Contractor recognition (agréation), and when it is required
Recognition is often quoted as a quality label. It is something else: a condition of access to public contracts, with a precise scope and limited use outside it.
Updated on 12 Aug 2026
What recognition is
The recognition (agréation) of contractors is a federal regime created by the Act of 20 March 1991. It is granted by the FPS Economy after an examination of the company's technical, financial and professional capacity.
Its purpose is to say whether a company may tender for a public works contract above a certain amount. It is neither a guarantee of good execution, nor an insurance policy, nor an inspection of the work.
Categories and classes
A recognition is read in two parts. The category gives the type of work: D for building, D1 for masonry and concrete, C for road works, P for electrical work, and so on across some thirty subcategories.
The class gives the maximum contract amount the company may tender for, from class 1 for the smallest amounts up to class 8 for the largest.
A company recognised as "D class 3" is therefore recognised for building work up to a given ceiling. That does not make it better than a company without recognition on a private job: it is simply eligible for a type of contract a private individual never awards.
What it does not say about a private job
For a house renovation, recognition is not required and its absence is not an adverse signal. Plenty of excellent ten-person firms have never applied for it, because they do not work for the public sector.
Its presence, on the other hand, says something that has been checked: an administration examined accounts, references from past jobs and qualifications at a given moment. That is a dated fact, to be read as such.
What recognition never replaces: decennial liability insurance, compulsory since 2018 for work on the closed structural shell of a home subject to planning permission, and professional liability insurance.
Where to check it
The FPS Economy publishes the list of recognised contractors, searchable by enterprise number, by category and by class. It is the only authoritative source.
A "recognised" mention on a website or a quote is not proof: it takes thirty seconds to check against the official list, and the category claimed has to match the work on offer.
Questions people ask
- Can a contractor without recognition work on my home?
- Yes. Recognition governs access to public works contracts, not the exercise of the activity for a private customer.
- Does recognition guarantee the quality of the work?
- No. It attests to technical and financial capacity examined at a given moment, for one category and one contract amount. It says nothing about any particular job.
- Are recognition and contractor registration the same thing?
- No, and registration no longer exists: that separate regime was abolished in 2012. The "registered contractor" mentions still to be seen refer to a status with no content left.
Sources
Every statement in this guide comes from one of these sources. They are public and free to consult.
A register says what it says on a given date. The absence of an adverse signal is not a guarantee about work still to come, and Domara does not rate or rank any company.