The Landesmantelvertrag (LMV) governs minimum wages and working conditions in the Swiss main construction industry — agreed between the Swiss Builders' Association (SBV) and the trade unions Unia and Syna. With the Federal Council Decree of 5 March 2026 (BBl 2026 564), the LMV was reinstated as of 1 April 2026 and remains in force until the end of 2031. Here are the values that are currently relevant for every payroll run in construction.
What the LMV covers
The LMV is a complete set of working and pay rules:
- Minimum wages by pay class (V/Q/A/B/C) and zone (red/blue/green)
- Working time with 2,112 annual target hours and a weekly bandwidth of 37.5–45 hours
- Overtime / excess hours with a 25% premium where defined thresholds are exceeded
- Travel time from the assembly point and journey-time compensation for off-site assignments
- Site allowance (Art. 55, with transitional arrangement 2026–2028)
- Sick pay 80%, waiting-day rule
- Military, civil-protection, civil service with staggered compensation
- Short absences (marriage, paternity leave, bereavement, moving house)
- Supplementary agreements for underground construction, foundation and special civil engineering and the concrete-cutting trade
Early retirement runs through the separate FAR foundation (flexible retirement), occupational benefits through the respective BVG solution (e.g. PK BAU). Neither is regulated directly in the LMV Federal Council Decree, but both are relevant in practice.
Pay classes V/Q/A/B/C
The LMV distinguishes five pay classes (Art. 38 LMV, Annex 5 for classification). The foreman's wage lies above the LMV minimum and is agreed individually.
- V — Lead worker. Meets the requirements of class Q and regularly leads two or more groups.
- Q — Qualified construction tradesperson. Federal VET certificate (EFZ) as a bricklayer, road builder, paviour, track layer etc., or equivalent foreign qualification with proof of practice.
- A — Construction tradesperson. Construction worker EBA / 2-year apprenticeship, or promotion via further training (Annex 5).
- B — Construction worker with specialist skills. Construction worker with proven professional experience in construction, promoted by the employer from C.
- C — Construction worker without specialist skills. Entrant without specific construction experience.
Pay-class changes do not happen automatically based on years of experience alone. Promotion to higher classes (in particular A and Q) requires qualified training or recognised further training (see Annex 5 to the LMV: e.g. the "Spain/Portugal project", further training as a construction tradesperson via Parifonds Bau, or recognised foreign qualifications).
2026 minimum wages by zone
The LMV defines three zones — Red, Blue, Green — assigned by canton and region (Annex 4 LMV). Allocation does not follow an urban/rural logic but the geographical areas listed in the annex.
Binding minimum wages (monthly / hourly wage in CHF) according to the Federal Council Decree of 5 March 2026:
Source: Annex 4 LMV pursuant to the Federal Council Decree of 5 March 2026 (BBl 2026 564). For the cantons of Neuchâtel and Geneva, higher cantonal minimum wages may apply (LÉmpl and LIRT respectively).
For underground construction (Annex 10), the values of Zone Red apply throughout. For foundation and special civil engineering (Annex 11), the values of Zone Blue apply as the minimum. In the concrete-cutting trade (Annex 12), separate and slightly higher minimum wages apply.
Working time & overtime
The annual target working time is 2,112 gross hours (Art. 26 LMV). Paid public holidays and annual leave are counted before non-performance hours are deducted.
The weekly working time is seasonally flexible (Art. 27 LMV): bandwidth 37.5 to 45 hours. With a regular four- or four-and-a-half-day week, the minimum weekly working time can be reduced to 32 hours.
From 1 January 2027, a company can alternatively apply constant working-time planning with 8.1 hrs/day (40.5 hrs/week), plus up to five zero-hour days (Art. 27bis).
Hours above the working-time calendar. Carried forward to the following month as long as the total balance does not exceed 120 hours. Above 120 hrs: paid out the following month at the base wage + 25% premium.
Hours above 50 hrs/week (averaged with travel time) count as excess — paid out the following month at the base wage + 25% premium (Art. 28 para. 2).
If the number of overtime hours in the calendar year exceeds 100 hrs, every additional overtime hour must be paid out the following month at the base wage + 25% premium.
Where a working-time calendar is used, negative balances of up to 50 hrs (or 20 hrs with constant planning) may be carried forward. Anything beyond that is forfeited, unless attributable to the employee's fault.
Travel time, journey time, site allowance
The general travel-time rule (Art. 54 LMV) remains essentially unchanged with the 2026 Federal Council Decree: travel from the assembly point (e.g. the depot) to the construction site counts as working time.
The site allowance (Art. 55 para. 4 + 4bis LMV) was adjusted in 2026 and rises in stages:
- From 1 April 2026: CHF 4.– per day (from 5 hours of working time)
- From 1 January 2027: CHF 6.50 per day
- From 1 January 2028: CHF 9.– per day
For underground construction (Annex 10), special rules apply: travel time from the tunnel portal to the workplace must be compensated at the base wage. The weekly trip home is reimbursed as a flat rate (CHF 110 until 31.12.2027, CHF 100 in 2028, CHF 105 from 2029).
For the concrete-cutting trade (Annex 12), a separate distance-based travel-time flat rate applies: CHF 16 up to 10 km, 28 up to 15 km, 40 up to 25 km, 52 up to 50 km (each for the outward and return trip).
Premiums and special cases
25% premium in the cases mentioned above (Art. 28 LMV).
For shift operations with more than six consecutive working days: 25% premium under the supplementary agreement for underground construction; otherwise the rules under Art. 51 LMV apply (Sunday/public-holiday work).
Art. 17b of the Labour Act is decisive (night 23:00–06:00). In underground construction, an additional night premium of CHF 4/h (CHF 3/h until 31.12.2027) applies between 20:00 and 05:00/06:00 (Art. 18, Annex 10).
Bad-weather compensation (SWE) is an unemployment-insurance (UI) benefit (AVIG, not LMV): the employee still receives 100% of their salary, and UI reimburses the employer 80% of the eligible earnings — subject to advance notification and a waiting period.
During basic training and from the 5th week onwards: 80% salary. During the first 4 weeks of regular service (WK): 100% (Art. 36 LMV).
Marriage 2 days, birth of a child (paternity leave under CO Art. 329g) 10 days, bereavement in the family 3 days, own move 1 day — paid (Art. 35 LMV).
Common payroll mistakes in construction
1. Pay-class allocation wrong. A vs. Q vs. B is often mixed up. Promotion to higher classes is not based on tenure but on qualifications (EFZ, EBA, Annex 5 further training). Anyone equating experience with qualifications risks objections from the joint professional commission (PBK).
2. Wrong zone allocation. Canton city = Red, canton countryside = Blue does not apply. Annex 4 LMV is decisive — for example the whole canton of Aargau is Zone Blue (V/Q/A/B) or Red (only for A in certain Aargau locations), and the whole canton of Ticino is Zone Green.
3. Forgetting the site-allowance transition. Paying CHF 9/day in 2026 "gives away" margin; still paying CHF 4 in 2028 invites objections. Staged plan: 4 / 6.50 / 9 CHF.
4. Bad-weather compensation explained the wrong way around. The employee receives 100% salary from the employer, and unemployment insurance reimburses the employer 80% of the eligible earnings — not "80% continued salary" to the employee.
5. Forgetting the FAR submission to portal-bau. Since 2024, the annual FAR wage-sum declaration runs exclusively via portal-bau. Deadline: 31 January of the following year. Missing it = reminder and default interest.
6. Audit records not audit-ready. The joint professional commission (PBK) can carry out site and payroll inspections (CO Art. 357b, LMV Art. 62). Without clear hour reports, pay-class justifications and travel-time documentation, there will be objections and contractual penalties.
A specialised payroll platform covers these construction specifics natively — pay-class changes following the Annex 5 logic, zone derived from the canton & municipality table, site-allowance transition stages, automatic FAR submission to portal-bau, audit-ready payroll records for the PBK.
Source & download
All values in this article come from the official Federal Council Decree of 5 March 2026 (BBl 2026 564) on the declaration of general applicability of the national collective bargaining agreement for the main construction industry — reinstatement and amendment. In force from 1 April 2026 to 31 December 2031.
Download original PDF
Federal Council Decree of 5 March 2026 — declaration of general applicability of the LMV for the main construction industry (BBl 2026 564) · PDF, 28 pages
We run a payroll platform with native LMV compliance: classes V/Q/A/B/C upgraded automatically following Annex 5, zones from the canton and municipality table, site allowance with transition stages, FAR wage-sum submission to portal-bau, audit-ready records for PBK inspections. More about the construction solution →