To think there are enough carpentry jobs in Cornwall

[katem98]

Desperate to move our family to Cornwall. We're in our 20s, I have a job that I can do in most places so not an issue for me. DH is a self employed carpenter - he thinks there won't be as many job prospects in Cornwall (we're currently Bristol). AIBU to think there are plenty? Obviously will have the issue of no recommendations but even if he becomes employed again for a couple of years? Our DC are 5 and 3 and I just hate how busy it is here for us now! Have always had our hearts set on Cornwall.

I don't think anyone can tell you if there are plenty of carpentry jobs in Cornwall, how would anyone know?

The firm my SIL works for is always looking for carpenters and on our local FB groups people are also always looking for carpenters...

@GalileoHumpkins People locally with family members in the industry?

I don't think your husband would have a problem finding a carpentry job. Housing, however, is a different story. Rentals are like hens teeth and getting one is nigh on impossible at the moment. If your buying you might have better luck, but demand is still super high. If you are going to look I'd probably steer clear of the more touristy hot spots where house prices are ludicrous and pick a town/village with good transport links but maybe not your typical holiday destination. I wish you all the best of luck with your search.

@Healingthehurt Thank you. Yes, we'd be buying. Luckily we're all familiar with ramped up house prices through living in Bristol. We would definitely avoid the more touristy areas. It'd be a good year or so before we properly start looking I expect!

Honestly, I think you’re being naive, unless you have way more money than two 20something with two small children are likely to have — I have loved the parts of Cornwall I’ve spent time in (friends in Falmouth and near St Ives), but even visiting them as they settled in was eye-opening in terms of the deprivation of some areas, and how many people who move there because they love it have to compromise in terms of work, and do whatever is available, which might be very seasonal/casual. And as a pp said, rentals are expensive and hard to find. I’d do an awful lot of research before seriously contemplating a move.

@Divilabit Thank you. I wouldn't say we have way more money than the average but do earn quite an ok amount between us both and live comfortably. It's definitely not something we'd be jumping in to and will do all necessary research before making a decision.

Lots of work for all trades here. It is very very hard to get a carpenter for domestic work as they are all working on big projects, new builds, second homes renovations etc. They are similar to mechanics, electricians etc… like hens teeth! My DH is a builder and is self-employed and constantly has more work requests than he could possibly keep up with.

The nicer and close to the beach towns may be expensive compared to some other Cornish towns, but still not as high as Bristol prices I wouldn’t think.

We live on the North Coast but I have friends further down in the West who also love where they live.

It is a fabulous place to live and bring up children, particularly if you are looking for an outdoor lifestyle and want your children to go to surf clubs and spend long summer evenings at the beach. Dealing with the gridlocked traffic during the summer holidays is a nightmare though!

Also, it’s not a great place to live if you really enjoy shopping and going to shopping centres at weekends.

@CornishCarbs Thank you so much, that's incredibly helpful. Really reassuring to hear that your DH has plenty of work on. You've described exactly what we're looking for. We hate shopping especially at weekends so I don't think we'd worry in that respect . We were really surprised by what our budget would allow us to purchase in Cornwall compared to Bristol!

There are a few towns that are really grim; that’s the case everywhere in the country I think though! PM me if you want and I can tell you some to avoid 😂

Hi, a close friend of ours is a carpenter in the West Midlands (where we live). He is frequently spending weeks down in Cornwall as there’s a shortage of trades down there, and he can command a really good income by doing so.

When you say you have a job you can do in most places, do you mean you'd keep your current job and work remotely? Or that you'd want to get a new job doing the same as your current one, but based in Cornwall? The second might not be as easy as you'd think, there's quite a serious lack of jobs, and those that there are don't generally pay as well as the same role elsewhere. The first could work very well.

Carpentry work should be reasonably easy to find - every decent builder/tradesman I know is stacked out with work. But again, if he went employed it potentially doesn't pay as well as you might be expecting depending on what sort of business he got work with - big national company vs small local workshop might be quite a difference.

As a cornish lady I'm telling you cornwall job prospects are not ideal and it's fine for kids young wait till their teenagers and their naff all for them to do cornwall isn't what your expecting

If he can do kitchen fitting too he would do well, we had to find one recently and the large companies were all booked up for months. In the end we found a self employed man who did a great job. This was near St Ives.

@CornishCarbs Haha, part of my family are originally from Cornwall so I could guess a couple of places you're referring to but yes, there are many places here in Bristol the same!

@flowergirl24 That's great to hear, thank you!

@GrannyAchingsShepherdsHut I work within in the NHS, GP surgery specifically. I don't expect to just jump in to a job but I think it'd be quite easy to find one due to staff shortages being quite nationwide and GP surgeries always seem to be recruiting! I may be naive in that aspect though - hopefully not!

My children are teenagers and have loads to do! Again, it depends what you are looking for and where you are you are based.

There wasn’t quite so much when I was a teen growing up here and everything was seasonal then; that’s really changed now though.

It’s certainly a great place to own a dog I think! that gets you out and about to visit new places and even during the winter rain, when it’s really cold, a walk on the beach can still be gorgeous, in my opinion.

I live here now and know loads of people with teenagers I was born and bred here everyone will say different

A family member- extremely skilled joiner - was asked to work on a house in Cornwall
He had all his hand tools stolen( kept in the property overnight)

Local police said it wasn’t an uncommon occurrence- Local trades being arsey about “Imported” Labour as they saw it.

Another very skilled woodworker and his wife who moved there hated it and found it to be a jealous, petty place.
Far happier since moving back .

Me too. As you say, everyone will have a difference experience and opinion.

You are right about job prospects in a way.. however, I work from home & most of my work comes from companies that are based all over the country; those opportunities are a lot more common than they used to be, for a lot of people who I know.