Electrical installation is a federally licensed trade in Switzerland. Before the first invoice, your company needs a general installation licence from the Federal Inspectorate for Heavy Current Installations (ESTI): one licence, valid throughout the country, unlimited in time. Its central condition is a person, not a document: the qualified technical manager. If that person leaves, the licence lapses with them. This guide covers the conditions, the organisational rules, the real costs and the routes open to foreign contractors.
Contents
- A licensed trade, from the very first project
- The qualified person, the asset everything rests on
- The company licence and its organisational rules
- Legal form, capital and corporate purpose
- Applying to ESTI: fees, register, validity
- What the ordinance requires on every project
- Limited licences: the entry routes
- Payroll and the 2026-2029 collective agreement
- Foreign contractors: the 90-day route vs a Swiss company
- The pitfalls that cost the licence
A licensed trade, from the very first project
Article 6 of the Ordinance on Low-Voltage Electrical Installations (OIBT) leaves no room for interpretation: anyone who installs, modifies or maintains electrical installations, or permanently connects fixed electrical equipment to them, must hold an installation licence granted by ESTI. There is no revenue threshold and no grace period. The first job carried out without a licence is already an offence, sanctioned under the ordinance and the federal Electricity Act.
Enforcement is built into the market, not left to random checks. Before starting work, the installer must notify the operator of the low-voltage grid the installation is connected to, and grid operators verify the licence in the public register kept by ESTI. No licence number means no notification, which means no lawful site anywhere in Switzerland. Access to this market runs through a single federal counter, before your first quote.
The qualified person, the asset everything rests on
A company obtains the general installation licence only if it employs a “qualified person” within the meaning of article 8 OIBT, integrated as its technical manager. This is the hardest piece of the file to secure, and the one worth solving first.
The main route is the advanced federal diploma, the Swiss master craftsman examination for experts in electrical installation and safety. Its holder is qualified as of right. The alternative route combines three years of practical installation work under the supervision of a qualified person, a passed practical examination, and one of the listed diplomas: a Swiss federal certificate as an electrician combined with a degree from a university of applied sciences or a professional college in electrical engineering or energy technology, a related certificate or an academic baccalaureate combined with such a degree, or an advanced federal diploma in a related profession.
For qualifications earned abroad, ESTI itself rules on equivalence, applying the vocational training legislation by analogy. A foreign master electrician or an electrical engineer does not start from zero, but the recognition procedure is billed on actual workload and takes time: it belongs at the start of the project schedule, not the end.
My Swiss Company advice
If you are not the qualified person yourself, recruit the technical manager before anything else: before incorporation, before the lease, before the vans. The profile is rare and in demand, and the licence only exists while that person is on board. Negotiate a long notice period, and have a project electrician trained in parallel so someone can take over supervision of inspections.
The company licence and its organisational rules
Article 9 OIBT grants the company licence on three conditions: a qualified person integrated closely enough to supervise the installation work effectively, training kept at the state of the art, and the assurance that the ordinance will be respected. Behind those formulas sit hard ratios that govern how the business can grow.
| Organisational rule | Legal basis | Practical consequence |
|---|---|---|
| Part-time technical manager: at least 40 %, in no more than two companies | Art. 9 para. 3 OIBT | The “rented licence holder” at a few hours a month is ruled out by design |
| One full-time technical manager per 20 people engaged in installation work | Art. 10 para. 1 OIBT | The 21st fitter triggers the need for a second qualified person |
| Supervision may be delegated to 3 authorised inspectors, each overseeing at most 10 people | Art. 10 para. 2 OIBT | A middle layer of supervision has to exist beyond one crew |
| Installation work may only be carried out by holders of the Swiss electrician certificates | Art. 10a para. 1 OIBT | No unqualified labour on installations, apprentices excepted under supervision |
| At most five apprentices or helpers per supervisor | Art. 10a para. 5 OIBT | Training capacity has a structural ceiling |
Source: OIBT (SR 734.27), consolidated text, status as of 1 July 2024.
Subcontracting follows the same logic: a licensed company may only pass installation work to firms that themselves meet the article 9 conditions, or to individuals integrated into its own organisation like employees. In both cases, responsibility for the work and for the final inspection stays with the company that subcontracts. Branch offices need no licence of their own, but each must meet the same supervision requirements.
Legal form, capital and corporate purpose
The ordinance prescribes no legal form. A sole trader who is personally qualified can obtain the licence as an individual. As soon as there are employees, vehicles and parallel sites, a company makes practical sense: a Sàrl/GmbH from CHF 20,000 of capital, or an SA/AG from CHF 100,000, of which CHF 50,000 paid in. The corporate steps are those of any Swiss incorporation, which our company formation services cover end to end.
Three points deserve attention at the notary stage. The corporate purpose must cover electrical installation work, since the licence is granted to the company for that activity. The licence is non-transferable: an acquisition or a conversion means a fresh application by the new entity, to be planned so the order book does not stall. And while the ordinance requires no liability insurance, no serious installer works without professional liability cover for fire and damage to buildings; property managers and general contractors demand it contractually.
Your Swiss electrical venture
The licence file is prepared before incorporation, not after
Corporate purpose covering installation work, the technical manager’s employment, the ESTI application timeline, social insurance registrations: the order of operations decides when you can invoice your first project. My Swiss Company structures the incorporation around the licence file that follows, from Geneva, Lucerne or Zug.
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Applying to ESTI: fees, register, validity
The application is filed online with ESTI, headquartered in Fehraltorf with a French-speaking branch in Bulle. The licence names the holder, the technical manager and their level of employment, the authorised inspectors and the people entitled to sign notifications to grid operators. It is unlimited in time, non-transferable and valid across all of Switzerland.
| ESTI service | Fee |
|---|---|
| General installation licence for a company (art. 9 OIBT) | Based on actual workload, minimum CHF 460 |
| Licence for an individual (art. 7 OIBT) | Minimum CHF 460 |
| Temporary licence after the qualified person leaves (art. 11 OIBT) | CHF 460, extension CHF 305 |
| Examination for a limited licence under art. 13 or 14 OIBT | CHF 985 |
| Examination for the connection licence under art. 15 OIBT | CHF 365 |
| Grant of a limited licence after a passed examination | CHF 360 |
Source: ESTI fee schedule under the OIBT, version of 3 December 2025. Confirm amounts at filing.
Two duties then run for the life of the company. Any fact requiring a change to the licence, a new technical manager above all, must be reported to ESTI within two weeks. And the licence sits in a public register: clients, property managers and grid operators can check your status at any time, and a revocation is published there too.
What the ordinance requires on every project
The licence opens a cycle that repeats on every installation. Before work starts, notification to the grid operator. During the work, an initial verification is performed alongside construction and minuted. Before handover, an in-house final inspection by a qualified person or an authorised inspector produces the safety report handed to the owner, and completion is notified to the grid operator with that report.
Installations whose inspection period is shorter than 20 years additionally require an acceptance inspection by an independent body within six months of handover, and the independence rule is strict: whoever helped design or build the installation may not inspect it. The periods set by the annex to the ordinance then govern the installation’s life: 20 years for housing, 10 years for offices, workshops and farms, 5 years for industrial and commercial premises and venues open to the public, 1 year for construction sites and markets.
The technical benchmark for all of this is the Swiss low-voltage installation standard NIBT 2025 (SN 411000), in force since 1 January 2025, including a new chapter on prosumer installations, photovoltaics and storage first among them. Keeping the team current on it is part of the licence’s continuous training condition.
Limited licences: the entry routes
Not every business model needs the general licence. The ordinance provides three limited licences, granted after an ESTI examination, and each carries a viable business.
The connection licence of article 15 allows the connection and replacement of the electrical equipment named in it. It suits heating, refrigeration or kitchen specialists who want to connect their own appliances without depending on an electrician; its examination costs CHF 365. The special installations licence of article 14 covers fields needing specific knowledge: alarm systems, goods lifts, illuminated signs, and above all photovoltaic installations, fixed battery storage and uninterruptible power supplies. A solar company without a qualified person takes this route: three years of practical work on such installations under qualified supervision, or a specific training defined by ESTI, then the CHF 985 examination. The in-house installations licence of article 13 is for plant electricians in industry, hospitals or infrastructure: no services to third parties, but maintenance of the company’s own installations under permanent supervision of an accredited inspection body.
In all three cases the grant costs at least CHF 460, or CHF 360 after a passed examination, and the work remains subject to prior notification to the grid operator and to a minuted first verification handed to the owner.
Payroll and the 2026-2029 collective agreement
The collective agreement of the Swiss electrical installation branch, in its 2026-2029 version, came into force on 1 January 2026. Declared universally binding, it applies to the branch across the country, with the exception of Geneva and Valais, which run their own cantonal agreements. From the first employee, it sets your wage floor.
| Category | Minimum wage 2026 | With experience |
|---|---|---|
| Electrician (installer, federal certificate) | CHF 4,500 | CHF 5,000 after 1 year |
| Assembly electrician (federal certificate) | CHF 4,300 | CHF 4,700 after 1 year |
| Building IT specialist (federal certificate) | CHF 4,770 | CHF 5,300 after 1 year |
| Certified site manager | CHF 5,600 | From the passed examination |
| Staff without a branch certificate | CHF 4,200 | CHF 4,500 after 2 years |
Source: collective agreement of the Swiss electrical branch 2026-2029, monthly minimum wages. Minima rise by CHF 100 in 2027 and CHF 100 in 2029; confirm with the national joint commission.
Gross annual working time is set at 2,088 hours for 2026 on a 40-hour week, and enforcement levies add CHF 21 per month from the employer and CHF 21 withheld from the employee, apprentices exempt. Combined with surcharges and site-by-site time tracking, payroll is the heaviest administrative load of an installation business, and exactly what our administration services for Swiss companies take over.
Foreign contractors: the 90-day route vs a Swiss company
An EU or EFTA electrical business can serve Swiss clients for up to 90 days per calendar year under the free movement agreements, subject to the online prior notification and, because electrical installation is a regulated trade, to the qualification check that goes with it. The route is designed for testing the market, not occupying it: the days are counted per company and per calendar year, public tenders and property managers expect a local counterparty, and grid notifications must come from a licensed installer.
The switch to a Swiss entity typically pays off as soon as work becomes recurring. It gives you a licence in your own name, the right to hire locally under the collective agreement, VAT registration, and standing with Swiss clients. It also demands the full setup described above, qualified person first. Where the shareholders remain abroad, Swiss company law requires at least one authorised signatory resident in Switzerland; our resident director service covers that corporate requirement, though it never substitutes for the qualified person of the trade.
The pitfalls that cost the licence
The first pitfall is treating the licence as an acquired right. It is unlimited, but it rests on the technical manager’s presence: the day they resign, it ceases to be valid. The company then has the temporary licence of article 11, six months extendable once, under reinforced ESTI supervision at its own cost. Six months is short for a rare profile; the succession plan belongs before the crisis.
The second is the licence holder of convenience. A diploma holder on paper, occupied 10 % from another region, meets neither the 40 % minimum nor the effective supervision requirement. The ordinance makes it a criminal offence to notify work carried out by people not integrated into the organisation, or to issue a safety report for such work, and revocations are published in the register. A resident director mandate or a domiciliation address never substitutes for the qualified person; we say this to our own clients even when it slows a project down.
Then come the growth traps: passing 20 people on installation work without a second qualified person, letting uncertified labour execute installations, or skipping the independent acceptance inspection on commercial premises. Every step is documented through the grid operator notifications, so gaps are visible. As with starting a security company, compliance in this trade is not a status: it is an organisation.
FAQ: starting an electrical business in Switzerland
Do I need a licence to start an electrical business in Switzerland?
Yes. Anyone who installs, modifies or maintains electrical installations must hold an installation licence from ESTI, the Federal Inspectorate for Heavy Current Installations. The licence is federal, valid throughout Switzerland and unlimited in time. It appears in a public register that grid operators check before every work notification, so operating without one is detectable from the first project.
Who qualifies as the technical manager under the ordinance?
The holder of the advanced federal diploma as an expert in electrical installation and safety qualifies as of right. The alternative combines three years of supervised installation practice, a passed practical examination and a listed diploma, such as the Swiss electrician certificate plus an applied sciences degree in electrical engineering. For foreign qualifications, ESTI itself decides on equivalence, in a procedure billed on actual workload.
How much does the ESTI licence cost?
The grant of the general licence to a company is billed on actual workload with a minimum of CHF 460. Examinations for the limited licences cost CHF 985 for in-house or special installations and CHF 365 for the connection licence. These fees come on top of incorporation costs and, where relevant, the foreign qualification recognition procedure.
Can I own an electrical company without being an electrician?
Yes, provided the company employs a qualified person as technical manager, integrated closely enough to supervise the work effectively. Part-time employment is accepted from 40 %, with a workload that matches, and the person may hold the role in at most two companies. One full-time technical manager is required per 20 people engaged in installation work.
Can my EU electrical company work in Switzerland without a Swiss entity?
Up to 90 days per calendar year, under the prior notification procedure and the qualification check that applies to regulated trades. Beyond that, or as soon as the activity becomes regular, a Swiss company becomes the workable route: the ESTI licence is granted to the Swiss entity, hiring falls under the collective agreement, and grid notifications are filed in its name.
What happens if the technical manager leaves?
The licence ceases to be valid, because it is tied to that person. The change must be reported to ESTI within two weeks, and the company can obtain a temporary licence for six months, extendable by six more, under special ESTI supervision at its own expense. If no new qualified person is found in time, installation activity stops.
Sources
- Ordinance on Low-Voltage Electrical Installations (OIBT, SR 734.27), status as of 1 July 2024
- ESTI, General installation licence
- ESTI, Fees under the OIBT, version of 3 December 2025
- ESTI, Public lists of installation and inspection licences
- EIT.swiss, The new collective agreement 2026-2029
- Electrosuisse, NIBT 2025 (SN 411000)
Conclusion
Starting an electrical business in Switzerland runs in a fixed order: the qualified person first, the company second, the ESTI licence next, then a project discipline that repeats, notification, final inspection, safety report. The federal regime is a rare competitive advantage, one unlimited licence for the whole country, but it hangs on a single thread: the technical manager, whose departure suspends the business.
My Swiss Company SA is a Swiss Corporate Services Provider in Geneva, Lucerne and Zug, serving clients in more than 20 countries on company formation and ongoing administration. We structure the incorporation around the licence file, then take on the accounting, VAT and a payroll governed by the branch collective agreement. To scope your project, talk to us.
