Starting a carpentry or joinery business in Geneva: the second-work collective agreement, early retirement and site rules

What a carpentry business in Geneva does not need

You can register a joinery, a cabinetmaking workshop or a timber-framing company in Geneva without holding any diploma. The federal texts that concern the trade deal with accident insurance, site safety, timber placed on the market and construction products, not with access to the profession. There is no equivalent of the electricians’ installation licence, and no cantonal listing of carpentry firms.

The vocational titles still exist. The federal VET diploma (CFC) of joiner takes four years and has cabinetmaking as one of its orientations, alongside joinery, wheelwrighting and ski making; the carpenter’s CFC also takes four years. Above them sit federal professional certificates and master’s diplomas. None of them opens or closes the door of the commercial register, but they decide your employees’ wage class and weigh heavily with clients.

The building permit belongs to the client

Under the Geneva Construction and Installations Act (LCI), nobody may erect a building, or alter its volume, layout or use, without authorisation (Art. 1(1)). That permit is applied for by the owner, with plans signed by an architect or engineer on the cantonal register of qualified professionals (Art. 2(3)), who also directs the works (Art. 6(1)). Interior works in a villa that leave the living area unchanged are not subject to it (Art. 1(2)). Your job as a joiner in Geneva is to build to the authorised plans, not to obtain them.

CCT-SOR Geneva: one agreement for wood

Every carpentry, joinery and cabinetmaking firm with staff in Geneva applies the collective agreement for the French-speaking finishing trades, the CCT-SOR. Its extension covers seven territories: Fribourg, Geneva, Jura, the Bernese Jura, Neuchâtel, Valais and Vaud. There is no separate Geneva agreement for wood, and the national agreement for structural building work does not apply to joiners and carpenters here.

The scope is broad. The extension decree of 7 March 2013 lists the manufacture and fitting of wood, wood-metal and PVC windows, furniture making and restoration, kitchen furniture, interior and shop fittings, saunas, parquet laying as an ancillary activity, wood treatment, roof truss cutting and timber-frame houses. A firm that only fits kitchens is covered as fully as one that cuts roof trusses.

The map changes as soon as you cross the language border, which matters if you work across the country or buy a firm elsewhere:

A firm that both builds furniture and erects roof structures outside Romandy has to qualify its real activity with the joint commissions. In Geneva the question does not arise. One more rule: a Swiss firm based outside the seven territories, say a Zurich joinery fitting shop interiors in Geneva, applies the CCT-SOR to its workers on that job (Art. 2(4) of the 2013 decree).

What the extended rules require from you

The Federal Council decree of 16 January 2025, in force since 1 February 2025, carries the core obligations. Before the worker starts, you hand over a copy of the employment contract stating at least the parties, the start date, the function and wage class, the place of hiring, the wage and supplements, and the weekly hours (Art. 6(2)). The first 30 calendar days are a trial period with seven days’ notice (Art. 7(1)).

• Working time: 41 hours a week (Art. 12). Hours between 41 and 45 count as overtime, within a bank of up to 120 overtime hours per calendar year; beyond it, a 25 per cent supplement is due (Art. 13(2)(b)).
• Wage classes: CE for team leaders, A for a qualified worker holding the trade’s CFC or an equivalence issued by SERI (SEFRI), B for workers without a CFC, C for labourers, who move to class B automatically after three years in the trade (Art. 18(1)).
• Holidays: 25 working days up to age 50, then 30 (Art. 20(1)).
• Accident premiums: occupational cover at the employer’s expense, non-occupational cover at the worker’s (Art. 34(2)).

Minimum wages sit in the agreement’s annexes, by class. They are the floor of your hourly rate, so read them with your employer association before you price your first job.

The Geneva professional compensation fund

Geneva adds one feature found nowhere else in the agreement. Each employer association runs a professional compensation fund that pays holiday pay and other benefits set by the CCT-SOR and collects the related contributions (Art. 43); for holidays, Article 20(4) refers directly to it. An employer who signs up to the agreement individually, without joining an association, is still attached to the fund of its profession.

The associations listed by the canton for wood are the Groupement genevois des métiers du bois (gGmb) and the Association genevoise des entrepreneurs de charpente, menuiserie, ébénisterie et parqueterie (ACM). The joint body for the agreement in the canton is the Commission paritaire des métiers du bâtiment second-œuvre de Genève. The agreement also provides for a professional identification card in Geneva, to be obtained before the worker effectively starts, and for a conventional bond whose amount is set in an annex.

Early retirement: notice before day one

The early-retirement agreement for the French-speaking finishing trades, CCRA-SOR, covers joinery, cabinetmaking and carpentry in Geneva, with the same scope as the CCT-SOR. Its practical bite is a deadline: before an employee’s first day of work, you notify the hire to the early-retirement institution that collects contributions (CCT-SOR 2024, Art. 6(4)). A hire notified on day three is already a breach.

Contributions are shared equally. Under the decree of 19 December 2024, the worker pays 1.25 per cent of AHV salary in 2026 and 1.3 per cent from 1 January 2027, and the employer pays the same amount. All workers are covered except staff working exclusively in the technical and commercial departments, and apprentices. The scheme’s extension runs until 31 December 2028.

Suva and the site: roofs, scaffolding, timber frame

Your employees are insured with Suva by law, and a carpentry firm qualifies twice. The Federal Accident Insurance Act places with Suva both the building and installation trades (Art. 66(1)(b)) and businesses that work wood with machines (Art. 66(1)(e)). The workshop falls under the second heading, the fitter and the carpenter under the first; either way, choosing another accident insurer for your staff is not an option.

On site, the Construction Work Ordinance (OTConst) starts before the first beam is lifted. When you take on a job as contractor, you examine the safety measures needed before signing (Art. 3(3)), and site measures not yet in place are settled in the contract (Art. 3(5)). A written safety and health plan, covering first aid among other points, must exist before work begins (Art. 4).

Timber frame Geneva: the thresholds that count

Timber-frame extensions and roof raisings are a large share of framing work in Geneva, and the ordinance has specific rules for them:

• Above a fall height of 2 m at a roof edge, measures against falls are compulsory (Art. 41(1)), and a perimeter guardrail is required on site above 2 m (Art. 23(1)(a)).
• Above 3 m, a façade scaffold must be erected (Art. 26(1)).
• When fitting prefabricated roof or ceiling elements above 3 m, safety nets or catch scaffolds cover the entire surface (Art. 27(1)) and are checked visually every day (Art. 27(2)); nobody walks on an element until it is fixed (Art. 28).
• Roof pitch decides the equipment: a roofer’s bridge up to 30 degrees, a bridge with a roofer’s protective wall from 30 to 45 degrees, additional measures from 45 to 60 degrees, and above 60 degrees work only from a scaffold or an elevating platform (Art. 41(2)-(3)).
• Short jobs of less than two person-days per roof need protection only above 3 m (2 m where there is a risk of slipping), but fall-arrest equipment or a platform remains mandatory (Art. 46).

Before anyone steps onto an existing roof, check that its surfaces resist breakage; if you cannot, treat them as non-resistant (Art. 44). Fire protection follows the 2015 VKF/AEAI prescriptions, under which timber buildings are no longer limited by height category or use; a full revision (PPI 2026) is in preparation, with no date yet. SIA 265 is the design standard engineers use for timber structures, a usual contractual reference rather than a statute.

The workshop: wood dust and declared timber

Inside the workshop, the number to know is 2 mg/m³. That is the Suva limit value for airborne wood dust at the workplace, and sanding or milling without extraction at source often exceeds it. Beech and oak dust are carcinogenic according to Suva: people who frequently inhale wood dust, beech, oak and some tropical woods above all, run an increased risk of cancer of the nasal cavities and sinuses.

Suva’s protective measures follow from that. For beech and oak, use class H dust extractors and FFP3 masks; FFP2 suits ordinary dusty work. Older extraction units with the fan on the raw-air side are no longer state of the art and, for carcinogenic dusts, no longer permitted. If you take over a workshop, check this equipment before you sign.

Declaring species and origin to private buyers

The Environmental Protection Act is explicit: “Any person who supplies timber or wood products to consumers must declare the type of timber and its origin” (Art. 35g(2)). The implementing ordinance (SR 944.021) asks for the trade name of the wood, information that identifies its scientific name and the country of harvest, and for at least the three main species where more than three are used. Its annex targets solid wood: sawn timber, solid beams and posts, shingles, and seats and other furniture whose main components are solid wood.

Cabinetmakers get a practical relief. A business supplying one-off pieces or series of no more than 50 may give the information in a commercial document accompanying the offer, listing for each species the countries of origin based on the previous year’s purchases (Art. 4(3)). Compliance is checked by the Federal Consumer Affairs Bureau.

Fitting a kitchen in Geneva from France

Many founders start by working in Geneva from Haute-Savoie or the Ain before setting up a Swiss company. A French firm can do it, provided each assignment is notified in writing before it starts (Art. 6(1) Posted Workers Act) and work begins no earlier than eight days after the notice (Art. 6(3)). Finishing trades must notify whatever the length of the job (Art. 6(2)(a) Posted Workers Ordinance).

The emergency exception, for repairs, accidents or natural disasters, will rarely cover a planned kitchen. During the fitting, the minimum conditions of the extended CCT-SOR apply to the posted workers (Art. 2 of the Act). When the French firm works as a subcontractor, it hands the main contractor the declarations required by Article 8b of the Ordinance (CCT-SOR, Art. 54).

The tipping point usually comes with recurring work. Once Geneva clients make up most of the order book, a Swiss GmbH with its own staff avoids the notice and the eight-day wait on every job.

Public tenders: the CCT certificate

Any company bidding in a Geneva public tender, open or by invitation, must provide at submission an attestation that it respects the local working conditions of its trade for staff working in the canton. A joinery bound by the CCT-SOR obtains this CCT certificate from its employer association. A firm outside the agreement applies to the cantonal labour inspectorate, OCIRT, after signing an undertaking to respect the professional practices in force in Geneva.

Membership of gGmb or ACM therefore pays twice: it attaches you to the professional fund and it is the shortest route to the certificate. The rest of the tender file, social insurance attestations, tax status, joint liability of the main contractor, is set out in our guide to a construction company in Geneva.

Defects since 2026 and the builders’ lien

The construction defects reform in force since 1 January 2026 changes your terms of business, but not for every piece you make. “The period for reporting defects in an immovable work is 60 days. An agreement on a shorter period is invalid” (Art. 367(1bis) CO). The same applies to defects in a movable work integrated into the building in line with its intended use, where they make the building defective. And “any prior agreement limiting or excluding the right to rectification free of charge is invalid if the defect affects a structure” (Art. 368(2bis) CO).

A table or sideboard sold to a private buyer therefore stays under the two-year rule, and the 60-day period does not apply to it. Old general terms that demanded notice within eight days for a staircase or a roof, by contrast, are void on that point since January 2026.

Builders’ lien: four months, no waiver

Joiners and carpenters who supply labour and materials for a building may secure their claim on the property itself, “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). “Application for such entry must be made within four months of completion of the work” (Art. 839(2) CC), and the claim must be acknowledged by the owner or confirmed by a court.

Two details protect subcontractors in particular. “The beneficiary may not waive such statutory mortgage rights in advance” (Art. 837(3) CC), whatever a general contractor’s subcontract says. When the client is a tenant fitting out a shop or a restaurant, the lien holds only if the owner consented to the work (Art. 837(2) CC): get that consent in writing before you start.

A worked case in Plan-les-Ouates

Ciarán, an Irish joiner who has lived in Geneva for six years, forms a GmbH with CHF 20,000 of capital and rents a workshop in Plan-les-Ouates. His first employee is a cabinetmaker living in Saint-Julien-en-Genevois. The company joins ACM, which attaches it to the professional compensation fund, and Suva covers the workshop as a business working wood with machines.

The Friday before the employee starts, Ciarán notifies the hire to the early-retirement institution and hands over a written contract: function, wage class, wage, 41-hour week. The class turns on one question, whether the French qualification has a SEFRI equivalence: with it, class A; without it, class B. Contributions to the CCRA-SOR are 1.3 per cent of AHV salary from each side in 2027.

In spring the firm bids for a cantonal tender to replace classroom cupboards and attaches the CCT certificate issued by ACM. The same month, a general contractor fails to pay CHF 38,400 for stairs and fitted wardrobes in a Veyrier villa, completed on 12 March. Because his books track receivables site by site, Ciarán sees the gap in April and files for the builders’ lien well before 12 July, the end of the four months. The contractor pays within weeks.

Incorporating your carpentry business in Geneva

A GmbH (Sàrl) with CHF 20,000 of fully paid-in capital suits most joineries starting with one or two partners and a few employees. An AG (SA), with CHF 100,000 of capital of which at least CHF 50,000 is paid in, fits a framing company that bids for larger contracts or plans to bring in investors. Our GmbH or AG comparison for Geneva sets out the differences, and our company incorporation service handles the notary, the commercial register and the affiliations.

Write the corporate purpose to match what you actually do: joinery, cabinetmaking, interior fitting, timber construction. It is the first document an employer association, Suva or a tender committee reads, and it should not leave room for doubt about which agreement applies.

Common pitfalls

• Assuming a diploma is a precondition and delaying incorporation, while overlooking the CCT-SOR that actually binds you.
• Notifying the early-retirement institution after the first working day.
• Choosing a private accident insurer for staff in a trade that Suva insures by law.
• Sanding beech or oak with an old extractor and FFP2 masks.
• Importing timber yourself without a due diligence system, or selling solid wood furniture without declaring species and origin.
• Sending French staff to fit a kitchen without notifying the assignment eight days ahead.
• Keeping eight-day defect clauses for building work, void since 1 January 2026.
• Letting the four months pass on an unpaid invoice for work on a building.

FAQ: starting a carpentry business in Geneva

Do you need a permit to open a joinery in Geneva?

No permit or diploma is required to open a joinery, cabinetmaking or carpentry business in Geneva. The federal VET diplomas, professional certificates and master’s diplomas of the trade exist, but they determine employees’ wage classes, not access to the commercial register. Building permits under the Geneva LCI are applied for by the property owner, not by the joiner.

Which collective agreement applies in Geneva?

The CCT-SOR, the collective agreement for the French-speaking finishing trades, applies to joinery, cabinetmaking and carpentry in seven French-speaking territories, Geneva included. Its extension by the Federal Council runs until 31 December 2028; it sets a 41-hour week and requires the contract to be handed over before the worker starts. Early retirement is governed by the CCRA-SOR, and every hire must be notified to its institution before the first working day.

What is the professional compensation fund?

In Geneva, each employer association of the finishing trades runs a professional compensation fund that pays holiday pay and other benefits under the CCT-SOR and collects the related contributions (Art. 43). For wood, the associations are gGmb and ACM. An employer that applies the agreement without joining an association is still attached to the fund of its profession.

Can a French firm fit a kitchen in Geneva?

Yes, a French firm can fit a kitchen in Geneva if it notifies the assignment in writing and waits eight days before starting, under the Posted Workers Act. In the finishing trades the notice is due whatever the length of the job. During the fitting, the posted workers are entitled to the minimum conditions of the extended CCT-SOR.

Which certificate do public tenders require?

Geneva public tenders require, at submission, an attestation that the bidder respects local working conditions for its staff in the canton. A firm bound by the CCT-SOR obtains this CCT certificate from its employer association. Other firms obtain an attestation from OCIRT after signing an undertaking to respect the practices of their profession in Geneva.

Which legal form suits a carpentry business in Geneva?

A GmbH (Sàrl), with CHF 20,000 of fully paid-in capital, suits most carpentry businesses in Geneva at the start. An AG (SA), with CHF 100,000 of capital of which at least CHF 50,000 is paid in, fits a growing firm bidding for larger contracts. In both cases, employees are insured with Suva and covered by the CCT-SOR.

Sources

• SECO, federally extended collective agreements (read 14 October 2026)
• Canton of Geneva, collective agreement for the finishing trades (CCT-SOR)
• Canton of Geneva, CCT or OCIRT attestation for public tenders
• Geneva Construction and Installations Act (LCI), L 5 05
• Federal Accident Insurance Act, SR 832.20
• Construction Work Ordinance (OTConst), SR 832.311.141
• Suva, wood dust: health risks and protective measures
• Environmental Protection Act, SR 814.01
• Timber Trade Ordinance (OCBo), SR 814.021
• Ordinance on the declaration of timber and wood products, SR 944.021
• FOEN, EU deforestation regulation and Switzerland
• Posted Workers Act, SR 823.20
• Posted Workers Ordinance, SR 823.201
• Code of Obligations, SR 220
• Civil Code, SR 210