Trades trained and regulated under the Handwerksordnung (HwO), through the Handwerkskammer. The industrial counterparts — often the same work, better paid, without business rights — are in industrial.
The rule that defines this sector
Employment is free. Self-employment is not.
Trades in Anlage A of the HwO are considered hazardous or consumer-critical. To work in one, a foreign-trained tradesperson needs no recognition at all. To run a business in one, you must be entered in the Handwerksrolle, which normally requires the Meisterbrief — or an equivalence decision, an Ausnahmebewilligung (§8 HwO), or an employed Betriebsleiter. EU/EEA nationals have an easier route under §9 HwO.
Trades in Anlage B carry no Meisterpflicht.
People are caught by this in both directions: waiting months for recognition they never needed to be employed, or registering a Gewerbe and discovering they may not trade.
Regulation moves in both directions
The 2004 reform deregulated dozens of trades. In 2020 the Meisterpflicht was restored for twelve of them, including Fliesenleger, Estrichleger, Parkettleger and Raumausstatter, with existing businesses grandfathered — so one trade can contain owners under different rules depending on when they started. Do not assume Anlage A membership is static.
Pay, and the Handwerk discount
Handwerk pay is consistently below the industrial equivalent — roughly €500/month at entry across the electrical, metal and vehicle trades. See reference/pay.md. What the Handwerk route buys instead is the legal path to ownership, which is where the real money in these trades is. An ageing generation of owners with no successor makes Betriebsübernahme a realistic route for a Meister.
None of the Handwerk figures in this repo are tariff-verified; they are market estimates.
Qualifications that gate the work
Several trades here are gated by something other than the job title — Hochvolt levels for EV work, DVGW for gas, DIN EN ISO 9606 welding certificates, EN 1090 for load-bearing structure. These rarely transfer from abroad and are often the real obstacle.
Profiles
- Elektroniker/in für Energie- und Gebäudetechnik
- Anlagenmechaniker/in SHK
- Kraftfahrzeugmechatroniker/in
- Metallbauer/in
- Tischler/in — Schreiner/in
- Friseur/in
Nahrungsmittelhandwerk
All three are Anlage A, all three need the §43 IfSG Infektionsschutz-Belehrung before first handling food, and all three share the same sector shape: collapsing business numbers and an even faster collapse in trainee numbers, so qualified staff are scarce inside a shrinking trade. Counter sales is a separate occupation in each — Fachverkäufer/in im Lebensmittelhandwerk.
Professions in this category
- Anlagenmechaniker/in SHK (Plumbing, Heating & AC Technician) Sanitär-, Heizungs- und Klimatechnik.
- Bäcker/in (Baker) Bread, rolls and Feingebäck, produced overnight.
- Dachdecker/in (Roofer) An Anlage A trade sitting on the same Energiewende seam as SHK — photovoltaic mounting and roof insulation are now a large share of the work.
- Elektroniker/in für Energie- und Gebäudetechnik (Electrician) Installs and maintains electrical systems in buildings.
- Fleischer/in — Metzger/in — Schlachter/in (Butcher) Cuts, cures and processes meat.
- Fliesen-, Platten- und Mosaikleger/in (Tiler) The trade at the centre of Germany’s deregulation experiment.
- Friseur/in (Hairdresser) Cutting, colouring and styling.
- Gerüstbauer/in (Scaffolder) Builds the fall protection that every other trade on the site depends on, and is exposed while building it.
- Konditor/in (Pastry Chef / Confectioner) Cakes, tortes, pralines, chocolate and desserts.
- Kraftfahrzeugmechatroniker/in (Vehicle Mechatronics Technician) Services and repairs vehicles.
- Maurer/in (Bricklayer / Mason) The core trade of the Bauhauptgewerbe, and the standard entry point into German construction — including for people arriving without a qualification at all.
- Metallbauer/in (Metalworker / Structural Smith) Fabricates and installs metal structures — gates, railings, staircases, balconies, facades, vehicle bodies.
- Raumausstatter/in (Interior Furnisher / Soft Furnishings Fitter) Written as a case study of the 2020 re-regulation, not as a generic trade profile.
- Straßenbauer/in und Beton- und Stahlbetonbauer/in (Road Builder; Concrete and Reinforced Concrete Worker) The two trades that build infrastructure rather than buildings.
- Tischler/in — also Schreiner/in (Joiner / Cabinetmaker) Furniture, fitted interiors, windows, doors, staircases and shopfitting.
- Zimmerer / Zimmerin (Carpenter — structural) Structural timber: roofs, frames and, increasingly, whole buildings.