Starting a plumbing and heating business in Germany: from the Handwerksrolle to your first service contract

Why now is a good time to start

Many plumbing and heating firms have waiting lists of several months, and in many regions owners will retire over the next few years. At the same time the work is shifting: away from simple boiler swaps towards heat pumps, hybrid systems, drinking water hygiene and step-free bathrooms. The rules on replacing heating systems in the Gebäudeenergiegesetz (Germany's Building Energy Act) were politically reworked in 2026, and details and subsidy conditions keep changing. So advise your customers based on the current state of play and never promise subsidies in a quote.

Which trade fits what you offer?

Most founders in this field register as Installateur und Heizungsbauer. If you also want to offer split air conditioners or commercial refrigeration, check with the Handwerkskammer (chamber of skilled crafts) what your own registration covers and where the refrigeration trade begins.

Ways into the Handwerksrolle

• Meisterbrief (master craftsman's certificate) as a master plumber and heating engineer, with support from Aufstiegs-BAföG, the state grant and loan for further training.
• Equivalent qualifications under § 7(2) HwO, such as a degree in building services engineering or a state-certified technician qualification with a matching focus.
• Ausübungsberechtigung under § 7b HwO (experience-based licence): journeyman's exam and six years of work experience, four of them in a senior role, for example as a lead fitter responsible for your own sites.
• Ausnahmebewilligung under § 8 HwO (special exemption) in individual cases.
• A works manager with a Meisterbrief, if you run the business commercially and employ a qualified master.

Installer register: no entry, no gas, no drinking water

The Handwerksrolle (the chamber's register of craft businesses) allows you to practise the trade. For gas and drinking water you need a second approval, and many founders underestimate it. § 13(2) NDAV only allows the network operator and installation firms listed in a network operator's installer register to work on gas installations behind the service connection. § 12(2) AVBWasserV says the same for the customer's installation on the drinking water network. Without an entry you may not commission a new gas line or have a drinking water system connected.

Heat pumps and air conditioning: refrigerant certificate

For many plumbing and heating firms, heat pumps are the growth area. But as soon as you touch the refrigerant circuit, that is connecting lines, evacuating, filling or leak testing, you need a certificate of competence under the F-Gas Regulation (EU) 2024/573. The new regulation tightens bans on certain refrigerants step by step and brings alternative refrigerants such as propane into the training content.

• Monobloc heat pumps come pre-filled. The hydraulic connection does not require work on the refrigerant circuit.
• Split heat pumps and split air conditioners require work on the refrigerant circuit and therefore the certificate.
• Propane units also come with installation rules for safety zones, which your fitters must know.

Chamber, trade office, tax office, BG

The order is clear: Handwerksrolle at the Handwerkskammer, then Gewerbeanmeldung under § 14 GewO at the local trade office. The tax office receives your tax registration questionnaire via ELSTER, the online tax portal. The small business scheme (Kleinunternehmerregelung: €25,000 in the previous year, €100,000 in the current year, as of November 2026) rarely suits a business that sells heating systems and bathrooms with a high share of materials.

Within one week of starting, you register with the Berufsgenossenschaft, the statutory accident insurer (§ 192 SGB VII). Under an agreement between BG BAU and BGHM, BG BAU is responsible for firms carrying out heating, gas, water and sanitary installations in residential, office and commercial buildings. If your focus is refrigeration and air conditioning units, it may be BGHM. The BG decides by formal notice. For the full picture, see the general founding guide for Germany.

Initial equipment: what a plumbing and heating business costs

Since 2025 you must be able to receive e-invoices from business customers, with transition periods for issuing them. Make sure your software can handle this. How much a website costs compared with agency offers is covered in the guide to website costs. With us it costs €1,800 one-off.

Winning and keeping customers

An example from Franconia: a master plumber and heating engineer goes self-employed after ten years as a service engineer. He starts with heating servicing for 120 households who know him from his time as an employee and whom he may take on with his former boss's consent. In the first year, those service visits lead to eight heating replacements and three bathrooms.

• Service contracts are the backbone: recurring revenue, predictable work in summer and the first call when the system needs replacing.
• Bathroom refurbishments sell through pictures. Photograph every finished bathroom (with permission) and show it as a reference. Tips in the guide to references and reviews.
• Emergency call-outs bring new customers, but also night work. Only offer them if you can staff them reliably.
• Get found online: anyone searching for “heating emergency” or “heat pump installer” plus their town lands on your Google profile first. Keep it up to date.