Going to France ( leaving the horse behind)

mr.wiggle

Hi, With the cost of my buld going over budget( shock , horror) and he quotes I habe recevied for kitchen, flooring and even doors, I must seriously look at buying wood for floors, doors, and bathroom fittings abroad. A work colleague of mine has been to france last year and come back with a van full of bathroom fittings along with some catalogues that show prices at least half of what i can get here. He is sure that i should be able to rent a container or container space to get items shipped over here. Has anyone got any experience on this?

W.:D

muffler

You will probably get more replies in DIY forum

Moved

10-10-20

I'd say go for it yourself.
I went over in March to collect wine for my upcoming wedding and managed to get a loan of a Vivaro van (transit sized) over for the same price as a car - All in it was €350 with Irish Ferries. Accommodation was free as I brought over a bed for a friend who has a house 2 hrs from Cherbourg.

Anyhow, renting a van from a commencial provider works out quite cheap, I'd guess less than €300 again for approx 5 days.
You should seek to stay up north, near Caen or St Lo, they have everything that you need there...
Accommodation in France isn't difficult to arrange with a lot of smaller hotels and B+B's in every town.

The reason I'm telling you this is that I see the shipping container idea being a pain as you won't have a location that you could park and load it.
I took the Wednesday evening sailing, arriving Thursday morning, and sailing out on Sat evening, arriving home Sunday. This was ideal as the French don't do Sundays...
I had pre-ordered the wine through a tiny supplier and they did everything to make my job easier - I suppose it was the biggest sale of the year for them!

Anyhow, have a look at the option - I should warn you that Irish Ferries get pricy around now, you're looking at €900 or so for a similar sailing from now till August. Sept/Oct are the best times to go.

I hope this gives you a few pointers. If you have any more questions, stick them on the board!

eoghan.geraghty

I have hired a few vans in my time, think 400-450 would be more realistic for a transit for 5 days. Also AFAIK you cant leave the island with the van, check this out first, it may be just an extra charge?
Tell me 10-10-20,how much did you save from your trip?
When you figure in the fact that you spent 3 days that you might have been earning money in order to make the saving is it still worth it?
For someone who has to include van hire, accommodation, ferries, fuel and 3 days off I think you should find out how much you will definitely save to make sure its worthwhile.
I would stay away from renting container space, i'm just worried about breakages/missing stock and ensuing arguments about liability.
Mr. Wiggle dont forget that the North is a lot cheaper and worth a look first.
Good luck

10-10-20

Well, for the amount of wine I was buying, the saving was >€5k.

Dummy

Go yourself. We went to France last Summer and bought all the interior and exterior lighting in France for a fraction of the price we would have had to pay here. I remember that the exterior wall lights we got - granite base with stainless steel light unit cost 5 euro each.

But the shower unit highlights the saving. We priced the shower unit my wife wanted here in Dublin and it was 500 euro. One week later, we bought the exact shower in Castorama in France for 99 euro. Their website is http://www.castorama.fr/store/html/homepage/home-page.jsp

But also look in the hypermarkets. I find Auchan to be the best value and better priced than Leclerc. I bought the roof bars for my car for 12 euro there.

I am planning another trip soon to pick up a few odds and ends - the trip always pays for itself.

eoghan.geraghty

10-10-20 wrote:

Well, for the amount of wine I was buying, the saving was >€5k.

Sounds like one heck of a wedding!
A friend is pricing wine for his upcoming wedding, will tell him.
I'm refurbishing my house at the moment, and will definitely consider going french now!

10-10-20

If he's any good a French - or knows somebody who is willing to e-mail/call on his behalf... try these people:
http://www.sommeliers-cavistes.com/services.htm

BTW: Numbers for my wedding are approx 220!

mr.wiggle

thanks guys for your input, we were just pricing more household items, and it looks like our budget is at least double what we have. Will let you know how we get on...thanks again. W.

parsi

Dummy wrote:

Go yourself. We went to France last Summer and bought all the interior and exterior lighting in France for a fraction of the price we would have had to pay here. I remember that the exterior wall lights we got - granite base with stainless steel light unit cost 5 euro each.

But the shower unit highlights the saving. We priced the shower unit my wife wanted here in Dublin and it was 500 euro. One week later, we bought the exact shower in Castorama in France for 99 euro. Their website is http://www.castorama.fr/store/html/homepage/home-page.jsp

f.

And Castorama is owned by the same crew who run B&Q...

We got nice halogen track cable lights with frosted glass shades in Mr.Bricolage for 22.99 and B&Q's cheapest are 88euro (in fact 2 years ago Ikea in Nantes had basic halogen cable lights for around 10-15 euro which we bought just for spares)