Construction minimum rates rise 6 November; Svalbard included

Construction-site employers must pay higher binding minimum hourly rates from 6 November 2026LovdataLovdata. Tariffnemnda's new regulation FOR-2026-10-22-2234Lovdata on partial general application (delvis allmenngjøring) of Fellesoverenskomsten for byggfag (FOB) 2026–2028Lovdata takes effect that dayLovdata and simultaneously repeals the 2024 regulationLovdata FOR-2024-10-21-2544 on building sitesLovdata. Tariffnemnda may extend a nationwide collective agreement to all workers performing that kind of work in an industry under allmenngjøringsloven § 5, and this regulation is its construction-sector decision for the 2026–2028 agreement round between NHO/Byggenæringen and LO/Fellesforbundet.

The new hourly minima are: skilled workers (fagarbeidere) kr 276.48Lovdata, up from kr 264.32; unskilled workers without industry experience kr 250.63Lovdata, up from kr 239.61; unskilled workers with at least one year of industry experience kr 260.45Lovdata, up from kr 249.00; and workers under 18 kr 169.91Lovdata, up from kr 162.44. Skilled status requires a trade or journeyman's certificate in the trade, with foreign certificates approved by NOKUT equated to Norwegian ones. The rates apply per hour worked to employees performing building workLovdata, and the general-application rule is not displaced by agreement terms unless the worker is overall covered by more favourable pay and working conditions under an agreement or the otherwise applicable national law.

Coverage is wide and now expressly Arctic. The regulation covers skilled and unskilled workers performing building work on construction sitesLovdata — building and construction-technical activity with associated works including demolition and source separation — across the listed trades from bricklaying, concrete, carpentry and masonry through plumbing, ventilation, painting, insulation, roofing, scaffolding, glazing, facade, refrigeration and heat-pump trades, plus timber-house carpentry and assembly, workshop workers, repairers, drivers, warehouse staff and construction-machine operators performing site work. Apprentices and persons on labour-market measures are outside the regulation. New against the 2024 text, the regulation also applies in Longyearbyen and Ny-Ålesund on SvalbardLovdata, so postings and hires there fall under the same minima from 6 NovemberLovdata.

The surrounding duties travel with the rates. The business performing work within the scope is responsible for implementing the regulation, for the employer and whoever manages the business in the employer's place. Where an assignment requires overnight stays away from home, the employer covers necessary travel expenses at the assignment's start and end; before sending a worker away from home, board-and-lodging arrangements must be agreed, with the employer as a rule providing board and lodging or covering costs through a fixed diet rate or reimbursement against receipts. The employer provides necessary seasonal workwear and safety footwear, which remain company property and are issued at hiring with replacement against worn-out items.

For the November payroll run, the responsible step is concrete: switch every construction-site pay table to the new minima for hours worked from 6 November 2026Lovdata, verify skilled status against certificates including NOKUT approvalsLovdata, and extend the same tables to Longyearbyen and Ny-Ålesund postings that previously sat outside the schemeLovdata.

Legal basis: lov 4. juni 1993 nr. 58 om allmenngjøring av tariffavtaler (allmenngjøringsloven) § 5 on Tariffnemnda's general-application decisions, applied through Tariffnemnda's forskrift FOR-2026-10-22-2234 grounding in Fellesoverenskomsten for byggfag 2026–2028, in force 6 November 2026 with repeal of forskrift 2024-10-21-2544.