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Civil engineering

NACE 4291
Current registrations341
Starters, 12 months · division 42
461
Employment (FTE) · division 42
41,707
Median age · division 42
6.8 years

In NACE division 42, 7.7 companies per 100 started in the past twelve months, against 7.5 nationally; that is higher than that of 51% of the 87 NACE divisions. Comparison: as of 29-09-2026 05:30.

Key figures for NACE division 42

fiscal year 2025 · median over 1,714 filed annual accounts
Median solvency
43.1%
lower than 56% of 79 divisions
Median equity
€113,703
lower than 57% of 79 divisions
Median net result
€19,192
higher than 65% of 79 divisions
Annual accounts in sample
1,714

Foreign control in NACE division 42

3,997 registered companies

Staff cost per FTE in NACE division 42

342 employers of at least 10 FTE
Median
€64,800
Belgium €65,100
Middle half
€57,700 to €73,200
half of the employers lie between
Place among sectors
49 of 73
by median staff cost per FTE
By size class
SizeMedianMiddle halfEmployers
10 to 49 FTE €63,800 €56,000 to €70,700 229
50 to 249 FTE €65,000 €60,000 to €74,800 90
250 FTE or more €75,800 €69,100 to €81,900 23

Bankruptcies

past five years
Bankruptcies (5y)
4
Historical share
1.17%

Nationally, 1.61% of current registrations have a published bankruptcy opening in the past five years. This sector's historical share is higher than that of 52% of the 88 NACE divisions. The median bankruptcy probability in NACE division 42 is 0.9%, against 0.5% nationally, over 3,036 scored companies. Comparison: as of 29-09-2026 05:30.

Bankruptcies still running

NACE division 42
Running bankruptcies
162
Half have run longer than
17 months
Belgium: 20 months
Longer than three years
25%
Belgium: 31%

Measured nationally: Of 64,419 bankruptcies of legal entities across Belgium, 46% were closed within five years for insufficient assets and 32% after liquidation, 4% were withdrawn; 18% were still open after five years. Half had ended after 26 months (a quarter after 15, three quarters after 49 months).

Counts companies with this main activity in the register on 29 September 2026. The outcome itself is not measured by sector: the activity of a company that leaves the register after its bankruptcy is too often not kept to compare closed cases fairly.

Outcome by court and division

Regional split

by region · 261 of 341 enterprises with a registered office on file
Flanders 203 · 77.8%
Wallonia 50 · 19.2%
Brussels 8 · 3.1%

Recent bankruptcies in this sector

4
Date Company
07-09-2026 Valcke Heavy Equipment Operator
BE 0750.741.792
26-06-2024 MD BAGGERWERKEN
BE 0788.808.849
26-06-2023 Sole trader
BE 0839.473.533 · Charleroi
21-12-2022 GREG TRAVAUX MAINTENANCE
BE 0744.745.709

Geographic distribution

by province · based on the establishment address
fewer moremax 75

Public money in this sector

per register · legal entities with an enterprise number
  • Flemish subsidies €172.9m awarded 693 recipients · 2022 to 2025 · largest: Vlaams Gemeentefonds
  • Federal transfers 41.0m amount as published 10 recipients · 2023 to 2025 · largest: Samenwerkingsakkoord Beliris - Kapitaalover- drachten Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest
  • Wallonia-Brussels Federation €2.4m paid 1 recipient · 2024 · largest: Infrastructures sportives et IPPJ
  • EU budget €12.2m attributed share 9 recipients · 2021 to 2025 · largest: Security
  • EU research €10.5m eu contribution 7 recipients · 2013 to 2025 · largest: Horizon 2020

Explore every recipient in this sector

How these figures are counted

Current enterprise registrations are counted through their registered main activities; establishment units are excluded. Counted in the KBO's NACE 2025 nomenclature, the one in which code 4291 exists.

Share of currently registered companies with a published bankruptcy opening in the past five years. Registered main activities in the selected classification can overlap. This retrospective share is not a future bankruptcy probability.

The comparison with the country and with the other NACE divisions comes from a nightly overview of every division, each counted in the nomenclature in which it exists. A standing such as "higher than 80%" counts the other divisions that have the figure. The bankruptcy probability is the median of our nightly score over the division's companies that have one; the count is stated.

The key figures cover the whole NACE division 42, not NACE 4291 on its own: there are too few filed annual accounts per five-digit code to compute them separately. The middle company of the sector, based on all filed annual accounts.