How to start a plumbing or sanitary installation business in Switzerland: utilities, collective agreements, defects and payment

No federal licence, but utility rules everywhere

No federal statute makes sanitary installation a licensed trade, and a Swiss federal VET diploma (EFZ/CFC) is not required to register your company. That sets plumbing apart from electrical work, where the federal authorisation described in our guide to starting an electrical business in Switzerland applies. For plumbers, the rules come from the utility that supplies water and gas in each municipality, and they differ from one city to the next.

The practical consequence is simple: before quoting a job, check what the local utility requires and obtain any authorisation or concession first. A plumber planning to work in Zurich, Lausanne and Geneva deals with three different procedures, and gas work in Geneva is closed to anyone without the SIG authorisation.

The SVGW certified installer attestation

What utilities look for most often is the certified installer attestation issued by the Swiss Gas and Water Industry Association (SVGW, SSIGE in French) under its regulation GW 101. It certifies that the holder has the professional knowledge required for installation work on domestic drinking water systems.

• Eligibility: a federal VET diploma as sanitary installer and at least two years of experience in the trade, or an upper secondary qualification and at least four years of experience, plus SVGW training; higher qualifications such as the master craftsman diploma, a college of higher education diploma or a university of applied sciences degree are recognised.
• Validity: five years, then renewal.
• Register: SVGW keeps a register of certified persons, which utilities use.

For a foreign founder, the diploma question is the first to settle: if your own qualification is not recognised, the certified person has to be someone you employ, and the business depends on that person staying.

Which collective agreement applies

From your first employee, an extended collective labour agreement sets much of the employment terms, and it depends on the canton.

Most of Switzerland. The collective agreement for the Swiss building services sector, negotiated under suissetec, has applied since 1 January 2025 and runs until 31 December 2028. The Federal Council has extended it to the whole of Switzerland except the cantons of Geneva, Vaud and Valais. It covers installation, repair and service companies in plumbing including pipework, heating, sheet metal, ventilation, air conditioning and solar thermal work; engineering offices are excluded.

Geneva. The Geneva agreement for technical building trades, signed on 19 November 2025, was extended by the cantonal government on 20 May 2026, with effect from 1 July 2026 until 31 December 2030. It applies to every employer installing, repairing, servicing or troubleshooting plumbing, heating, ventilation or electrical installations in the canton, and requires among other things a written contract, a 40-hour week with a 25 per cent supplement beyond, and notice of every hire to the sector’s early-retirement fund before the first working day.

Vaud and Valais have their own agreements. Build your hourly rate on the right one: minimum wages, supplements and joint contributions all depend on it.

Suva by law, other insurance by choice

A plumbing company does not choose its employees’ accident insurer. The Federal Accident Insurance Act assigns workers of building, installation and pipe-laying companies to Suva, the Swiss National Accident Insurance Fund (Art. 66(1)(b) AIA). Registration follows your first hire, and premiums depend on the risk class Suva assigns.

Business liability, vehicle and tool insurance and daily sickness benefits are risk management rather than a general legal obligation; check what your contracts, main contractors and collective agreement require before you sign.

Defects: the 2026 reform

The Code of Obligations was amended with effect from 1 January 2026 to strengthen the position of construction clients, and a sanitary installation is construction work on immovable property. Three changes matter for your terms and conditions:

• 60 days to report defects: for work on immovable property, the client has 60 days to notify defects found on acceptance, and any agreement providing for a shorter period is void (Art. 367(1bis) CO). For hidden defects, the 60 days run from discovery (Art. 370(4) CO).
• No exclusion of repair: any clause agreed in advance that restricts or excludes the right to have defects remedied is void where the defect concerns a building (Art. 368(2bis) CO).
• Five years: claims for defects in work on immovable property become time-barred five years after acceptance, and that period cannot be shortened to the client’s detriment (Art. 371(2) and (3) CO).

Terms such as “defects must be reported within eight days” or “warranty limited to repair at the contractor’s discretion” no longer hold on these points. The better habit is a written acceptance record for every installation, so that everyone knows when the clock started.

Getting paid: the builders’ lien

Swiss law gives tradesmen a security few new businesses use. The Civil Code grants a statutory mortgage right for “the claims of tradesmen and building contractors who have supplied labour and materials, or labour alone, for construction or other works […] whether the debtor is the owner of the property, tradesman or building contractor, tenant or any other person with rights to the property” (Art. 837(1)(3) CC). A subcontractor of a general contractor can therefore secure its invoice against the building itself.

• Deadline: “Application for such entry must be made within four months of completion of the work” (Art. 839(2) CC).
• Amount: the lien is entered only if the claim has been acknowledged by the owner or confirmed by a court, and not if the owner provides adequate security (Art. 839(3) CC).
• Tenants: where a tenant is your debtor, the claim is valid only if the owner consented to the work (Art. 837(2) CC).
• No waiver: “The beneficiary may not waive such statutory mortgage rights in advance” (Art. 837(3) CC).

A worked example. A Portuguese plumber holding a Swiss federal diploma sets up a GmbH in Zurich after eight years as an employee. He obtains his SVGW attestation, submits an installation notice to the Zurich water utility before each job, and registers his two employees with Suva. When a general contractor fails to pay CHF 30,000 for the bathrooms of a new residential building, he applies for a builders’ lien on the developer’s property within four months of finishing, instead of waiting for the outcome of a claim against the general contractor.

Working in Switzerland from abroad

Many plumbing companies in France, Germany, Italy and Austria work in Switzerland before setting up an entity there. The Posted Workers Act requires a written notice before each assignment starts, giving the identity and wages of posted workers, the activity and the place (Art. 6(1) Posted Workers Act), and work may only start eight days after the notice (Art. 6(3)). In the finishing trades, notice is mandatory whatever the duration (Art. 6(2)(a) Posted Workers Ordinance).

The ordinance contains an exception made for plumbers: in emergencies such as repairs, accidents, natural disasters or other unforeseeable events, work may start before the eight days have passed, but no earlier than the day of notification (Art. 6(3) Posted Workers Ordinance). The minimum wages of the canton’s extended collective agreement apply to posted workers (Art. 2 Posted Workers Act). When assignments become routine, a Swiss company is usually simpler.

Company form, capital and bookkeeping

A GmbH (Sàrl) with CHF 20,000 of fully paid-in capital is the usual choice for a plumbing business starting out; an AG (SA), with CHF 100,000 of capital of which at least CHF 50,000 is paid in, suits a growing company bidding for larger contracts. See our page on the public limited company in Switzerland and our guide to the incorporation of a company in Switzerland.

Three bookkeeping points come up in every plumbing business: work in progress at year end must be valued, deposits and interim invoices must be tracked job by job to see which jobs make money, and stock in vans and storerooms is capital that needs counting. If you also take on structural building work, the main construction sector rules, including joint liability for subcontractors, are covered in our guide to starting a construction company in Switzerland.

Costly mistakes

• Selling gas work before the utility has authorised you.
• Building the business around one SVGW-certified person, without a back-up or a renewal plan every five years.
• Pricing jobs with the wrong collective agreement.
• Keeping pre-2026 terms that shorten the notice period for defects or exclude repair.
• Missing the four-month lien deadline while waiting for a promised payment.
• Doing repair work from abroad without notice, even in an emergency.

FAQ: starting a plumbing business in Switzerland

Do you need a licence to open a plumbing business in Switzerland?

Not at federal level: unlike electricians, sanitary installers need no federal authorisation. Local water and gas utilities set their own rules. In Geneva, only installers authorised by SIG may install, alter or repair private gas installations; in Lausanne, a city concession is required for water installations; in Zurich, every job must be notified to the water utility before work starts.

Which qualification do Swiss utilities require?

Usually the SVGW certified installer attestation under regulation GW 101, available with a federal VET diploma as sanitary installer and two years of experience, or an upper secondary qualification and four years of experience, plus SVGW training. The attestation is valid for five years and listed in a register that utilities consult. No diploma is required to register the company itself.

Which collective agreement applies to plumbers?

Outside Geneva, Vaud and Valais, the collective agreement for the Swiss building services sector, in force from 2025 to the end of 2028 and extended by the Federal Council. In Geneva, the agreement for technical building trades extended by the cantonal government on 20 May 2026, with effect from 1 July 2026 to 31 December 2030. Vaud and Valais have their own agreements.

How long does a client have to report a defect?

Since 1 January 2026, 60 days for work on immovable property such as a sanitary installation: from acceptance for visible defects (Art. 367(1bis) CO) and from discovery for hidden ones (Art. 370(4) CO). A shorter contractual period is void, and so is a clause excluding repair (Art. 368(2bis) CO). Claims become time-barred five years after acceptance.

How can a plumber secure an unpaid invoice?

Through the builders’ lien under Art. 837(1)(3) of the Civil Code, which attaches to the property where the work was done, even if the plumber was a subcontractor of a general contractor. The application must be made within four months of completion (Art. 839(2) CC), on the basis of a claim acknowledged by the owner or confirmed by a court. It cannot be waived in advance.

Can a foreign plumbing company work in Switzerland?

Yes, provided each assignment is notified before it starts. The usual eight-day wait between notice and work does not apply to emergency repairs, which may start on the day of notification at the earliest (Art. 6(3) Posted Workers Ordinance). The minimum terms of the canton’s extended collective agreement apply to posted workers throughout the assignment.

Sources

• City of Zurich, water utility, building installations
• City of Lausanne, water concession
• SIG, gas network and supply regulation (version of 1 June 2020)
• SIG, water installation rules (1 August 2024)
• SVGW, personal certification under regulation GW 101
• suissetec, collective agreement for the building services sector
• Canton of Geneva, collective agreement for technical building trades
• Federal Accident Insurance Act, SR 832.20, Art. 66
• Code of Obligations, SR 220, Art. 367 to 371
• Civil Code, SR 210, Art. 837 and 839
• Posted Workers Act, SR 823.20
• Posted Workers Ordinance, SR 823.201