English-speaking property buyers and owners from around the world work with renosud to realise their complex renovation and new build projects in the Languedoc and across the South of France. From design to completion. Our English-speaking bilingual building project management team define the project, source trusted builders and partners and manage your project to completion.

We manage complete quality renovations or new build projects from start to finish. Design to delivery. Rensoud specialises in large complex projects, often with complete landscaping and concrete swimming pools included.

We have considerable experience working with overseas clients and have worked on many properties in various states of repair from good to dilapidated. Your project is in safe hands. Our network of quality insured builders, engineers and construction experts are at your disposal which means you have complete peace of mind. Renosud acts as your representative to manage your entire project to completion leaving you to enjoy the exciting process of design and executive direction, without worrying about the delivery in a foreign country.

You probably already appreciate, and all of our past clients know that the difference between success and a French project nightmare is confident delegation. There are no medals for bravery when embarking on complex construction works in a foreign country, without professional help. It almost always ends up in tears and significant financial loss.

Working with a fair minded English mentality. Straight, inclusive, creative and effective.

Resisting the temptation to work like everyone else in the Mediterranean has earned renosud respect and a reputation for quality and integrity with suppliers and contractors. It’s a straight ‘English’ way of doing business that embodies fairness and honesty and places the emphasis on doing the right thing to get the job done, through collaboration, and a fair amount of diplomacy.

It is you who pays us directly, which makes renosud accountable only to you in the process. 

As your representative, we can concentrate on the project and how it can be achieved without worrying about upsetting contractors when tough things need to be said. However, it’s never a good idea to allow things to get confrontational. Good results are never achieved with heavy arm tactics, particularly in the South of France. The southern French culture and mentality are proud and stubborn, often with an emphasis on working to live, not living to work. A shouting match is as likely to end in tools down and a week off then accelerated progress. If a strong intimidating management style works for you in the USA, Norway, Denmark, Australia, Canada, Asia or Great Britain, it will get you absolutely nowhere in the Mediterranean. Quite the contrary, you’re likely to be dumped at the back of the queue.

A process developed over 20 years exclusively to support overseas clients

When clients consider a project in a foreign country, the first anxiety and the biggest worry is how it can be controlled and delivered when they simply cannot be here on a daily basis. Most clients are too busy in their businesses, work and other commitments. Having started working with overseas clients in 2003, we now have sophisticated and highly effective tools and technologies to communicate, update and guide our clients through the project cycle. Because 99% of all our clients are overseas, working with overseas clients is all we’ve ever done. There are no compromises, and It’s a proven process.

We'll keep you updated and you'll have access to your private media site to track progress.

• Video and photographs from the works are sent directly to your phone

• Podcasts supporting decision-making and complex explanations

• Access PDF plans and resources anywhere anytime from your private media site

• Explore 3D models of the project online anywhere with virtual reality

• Access detailed fixtures and fittings schedule online

• Access all financial information to review, comment and track

• Screencasting and screen sharing to discuss project details

With an established process and a network of proven French contractors & specialist partners, renosud are leader in the end-to-end management of building projects in the South of France for overseas clients.

Establishing your building plan is essential for effective project management

Before we manage the project you'll need an architectural plan of works which is essential for defining the project in drawn form. Our design and architectural planning is a separate service called Proplan. Almost all of the projects we manage start as complete design to delivery commissions. Turnkey projects with everything included.

Unfortunately, we cannot accept to manage a project without our own detailed plans, or a renosud version of your own architect’s plan before we start. It is simply unthinkable to carry out a construction project without plans. If you already have an architectural plan, we will insist on reviewing it before accepting your project.

The project management process is complex and involves a number of key stages after the concept and architectural plans have been produced and before construction can start:

• All materials used in the project must be defined e.g. tiles, paint colours, etc

• All fixtures & fittings must be defined - right down to the last tap and door handle

• A final project cost must be established working to your budget

• Separate detailed plans must be produced where cm accuracy is important, such as bathroom and kitchen executions

• Executable engineering plans have to be obtained where necessary from our consulting engineers

• Suppliers, contractors and artisans have to be briefed & selected

We'll bring all the decisions to you with explanation and guidance so that you can delegate your goals to us but remain completely in control. The best outcomes happen when we are left to do what we do best, while you make the decisions and shape the outcome with your choices.

Contracting with the builder

Clients rely on our ability to build with complete security in the South of France. They do not want or need to take unnecessary risks trusting unproven contractors with their investment. A building project is not the vehicle for testing assumptions on low-cost value and we never enter into blind competitive tendering with firms we do not know and cannot completely trust. We remain committed to the high quality guaranteed work in a relationship where clients trust renosud to protect their investment - even if this is sometimes at the cost of uncomfortable truths about the reality of construction in foreign countries leading to some inflexibility on our part.

All our recommended contractors, artisans and builders are French and carry the ten-year insurance [l'assurance décennale] for complete peace of mind. They are hand-picked based on real project delivery, not the lowest price phonebook lottery. Our objective is an assured outcome, not a contractor gamble. Part of our responsibility is it to protect our clients sometimes from misplaced expectations of low-cost delivery that always lead to serious problems later. Cautious clients understand that problems are a large part of what they pay renosud to avoid.

When the information is fixed and ready to go we'll arrange a contract with the builder[s] and hand-hold you through the administration. Our goal is for you to be completely content before work begins. Renosud will never be pressured into taking risks with client funds

Building project manager or just a good talker?

Over the years, we have seen many so-called ‘project managers’ full of promises and charisma while you’re here, only to dissolve just like the builder when you’re not. We’ve mopped up the mess from disastrously executed projects and it’s no joke. With middlemen taking up to 20% of your budget in backhanders from contractors in return for placing work, ask yourself “Who pays the ultimate price?” You should see these people as "introducers" passing you like a bundle of easy cash to a willing builder for a nice little earner. Sadly, some people still seem to be mesmerised by poor judgement led inexorably by the nose in pursuit of the lowest cost.

These are some of the tell-tale signs that you may be being lured into an outcome you will later regret:

• The ‘price-trap’ are quotations that look competitive and lure you into a decision. Later the costs spiral upwards and you’re quickly out of control but emotionally and practically trapped in your decision. Many builders don’t want a project manager or architect lurking over them checking, verifying and directing. Some will do anything to avoid being held to account by a third-party project manager or architect.

• Estate agents and their staff try to represent themselves as project managers offering you a ‘good builder’ but with no clear idea of who is going to actually manage the contractors and the project. A well-established route to boosting sales income, some agents have become very convincing at the builder’s pitch. Be warned, estate agents are motivated to sell houses not manage complex building execution - you'll almost definitely regret it later.

• Anyone who says they can manage a project without insisting on a measured executable building plan of the project and an array of supporting checklists and templates for exactly establishing the specification - we call it the ‘don’t worry it will turn out fine’ approach, it usually doesn’t.

• Absolutely anyone who tells you that their recommended builder doesn’t need managing - it’s simply incorrect in nearly all cases. Renosud contractors are first-rate, but they all need managing.

The ‘price-trap’ are quotations that look competitive and lure you into a decision. Later the costs spiral upwards and you’re quickly out of control but emotionally and practically trapped in your decision. Many builders don’t want a project manager lurking over them checking, verifying and directing. Most will do anything to avoid being held to account by a third party project manager or architect.

Trust renosud to find value and guaranteed outcomes, not the lowest cost

There’s no point in having a great price if the works are poor quality and fraught with problems. It’s bad economics and poor decision-making. Some of the most distressing situations we manage are people who come to renosud after having failed projects with other builders. Some have been defrauded of significant money. In almost all cases, we simply refuse to pick up other people’s pieces. It’s heartbreaking when we have to do it.

We focus on the guaranteed outcome by seeking value. It’s a simple fact that the best contractors and artisans always charge a fair price. There’s a reason why great contractors have projects queued months in advance and are never the cheapest option.

It's a violation of business to expect great quality at a low price.

If you choose to ride off into the Mediterranean sunset without a project manager and with the lowest-price builder expect to meet cowboys along the way. After rescuing many projects gone wrong the most common pitfall is rooted in some peoples’ urge to pursue the lowest price without due consideration of its consequences. It is well to ponder on the wisdom of John Ruskin  [1819-1900] a leading English art critic of the Victorian era and his Common Law of Business when fixating on price.

Contact us to discuss your French building project

We cover the Aude, Hérault, Gard, Vaucluse and Provence