Work for an Australian builder

Sure but not if you charge Australian prices.
It would be very useful to be able to speak Hungarian though, you must order supplies and such and not all those you hire will be able to speak English well enough for things to go smoothly.
We know a guy who has a very busy construction co. over near lake Velence area.
He is not a builder, was a city boy all his life and never worked with his hands.
He both sells building supplies and does construction jobs.He hires his crews from Romania for cheap, at least cheaper then a local worker would require.
He just knows the right people, that's really the only way to get ahead in Hungary, it's all about who you know not what you know.
For example last week we spoke to a man who was doing some repair work and painting outside a house.
We asked him how much he charged to paint the inside of a apt.
He said he worked for a co. and was really busy but he called up his brother right there and my husband spoke to the guy for about 10 mins on the phone.
Got his number etc.
He of course would look first in person but roughly he charged 1,000F a sq, meter to paint.
This conversation was in Hungarian but even ex-pats can find someone with broken English for a low price if they look into it.
Maybe your best move would be to first work for a large contractor and see the in's and outs of doing business here for yourself before investing too much time and money into getting paperwork to start a business. See if it's possible to do here since there are already many building co. here.
Our nieces husband started his own heating and A/C co. about 20 some years ago. He has many employees and does all the new office buildings in Budapest. Took him some time to get it up and running but he knew people from his old school days who helped him get started on the right path.
That's allot of competition to deal with.
There are just so many ex-pats that need repairs done and big money is in doing new construction jobs.

Hi Marilyn,

Would it be good to charge Australian prices!

Yes I think your right about working for someone for a while first up.

In regards to the language I would be keen to learn as my Mum is Hungarian and my grandparents are both berried there so I feel like I should lean it.

Who you know is how it works in every country but there is no substitute for quality/reliability.

Thanks for your detailed reply I appreciate it.

Adam.

Over in Austria, I know of a couple of Expats that serve the English speaking community they don't speak German but are married to Austrians so paperwork is not a problem or dealing with suppliers.

Adam k76 wrote:

Hi Marilyn,

Would it be good to charge Australian prices!

Yes I think your right about working for someone for a while first up.

In regards to the language I would be keen to learn as my Mum is Hungarian and my grandparents are both berried there so I feel like I should lean it.

Who you know is how it works in every country but there is no substitute for quality/reliability.

Thanks for your detailed reply I appreciate it.

Adam.

Your welcome, hope I wasn't too negative but always best to stay safe, we had a business in HU in the past and it was "horrible'.So sometimes it's best to get a ton of info before jumping into something.
I also have some HU roots from my father's side.
Interesting how many people have some sort of HU roots.
About wages and prices, well I only know there isn't allot of people willing or able who are ex-pats who will pay western prices in Hungary.
For example, years back my husband noticed an add in a HU paper for a machinist job.
We were on holiday and he wasn't really even thinking of working ever again in HU but he called up just to find out how much they were willing to pay a master machinist with 30 years of experience.
This was 13 or so years back but still they offered something like $3.50 an hour!
Good luck finding anyone willing to work for that much that knows the difference  between a lathe and a mill!
One thing though, Hungary costs less to live then Australia  so taking a bit of a wage decrease  is to be expected.
If you open your own business don't forget you will need insurance, good insurance too in case you should get hurt on the job.
I know our Hungarian friend in AZ was building himself a nice house by himself.
He had built homes in Hawaii for several other HUngarians and was used to hard work and good at it.
Well, he got all sorts of bank loans for materials , bought the land and was about half way through the build when he fell off the ladder and broke his leg.
Had all sorts of issues with the bank and making payments etc. Had to sell off his dream house half built because he couldn't finish it in time to make payments while healing up.
My Rusyn grandfather was old school in the 1960's he was 65 years old and fell off his ladder too. Broke his neck, well cracked it in a few places. Was self employed as a skilled worker, did it all, tile,wallpaper, painting etc. He had to work while in a neck brace and had pain the rest of his life, well the few years he had left that is.
He didn't have any insurance on himself and had to keep working even with a cracked neck.

When Marilyn said you have to "know a guy" here, that often means since childhood. Late life relationships to help secure business are possible, but not as reliable. And of course family (no surprise to me that the painter called his brother -- cross reference the novel "Relations" by Zsigmond Móricz, which IMHO is a must read for anyone wanting to live in Hungary outside an expat bubble).

Also, and I was told this some years ago and things may have changed, but my general contractor once told me some building trades in Hungary require a local Hungarian trade certificate (masons for example). Being an expert from another country is irrelevant if you don't have the proper paperwork in Hungary. And the government has clamped down a lot on "gray and black" market work in construction (unless, of course.... you "know a guy"). I knew an expat builder here who only spoke German an his wife did all the Hungarian contacts and paperwork. When the new laws came in he basically had to retire -- didn't have the proper Hungarian certificates. Again, all what I was "told", so it is second hand. Take that for what that is worth.

Regarding pay: It has been a few years since I hired anyone, but my general contractor was paying his workers 6,000 HUF (20 EUR) a day.

Sad to say, it's true wages in Hungary for skilled workers are low unless you are the bossman.
My son was living in HU with his HU wife for over one years time.
18 or so years back now.
He is a casino worker, he was hired at a casino in Budapest after his wife got him the job. He was told to learn to count fast and well in HUngarian and he could start working, practice numbers for a couple of weeks and come back  in.
Well he found out he would be making about $500. a month plus having to deal with strong armed Hungarians ... Sort of a rough trade so to speak here compared to how Vegas now runs.
He decided to return to the US and get 2 casino jobs at once to make up for the wasted time in Hungary.
He is now a casino floor manager, doubt he would have that job Hungary without knowing someone high up.

It sounds like it’s very hard to make any decent money in hu on your own. Also sounds like a fair bit of corruption happening as well. Those wages are very low to Aus standards, our min wages are around $20 per hr.

I’m probley best of just renting my home in Aus and living of the rent so the low wages won’t really effect me. Would $1000 Aus aweek give me enough to live on and do a spot of travelling here and there?.

Cheers,
Adam.

Not sure exactly what 1000 Aus a week is but it sounds good.
If you were working in Hungary , you'd be too busy and tired to travel so renting your place sounds like a plan.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

Not sure exactly what 1000 Aus a week is but it sounds good.
If you were working in Hungary , you'd be too busy and tired to travel so renting your place sounds like a plan.

1,000 AUD = 205,985.80 HUF

Adam k76 wrote:

Would $1000 Aus aweek give me enough to live on and do a spot of travelling here and there?.

Regarding travel: my wife and I blew 1000 EUR (1,500 AUD) in just three days in Vienna the last time we were there.

My point is, everyone is different. Lifestyles vary. A bit of personal research is needed. I recommend starting by taking a look at Numbeo.com for living costs in Hungary and then some other sources regarding European travel costs.

Thanks for your reply mate.

Is this a decent amount for Budapest?

Cheers.

Adam k76 wrote:

Is this a decent amount for Budapest?

Again: I don't know. As your life style may be different than mine. I like 5,000 HUF (24 AUD) bottles of wine, for example. Every day. That can easily chew up a lot of that 1,000 AUD.

Which is why I gave the link to Numbeo.com where you can see costs of living in Hungary and decide what range (low or high) you can work with. Here is the direct link:

https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/c … ry=Hungary

Thanks I had a look at the link, everything is a lot cheaper than Aus.
I need to do a lot more research but it seems like 205k hu a week should be comfortable as long as I’m not heading to Vienna every weekend lol.

SimCityAT wrote:

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

Not sure exactly what 1000 Aus a week is but it sounds good.
If you were working in Hungary , you'd be too busy and tired to travel so renting your place sounds like a plan.

1,000 AUD = 205,985.80 HUF

That's enough and then some in Hungary, you will be just fine here.

Thanks Marilyn.

One last question, can you do any unit/house flips in hu ( can do a lot of the work myself). Or what about building a new build and selling it off.
Is there any investment opportunity in regards to buying and building multiple dwellings on one plot and renting/selling. Or what about buying a whole block of units and being able to sell them of individually after a Reno.

Thanks in advance.

Adam k76 wrote:

One last question, can you do any unit/house flips in hu ( can do a lot of the work myself). Or what about building a new build and selling it off.
Is there any investment opportunity in regards to buying and building multiple dwellings on one plot and renting/selling. Or what about buying a whole block of units and being able to sell them of individually after a Reno.

Thanks in advance.

Forget about it, at least for a few years, until you get to know the local way of doing business...

There has been a HUGE boom in the real estate market for a few years now, some specialist suspect a bubble, it could be risky. It also attracted lots of investors, hard to get land or apartments to renovate at reasonable prices.

Sounds like Australia.

Thanks for the heads up.

Yes, I agree with Atomheart on this one.
Not really going to make a killing reselling anything , not really worth the investment of time and money to fix it up.
Also in HU you have to own a property for a certain number of years to escape another of their many taxes.
Forgot was either 6 or 7 years of ownership before the tax was not given on a sale of property.
We had planned on redoing our flat when we bought it. We bought it and stayed only about 6 weeks in the place and then left it for a few years and went home to the US to work, after that we only came to HU off and on for 5 to 6 months of holiday, always thought we would remodel later on when we were staying for good.
Then the housing market just went flat and we didn't want to sink in more money into the place.
Over time we have gotten used to it being ,"funky", we are planning on selling as is when the time is right.
Have the funds to fix it up but no longer really interested in living here long term.
Things change over time, some neighbors have moved away and some that have moved in our not people we wish to live near for ever.
We keep to ourselves but still in a house you must put up with others at times.
Probably will sell out after we return from another long US trip and if we do stay in HU after that, we plan on only renting, something nice and clean and new near a lake.
Sort of just got spoiled by not having to pay rent but what the heck, might as well enjoy our hard earned money after the sale.
After we convert any sale funds back into US dollars, we will take a beating so might as well spend some and enjoy life.
Of course our son wants us to keep it in the family, he even has mentioned giving us money to remodel with. No since I doubt he plans on living in Hungary ever again why leave him a burden after we pass on.
I know he would just sell the place, spend the money on something insane and that would be it.
Sorry got off track, no doing flips here is not a good thing right now.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

Yes, I agree with Atomheart on this one.

Also in HU you have to own a property for a certain number of years to escape another of their many taxes.
Forgot was either 6 or 7 years of ownership before the tax was not given on a sale of property.

Capital gains tax, just like Austria - but is 10 years there and if you sell before the 10 years you are hit with 25% tax. You either rent or you buy with the idea of staying put.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

Then the housing market just went flat and we didn't want to sink in more money into the place..

I sunk a lot into our house. More than it was worth. Because.... well..... it was our house and we lived there and we should be comfortable.