Construction Assistance

Ever-increasing property prices in the south of France make building your own home all the more interesting. It sounds simple in theory! Purchase a piece of land, commission a drawing, find a building contractor and 12 to 18 months later you'll be living in the south of France. If it were indeed that easy, we would be offered considerably less work.

The following questions, to name but a few, could arise during the planning process:

How do I know if a particular contractor/architect is appropriate?
How and where can I check the contractor’s guarantees and certificates?
Am I aware of all the regulations a building permit must comply with?
When do I have to turn to an architect?
Who can tell me what, where and on what scale I can build?
How can I verify whether a building quote is reasonable?
Will my command of French allow me to tell the architect exactly what I want, or to negotiate with the contractor?
Who will check whether the contractor is doing what it ought to be doing?
Will I be able to keep an eye on everything while at home?

You will manage on your own if you do not foresee any problems while reading through these questions, have enough time on your hands and will be able to visit the building site on a regular basis. Most people, however, are only too glad to allow someone else to deal with these issues and problems. 30 A Vendre can do so.

We can offer you a combination that will benefit you immensely (the many years of experience acquired by “Maitre d'oeuvre” Alain Grasset, combined with Mikel de Rooij’s knowledge of French regulations and customs and proficiency in English, Dutch, French and German. Simply put, you can entrust your building project to us in complete confidence.

What does building assistance entail?

In short: assistance from the moment the land is purchased until the key is handed over.

It all starts with buying the land. We will check whether construction is permitted and what may be built. We will contact the municipality and its advisory body called the Direction Departmentale De l’Equipment (DDE) about future plans for the region and discuss these with you.

Once the land has been purchased, we will sit down with you and discuss the type of house you want. While Alain (or your own architect) translates your ideas into drawings, we will contact the building contractors. Since we usually always work with the same companies, we know each other really well, which is ideal for all of the parties involved. Perhaps needless to say: we receive no commission from the contractors or a party other than you. You are our client and the only party that pays us. After the permit has been approved and negotiations with the building companies have been concluded, building work can start.

How do we assist you with your construction project as thoroughly as possible?
We will create the drawings (not obligatory), the construction specifications and the working drawings
We will coordinate and check the planning and activities approved by you
We will visit the building site at least once a week (during the second phase, often on a daily basis)
We will verify technical/structural aspects
We will maintain the bookkeeping for the building project and think along with you.

Once building work has been completed, your house will be delivered and a detailed inspection will be carried out. You will be present while this is done and the report that is drawn up will indicate any points you disagree with. We will help you resolve these.

We can assure you that there will be many moments when you are glad we are backing you up and keeping a professional eye on your future home and interests.

Thanks to our knowledge of what building a home entails, our command of the language and an extensive network, the building process will proceed more smoothly than it would have if you had tried to organise everything from your side.