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frogop
22-08-2004, 10:38 PM
I am looking to work in Spain, Costa del Sol, for a few months. Does anybody have any useful contacts over there in the fridge or AC business that might be able to help? Thanks in advance.

Mark
23-08-2004, 10:43 AM
Hi,frogop :)

Have you looked in the RE jobs database :)

Mark :)

Peter Croxall
25-08-2004, 11:59 AM
Hi Frogop,
I have a place on the Costa Blanca. They have a local newspaper, "The Costa Blanca News", where all the expats advertise. (you would be surprised at how many Brits are working on peoples villas fixing A/C's, pools, etc. I am sure that the Costa Del Sol would have a similar newspaper in circulation. :cool:

frogop
26-08-2004, 07:40 AM
Thanks for the reply. I am going over in October for a week to check out the situation and I will have a look at for something like that.


I have a place on the Costa Blanca.

So what do you think of it there? Is it just an investment or do you spend much time there? To be honest I see this as a "trial" to see what it would be like to live there.

Friobernal
26-08-2004, 09:39 AM
Hola Frogop;

I have moved from Madrid to Valencia 5 months ago (very close to Costa del Sol). I´m working in ammonia refrigeration and this area is one of the strongest and growing in Spain. I spend my holidays in Javea, the best village in Costa del Sol and i´ve heard that 30% of people are from Uk and Germany

Let me know what do you know:

* Industrial Ref
*Commercial
*A/C

Regards

Peter Croxall
26-08-2004, 12:02 PM
Hi Frogop,
I primarily bought the apartment as an investment, (my retirement fund, so to speak). This was back in 1983, cost £35 000 ( quite a lot of money then, worth considerably more now). I think your doing the right thing by trying to work there first. So many expats go to Spain dreaming of supping endless Cuba libres and soaking up the sun, they forget one still has to buy food and the little niceties of life. This costs money (unless you’ve won the lotto). They say, on average that most expats only last 5 years before heading for home. This I'm sure is because they hadn't done their homework and looked into the actual cost of living and working in Spain. (TRY B4 U BUY)
:D

Hola Friobernal, Que tal?
The Costa Blanca is indeed very pretty, Javea, Moraira, Altea and even Benidorm has it's merits. My apartment is on Playa Poniente in Benidorm, ( very rentable, but very noisy in summer) As you say, lots of Brits and Germans own villas there, but now a days we are seeing many east Europeans buying, ( Aeroflot fly’s into Alicante twice a week ), I guess it must be all that black money in circulation. You only seem to hear Russian spoken on the beach at certain times of the year. :eek:

frogop
27-08-2004, 07:48 AM
Friobernal,

I am currently working in commercial refrigeration, supermarkets. I started with REA Bott in 1995 and have worked in nearly all of the major supermarkets, currently working for Sainsbury's. I did spend 3 years in the office doing Design & Contracts for an AC firm, so I know a little bit of AC. The only installation of AC I have done was the wall-mount in my bedroom!
The idea of living and working in Spain has always appealed to me. The claim that the "Quality of Life" is better and that it is a more child friendly place in which to raise the children is also a big factor. I have worked abroad before, well sort of, as I was in the Army and they do tend to sort out all the other problems that are encountered.
As my children have not started school yet I feel as though this is a time in which I can see if the idea of living abroad could be a viable option.
All comments regarding the way of life, cost of living, cost or renting and anticipated earnings! etc we be most welcome.
Thanks in advance.

Peter Croxall
27-08-2004, 09:55 AM
Hi Frogop,
Things are quite different in Spain with regards to small A/C split systems. After all, Mr Joe Public can go to his local supermarket and buy one from a range of different makes straight off the shelf. He can either have it installed for him or do-it-himself. Everything comes pre-charged. Is this a recipe for disaster or what ? :confused:

Friobernal
28-08-2004, 11:19 AM
Sorry!!

I don´t know where i live. You are talking about Costa del Sol (Andalucia) and i am living in Costa Blanca (Levante).

I wouldn´t have moved to Andalucia (i.e Malaga) for working or living. I recommend you Valencia for several reason:

1. A lot of refrigeration job;

www.descals.es

R. Masip Ingeniero,
SA C/. Alcalde Cano Coloma,
4-B 46022 - Valencia (Valencia),

YORK Refrigeration S.L.
Amparo Iturbi, 47
46006 Valenciahttp://www.cac.es/

www.grencoiberica.es ;)

http://www.grv.es/

And finally this is what i see every morning

http://www.cac.es/

I pay 510 €/month but i´m going to buy a house in 2 months: 200.000 € +/- 115 m2. In Madrid this price is ridiculous, but here in Valencia the price of the houses are growing very fast because of the American cup in 2007

If you are looking for "Quality of life" come to Valencia

Hope it helps

Friobernal
28-08-2004, 11:42 AM
Another thing,

The biggest supermarket company in Spain is based in Valencia

www.mercadona.com

frank
30-08-2004, 05:55 PM
I don´t know where i live.

That must be hard after a good night down at the taverna :eek:

rbartlett
30-08-2004, 06:06 PM
my old secretary left to live in s.spain and raves about it (apart from wages which are only just a tad higher than chinese rice pullers)

thus at one point we too looked at spain but found it to be a bit too dirty and barren for us..:-/

they don't seem to have any pride in their land and it's littered with rubbish etc..(a bit like several carribean islands/far east etc.......)

we combined it with a holiday in and around barca and visits to the various dali places there.

we did 1500K in a 2 weeks so saw quite a enough to form an opinion..
however a life in the sun is appealing wherever it is..-okay maybe not the gaza strip, but you get my drift ;-))

cheers

richard

chilly
30-08-2004, 07:07 PM
I'd be very interested in any contacts you have out there please, I have been looking to move to spain for years and have never been able to find any info on it that lead anywhere, I do not know the language to be fair but am very keen to get over there and pick it up, My work really does speak for itself, i have spent 16 years in the industry and did my time with Carter refrigeration, Also worked for Lindee and have glowing written refreances from both.
I dont mind what hours or what kit they want me to work on, I just want to be able to live in spain and buy an appartment there. I also am very experianced in air conditioning and VRF systems.

I do hope you can help, Thanks in advance for any responce you may send.

Keith

rbartlett
30-08-2004, 08:42 PM
i'm not knocking you but if you've been looking for years why on earth haven't you learnt the language?



most european companies won't take on anyone unless they can speak the lingo to a reasonable degree..however this won't be enough as you will need to learn technical words in spanish too

how can you expect to be gainfully employed if you went into their 'NRS' after some 1/4 flare nuts and all you can say is- 'dos cerveza por favor'

imagine if a spainish guy came to england with the same qualities as you but couldn't speak english -how would would rate his chances of getting a job????????

is this naivety or arrogance??

i know we often say 'a good fridgie can get a job anywhere in the world' but it's not quite as simple as that...

http://www.spanishpropertyworld.com/living_in_spain.htm
http://britishexpats.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=55
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=239361&highlight=air+conditioning+spain

cheers

richard

frank
30-08-2004, 09:28 PM
how can you expect to be gainfully employed if you went into their 'NRS' after some 1/4 flare nuts and all you can say is- 'dos cerveza por favor'


Do you mean - 2 beers please and 2 1/4" flare nuts? :D

Peter Croxall
31-08-2004, 02:31 PM
Hi Friobernal,
I agree with you. I was involved in a car crash quite a few years ago and my son was in a coma for 4 days at the university hospital in Valencia. The hospital and staff were fantastic. (the cleaner even offered to put me up at her house rather than I travel in every day from the outside of the city)
Fabulous people and a fabulous city :) :) :)

frogop
01-09-2004, 07:45 AM
I have sent my CV into an AC firm in Gibraltar who seem quite interested in "having a chat" which could be promising... ah well I will keep looking anyway.....
I am looking at the Costa Del Sol, well for a start someone I know has some contacts down and I have been there a couple of times before and well I had to make a decision on where to start. I have been on a working holiday..I mean a "Military Construction tour" with the TA... to Gibraltar and did enjoy the place. Your comments regarding the Costa Blanca are very interesting.

The bottom line, for me anyway, is will the quality of life for me and my family be better in the UK or Spain? I guess thats depends on peoples' own point of view, but I do feel as though we are on a treadmill doing the overtime etc, but not spending quality time enjoying ourselves. Feel free to tell me I am in a dream world!!!!!

Karl Hofmann
01-09-2004, 08:51 AM
I used to spend a lot of time in Spain in my capacity as a HGV driver, and thought that it was a fantastic country, my spoken Spanish was coming along quite nicely, but sadly I have forgotten most of it again through lack of use, perhaps it is time for me to go back to night classes and learn. The big difference that I have noticed is that the Spanish do hold folk who do usefull or essential work in high esteem, true they dont earn high wages, but they do have quality of life, and that is worth morthan any amount of money. I was also surprised at how well diciplined and tolerant their car drivers are in comparison to the British.

Learn the language before you go, it is only polite :)

chemi-cool
01-09-2004, 11:41 AM
If you are highly professional tech, you should have no problems getting a job anywhere in this world,
As Karl said, you better learn some Spanish before you go, It will be respected by the locals. Look at me, I speak your lingo! :D

Qulity of life is something else. It depends on the neiborhood you're going to live in, the quality of services your counsil give, the school your kids will go to, what Mrs frog will do all day, how many hours you will work everyday, etc, etc......

If the two of you set your mind up on moving there, go, do not hasitate. the longer you will wait, the harder it will be to move!

Best of luck.
Chemi :)

frank
01-09-2004, 06:50 PM
I was also surprised at how well diciplined and tolerant their car drivers are in comparison to the British.


Hi Karl

You obviously haven't tried to cross the main drag in Playa Las Americas then :D

frogop
01-09-2004, 10:03 PM
I was involved in a car crash quite a few years ago and my son was in a coma for 4 days at the university hospital in Valencia. .....

I hope all is well now.....

Karl Hofmann
02-09-2004, 09:15 AM
Hi Karl

You obviously haven't tried to cross the main drag in Playa Las Americas then :D


LOL Pedestrians are fair game, but on the motorways they use the overtaking lanes for overtaking and then return to the outside lane rather than blocking the road up by driving at 50 in the middle lane, they seem to make more allowances for foreign HGV drivers, and on a couple of occasions when asking for directions the locals have jumped in to their cars and told me to follow them, a favour that I have returned when Spanish drivers have been looking for the Bentley factory.

An ineresting point that I noticed was that in many factory canteens sits a vending machine for beer, I'm not sure if that is good or bad, but it was definately bad when the driver of the Dutch registered truck in front of me gave a fork lift driver a litre of Vodka for loading him instead of stopping for lunch, by the time he got to load me the bottle was 3/4 empty :eek:

Friobernal
02-09-2004, 07:22 PM
Hi Frog,

just a comment; if you go to Gibraltar, you go to the south of Spain, below is Africa with lot of people trying to get into the "promise land". On the other hand Gibraltar is the last colony in Europe (so isn´t a quiet place).

People try to work as less as possible in that area...

What do you want?

Friobernal
02-09-2004, 07:27 PM
I hope everybody understand me i´m not against african or gibraltar people, just trying to explain what many people think about that area

Karl Hofmann
02-09-2004, 08:50 PM
Don't worry, I understand.

I had a non European gentleman trying to enter the cab of my truck with a flick knife in broad daylight whilst I was parked outside a supermarket in Valencia, whilst I was having a kip. Cheeky sod even gave me the finger when I invited him to play baseball. :rolleyes:

rbartlett
18-09-2004, 04:48 PM
may be of some use

http://www.spanishforum.org/

cheers

richard

Rufusz
22-06-2008, 10:47 AM
I am also planning to move to Spain and would like to hear some advice from the expats living there.

What are the legal requirements for AC installations?
Is C&G 2078 and 17th edition recognized or is it possible to take a 'fast track' course to gain the spanish qualifications?

Thanks