# How to open a construction company in Moldova: finishing and installation work, buildings, roads and networks, property development

To build in Moldova you do not need a licence; you need an entry in the State Register in the field of construction. This page follows four paths: finishing and installation work, where tradespeople move from working on their own to running a company; building construction, home of the general contractor; roads and networks, meaning civil engineering; and property development, where the company builds to sell. Finally, what a foreign company needs to know if it wants to work here.

## In brief

- **CAEM codes:** Divisions 41, 42 and 43
- **Licence:** Not required (since 2017; work with explosives is the exception)
- **Share capital:** No minimum
- **Independent entrepreneur:** Only for plumbing and heating installation (class 43.22, no gas work)

## Finishing, repair and installation company: when you need the INST notification

Interior finishing, roof repairs and replacing installations inside buildings do not require a building permit. When the company works on a site with a building permit — new construction, major repairs, reconstruction — the law requires it to notify the National Inspectorate for Technical Supervision and to have a site manager certified for that type of work. Companies that install lifts, boilers or gas systems also notify the inspectorate under the industrial safety law.

| Code | Activity | What it means in practice |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 43.21 | Electrical installation | Electrical, telecommunications and network wiring, lighting, fire and burglar alarms, electric underfloor heating. Remote monitoring of alarms is not here but under 80.20. |
| 43.22 | Plumbing, gas supply, heating and air-conditioning installation | Sanitary installations, electric, gas or oil heating, ventilation and air conditioning, solar thermal collectors, sprinklers. The only construction class open to the independent entrepreneur regime, excluding gas work. |
| 43.29 | Other construction installation | Lifts and escalators, automatic doors, lightning conductors, thermal, sound and vibration insulation. Installing lifts also requires the industrial safety notification. |
| 43.32 | Joinery installation | Doors and windows, built-in furniture, kitchen fittings, ceilings and movable partitions. Automatic and revolving doors are under 43.29. |
| 43.33 | Floor and wall covering | Ceramic tiles, stone, parquet, linoleum, wallpaper. Together with plastering (43.31) and painting (43.34), these are the usual codes of a finishing crew. |

- **Notification: Notification to the National Inspectorate for Technical Supervision** — National Inspectorate for Technical Supervision (INST), valid for Open-ended. Any legal person that carries out new construction, reconstruction or major repairs, installs and commissions technical installations, demolishes buildings or manufactures construction materials. It is filed at least 10 working days before activity begins and sets out the make-up of the teams and the areas of work, with the certified site managers by field; the orders appointing the manager and the person responsible for the archive; a declaration on the premises, machinery, vehicles, workshops and depots; and a declaration on the company standards and method statements. The inspectorate registers the company as soon as the 10 days have passed and may not ask for any other documents. The notification is made once, not for each site, and is repeated only when activities are extended or suspended. Without it, the work is prohibited.
- **Authorisation: Technical and professional certificate of the site manager** — Certification commissions of the line ministry, through the Office for Spatial Planning, Urban Development, Construction and Housing, valid for 5 years. The site manager (responsabil tehnic) is the employee who directs and checks the work on the company’s behalf and answers for its quality until the warranty expires. For the company to be allowed to carry out work, its site managers must be certified construction engineers. Certification is by field — civil and industrial construction, roads and bridges, utility networks, energy construction — or by installation type: water and sewerage, gas, heating, ventilation, electrical, alarm systems. The first certification has a written and an oral test and is free of charge. Certificates issued in European Union member states are recognised, with a certified translation and registration with the commission.
- **Notification: Notification to INST for industrial safety** — National Inspectorate for Technical Supervision (INST), valid for Open-ended. Companies that build potentially hazardous industrial facilities, such as gas networks, or that install, commission, maintain and repair technical installations: lifts, boilers and pressure equipment, gas systems of large heating plants. It is filed at least 10 working days before work begins, and staff must hold practising permits or certificates of competence. It comes on top of the construction notification and does not replace it.

**Who buys it:** Owners of flats and houses who are renovating; general contractors, who subcontract installation and finishing work; and companies fitting out their offices, shops or industrial buildings.

**What is different about the money:** The classification says it outright: specialised work is most often done under subcontract, and repairs directly for the owner. So your company works either for another contractor or for the person who lives there. A plumber or heating engineer working alone can also use the independent entrepreneur regime, with a single tax of 15%, but only for plumbing, heating and air-conditioning installation, and never for gas.

## General construction company: the INST register, the site manager and the five-year warranty

Construction work has not been licensed since 2017, but only a legal person entered in the State Register in the field of construction, with certified site managers who are construction engineers, may carry it out. Entry is made by notifying the National Inspectorate for Technical Supervision, once, at least 10 working days before work starts on the first site. The company is liable for completed work for five years from acceptance.

| Code | Activity | What it means in practice |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 41.20 | Construction of residential and non-residential buildings | Complete construction of houses, apartment blocks, industrial buildings, schools, hotels and warehouses, including the renovation of residential buildings. Design and project management are not here but under 71.1. |
| 43.11 | Demolition | Demolition of buildings and other structures. Demolition with explosives requires a licence from the Public Services Agency and a permit for the explosives from the National Inspectorate for Technical Supervision. |
| 43.99 | Other specialised construction activities n.e.c. | Foundations and piling, waterproofing, masonry, steel erection, scaffolding, work at height and crane hire with operator. Equipment hire without an operator is under 77.32. |
| 43.91 | Roofing activities | Roof structures and roof covering. Repairing a roof without changing its shape or colour does not require a building permit. |

- **Notification: Notification to the National Inspectorate for Technical Supervision** — National Inspectorate for Technical Supervision (INST), valid for Open-ended. Any legal person that carries out new construction, reconstruction or major repairs, installs and commissions technical installations, demolishes buildings or manufactures construction materials. It is filed at least 10 working days before activity begins and sets out the make-up of the teams and the areas of work, with the certified site managers by field; the orders appointing the manager and the person responsible for the archive; a declaration on the premises, machinery, vehicles, workshops and depots; and a declaration on the company standards and method statements. The inspectorate registers the company as soon as the 10 days have passed and may not ask for any other documents. The notification is made once, not for each site, and is repeated only when activities are extended or suspended. Without it, the work is prohibited.
- **Authorisation: Technical and professional certificate of the site manager** — Certification commissions of the line ministry, through the Office for Spatial Planning, Urban Development, Construction and Housing, valid for 5 years. The site manager (responsabil tehnic) is the employee who directs and checks the work on the company’s behalf and answers for its quality until the warranty expires. For the company to be allowed to carry out work, its site managers must be certified construction engineers. Certification is by field — civil and industrial construction, roads and bridges, utility networks, energy construction — or by installation type: water and sewerage, gas, heating, ventilation, electrical, alarm systems. The first certification has a written and an oral test and is free of charge. Certificates issued in European Union member states are recognised, with a certified translation and registration with the commission.

**Who buys it:** Private investors building houses, industrial buildings or offices; property developers, who contract out the construction of apartment blocks; and public authorities, through procurement. In 2025 non-residential buildings brought in more work than residential ones: 7.7 billion lei against 6.6 billion.

**What is different about the money:** On public contracts the client holds a performance guarantee — a bank guarantee, a financial guarantee or successive retentions from payments, as the client chooses — and returns it within 21 days of final acceptance. The completion date is the one in the building permit, and any hidden defects caused by the company that appear during the five-year warranty are yours to put right at your own expense.

## Roads, water, sewerage and power lines: the same notification, different certification fields

Roads, water and sewer pipes, and power and telecommunications lines are civil engineering works, division 42. The rules are the same as for buildings — the INST notification and a certified site manager — but certification is by field of work: roads and bridges, utility networks, energy construction, electronic communications. Building gas networks also falls under the industrial safety law, with a separate notification to the inspectorate.

| Code | Activity | What it means in practice |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 42.11 | Construction of roads and motorways | Roads, streets, pavements, asphalting, road markings, crash barriers and signs, airport runways. Street lighting is under 43.21. |
| 42.21 | Construction of utility projects for fluids | Water mains, sewerage, treatment and pumping stations, irrigation systems, reservoirs, water well drilling. |
| 42.22 | Construction of utility projects for electricity and telecommunications | Power and telecommunications lines, urban and long-distance, together with the structures that form part of them, including power plants. |

- **Notification: Notification to the National Inspectorate for Technical Supervision** — National Inspectorate for Technical Supervision (INST), valid for Open-ended. Any legal person that carries out new construction, reconstruction or major repairs, installs and commissions technical installations, demolishes buildings or manufactures construction materials. It is filed at least 10 working days before activity begins and sets out the make-up of the teams and the areas of work, with the certified site managers by field; the orders appointing the manager and the person responsible for the archive; a declaration on the premises, machinery, vehicles, workshops and depots; and a declaration on the company standards and method statements. The inspectorate registers the company as soon as the 10 days have passed and may not ask for any other documents. The notification is made once, not for each site, and is repeated only when activities are extended or suspended. Without it, the work is prohibited.
- **Authorisation: Technical and professional certificate of the site manager** — Certification commissions of the line ministry, through the Office for Spatial Planning, Urban Development, Construction and Housing, valid for 5 years. The site manager (responsabil tehnic) is the employee who directs and checks the work on the company’s behalf and answers for its quality until the warranty expires. For the company to be allowed to carry out work, its site managers must be certified construction engineers. Certification is by field — civil and industrial construction, roads and bridges, utility networks, energy construction — or by installation type: water and sewerage, gas, heating, ventilation, electrical, alarm systems. The first certification has a written and an oral test and is free of charge. Certificates issued in European Union member states are recognised, with a certified translation and registration with the commission.
- **Notification: Notification to INST for industrial safety** — National Inspectorate for Technical Supervision (INST), valid for Open-ended. Companies that build potentially hazardous industrial facilities, such as gas networks, or that install, commission, maintain and repair technical installations: lifts, boilers and pressure equipment, gas systems of large heating plants. It is filed at least 10 working days before work begins, and staff must hold practising permits or certificates of competence. It comes on top of the construction notification and does not replace it.

**Who buys it:** Public authorities and municipal companies, which contract roads, water mains and sewerage through procurement; operators of power and telecommunications networks; and general contractors, for the networks and connections within the site.

**What is different about the money:** Civil engineering was the largest part of the market in 2025, at 42.1% of the value of construction work. It is also the part most tied to public budgets, and so to tenders, performance guarantees and deadlines. For public roads, the investor may set a completion period in the contract, justified by the project, and the building permit is then issued after the contract is signed, with the same period.

## Property developer: the building permit, the INST declaration and the VAT you do not get back

A developer, who builds in order to sell, is the investor: it obtains the urban planning certificate and the building permit, hires a certified site supervisor and files a declaration of commencement of works with the National Inspectorate for Technical Supervision, 10 working days in advance. The work is carried out by a contractor entered in the register, which can be the developer’s own company if it has certified site managers.

| Code | Activity | What it means in practice |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 41.10 | Development of building projects | Bringing together the money, the land and the technical means for a construction project intended for sale. If the company builds to let or for its own production, its code is that of its main activity, not this one. |

- **Authorisation: Building permit** — The local town hall, valid for For the works period set in the project. It is obtained by the investor, not the contractor. It is issued within 30 days at most, only electronically, through the SIA GEAP system, on the basis of an extract from the project, the owner’s consent, a positive project review report, the designer’s supervision contract and, where applicable, environmental, heritage and roads approvals and the preliminary energy performance certificate. The fee is set by the local council, and tacit approval does not apply. Work must start within the period set, of no more than 12 months, which can be extended once by up to six months.
- **Notification: Declaration of commencement of works** — National Inspectorate for Technical Supervision (INST), valid for For each authorised project. The investor files it 10 working days before the authorised work begins. As the work goes on, the investor notifies the inspectorate at least 15 days before the acceptance of the key stages: setting out the building’s axes on site, the ground-floor slab at zero level and the slab of the last authorised storey.

**Who buys it:** People buying a flat or a house, and companies buying retail or office space. On the housing market, 67 permits for new apartment blocks and 2,093 for individual houses were issued in 2025.

**What is different about the money:** Sales of housing are exempt from VAT with no right of deduction. The VAT paid to contractors and material suppliers cannot be recovered and goes into the cost of the flat. The exemption covers housing, not commercial space. The building permit is issued within 30 days at most, and work must start within the period it sets, which cannot exceed 12 months.

## How the sector got here

- **27 October 2017 — Nomenclature of permissive acts, annex 1 to Law no. 160/2011.** Building and civil engineering construction, installations and utility networks no longer appear among the licensed activities. Until then they were licensed through the Licensing Chamber.
- **30 January 2025 — Urban Planning and Construction Code no. 434/2023.** The Code replaces Law no. 721/1996 on quality in construction. It ties the right to carry out construction work to entry in the State Register in the field of construction, through notification of the National Inspectorate for Technical Supervision, and to certified site managers.
- **25 June 2026 — Tax Code, Chapter 10⁴.** Plumbing, heating and air-conditioning installation, class 43.22, is added to the list of activities open to independent entrepreneurs. It is the only construction class on the list.
- **6 August 2026 — Urban Planning and Construction Code, amended by Law no. 153/2026.** Energy storage installations join the list of works that need no building permit, and the rules for solar panels and heat pumps are rewritten. Applicants can ask the town hall in writing whether a job needs a permit, and the answer comes within 10 days.
- **1 January 2027 — Classification of Activities in the Economy of Moldova, CAEM Rev. 2.1.** Building construction moves from 41.20 to 41.00, and property development leaves construction to become 68.12. Insulation and masonry get classes of their own, 43.23 and 43.91.

## How big the market is

For 2025, 4,783 construction companies filed financial statements, with 33,168 employees and sales revenue of 38.4 billion lei. A year earlier there were 4,229, so more than 550 new companies joined the figures in 2025. The largest group, 2,600, are specialised contractors — installations, finishing, demolition, foundations — followed by 1,477 companies that put up buildings and 706 that build roads and networks.

The value of construction work carried out in 2025 was 26 billion lei, and the volume rose by 29.4% on the previous year. The largest share, 42%, was civil engineering — roads, networks, pipelines — followed by non-residential buildings, at almost 30%, and residential ones, at 25%. Foreign-owned companies carried out 1.9 billion lei of work.

On the demand side, 2,955 building permits for new buildings were issued in 2025, more than 2,000 of them for individual houses. Every house needs someone to pour the foundations, build the walls, run the installations and do the finishing.

## The licence is gone, the register remains

Until 2017, construction was licensed. Today the Urban Planning and Construction Code puts it differently: construction work may be carried out by legal persons entered in the State Register in the field of construction that have certified site managers who are construction engineers. You do not apply to join the register; you notify.

You file the notification with the National Inspectorate for Technical Supervision at least 10 working days before work starts on your first site. You declare how many people are in your teams and on what kinds of work, who your site managers are and in which fields they are certified, who runs the company and who keeps its archive, what premises, machinery, vehicles, workshops and depots you have, and that you work to company standards and method statements. The inspectorate may not ask you for anything else and must register you as soon as the 10 days are up. If it does not reply, the notification is deemed valid.

So the order is: register the company with the Public Services Agency, hire the site manager, notify the inspectorate, wait ten working days, go on site. Once, not for every project.

### The site manager is what makes the company

Without a certified site manager, a construction company exists only on paper. This is the employee who takes over the site from the investor, checks that there is a building permit, draws up the quality control plan, directs the work and answers for it until the end of the warranty. For installations carried out under subcontract, quality is ensured by the subcontractor’s site manager together with the general contractor’s.

Certification is by field, and the field matters: a site manager certified for civil construction does not cover gas installations or external power networks. When you plan which work to take on, check first which fields your people are certified in. The same specialist cannot act on one project as both the contractor’s site manager and the investor’s site supervisor.

### Lifts, boilers, gas: a second notification

Companies that install or repair lifts, boilers and pressure equipment or the gas systems of large heating plants, as well as those that build gas networks, also fall under the industrial safety law. They file a separate notification with the same inspectorate, again 10 working days in advance, and the people who work on these installations must hold practising permits or certificates of competence.

## What can be done without a building permit

The Code has a long list of work for which the investor needs neither an urban planning certificate nor a permit: interior finishing; roof, floor and joinery repairs that do not change shapes and colours; replacing stoves and installations inside buildings; light partition walls that do not change the fire hazard class; and, in rural areas, single-storey houses under 150 square metres. The list also includes solar panels and heat pumps, and since August 2026 energy storage installations on the land of solar parks and of commercial, agricultural and industrial buildings.

For a finishing company this matters more than it seems: for most of this work, design documentation is optional, except on listed monuments and on work paid for with public money. If you are unsure where the list ends, the client can ask the town hall in writing, and it replies within 10 days.

Installing power plants that run on renewable energy is also exempt from VAT with no right of deduction — a detail that matters when you price a quote.

## Quality: the manual, accidents and the warranty

Every company that carries out construction work draws up and approves a quality manual, valid for three years and then updated every year. On small jobs, the site manager plays the role of the quality system. For buildings of special importance and for those funded from the state budget, the system must be documented and certified, and any private investor can require it in the contract.

A few obligations are easy to forget until it is too late. A technical accident on site is reported to the inspectorate within 24 hours. Archaeological remains found during excavation are reported to the National Archaeological Agency within 24 hours. Materials specified in the project may be replaced only with a solution from the designer and with the investor’s agreement. Demolition waste is collected separately and handed to licensed operators.

And the warranty: five years from acceptance, during which hidden defects caused by the company are put right at your own expense. If a defect is not remedied immediately, the period is extended.

## A foreign construction company in Moldova

For a construction company from Romania, from another EU member state or from further afield, Moldova has three rules that matter from day one.

Specialists certified in EU member states are recognised as certified here too, for design, construction, site management and laboratory testing. The certificate is translated into Romanian, legalised and registered with the ministry’s certification commission. You do not have to certify your engineers again from scratch.

The work is carried out by a legal person entered with the inspectorate. The option we recommend is a Moldovan SRL owned by the parent company: it has limited liability and notifies the inspectorate in its own name. A branch is not a legal person, and the parent company is fully liable for its obligations.

If the company works directly from abroad, the Tax Code counts the days. A construction site, an installation project or technical supervision that lasts more than six months becomes a permanent establishment and, for the income earned here, is taxed in Moldova as a resident business. Time worked by subcontractors is added to the general contractor’s, and a road or pipeline that moves along its route remains a single site. Double taxation treaties may set different thresholds, so check the one with your home country.

For foreign companies, we register the SRL or the branch, prepare the notification to the inspectorate and open the bank account. What is required from a non-resident founder is explained in the [guide for foreign founders](/en/blog/register-company-foreign-founder).

## Which legal form to choose

For construction, an SRL. The Urban Planning Code gives the right to carry out construction work only to legal persons entered in the register, and limited liability matters in a field where the company is liable for five years for every job it hands over.

A tradesperson working alone has two options without a company. As an individual, they may carry out finishing, repairs and the replacement of internal installations on private property, but not gas work and not the shared installations of apartment blocks. As an independent entrepreneur, they may work with a single tax of 15% on income up to 1.2 million lei a year, but only in class 43.22 — plumbing, heating and air-conditioning installation. If they work for a company with more than nine employees, the relationship is treated as employment for tax purposes.

For a developer, one useful detail when exiting a project: if the land and the building change hands, the building permit remains valid with all its rights and obligations, and the new owner simply informs the town hall.

We handle the choice of CAEM codes, the articles of association, the filing at the Public Services Agency and the opening of the bank account. We also prepare the notification to the National Inspectorate for Technical Supervision, and we can take over the company’s accounting from the first month. What each service includes is set out on the [corporate services](/en/corporate-services) page.

## Frequently asked questions

### Can a tradesperson work without a company?

For some work, yes. The Urban Planning Code allows individuals to carry out, on private property, finishing, roof and floor repairs and the replacement of installations inside buildings, but not gas work and not the shared installations of apartment blocks. A plumber or heating engineer can work as an independent entrepreneur, taxed at 15%. For sites that need a building permit, the answer is an SRL.

### Which CAEM code do you register for a repair and finishing company?

Codes are chosen by the work done, not by the company’s name. Plastering is 43.31, joinery and built-in furniture 43.32, tiling and parquet 43.33, painting and glazing 43.34, electrical installation 43.21, plumbing and heating 43.22. If you renovate whole flats, add 41.20, which includes the renovation of residential buildings. For roof repairs, the code is 43.91.

### How long is a contractor liable for its work?

Five years from acceptance on completion. During that time, hidden defects caused by failure to follow the project, the technical norms or the contract are put right at the company’s expense. For materials with a shorter natural life, the warranty can be shorter. If the investor has made no claim by the end of the period, the warranty is deemed expired, and at your request the investor signs the official report within 28 days.

### Does a developer charge VAT on flat sales?

No. Supplies of housing are exempt from VAT with no right of deduction, so the developer does not add VAT to the price, but cannot recover the VAT paid to contractors and for materials either. Retail and office space is not covered by the exemption. In a mixed-use project the housing and the commercial parts are treated differently, which matters when planning costs.

### Do you need a licence to open a construction company in Moldova?

No. The construction licence disappeared from the nomenclature of permissive acts in 2017. Instead, the company notifies the National Inspectorate for Technical Supervision at least 10 working days before work starts on its first site and is entered in the State Register in the field of construction. The real condition is that the company has certified site managers who are construction engineers. Only work with explosives requires a separate licence.

### Can a foreign construction company work in Moldova?

Yes. Specialists certified in European Union member states are recognised once their certificate, with a legalised translation, is registered with the certification commission. The work is carried out by a legal person entered with the inspectorate, and we recommend a local SRL owned by the foreign company. If it works directly, with no local company, a site lasting more than six months becomes a permanent establishment and is taxed in Moldova, and subcontractors’ time is added to the general contractor’s.

### What work can be done without a building permit?

Work that does not affect the load-bearing structure, the exterior or the characteristics of the building: interior finishing, roof and floor repairs that keep the same shape, replacing internal installations, light partition walls, solar panels and heat pumps. In rural areas, also single-storey houses under 150 square metres for one or two families. For listed monuments and protected areas, the rules are stricter.

Choosing the CAEM codes, drafting the constitutive documents and filing with the Public Services Agency are part of the registration service.