a few guidelines.
Let’s start with Renovation. Plan this realistically and realise at the outset that some things will need to be done in what may seem to be a strange order. There are some tasks which are tempting to start on because they quickly show results or doing them may be something you really like doing – but you have to work first on the things which take longest to “mature” and prioritise those. Landscaping is the most obvious one. Think about buying small plants and bulbs which will flourish year after year – they will provide you with the framework of your garden.
As far as hiring artisans goes, a local will know the best artisans to use and what you should expect to pay for work done. Always get a proper quotation or “devis”. This will protect you in the future should anything go awry. When I was doing my own property up in the lovely little village of Montjoi, Tarn et Garonne, I hired an excellent local builder recommended by a neighbour and was greatly impressed not only with his workmanship but his reliability (yes he turned up every day on time!).
You will need to make sure you have enough resources in place to cover the building work that needs doing. Also, if you are not going to be in the area throughout the restoration you may need to have some sort of project management in place to ensure that work on your property does not slip down the priority ladder in the artisan’s diary, so delaying completion on your gite.
TOP TIP: If you are doing the whole thing on your own, be wary of contacting too many artisans in the area. I would advise getting 3 quotes and making your decision quickly so you don’t leave people hanging on. This can cause resentment and irritation to people that you may need at a later date.
So on to Refurbishment. I would say at the start that you need to be very clear about what you are trying to achieve. Do you envisage your gite being your permanent home or at least staying in the family in the future? Or is it your intention to sell it after a few years? That knowledge may impact your decision as to what materials are used: the quality of the fitted kitchen for example and whether you pick tiles that are “on offer” and not those that are the exact shade of duck egg blue you adore!
The key to good renovation and subsequent refurbishment is for the gite to be appropriate for its use. For instance, paint the walls, don’t worry about wallpaper. If you are doing up bathrooms choose white as it always looks fresh.
When it comes to equipping your gite, keep in mind plain and simple china and cutlery – again stick to white for your plates and dishes, it always works! Plain glasses are fine, forget about those pretty ones you saw with blue stems which will be less easy to match – breakages are bound to happen.
So from the kettle down to the bathmat, think simple and very clean looking. You need to walk a careful line between inexpensive and cheap and nasty!
TOP TIP: Even if you inherit some weird colours in the bathroom, don’t discount white tile paint – it works wonders!
Finally, Running costs. Here you need to think “truly welcoming but appropriate”. You can either spend money on a local caretaker who will personally welcome your guests and explain the local area or leave a really excellent “welcome pack” that covers all the things you yourself would wish to know about. A nice bottle of wine (this need not cost much in France) put on the table with a personally written welcome note from you and a small vase of flowers works wonders.
Consider who you will find to look after your gite. It is easier to appoint one person to take care of the changeovers, cleaning and laundry and arrange key exchange etc. Check locally; ask your neighbours, you can often find people that way.
The most obvious expenses are the changeovers, general maintenance of your gite and advertising. You ideally should repaint your main rooms every 6 to 9 months. Bed linen will need renewing about every 3 years and wine glasses have a weird habit of getting lost or broken so work in a budget for replacing such items as these.
TOP TIP: Don’t worry about providing towels: they get abused and quickly become scruffy and really decent ones cost quite a lot. Most people are relaxed about bringing their own towels provided you supply the bed linen and this way you will be able to afford really decent sheets!
The initial cash outlay for setting up your gite may come as quite a shock. Remember you ideally need 2 sets of bedding for each bed and a fully equipped kitchen. Think also about decent garden furniture, a TV and DVD player, maybe internet access: the list can seem endless. But a well equipped gite will stand you in excellent stead for future bookings for those business people who want to keep in touch while on holiday.
To sum up, here is my very own quick “DO” and “DON’T” list for making a success of your gite business.
DO
- Give yourself enough time to prepare
- Get someone local with a good reputation to help you and to be there when you are not
- Think of the order in which you need to plan things at the outset
- Decorate your gite in an appropriately clean and fresh way
- Work on your marketing/advertising and make sure it is accurate and welcoming
- Think “French”: simple, elegant and classic
DON’T
- Try to rush things
- Fill your gite with cast offs which don’t quite “fit the bill”
- Make it too fussy so it is difficult to care for and clean
- Make your garden too labour intensive: again, simple is the key. Hanging baskets are a favourite of mine although they do need watering every day!
- Underestimate the standard your gite needs to be to get noticed and booked
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