How Much Does a Plumber Cost in Quebec?
Plumber cost in Quebec in 2026: Montreal hourly rates, the CMMTQ reference rates effective April 26, 2026, CCQ competency certificates and CMMTQ contractor licences, and GST and QST on the invoice.
How Much Do Plumbers Charge Per Hour in Canada?
Plumber hourly rates in Canada in 2026: charged rates by city from two published tables, Job Bank wages kept separate from charged rates, licence-level bands, call-out fees, minimums, and emergency multipliers.
Applies in: across Canada
A plumber's hourly rate is the most quoted number in plumbing and the easiest to misread. It is quoted before tax, usually before parts, often before the call-out fee, and sometimes for a different licence level than the person who actually attends. Two published sources give different national bands, the wage statistics describe something else entirely, and the emergency multiplier can double the figure overnight. This guide keeps those things apart: charged rates by city from two published tables, wages from Job Bank labelled as wages, the licence-level bands, and the call-out, minimum, and emergency rules that decide what an hour actually costs. It is written for the homeowner reading a quote. For the plumber's side of the same question, what rate to set and what it must cover, read the guide to how much a plumber should charge per hour in Ontario.
Charged rates by city: two tables, two answers
| City | RenoQuotes, standard | UrbanTasker, standard | UrbanTasker, emergency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto | $90–$140 | $110–$200 | $200–$350 |
| Vancouver | $90–$130 | $110–$190 | $200–$340 |
| Ottawa | $85–$130 | $100–$160 | $180–$300 |
| Calgary | $80–$120 | $100–$160 | $180–$300 |
| Montreal | $79–$129 | $85–$145 | $160–$270 |
| Winnipeg | $75–$115 | $85–$140 | $150–$250 |
| Halifax | $70–$110 | $85–$145 | $160–$270 |
| Saskatoon | $70–$110 | $85–$140 | $150–$250 |
| St. John's | — | $80–$140 | $150–$260 |
| Rural areas | $60–$100 | — | — |
UrbanTasker runs higher than RenoQuotes in every city the two tables share, by roughly $15 to $60 at the top of each band. Neither table is wrong on its own terms: RenoQuotes describes scheduled, non-emergency work in business hours across a wider mix of markets, while UrbanTasker's table leans toward major cities and describes labour only, with materials, parts, and call-out fees extra. The honest use of both tables is to plan inside their overlap for a major city, roughly $90 to $150 for a scheduled visit, and to treat any quote outside both bands as a quote that needs a written explanation, not as proof of overcharging or of a bargain.
RenoQuotes' province table tells the same story at a coarser grain: Ontario $80 to $140, British Columbia $85 to $130, Alberta $75 to $120, Quebec $79 to $129, Manitoba and Saskatchewan $70 to $115, and the Atlantic provinces $65 to $110. Within any province, RenoQuotes warns, the spread between a major centre and a rural area is often wider than the spread between provinces, and travel distance is billable time. A rural quote at the bottom of the national range and a downtown Toronto quote at the top can both be fair for the same job in different places.
Wages are not charged rates
Job Bank wages for plumbers (NOC 72300) were updated on November 19, 2025, from the Labour Force Survey for 2023 to 2024. The national median wage is $34.00 an hour, with a low of $21.00 and a high of $46.00. By province, the medians are: Quebec $40.00, Saskatchewan $35.00, Nova Scotia $33.00, Ontario $32.50, British Columbia $32.00, Manitoba $30.11, Alberta $30.00, Prince Edward Island $30.00, Newfoundland and Labrador $27.50, and New Brunswick $26.00. The territories run higher on small-area estimates, led by Nunavut at $44.82. About 82 percent of plumbers receive at least one non-wage benefit nationally, which is part of the employment cost the charged rate must also carry.
The gap between a $34.00 median wage and an $80 to $150 charged rate is not a margin to argue about; it is the rest of the business. The vehicle, fuel, tools, insurance, licensing, dispatch, and the unpaid time between jobs all sit inside the charged hour. A self-employed plumber charging near the wage figure is either omitting one of those costs or planning to recover it elsewhere on the invoice, in parts markup, in a trip fee, or in a minimum charge. RenoQuotes puts parts markup at 20 to 50 percent, which is the other place the business recovers its costs. Read the whole invoice, not the hourly line.
Licence level, and who is actually coming
The rate follows the ticket. A licensed journeyperson is the standard rate in both tables. A master plumber or specialist bills above it: $150 to $200 or more in UrbanTasker's Toronto table. HomeStars puts licensed pros at $105 to $175 an hour, and a master plumber at $30 to $100 more per hour than a standard plumber. An apprentice working under supervision bills below the journeyperson rate, and RenoQuotes describes that as a legitimate saving for straightforward tasks rather than a compromise. The condition is supervision. In the provinces where trade certification for plumbers is compulsory, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, only a certified journeyperson or a registered apprentice working under one may legally do the work. In the provinces where certification is voluntary, Newfoundland and Labrador, Manitoba, and British Columbia, ask for the certificate anyway. The quote should name the licence level of the person attending, and the person who arrives should match the quote.
The call-out fee, the minimum, and the emergency multiplier
Three charges sit around the hourly rate, and they decide the bill on small jobs more than the rate does. The call-out or trip fee, $75 to $200 standard on both RenoQuotes and UrbanTasker, covers travel and diagnosis. The minimum billing period, usually the first hour, means a twenty-minute job is billed as an hour. The emergency multiplier, 1.5 to 2 times the standard rate on both sources, applies outside business hours, with a higher call-out fee on top. UrbanTasker puts the emergency call-out at $130 to $455, often including the first hour, and RenoQuotes puts it at $150 to $300 just to arrive, before the emergency hourly rate.
The billing model decides how those three combine. In the trip-fee-plus-hourly model, the fee is charged on top of the hourly rate. In the flat-call-out model, the fee covers the first hour, and time after that bills hourly in fifteen-minute increments. In the set-first-hour model, the first hour has its own price and later time bills at a lower rate. The same job can cost $245 before parts under the first model and $95 plus parts under the second, at the same $95 hourly rate, because the models count the first hour differently. Ask which model applies, whether the fee is credited toward the bill, and what the minimum is. Get the answer in writing, with the model named, before the plumber travels.
How to compare two hourly quotes
Compare totals on the same scope, not rates. Ask each plumber for the same five things: the hourly rate and the licence level it buys, the call-out fee and whether it is credited, the minimum charge and the billing increment after the first hour, the parts basis, including whether parts carry a markup and whether you may supply your own fixtures, and the tax treatment. A quote that states all five can be converted to a total for a defined job. A quote that states only the hourly rate cannot, and the lowest hourly rate on a trip-fee-plus-hourly model routinely produces the highest total on a small job.
On larger or uncertain work, ask each plumber to quote both ways: an hourly estimate with a cap, and a flat price for the defined scope. The flat price carries risk padding, so a job that goes smoothly costs more than hourly would have. The hourly price carries open-ended risk, so a job that uncovers old pipe costs more than the estimate. The comparison that matters is the total under the scope as written, with the same inclusions, and the written statement of what happens when the scope changes. No published table can make that comparison for you; the tables in this guide exist so you can tell when a quote sits outside the published range and needs an explanation.
Related guides
- How much does a plumber cost in Canada: the national picture, hourly bands by city, service-call models, and common job ranges, including the journeyperson and master plumber bands.
- How much should a plumber charge per hour in Ontario: the rate-setting side, the cost stack behind the rate, and billing models from the plumber's perspective.
- How much do plumbers charge per fixture in Canada: the per-fixture alternative to hourly billing, for new construction and additions.
- Cost to plumb a new house in Canada: whole-house pricing, where hourly billing gives way to per-fixture and project pricing.
Where a figure could not be verified on an official or published page at the time of writing — a single agreed national hourly rate, an hourly band for any city not in the two published tables, and any rate for a specific licence level in a specific province — this guide shows the published bands separately, keeps wages apart from charged rates, and points to a written quote on the reader's own job instead of carrying a secondary source's figure. Check those pages and get quotes in writing before you pay anything or plan around a number.
Plumber hourly rates in Canada (2026)
| Standard work, RenoQuotes, most homeowners | $80–$120/hr |
|---|---|
| Standard work, UrbanTasker, major cities | $110–$150/hr |
| Emergency, RenoQuotes, major cities | $150–$350/hr |
| Emergency, UrbanTasker | $200–$350/hr |
| Plumber median wage, Canada, Job Bank | $34.00/hr |
Prices in Canadian dollars, before tax. The two standard bands come from two different published sources and do not agree; the wage figure is what plumbers are paid, not what customers are charged, and is shown only to keep the two apart.
Plumber wages by province, Job Bank (NOC 72300)
- Quebec, median wage$40.00/hr
- Canada, median wage$34.00/hr
- Ontario, median wage$32.50/hr
- Prince Edward Island, median wage$30.00/hr
- Newfoundland and Labrador, median wage$27.50/hr
- New Brunswick, median wage$26.00/hr
Questions people ask
How much do plumbers charge per hour in Canada?
Two published sources give different answers, and both are stated here. RenoQuotes puts standard work at $60 to $150 an hour, with most homeowners paying $80 to $120. UrbanTasker puts standard service calls at $90 to $200 an hour, with most homeowners in major cities paying $110 to $150. The gap is real, not a rounding difference: the sources survey different markets and different mixes of firms, and UrbanTasker's table leans toward major cities while RenoQuotes includes rural areas at $60 to $100. For a scheduled visit in a major city, plan on the overlap, roughly $90 to $150, and let a written quote decide the rest. For a small centre or rural area, the RenoQuotes rural band of $60 to $100 is the better starting point. No regulator sets these rates.
What is the difference between a plumber's wage and the hourly rate I am charged?
The wage is what the plumber is paid as an employee. The charged rate is what the customer pays, and it carries everything else. Job Bank wages for plumbers (NOC 72300, reference period 2023 to 2024, updated November 19, 2025) put the national median wage at $34.00 an hour, with a low of $21.00 and a high of $46.00. The charged bands above run roughly three to four times that median, because the charged hour also pays for the vehicle and fuel, tools and equipment, insurance, licensing, office and dispatch, materials handling, and the hours between jobs when no customer is paying. RenoQuotes puts labour at 50 to 70 percent of the total on a repair job, which shows the same point from the invoice side: the hourly labour line is not the whole bill, and the wage is not the labour line. Never budget from the wage figure, and never treat a charged rate near the wage figure as a bargain without asking what is missing.
Do apprentices, journeypersons, and master plumbers charge different hourly rates?
Yes, and the level of the person attending should be stated on the quote. HomeStars puts licensed pros at $105 to $175 an hour, and a master plumber at $30 to $100 more per hour than a standard plumber. RenoQuotes notes that apprentice-level labour bills lower, and that for straightforward tasks under supervision that is a legitimate saving rather than a compromise. UrbanTasker's Toronto table puts a master plumber or specialist at $150 to $200 or more an hour, against $100 to $150 for a standard journeyperson. The rule to apply is supervision, not just price: complex work, including gas-line work, must be done or supervised by a journeyperson or master plumber, and in the compulsory provinces only a certified journeyperson or a registered apprentice working under one may legally do the work at all. Ask who is coming, what ticket they hold, and who supervises them.
What is a plumber's call-out fee, and is it extra?
It is the charge for travel and diagnosis before any repair begins, and whether it is extra depends on the billing model. RenoQuotes puts a standard service call or trip fee at $75 to $200, with many firms requiring a minimum billing period, usually the first hour, even if the job takes twenty minutes. UrbanTasker puts standard call-out fees at $75 to $200 and emergency call-out fees at $130 to $455, often including the first hour of labour. Three models are in use: a trip fee charged on top of the hourly rate, a flat call-out covering the first hour with hourly billing in fifteen-minute increments afterward, and a set first-hour price with a lower rate after. A quoted $95 an hour with a $150 trip fee and a one-hour minimum means a simple repair costs $245 before parts, while the same $95 an hour inside a flat call-out that includes the first hour means the same repair costs $95 plus parts. Ask which model applies, whether the fee is credited toward the bill if you proceed, and what the minimum charge is, before booking.
How much more does emergency plumbing cost per hour?
Roughly one and a half to two times the standard rate, on both published sources. RenoQuotes puts evenings, weekends, and holidays at 1.5 to 2 times the standard hourly rate, with an emergency call-out fee of $150 to $300 just to arrive, and emergency hourly rates in major cities at $150 to $350 an hour, rising to $620 for complex emergency work. UrbanTasker puts emergency and after-hours work at $200 to $350 an hour, plus a call-out fee of $130 to $455, with a holiday and weekend multiplier of 1.5 to 2 times the base rate. A repair that costs $250 on a Tuesday morning can cost $450 to $600 on a Sunday night, on RenoQuotes' own example. The practical rule both sources support is the same: if the situation is containable, contain it, shut the water off, and call during business hours. Active flooding, a burst pipe in winter, sewage backup, a gas smell, or no water at all are worth the premium. A slow drain, a dripping faucet, a running toilet, or low water pressure are not.
Which provinces have the highest and lowest plumber hourly rates?
On charged rates, the big cities lead: UrbanTasker puts Toronto at $110 to $200 and Vancouver at $110 to $190, against Winnipeg and Saskatoon and Regina at $85 to $140, and St. John's at $80 to $140. RenoQuotes' city table puts Toronto at $90 to $140 and Vancouver at $90 to $130, against Halifax and Saskatoon at $70 to $110 and rural areas at $60 to $100, and its province table puts the Atlantic provinces at $65 to $110, the lowest group band. On wages, the order is different: Job Bank puts the median wage highest in Quebec at $40.00 an hour and lowest in New Brunswick at $26.00, with Prince Edward Island at $30.00 and Newfoundland and Labrador at $27.50. Do not read the wage order as the charged-rate order. Quebec's high median wage reflects its regulated construction wage structure, while its charged rates in the published tables sit in the middle. The city, the time of day, and the licence level of the person attending move the charged rate more than the province does.
Sources
- RenoQuotes, Plumbing Costs in Canada: 2026 Guide & Price Breakdown — standard work $60 to $150 an hour, most homeowners $80 to $120; city and province tables; service-call fees $75 to $200; emergency multiplier 1.5 to 2 times and emergency hourly rates $150 to $350 in major cities; parts markup 20 to 50 percent.
- UrbanTasker, How Much Should I Budget for Home Maintenance and Repairs in Canada? — standard service calls $90 to $200 an hour, most homeowners in major cities $110 to $150; city table; emergency rates $200 to $350; call-out fees $75 to $200 standard and $130 to $455 emergency; Toronto licence-level table.
- HomeStars, Guide to Plumbing Costs & Estimates in Canada — licensed pros $105 to $175 an hour; master plumber $30 to $100 more per hour than a standard plumber.
- Job Bank Canada, Plumber wages (NOC 72300) — national median wage $34.00 an hour, provincial medians, reference period 2023 to 2024, updated November 19, 2025.
- Job Bank Canada, Plumber job requirements (NOC 72300) — four- to five-year apprenticeship; trade certification compulsory and voluntary provinces; Red Seal endorsement.