How to Start a Construction Company in Quebec

The short answer

Get the contractor licence from the Régie du bâtiment du Québec (RBQ), register as an employer with the Commission de la construction du Québec (CCQ), and register with the Commission des normes, de l'équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CNESST). Quebec's regime is distinct from every other province: the RBQ licences the company, the CCQ manages the construction workforce, and the CNESST covers workplace safety and compensation. No other province's workers compensation board or WSIB mechanics apply here, and this guide imports none of them. The French program names above are stated once; the rest of this guide is in English.

1. Register the company with the Registraire des entreprises

Start with the business itself. Register your company with the Registraire des entreprises du Québec (REQ), which gives you a Quebec enterprise number, according to Régie du bâtiment du Québec, All the steps for obtaining a licence. If you are a natural person doing business alone as a sole proprietor, and exclusively under your own name, you are not required to register with the REQ, on the same page. You must first specify your company's legal form of organization — natural person, legal person, or partnership — on the same page. A lawyer, notary, or accountant can help you choose the form, on the same page. Under certain provisions of Act R-20, administered by the CCQ, a particular legal form may also subject the company to certain obligations or restrictions, so the RBQ recommends contacting the CCQ before making this decision, on the same page. The full registration steps are in our How to Register a Business in Quebec guide — this guide does not repeat them.

2. Choose the licence subclasses

Your licence must indicate the subclass or subclasses that match the work you plan to carry out, according to the RBQ steps page. General contractors hold subclasses from Schedule I, and specialized contractors hold subclasses from Schedules II and III. The two subclasses most new builders ask about are 1.1.1, new residential buildings in Class I, and 1.1.2, new residential buildings in Class II. The RBQ publishes a guide to determining the type of licence required and a keyword index to look up a job by name — use those to pin down your subclasses before you apply, because the subclasses on your licence are the only work you may legally do. Contractors specializing in electrical work (subclass 16) must contact the Corporation des maîtres électriciens du Québec, which evaluates its members' qualifications, and contractors specializing in plumbing, heating, oil burners, or natural gas burners (subclasses 15.1 to 15.5) must contact the Corporation des maîtres mécaniciens en tuyauterie du Québec, on the same page.

A competency certificate is not the same thing as a licence: the competency certificate is issued to construction workers and is mandatory for workers who carry out work in the occupations regulated by the CCQ, while the RBQ licence is issued to persons who manage a construction company, on the same page. Both are needed — the licence for the company, the certificate for each worker.

3. Pass the criminal-history check

The criminal history of a construction company's officers and lenders is taken into account in the analysis of a licence application, and may result in a refusal, according to the RBQ steps page. If one of the company's shareholders is a legal person or a partnership, you must provide the RBQ with a list of its officers and declare whether or not the legal person or partnership, or any of its officers, have been convicted in the five years preceding the licence application of an offence under a fiscal law or a criminal act, on the same page. You must also provide a list of your lenders, with a declaration completed by each lender identifying its officers and stating whether or not it, or any of its officers, have been convicted in the five years preceding the date of the loan of an offence under a fiscal law or a criminal act, on the same page. Gather these declarations early: a missing lender declaration is the kind of gap that stalls an application.

4. Arrange the financial guarantee

Contractors must have licence security or be accredited under the Guarantee Plan for New Residential Buildings, according to the RBQ steps page. For general contractors (Schedule I subclasses), the required licence security is $40,000, and for specialized contractors (Schedules II and III subclasses), the amount is $20,000, on the same page. The RBQ requires this security but does not issue it: licence security is provided by a number of insurance companies, associations, credit unions, and banking institutions, on the same page.

Which guarantee applies depends on the subclasses you hold. Contractors who hold subclass 1.1.1 or 1.1.2 exclusively must be accredited under the Guarantee Plan for New Residential Buildings, and obtain a certificate of accreditation from the authorized plan manager, La Garantie de construction résidentielle (GCR), on the same page. Contractors who hold 1.1.1 or 1.1.2 plus other subclasses need both licence security and Guarantee Plan accreditation, and contractors who hold only other subclasses need licence security alone, on the same page. Unlike licence security, the certificate of accreditation does not need to be presented with your licence application: after you submit your application, you receive a notice informing you of the deadline for providing proof of accreditation, on the same page.

5. Prove competency

The RBQ must evaluate the professional competency of your construction company in one or more of the following fields of qualification: administration, construction site safety management, project and site management, and the carrying out of construction work, according to the RBQ steps page. Individuals within your company must act as guarantors and undergo an evaluation of their professional competency, on the same page. If you are a sole proprietor, you will need to undergo all the necessary evaluations yourself, on the same page. A person may serve as guarantor in one or several fields, and may serve as guarantor for more than one company, on the same page.

There are three methods of evaluation: taking the RBQ examinations, successfully completing a training program recognized by the RBQ, or acquiring sufficient education and professional experience and presenting a professional file, on the same page. The applicant or their guarantor may be exempt from taking the examinations if, in the five years preceding the application, they served as guarantor for a construction company in the field of qualification relevant to the examination, or had their skills evaluated and recognized by the RBQ in the requested field or subclass, on the same page. Companies located in Ontario, New Brunswick, or Newfoundland and Labrador may be exempt from the normal evaluation process under interprovincial agreements, on the same page — check whether that applies before you book exams.

6. Apply for the licence

Complete the appropriate form for your company and forward it to the RBQ with all the required documents and the necessary fees, according to the RBQ steps page. If your enterprise is not yet registered with the REQ, you can use the online Start a Business service in the Zone entreprise to complete, in a single step, all the procedures to create your business with several ministries and agencies, on the same page. If your application is complete and meets all the requirements, it will be processed within 60 days of when it is received, according to Régie du bâtiment du Québec, Examinations. You may pay an additional fee to have your application handled before anyone else's, but only if you already hold the required qualifications and your application is complete, according to the RBQ steps page.

The 2026 fees, from the RBQ's own fee schedule, are: a new general licence $1,291.69, a new specialized licence $849.41, yearly maintenance $989.81 for a general licence and $547.53 for a specialized licence, one qualifying exam $105.27, and a professional file assessment $877.49 per field of qualification or per subcategory, according to Régie du bâtiment du Québec, Tarification pour l'entrepreneur de construction. The amounts are not taxable, and the fee schedule is indexed every January 1, on the same page.

7. Register as an employer with the CCQ, and with the CNESST

Two more registrations follow from hiring, and both are Quebec-only bodies.

CCQ. Every employer must register with the Commission de la construction du Québec, which will assign the employer an identification number for administrative purposes, according to the Regulation respecting the register, monthly report, notices from employers and the designation of a representative. Every employer must send the Commission a written notice with the company's details, on the same page. Every employer must keep a register with the details of each employee, and keep the register together with supporting documents such as payroll, time cards, contracts, and invoices for six years after the last year to which they relate, on the same page. Every employer must send the Commission a monthly report giving the information to identify each employee and indicating, for each of them, their competency including the apprenticeship period, the regular and extra hours done each week, the nature of the work, the region and sector, the wage paid, paid holidays, the levy, and the applicable contributions, assessments, and dues, on the same page.

Every worker on a construction site must hold a competency certificate. There are three kinds: a journeyman competency certificate for a fully qualified tradesperson, an apprentice competency certificate for a person in training, and an occupation competency certificate for labourers and specialized labourers. Apprenticeship periods are separated into blocks of 2,000 hours each, and an apprentice competency card requires a guarantee of at least 150 hours of work from an employer registered with the CCQ, plus the ASP card from the 30-hour health and safety on construction sites course. Apprentices may only work under the close supervision of a journeyperson in the trade, and apprentice-to-journeyman ratios must be observed, according to the Commission de la construction du Québec, For Employers guide. The carpenter apprentice guide linked below covers the Quebec apprenticeship path.

CNESST. All companies with at least one full-time or part-time worker must register with the CNESST, and registration must be completed no later than 60 days after the first day that your first worker reports for work, according to Canadian Federation of Independent Business, Registering with the CNESST. Register online through the CNESST registration form, or by telephone at 1-844-838-0808, on the same page. Once registration is complete, you receive a CNESST classification decision, on the same page. You must file and submit your Statement of Wages to the CNESST no later than March 14 of each year, on the same page. Payment of your contributions is due at the same time that you remit your other source deductions to Revenu Québec, on the same page.

8. Get the municipal building permit

The RBQ licence is not a building permit. For each project, the municipal officer designated under the Act respecting land use planning and development issues a building permit or a certificate of authorization where the application conforms with the zoning and building by-laws, is accompanied by all the plans and documents required by by-law, and the fee for obtaining the permit has been paid, according to Légis Québec, Act respecting land use planning and development, section 120. An application for a new single-family dwelling must also state whether a licensed contractor or an owner-builder will carry out the work, on the same page. Permit fees, review times, and inspection stages are set by each municipality, so check the municipality where the work will happen. The building itself must meet the Construction Code, which the RBQ administers — the licence, the workforce rules, and the permit all have to line up before work starts.

What the licence costs

The 2026 RBQ fee schedule is the budget for the licence itself: $1,291.69 for a new general licence, $849.41 for a new specialized licence, $989.81 a year to maintain a general licence, $547.53 a year for a specialized licence, $105.27 per qualifying exam, and $877.49 per professional file assessment. Add the licence security on top: $40,000 for a general contractor and $20,000 for a specialized contractor, provided by a surety or financial institution, not by the RBQ. New residential builders also need Guarantee Plan accreditation through the GCR, whose fee is not in the RBQ schedule.

What the opened pages do not state

The opened CNESST pages do not state a premium rate for construction, so this guide states none — your rate comes in the classification decision after registration. The opened pages do not state the GCR accreditation fee for new residential builders, so this guide states none. The opened CCQ pages do not state the levy or contribution rates charged through the monthly report, so this guide states none. Municipal building permit fees and review times are set by each municipality, so this guide states none.

Related guides:

• How to Start a Construction Company in Ontario — Ontario's WSIB construction rules and constructor duties, a different system from Quebec's.
• How to Start a Construction Company in British Columbia — British Columbia's WorkSafeBC construction rules, for comparison with Quebec's.
• How to Start a Construction Company in Nova Scotia — Nova Scotia's construction company steps, another province's system.
• How to Start a Construction Company in Manitoba — Manitoba's construction company steps, another province with its own workers compensation board.
• How to Register a Business in Quebec — the Registraire des entreprises steps this guide does not repeat.
• How to Become a Carpenter Apprentice in Quebec — the apprenticeship path for the most common construction trade in the province.

The CCQ monthly report is due by the 15th

The monthly report has a fixed deadline. The report must be sent to the Commission de la construction du Québec not later than the 15th day of each month, and it covers the previous monthly working period. The monthly period consists of not less than four and not more than five weeks and ends on the last Saturday of the month. If no employee does any work in a monthly period, and you do no work as an independent contractor in that period, you must still send a notice of inactivity by the same 15th day deadline. The amounts that go with the report, including vacation and paid holiday allowances, contributions to the complementary social benefits plans, union dues, and the levy, must be paid by the same date. Reports, changes to a report, and notices of inactivity are sent through the Commission online services.

Sources

• Légis Québec, Regulation respecting the register, monthly report, notices from employers and the designation of a representative, sections 12 and 13: the monthly report and the notice of inactivity due not later than the 15th day of each month, and payment of the amounts that go with the report by the same date.
• Régie du bâtiment du Québec, All the steps for obtaining a licence — who needs a licence, registration with the Registraire des entreprises, licence subclasses, the criminal-history check, licence security of $40,000 and $20,000, the Guarantee Plan for new residential buildings, the three competency evaluation methods, and the application form.
• Régie du bâtiment du Québec, Tarification pour l'entrepreneur de construction — the 2026 fees: $1,291.69 new general licence, $849.41 new specialized licence, $989.81 and $547.53 annual maintenance, $105.27 per exam, $877.49 per professional file, and annual indexation on January 1.
• Régie du bâtiment du Québec, Examinations — a complete application processed within 60 days of receipt.
• Regulation respecting the register, monthly report, notices from employers and the designation of a representative — every employer must register with the Commission de la construction du Québec, keep a register for six years, and send a monthly report.
• Commission de la construction du Québec, For Employers guide — employer obligations under Act R-20, competency certificates, apprentice and journeyman ratios, and the monthly report.
• Canadian Federation of Independent Business, Registering with the CNESST — registration within 60 days of the first worker starting, registration online or at 1-844-838-0808, the classification decision, the Statement of Wages by March 14, and payment with source deductions to Revenu Québec.
• Légis Québec, Act respecting land use planning and development, section 120 — the municipal officer issues a building permit where the application conforms with zoning and building by-laws, with the required plans and the fee paid.