Key points at a glance
- 53 crafts are listed in Annex A of the Handwerksordnung and require a licence. They include electrical, plumbing and heating, car repair, bricklaying, roofing, metalwork, painting, tiling, joinery and parquet laying.
- Without a Meisterbrief, the routes are equivalent qualifications, the Ausübungsberechtigung under § 7b HwO (six years of experience, four of them in a senior position), an Ausnahmebewilligung under § 8 HwO (exceptional permit) or an employed technical manager.
- First comes the entry in the Handwerksrolle (register of crafts), then the trade registration. The trade office informs the tax office and the Berufsgenossenschaft, but the deadlines remain your responsibility.
- Registered craftspeople are usually subject to compulsory pension insurance. The small business rule applies up to €25,000 turnover in the previous year and €100,000 in the current year.
- For financing there is the KfW StartGeld loan, a Meistergründungsprämie (master start-up bonus) in some federal states and the chamber of crafts' business advice, which is usually free.
This article is general information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change: check the details with your economic chamber or chamber of crafts, your trade guild or your tax adviser.
Step 1: Does your craft require a licence?
The Handwerksordnung sorts crafts into three groups. Annex A covers the licensed crafts, which in principle require the Meisterbrief. Annex B section 1 lists licence-free crafts, section 2 craft-like trades. For both B groups, notifying the Handwerkskammer (chamber of crafts) is enough. Since February 2020, twelve crafts have been back in Annex A, including tile, slab and mosaic layers, screed layers, parquet layers and interior decorators. Businesses that were already registered as licence-free before that may continue working.
| Trade | Craft under the HwO | Master requirement? | Special point | Guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electrical | Elektrotechniker (Annex A no. 25) | Yes | For grid connections, you also need an entry in the grid operator's Installateurverzeichnis (installer register) | Start an electrical business |
| Plumbing & heating (SHK) | Installateur und Heizungsbauer (no. 24), Klempner (no. 23) | Yes | Gas and water installations also only with an entry at the utility | Start a plumbing and heating business |
| Car repair | Kraftfahrzeugtechniker (no. 20) | Yes | Emissions tests and safety inspections need a separate recognition | Start a car workshop |
| Building | Maurer und Betonbauer (no. 1), Zimmerer (no. 3) | Yes | Structural engineering and planning often stay with architects and engineers | Start a building firm |
| Roofing | Dachdecker (no. 4) | Yes | Gutters and sheet metal flashings belong to the Klempner craft | Start a roofing business |
| Metalwork | Metallbauer (no. 13) | Yes | Welding in steel construction often only with certification to the relevant standard | Start a metalwork business |
| Painting | Maler und Lackierer (no. 10) | Yes | Pure wallpapering without painting has to be distinguished | Start a painting business |
| Tiling | Fliesen-, Platten- und Mosaikleger (no. 42) | Yes, again since 2020 | Grandfathering for businesses registered before the reform | Start a tiling business |
| Joinery | Tischler (no. 27), in the south often "Schreiner" | Yes | Fitting windows and doors is included | Start a joinery |
| Flooring | Parkettleger (no. 46), Estrichleger (no. 44); Bodenleger (Annex B section 2 no. 3) | Parquet and screed yes, floor layer no | If you only lay vinyl, carpet and laminate, you don't need a master | Start a flooring business |
What counts is not what you call your business but what you actually do. The chamber checks whether you carry out essential activities of an Annex A craft. A caretaker service that swaps sockets on the side quickly strays into electrical engineering. If in doubt, ask the Handwerkskammer to confirm in writing what you may offer with your qualification.
Step 2: Your route into the Handwerksrolle
The Meisterbrief is the most direct route, but not the only one. The HwO recognises several equivalent ways in. Which one suits you depends on your training, your years in the job and your role in the business.
| Route | Requirement | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Master craftsman exam | Passed master craftsman exam in the craft or a related craft | The standard case; you may also use the titles "Meister" and "Bachelor Professional" |
| Equivalent qualification | Certain engineering and technician degrees in a matching field (§ 7 (2) HwO) | Engineers who set up their own craft business |
| Ausübungsberechtigung § 7b HwO | Journeyman's exam and six years of work experience, four of them in a senior position | Experienced foremen and site managers (the "Altgesellenregelung", experienced journeyman rule) |
| Ausnahmebewilligung § 8 HwO | Master-level knowledge plus an exceptional case in which the master exam would be unreasonable | Individual cases, e.g. specialising in a small sub-area |
| Employed technical manager | A person with a Meisterbrief or equivalent qualification runs the business technically | Business people, career changers, GmbH start-ups |
An employed technical manager must actually run the business, not just on paper. Chambers and courts take a close look when a nominal licence holder works full time somewhere else. For licence-free and craft-like trades this question does not arise: there, notifying the chamber is enough, and it enters you in its register.
Step 3: Official steps in the right order
Handwerkskammer: apply for the entry
For an Annex A craft, the entry in the Handwerksrolle must be in place before you start. The chamber asks for proof of qualification, ID and, for companies, the register extract. The entry costs a fee that varies from chamber to chamber.
Gewerbeamt: register the trade
You file the registration under § 14 GewO with your town or municipality, in many places online. The fee is usually in the double digits, depending on the municipality. The Gewerbeamt (trade office) reports the start-up to the tax office, the Handwerkskammer, the Berufsgenossenschaft and other bodies.
Tax office: questionnaire for tax registration
Within one month of starting, you fill in the questionnaire (Fragebogen zur steuerlichen Erfassung) via ELSTER, the online tax portal. There you decide on the small business rule, estimate your profit for the advance payments and state whether you need a USt-IdNr. (VAT ID).
Berufsgenossenschaft: within one week
Under § 192 SGB VII, you register with the responsible Berufsgenossenschaft within one week. A trade registration filed on time counts as this notification. Depending on the trade, the responsible body is, for example, BG BAU, BG ETEM or BG Holz und Metall; you cannot choose.
From your first employee: company number
If you hire journeymen, helpers or apprentices, you need a Betriebsnummer (company number) from the Federal Employment Agency and you register your staff with the health insurer.
Pension insurance, health insurance and Berufsgenossenschaft
Unlike many self-employed people, registered craftspeople are usually compulsorily insured in the statutory pension scheme (§ 2 sentence 1 no. 8 SGB VI). This applies if you are entered in the Handwerksrolle and meet the requirements for it in your own person. After 18 years of compulsory contributions, you can apply for an exemption. If you work as a shareholder and managing director of a GmbH, different rules apply; have your status checked by the Deutsche Rentenversicherung (pension insurance).
- Health insurance: it is mandatory in every case, either voluntary statutory or private. Statutory contributions depend on your income; a minimum contribution applies at the start.
- Berufsgenossenschaft: your employees are insured there against accidents at work and on the way to work. Whether you as the owner are compulsorily insured or can insure yourself voluntarily depends on your BG's statutes. When working on ladders, roofs and scaffolding, this is no side issue.
- Long-term care insurance: follows your health insurance.
Tax and the small business rule
Since 2025, the small business rule under § 19 UStG applies if your turnover in the previous year was no more than €25,000 and does not exceed €100,000 in the current year. In the year you start, the forecast for the first year counts. If you go over €100,000 in the current year, the exemption ends from that very sale, not only at the turn of the year.
For tradespeople the rule is often less attractive than it seems. A master painter who works mainly for property managers and developers has customers who reclaim the VAT anyway. As a small business, however, he gives up the input VAT on his van, scaffolding and material. With purely private customers, on the other hand, the 19 % price advantage is noticeable. Calculate both options with realistic investments.
Legal form: sole trader, GbR, UG or GmbH
- Sole trader (Einzelunternehmen): the usual start. You only have to enter the Handelsregister (commercial register) as an e.K. once your business needs commercial organisation by its type and size.
- GbR (civil-law partnership): for two craftspeople starting together. Both are personally liable. Since 2024, an entry in the Gesellschaftsregister (partnership register) has been possible and is required for some transactions.
- UG (haftungsbeschränkt): from €1 share capital, limited liability, but with a duty to build reserves. Banks and suppliers often ask for personal guarantees.
- GmbH: €25,000 share capital, at least €12,500 of it paid in at registration. The GmbH is entered in the Handwerksrolle if a qualified technical manager runs the business.
Insurance for the start
Check these policies before your first job:
- Business liability insurance: not required by law for most crafts, but practically always demanded by clients, general contractors and property managers. Look out for cover for damage caused while working and damage to third-party pipes and cables.
- Vehicle insurance: third-party liability is mandatory for every vehicle. Tools in the van are usually not covered by it.
- Contents and electronics insurance for workshop, machines and storage
- Workshop-specific: car workshops insure customer vehicles in their care separately.
- Legal expenses insurance for unpaid invoices and warranty disputes, disability insurance for yourself
Funding and advice
Before you write funding applications, use your Handwerkskammer's business advice service. The advisers know the programmes in your state, check business plans and are usually free of charge. After that come the usual building blocks:
- ERP-Gründerkredit StartGeld (KfW 067): for founders and young businesses up to five years old, applied for through your bank. The maximum amount and interest rates change regularly; current terms are on the KfW website.
- Gründungszuschuss from the Arbeitsagentur (employment agency): if you start your business while receiving unemployment benefit. It is discretionary, and a viable business plan with a statement from the chamber is mandatory.
- Meistergründungsprämie: some federal states, such as North Rhine-Westphalia and Berlin, pay masters a grant for starting or taking over a business, sometimes linked to new jobs or apprenticeships. Your chamber can tell you whether and how the programme exists in your state.
- Taking over a business: many owners are looking for successors. Chambers run succession exchanges, and a takeover brings a customer base and workshop with it.
Step 4: Becoming visible
A newly registered business has neither reviews nor references. That is exactly why you need a place from day one where customers can see what you can do and where you work. An example: a master parquet layer from Leipzig photographs selected jobs she was responsible for herself during her last months as an employee (with permission from her boss and the customers). At launch she has a website with six references, a Google profile and her phone number on the van. Her first three enquiries come from the search "Parkett schleifen Leipzig" (parquet sanding Leipzig).
How to get it right
- A legal notice (Impressum) with all mandatory details under § 5 DDG, created e.g. with the legal notice generator; details in the post Legal notice for trades businesses in Germany
- Use the master title only in the form you are entitled to; more in Advertising and price information for trades
- Set up a Google Business Profile and ask for your first reviews
- Name your services and service area clearly so you show up in local search
Better not
- Advertising Annex A services before your entry in the Handwerksrolle is in place
- Passing off photos from former employers' sites as your own references
- Putting the website off until "sometime later" and relying only on word of mouth
- Choosing a website builder without legally sound templates and forgetting the legal notice
What a website will cost you is shown in the post How much does a website for tradespeople cost?. How to turn visitors into enquiries is covered in More enquiries through your website.
The right website to go with your registration
Send us your craft, service area and a few photos. We build a free draft of your website within three days, which you can review at your leisure.
A free draft of your future business website.
Sources
- Handwerksordnung, Annex A (licensed crafts)
- Handwerksordnung, Annex B (licence-free crafts and craft-like trades)
- Handwerksordnung, § 1 (Handwerksrolle)
- Handwerksordnung, § 7b (Ausübungsberechtigung)
- Handwerksordnung, § 8 (Ausnahmebewilligung)
- Gewerbeordnung, § 14 (duty to notify)
- Abgabenordnung, § 138 (notification of business activity)
- Umsatzsteuergesetz, § 19 (small businesses)
- SGB VI, § 2 (compulsory insurance of the self-employed)
- SGB VII, § 192 (employers' duties to notify)
- KfW: ERP-Gründerkredit StartGeld (067)
- Gründerplattform: Meistergründungsprämie
- Existenzgründungsportal of the Federal Government
