To start a cleaning company in Switzerland you need no licence, no diploma and no registration with a trade body: a GmbH or an AG entered in the commercial register is enough to begin. Most online guides stop there, and many of them describe French, German or US practice. Swiss law catches up with the business at its first hire, through three rules few founders see coming: a collective agreement that sets wages and hours by region, mandatory Suva accident insurance for building cleaning firms, and the Labour Act, which bans night work without a permit. This guide takes them in order, with the 2026 figures.
Contents
No licence, except for staff leasing
No federal law makes cleaning a licensed activity, and no qualification is needed to register the company. The federal VET certificate for cleaning professionals exists, but it mainly determines where your employees sit in the collective agreement’s wage grid.
One neighbouring activity does need a permit: staff leasing. Under the Federal Act on Recruitment and the Hiring of Services (Art. 12), employers who hire out workers to third parties on a commercial basis need an operating licence from the cantonal employment office. The implementing ordinance (Art. 26) draws the line at authority over the worker: you are leasing staff when you hand most of your management authority to the client. A firm that carries out a cleaning contract with its own supervisors needs no licence. A firm that places a cleaner in a hotel where the housekeeper sets her tasks and hours does.
The map of collective agreements
The real first question is not whether you may start, but which agreement covers your staff. The Federal Council has extended two cleaning agreements, and the answer depends on where you work.
| Region | Agreement | Who is covered | Extended until |
|---|---|---|---|
| German-speaking cantons (excluding the Bernese Jura and the Italian-speaking parts of Graubünden) | GAV für die Reinigungsbranche in der Deutschschweiz | Full extension for firms with at least six employees; facilitated extension, limited to core rules, for all firms | 31 December 2029 |
| Vaud, Fribourg, Neuchâtel, Valais, Jura, Bernese Jura, Geneva | Collective agreement for the cleaning sector in French-speaking Switzerland | All cleaning, hygiene and disinfection firms, including building maintenance and apartment cleaning | 31 December 2028 |
| Ticino | No cleaning agreement extended by the Confederation | Cantonal minimum wages apply | Cantonal law |
Sources: Federal Council extension decrees and the SECO list of extended agreements, checked on 15 October 2026.
Both extensions also bind Swiss employers based outside their territory when they work inside it. A Zurich firm that wins a contract in Lausanne applies the French-speaking agreement to its staff on site.
German-speaking Switzerland: the six-employee threshold
The German-speaking agreement has been extended twice, and the difference matters for a young company. The full extension covers maintenance and specialist cleaning firms that employ at least six people, administrative staff included. A facilitated extension applies to every firm regardless of size, but only to the core rules: job categories, wages, working time, overtime, public holidays, military service, sickness pay and contributions. Both run until 31 December 2029.
From the first hire, a firm in Zurich or Basel therefore applies a maximum of 42 hours a week and a 13th salary of 100% once employment lasts more than three months. It insures loss of earnings in case of sickness, with premiums shared equally, and keeps a time record for every employee, showing site, start, end and breaks. It reports the balance monthly and keeps the records for five years. The enforcement contribution is 0.65% of AHV salary, 0.2% paid by the employer and 0.45% by the employee. Minimum wages are set in an annex to the agreement.
Take an expat founder who sets up a GmbH in Zurich with five office cleaners. As long as the company stays below six employees, it applies the facilitated extension: wages, hours, overtime, public holidays, sickness cover and contributions. When it hires a sixth person, even an office assistant, the full extension adds the rules on written contracts, holiday entitlement and notice periods. Planning that sixth hire is therefore a payroll decision as much as a staffing one.
Your cleaning company in Switzerland
Correct payroll from your first crew
GmbH or AG, incorporation and commercial register entry, Suva, social security and sickness insurance, payroll under the agreement for your region, contribution returns and VAT: My Swiss Company SA incorporates and administers your company from Geneva, Lucerne or Zug.
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French-speaking Switzerland: the 2026 wage grid
The French-speaking agreement, extended by a decree of 9 May 2025, is stricter on working time: 43 hours a week at most, no annualised hours and no piece rates. Each employee receives one written contract, even when working at several sites. Its 2026 hourly minimums, in force since 1 January 2026, run from CHF 20.72 for a maintenance cleaner without a diploma to CHF 30.13 for a team leader, with CHF 22.81 for maintenance staff in Geneva; the 13th salary and holiday pay come on top. In Geneva and Neuchâtel the grid applies only where it exceeds the cantonal minimum wage, which in Geneva is CHF 24.59 an hour in 2026.
Suva by law
This is the point founders discover last. The Accident Insurance Act does not list cleaning among Suva’s sectors, but its ordinance does: firms whose business is cleaning buildings, roads, squares and public gardens count as building industry firms (Art. 73(b) of the Accident Insurance Ordinance), and building firms insure their staff with Suva. Disinfection and pest control firms also fall under Suva (Art. 77(c)). A building cleaning company cannot choose a private accident insurer for its employees, whatever the offer.
Evening work, night work
Offices are cleaned when they are empty, and your crews’ hours are governed by the Labour Act. Day work runs from 6 am to 8 pm and evening work from 8 pm to 11 pm, and neither needs a permit (Art. 10). Between 11 pm and 6 am, work counts as night work, which is prohibited unless a permit has been granted (Art. 16 and 17). A crew cleaning offices from 7 pm to 10 pm needs nothing. A contract that requires a shop to be cleaned at 4 am before opening requires a night work permit before you sign it.
My Swiss Company’s view
Price your contracts on the full cost of an hour, not on the grid wage alone: 13th salary, holidays, public holidays, social charges, Suva, sickness insurance, agreement contributions and, in French-speaking Switzerland, travel time between two sites, which counts as working time. Clients compare hourly rates; your margin depends on everything they do not see.
Working in Switzerland from abroad
A cleaning firm based in Germany, France or Italy can carry out a Swiss contract without a Swiss company, but cleaning is among the most closely monitored sectors. Posted workers must be reported whatever the length of the job (Art. 6(2)(c) of the Posted Workers Ordinance), and work may start eight days after notification at the earliest. During the assignment, the extended agreement of the place of work applies. Once contracts become regular, a Swiss GmbH is usually simpler: one agreement, no notification before each job, and a local contact for property managers.
Company, capital and VAT
A GmbH with CHF 20,000 of fully paid-up capital suits most cleaning companies starting with a crew. An AG, with CHF 100,000 of capital of which at least CHF 50,000 is paid up, makes sense for large public tenders or when partners join. Our guide to company incorporation in Switzerland covers the steps. VAT registration becomes mandatory once annual turnover reaches CHF 100,000, a threshold a small full-time team crosses quickly.
Costly mistakes
- Insuring staff with a private accident insurer when Suva is mandatory for building cleaning.
- Ignoring the sixth hire in German-speaking Switzerland, which brings in the full agreement.
- Paying per office or per task, banned in French-speaking Switzerland.
- Accepting a 4 am shift without a night work permit.
- Placing staff under the client’s direction without a staff leasing licence.
- Keeping no time records, which the German-speaking agreement requires for five years.
FAQ: starting a cleaning company in Switzerland
Do you need a licence to start a cleaning company in Switzerland?
No. Starting a cleaning company requires no licence or diploma. Only staff leasing, where employees work under a client’s direction, needs a licence from the cantonal employment office. A company that performs its contracts with its own supervisors does not.
Which collective agreement applies to cleaning companies?
In German-speaking Switzerland, the cleaning sector agreement extended until 31 December 2029, in full from six employees and for its core rules in all firms. In French-speaking Switzerland, the regional cleaning agreement extended until 31 December 2028. Ticino has no federally extended cleaning agreement; cantonal minimum wages apply.
Must a cleaning company insure staff with Suva?
Yes. The Accident Insurance Ordinance treats building, road and public space cleaning as part of the building industry (Art. 73(b)), whose employees are compulsorily insured with Suva. A private insurer cannot replace Suva for these employees.
Can cleaners work at night in Switzerland?
Until 11 pm, yes, without a permit: 8 pm to 11 pm is evening work under the Labour Act. Between 11 pm and 6 am, night work is prohibited without a permit, which must be obtained before the work starts.
What changes when a Zurich cleaning firm reaches six employees?
Below six employees, only the facilitated extension applies: wages, working time, overtime, public holidays, sickness pay and contributions. From six employees, administrative staff included, the full extension adds the rules on written contracts, holidays and notice periods.
Do you need a permit to supply staff to clients?
Yes, if you hand most of your management authority over the workers to the client: that is staff leasing, which requires a licence from the cantonal employment office. If your own team leaders organise and check the work, you are performing a cleaning contract and no licence is needed.
Sources
- SECO, collective agreements extended by the Confederation (French)
- Federal Council decree extending the GAV für die Reinigungsbranche in der Deutschschweiz (German)
- Federal Council decree of 9 May 2025, cleaning agreement for French-speaking Switzerland (French)
- Accident Insurance Ordinance, SR 832.202, Art. 73 (French)
- Labour Act, SR 822.11, Art. 10, 16 and 17 (French)
- Federal Act on Recruitment and the Hiring of Services, SR 823.11 (French)
- Posted Workers Ordinance, SR 823.201 (French)
- State of Geneva, minimum wage amount and calculation (French)
Conclusion
You can start a cleaning company in Switzerland without a licence or a diploma, and that is exactly what misleads founders: the obligations arrive with the first crew. The agreement of your region, Suva by law, hours capped at 11 pm without a permit, the six-employee threshold in German-speaking Switzerland and the 2026 wage grids: a company that builds these rules into its hourly rate signs profitable contracts and passes joint inspections calmly. My Swiss Company, a Swiss Corporate Services Provider in Geneva, Lucerne and Zug, incorporates and administers service companies for founders from more than 20 countries, from incorporation to agreement-compliant payroll.
