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The rules you bill and certify by.

Inspection intervals, independence under NIV Art. 33, the Saldosteuersatz (the flat-rate VAT method), the QR-bill, the contractor's lien. Written down by people who have built these rules into software.

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6 October 2026
Quotes in Excel: when switching to electrical contractor software pays off and what you take with you
Many electrical contractors write quotes in Excel, and that is no mistake. How to tell when the spreadsheet is reaching its limit, what electrical software does differently afterwards, and how to bring customers and articles over from your Excel lists.
4 October 2026
bexio for electricians: why the accounting stays and the electrical software sits in front of it
An electrical contractor on bexio does not have to change accounting software to keep quotes, Rapporte and Regie in order. What passes between elektro.box and bexio, how contacts and articles arrive without duplicates, and what happens when the two disagree.
3 October 2026
Switching from Schoch: which data an electrical contractor takes along — and what it has to re-enter
When a business changes its trade software, the question is not about features but about its own data: articles, hourly rates, customers, open quotes. What elektro.box reads from a Schoch master-data sheet, what it does not — and how the switch runs step by step.
28 September 2026
The statutory lien for tradespeople: why four months remain, even though the claim itself is good for five years
The statutory lien for tradespeople (Bauhandwerkerpfandrecht) must be registered in the land register no later than four months after completion of the work (Art. 839 para. 2 ZGB) — regardless of the claim itself expiring after five years. What an electrical contractor needs for the provisional registration.
27 September 2026
Debt enforcement for an unpaid invoice: payment order, objection and limitation for electrical contractors
When the reminder goes unanswered, you start debt enforcement. What happens next, how an objection stops it, and why a claim for trade work expires after five years.
22 September 2026
Digitalisation in the Swiss trades: why, for an electrical contractor, the legal duties set the order
Most guides to digitalisation in the trades walk a business, phase by phase, through the modules of a piece of software. For an electrical contractor that is the wrong order: which step comes first is decided not by the vendor but by the duty that is first to trigger a deadline or a burden of proof — the Rapport, the measurement and test report, the safety certificate.
18 September 2026
Getting the Regie Rapport signed: why the signature on site decides the invoice
Whoever invoices Regie hours has to prove them — that is what Art. 8 ZGB says. A Rapport signed by the customer shifts the burden of proof: according to the Federal Supreme Court it creates a natural presumption that it is correct, without being an acknowledgement of debt. What belongs in the Rapport, who may sign, what a reservation does and what applies without a signature.
18 September 2026
Installation notice: which jobs must be reported to the grid operator — and which no longer since 2021
Since 1 July 2021, not every installation job has to be reported any more — only what is on the ESTI's list: load increases above 3.7 kVA, grid connections, PV, storage, charging stations, building mains, metering equipment, temporary installations. Who submits the installation notice, who signs it and what happens without one.
18 September 2026
NIN: what the low-voltage installation standard is, where it applies — and why it is still not an ordinance
The NIN (SN 411000) is the standard by which every electrical installation up to 1000 V in Switzerland is built and tested. It is not binding in its own right, but because Art. 3 NIV prescribes the recognised rules of good practice. What the NIN 2025 contains and what it does not, who publishes it, and how it differs from the NIV, the grid operators' technical rules and the ESTI directives.
18 September 2026
One-off remuneration: for small systems only after commissioning, for large ones before
The application for one-off remuneration does not work the same way for every photovoltaic system: under 100 kW it is filed only once the system is built — from 100 kW beforehand, in return for an assurance in principle. Mixing the two up risks an application that is automatically deemed withdrawn.
18 September 2026
Registering a PV system: the order of connection request, installation notice, safety certificate and Pronovo
A photovoltaic system passes through five bodies: grid operator, building authority, inspection body, Pronovo and — from 50 kW — ESTI. Which notification is due when, what it presupposes and what it blocks if it is missing: connection request, installation notice, completion notice, safety certificate, acceptance inspection, certification, one-off remuneration.
17 September 2026
Defect list and follow-up inspection: who bears the costs, and from when the Inspectorate decides instead of the grid operator
In a spot check, the owner pays if defects are found — otherwise the body that ordered it pays (Art. 39 NIV). If defects are not remedied within the deadline, the Inspectorate takes over enforcement, at the owner's expense.
15 September 2026
AI for electrical contractors: why it needs a company brain — and what that means for a business in practice
An AI that does not know the business writes textbook quotes and guesses prices. A company brain is the opposite: the business's accumulated knowledge — customers, properties, installations, finished documents, its own article catalogue — that the AI works from. What belongs in it, where the AI may act and where it only suggests.
15 September 2026
ERP and CRM for electricians: what an electrical contractor really needs — and what it can do without
ERP and CRM are words from manufacturing, but the question behind them faces every electrical contractor from three electricians upwards: where do the customer, property, installation, order, Rapport and invoice live — and why in five systems? What an ERP for electricians has to do, what a CRM means for a business, and where a generic system fails.
15 September 2026
Measurement and test report: which inspections require one, which values must go in and what applies to photovoltaics
Five inspections require a measurement and test report, and the grid operator may reject a safety certificate that lacks the measured values. What the DETEC ordinance and the ESTI actually require: insulation measurement, short-circuit current at the start and at the end, RCD test — per final circuit. And for a PV system: the photovoltaic measurement and test report under ESTI directive 220.
15 September 2026
Wallbox and ZEV on the same building connection: what the 10 percent threshold has to do with the charging station
A ZEV remains permitted as long as PV production reaches at least 10 percent of the connection capacity — and that same connection capacity grows as soon as a wallbox without load management comes to the building. What electrical contractors should therefore check before the quote.
6 September 2026
Change of ownership and periodic inspection: when a property must be inspected again
A sale or an inheritance can trigger a periodic inspection before the current inspection interval has even expired. Whether it does depends not on the land register entry but on what kind of change of ownership lies behind it.
5 September 2026
Asking for an Akonto as an electrical contractor: what the law provides — and what it does not
A payment on account is not yours by right, because the law only pays on delivery. What you can demand when a customer's ability to pay deteriorates in the middle of the job is set out in a single article of the Code of Obligations.
4 September 2026
NPK costing for electrical contractors: how a line item becomes a price
"NPK support" appears on many vendors' websites and rarely means the same thing. What the catalogue actually prescribes — a structure and reference values — and where your own costing step only begins.
3 September 2026
Unpaid invoice: default, default interest, Skonto and retention for electrical contractors
Whether you have to send a reminder or the customer is already in default depends on a single line in the quote. And a deduction for a defect is something other than a security the customer simply helps himself to.
2 September 2026
A wallbox in a rented flat — what the landlord has to allow, and what happens to it afterwards
In a tenancy, it is not the owners' meeting that decides but a single provision of tenancy law. It also settles who has to remove the wallbox when the tenant moves out — and that is rarely what landlords expect.
1 September 2026
Trade software for the electrical contractor: what matters for the Rapport, the quote and the costing
Most trade software is built for construction in general, not for the electrical trade. What an electrical contractor should check in concrete terms before switching — in the Rapport, in the quote structured by NPK, and in the connection to the existing accounting.
29 August 2026
Quote variations: why "more work" on a fixed price is not a variation
Whether a variation can be enforced is decided not by the amount of extra work, but by which of the three pricing forms of the Code of Obligations was agreed. At a fixed price the client owes not a centime more — not even if the contractor took twice as long.
29 August 2026
ZEV: the 10 percent, the timing and the costs that may not be passed on to tenants
A self-consumption community (ZEV) is permitted if the production output reaches at least 10 percent of the connection capacity. Two further rules decide the rest: tenants can only opt out when it is introduced, and the owner bears the costs of introducing it.
28 August 2026
Wallbox in condominium ownership: who decides?
For a wallbox on common property in condominium ownership, the double majority (Art. 647d ZGB) usually applies — and, separately from that, there is a notification duty of its own towards the grid operator.
27 August 2026
Initial verification, final inspection, acceptance inspection — three names, three different people
The NIV never requires any of these three inspections twice from the same person. Who does what, when the acceptance inspection is due at all, and why mixing them up can be a breach of duty.
25 August 2026
Inspection body or inspection agency — who may issue the safety certificate
Not every electrical contractor may sign off its own work. What the NIV keeps apart, where the register is, and why independence is the heart of the matter.
25 August 2026
Full refurbishment or renovation: when the ESTI extends the inspection deadline
An owner who is refurbishing anyway need not have the installation inspected twice. The ESTI decides case by case — and what carries the decision is the defect list.
25 August 2026
Safety certificate for electrical installations: the deadline has passed — what happens now
The safety certificate for electrical installations has a deadline: six months' notice, a one-year extension, then the ESTI. The procedure is laid down in the NIV, and it keeps running even if nobody responds.

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The rules you bill and certify by.

Three tools, no sign-up

Look it up instead of asking around

Quotes in Excel: when switching to electrical contractor software pays off and what you take with you

bexio for electricians: why the accounting stays and the electrical software sits in front of it

Switching from Schoch: which data an electrical contractor takes along — and what it has to re-enter

The statutory lien for tradespeople: why four months remain, even though the claim itself is good for five years

Debt enforcement for an unpaid invoice: payment order, objection and limitation for electrical contractors

Digitalisation in the Swiss trades: why, for an electrical contractor, the legal duties set the order

Getting the Regie Rapport signed: why the signature on site decides the invoice

Installation notice: which jobs must be reported to the grid operator — and which no longer since 2021

NIN: what the low-voltage installation standard is, where it applies — and why it is still not an ordinance

One-off remuneration: for small systems only after commissioning, for large ones before

Registering a PV system: the order of connection request, installation notice, safety certificate and Pronovo

Defect list and follow-up inspection: who bears the costs, and from when the Inspectorate decides instead of the grid operator

AI for electrical contractors: why it needs a company brain — and what that means for a business in practice

ERP and CRM for electricians: what an electrical contractor really needs — and what it can do without

Measurement and test report: which inspections require one, which values must go in and what applies to photovoltaics

Wallbox and ZEV on the same building connection: what the 10 percent threshold has to do with the charging station

Change of ownership and periodic inspection: when a property must be inspected again

Asking for an Akonto as an electrical contractor: what the law provides — and what it does not

NPK costing for electrical contractors: how a line item becomes a price

Unpaid invoice: default, default interest, Skonto and retention for electrical contractors

A wallbox in a rented flat — what the landlord has to allow, and what happens to it afterwards

Trade software for the electrical contractor: what matters for the Rapport, the quote and the costing

Quote variations: why "more work" on a fixed price is not a variation

ZEV: the 10 percent, the timing and the costs that may not be passed on to tenants

Wallbox in condominium ownership: who decides?

Initial verification, final inspection, acceptance inspection — three names, three different people

Inspection body or inspection agency — who may issue the safety certificate

Full refurbishment or renovation: when the ESTI extends the inspection deadline

Safety certificate for electrical installations: the deadline has passed — what happens now

Would you rather see it on your own business straight away?