Tradespeople and building work in Lausanne

Lausanne is built in tiers between Lake Geneva and the upper parts of the city, and almost every building site bears the mark of it: sloping access, buildings from very different periods, wind and damp coming off the lake. Whether you own a house, co-own an apartment building or rent with your landlord’s consent, your work is organised differently here than on flat ground.

SOS Travaux is a neutral matching service: you describe your project online, the request is passed to tradespeople and firms in the region, and they are the ones who contact you to prepare a free, no-obligation quote.

Lausanne, from Ouchy to the upper districts: buildings on a slope

The capital of Vaud runs down to the lake at Ouchy and climbs back up to the upper districts. This topography changes everyday life on a building site: a steep street is not always suitable for parking a van, an outdoor staircase makes carrying longer, and a narrow courtyard limits where a skip or scaffolding can go. The very steep m2 metro line gives an idea of the terrain tradespeople deal with every day.

The buildings are varied too. Around the cathedral, the old town of the Cité has a concentration of old buildings where work is done with care, often taking the existing structure into account. Elsewhere in the city there are buildings from various periods, hillside houses and more recent buildings. Each period of construction has its sensitive points: thick, irregular walls in old buildings, ageing installations in mid-aged buildings, and a building envelope to keep an eye on in more recent ones.

Lausanne is also a university city, with UNIL and EPFL nearby, and home to the International Olympic Committee. For owners, this means a large number of rented homes: studios, shared flats, co-owned apartments. A landlord, a property management firm or a co-ownership community do not have the same needs as an individual in their own house, and it is best to say so in your request.

The climate of the canton of Vaud ranges from the rather mild shores of Lake Geneva to the Jura and the Vaud Alps, where snow settles. In Lausanne itself, on the hillsides close to the lake, damp, exposure to wind and direct sun on some facades take their toll on exterior paintwork, joints, roofs and windows.

The jobs that come up most often in Lausanne

In such a mixed housing stock, the same needs recur from one district to another.

• Updating installations: plumbing and electrics in an older home, often redone as part of a wider renovation.
• Heating: replacing an ageing boiler, switching to a heat pump, or improving an existing system.
• Building envelope: roof, insulation and windows, all the more present as buildings are older and exposed to the lake wind or the bise.
• Wet rooms: the kitchen and bathroom are among the first rooms redone when buying or when a tenant changes.
• Finishing work: interior painting, tiling and joinery go with almost every renovation.
• Structural work: reworking walls, openings, slabs or retaining walls, which the slope makes common on hillside plots.

These items are often combined. A new bathroom involves a plumber, a tiler, an electrician and sometimes a carpenter, which makes it useful to describe the whole project rather than a single trade.

Permits and Vaud authorities: what applies to a Lausanne building site

In the canton of Vaud, the building permit is issued by the municipality of the commune. When cantonal services need to give an opinion, the file goes through the cantonal authorisations office, CAMAC. For a building site in Lausanne, the first point of contact is therefore the commune.

On energy, the canton relies on the Vaud energy law and on the cantonal energy department, which runs a subsidy programme. If you are considering a heat pump, insulation or solar panels, consult this service before signing: the conditions, the eligible work and the steps to follow may change.

Finally, the canton has old towns and the Lavaux vineyards, a World Heritage site. The Cité of Lausanne is this kind of old area: work on a facade, a roof or windows may be regulated there. In every case, check with the commune or the relevant cantonal service what applies to your building before starting work.

Requesting a quote in Lausanne and comparing offers

To obtain comparable quotes, the request needs to be precise. Give the type of work, the address or district, the type of building (house, apartment building, apartment), your status (owner, co-owner, tenant) and any access constraints: floor, lift, sloping street, courtyard. A few photos and approximate room dimensions help a great deal.

You can request a quote in a few minutes. The tradespeople and firms in the region who receive your request then contact you, and you remain free to proceed or not.

Once you have the offers, compare them on substance rather than on the total alone:

1. the exact scope of the work, item by item;
2. the materials and their references;
3. what is included or not: waste removal, floor protection, making good;
4. the payment terms and the announced schedule;
5. how access is handled and any extra costs linked to the slope.

The cost of a job in Lausanne depends on the surface area, the condition of the substrate, the materials chosen, accessibility and the extent of making good. It is the quote, not a general estimate, that gives the measure for your case. If two offers differ significantly, ask the tradespeople what explains the gap.

Building trades in Lausanne

Each trade has its own page for Lausanne.

Water, electricity and heating. For a home’s installations, see the plumber in Lausanne and the electrician in Lausanne. The heating engineer in Lausanne works on boilers and circuits, while the heat pump in Lausanne page covers replacing a fossil-fuel or electric system.

Building envelope. Roofing in Lausanne, thermal insulation in Lausanne and windows and double glazing in Lausanne protect the building from wind, rain and cold. Masonry in Lausanne covers walls, openings and structural repairs.

Interior and wet rooms. Kitchen renovation in Lausanne and bathroom renovation in Lausanne bring together several trades. For finishing: interior painting in Lausanne, tiling in Lausanne and carpenter in Lausanne.

Comfort and energy. Finally, air conditioning in Lausanne and solar panels in Lausanne respond to equipment projects that require checking the rules of the commune and the canton.

Lausanne in the canton of Vaud

Lausanne is only one part of the territory of Vaud, which stretches from Lake Geneva to the Jura and the Alps. For the general rules, the authorities and the specifics of the canton, see the page for the canton of Vaud.