How to Start in Canada

How to Start an HVAC Business in Canada

Start an HVAC business in Canada: refrigeration and gas certification, ODP refrigerant rules, registration, insurance, permits, and how HVAC companies price installs and service.

Written October 24, 2026 · 14 min read

Applies in: across Canada

The short answer

An HVAC business is three regulated trades wearing one company name, and the owners who get hurt are the ones who treat it as one licence. Refrigeration and air conditioning work, gas-fired heating work, and refrigerant handling each carry their own certification, and each one is compulsory somewhere that matters. A company that can legally install a furnace may not legally charge an air conditioner, and a technician who can charge one may not legally touch the gas line feeding the furnace beside it. The business itself is straightforward once the certification stack is honest: register the name, set up tax accounts, insure the work, cover the crew, pull the permits, and price installs flat. The hard part is staffing the stack before you sell the work, not after.

Step 1: Pick residential, commercial, or both — and start with one

Residential and commercial HVAC look alike from the driveway and run differently on the job:

  • Residential: furnaces, air conditioners, heat pumps, boilers, and water heaters in houses and condos. Jobs are smaller, the customer is usually the homeowner, and evenings matter because that is when people are home to approve a replacement quote. Referrals carry the business.
  • Commercial: rooftop units, make-up air, boilers, chillers, and ventilation in offices, retail units, warehouses, and restaurants. Jobs are larger, the buyer is a property manager or facilities manager comparing written quotes, insurance certificates, and workers' compensation clearance, and the hours are often nights or weekends so the building can keep trading.
  • Specialty lanes inside either: heat pumps and electrification retrofits, hydronic and radiant heating, indoor air quality and ventilation, and refrigeration for restaurants and grocery. Each needs its own training and its own kit, and each lets you charge for skill instead of competing on the install price.

Start with one lane. An HVAC company that advertises homes, offices, restaurants, and refrigeration in the first month is really advertising that none of them is proven yet. One lane, done well, earns the photos and reviews that let you add the second.

Step 2: The certification stack, trade by trade

This is the section to get right before spending anything, because every other step depends on it.

Refrigeration and air conditioning mechanic. Job Bank's requirements, drawn from the National Occupational Classification, put it plainly: completion of secondary school and a training course or vocational program is usually required, plus a three- to five-year apprenticeship or over five years of work experience with industry courses to be eligible for trade certification. Trade certification is compulsory in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, and available but voluntary in the other provinces and the territories. The Red Seal endorsement is available on passing the interprovincial exam, which is what lets a certified mechanic carry the credential across provinces.

What that means in practice:

  • In the seven compulsory provinces, refrigeration and air conditioning work legally requires certification. Do not sell air conditioning or heat pump installs there on the strength of a gas ticket alone.
  • In BC, Newfoundland and Labrador, PEI, and the territories, the trade certification is voluntary under the Job Bank listing — but customers, insurers, and general contractors still ask for it, and the refrigerant-handling certificate below applies regardless.
  • In Ontario the trade is known as Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Systems Mechanic, trade code 313A, and it is a compulsory trade there.

Gas technician (Ontario). Gas-fired equipment is a separate certification run by the Technical Standards and Safety Authority. G3 is the entry level: equipment up to 400,000 BTUH, supervised by a G2 or G1 holder, never independent. G2 is the level a residential HVAC business is built on: the same equipment scope, worked independently, including gas lines, meters, regulators, and appliances. G1 is the advanced level for larger and higher-input systems, reached from G2 with field experience. Other provinces run their own gas safety authorities with their own licence classes, so check the regulator in the province where the job sits rather than assuming an Ontario ticket travels.

Refrigerant handling (ODP). Ontario's rule requires a certificate from a course approved by the Director covering ozone depleting substances, halocarbons, refrigerants, and refrigeration equipment, under Ontario Regulation 463/10, section 34. Every province and territory has its own version, and the federal Halocarbon Regulations apply on federal-jurisdiction sites. The rule binds the person handling the refrigerant, not just the company: a crew member without the certificate cannot legally charge, recover, or open a refrigerant circuit, even under a certified owner's supervision.

Electrical work at the edges. A G2 technician may do the electrical work essential to operating the gas equipment, but branch-circuit and panel work belongs to a licensed electrician. Heat pump installs sit right on this line: the outdoor unit's wiring and disconnect are electrician work in most cases, so price the electrician into the install or subcontract it, rather than discovering the boundary on site.

Step 3: Register the business and set up tax before the money arrives

The business paperwork is the cheapest part of the startup, and it is the part most often left until a customer asks for an invoice:

  • Structure: most HVAC owners start as sole proprietors and incorporate later, when revenue and liability justify it. If you trade under a name other than your own legal name, register that name provincially.
  • Ontario: registering a sole proprietorship under a business name costs $60 through the Ontario Business Registry and lasts five years. Operating under your own name does not require registration.
  • British Columbia: request name approval first ($30), then register the sole proprietorship ($40) using the name request number within 56 days, or the approval lapses.
  • CRA business number: free, and needed for payroll and GST/HST accounts. Register for GST/HST once taxable sales exceed $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters, or voluntarily before that so you can claim input tax credits on equipment, vehicles, and parts.
  • Municipal licences: check every city you work in. Some cities license HVAC or mechanical contractors specifically, some license businesses generally, and some require nothing HVAC-specific. Do not assume a neighbouring city's answer applies to yours.
  • Bookkeeping from job one: track equipment, parts, labour, mileage, permits, and disposal per job. An HVAC owner who knows the true cost per install prices with confidence; one who does not drifts into long days for hourly wages.

Step 4: Insurance and workers' compensation

Three conversations, in the order a broker will want them:

  • Commercial general liability: covers injury or property damage to someone else — a flooded basement from a condensate line, a scorched wall from a venting error, a refrigerant release that damages a customer's property. A homeowner's policy does not cover your business, and a customer who asks for your certificate of insurance before you start is doing you a favour by asking early.
  • Vehicle, tools, and equipment: if you drive a stocked van or carry recovery machines, gauges, and torches, confirm the vehicle policy covers commercial use and that expensive kit is covered in transit and on site, not just in your garage.
  • Pollution and refrigerant liability: ask the broker explicitly whether a refrigerant release is covered and where the limit sits. It is the claim most HVAC owners never think about until it happens.

Workers' compensation starts the day you hire. In Ontario, register with the WSIB within 10 days of hiring your first worker if your operation is in a mandatory-coverage industry, and confirm your classification with the board rather than guessing it. Solo operators can apply for optional coverage. Every other province has its own board with its own registration trigger, so register with the board in the province where your crew works, before the crew's first shift.

Step 5: Permits, inspections, and the gas authority

HVAC work touches three approval paths, and skipping any of them is how a clean install turns into a dispute:

  • Municipal permit: a furnace, boiler, or heat pump install typically needs a building or mechanical permit, and an inspection before sign-off. Pull it before the install, not after, and build the inspection visit into the schedule so the customer is not left with an uninspected system.
  • Gas safety authority: gas line work, appliance installs, and fuel conversions sit under the provincial gas safety regulator — in Ontario, the Technical Standards and Safety Authority. The installer's gas certification is the permit in practice: an uncertified install is a red tag waiting for an inspector.
  • Venting and combustion air: venting changes are the quiet failure mode. A new high-efficiency furnace vented into an old chimney liner, or a water heater orphaned when the furnace is replaced, creates a carbon monoxide risk and a failed inspection. Size the venting for the system being installed, not the system being removed, and test combustion before leaving the site.

Step 6: Safety training — gas, refrigerant, heights, and electricity

HVAC injuries and incidents cluster in four places, and the training maps to those four:

  • Gas and combustion: carbon monoxide awareness, combustion testing, and gas leak procedure are not optional extras for a gas technician — they are the job. Test every install, tag and shut down anything unsafe, and never leave a customer with an appliance you would not run in your own house.
  • Refrigerant handling: the ODP certificate covers the handling rules, but the shop discipline is what keeps people safe — recover, never vent; weigh charges rather than guessing them; keep cylinders upright, secured, and within their fill limits; and store recovered refrigerant separately from virgin stock.
  • Working at heights: in Ontario, a worker on a construction project who uses fall protection must complete Chief Prevention Officer approved working at heights training, and fall protection is required where a worker may fall more than 3 metres. Rooftop units, attic work, and ladder access to outdoor units all sit in this world. Other provinces set their own thresholds, so check the rule where the job sits.
  • Electrical safety and lockout: lock out and tag out before opening a unit, test before touching, and treat every disconnect as live until proven otherwise. The electrician boundary from Step 2 applies here too: know which side of it you are on before the panel is opened.

Step 7: Kit, suppliers, and the standard of work

The working kit for a residential HVAC technician runs: gauges and a recovery machine, a vacuum pump and micron gauge, a scale, a leak detector, torches and nitrogen for brazing, combustion analysis tools, a multimeter and clamp meter, ladders and fall protection, and a van that keeps cylinders upright and kit dry. Commercial work adds larger recovery capacity, rigging and rooftop access, and a bigger parts store on site.

Two supplier decisions matter more than the van. First, the distributor relationship: equipment availability, warranty handling, and parts pricing decide whether an install happens this week or next month, and a distributor who answers the phone during a cold snap is worth more than a small discount. Second, the disposal route for old equipment: refrigerant must be recovered before a unit is scrapped, and scrap dealers and distributors run take-back routes — build the recovery and disposal cost into every replacement quote instead of absorbing it.

The job sequence that earns repeat work is the same on a furnace and a rooftop unit: assess the load and the existing system before quoting, agree the equipment, the venting, and the permit in writing, protect floors and fixtures, install to the manufacturer's instructions and the code, commission and test — airflow, combustion, refrigerant charge, and controls — and walk the customer through the thermostat and the maintenance schedule before packing up. The commissioning step is not a courtesy; it is where a wrong charge or a missed venting fault gets fixed in twenty minutes instead of becoming a callback, a bad review, and a second trip in the coldest week of the year.

Step 8: Pricing installs, service, and maintenance plans

Three price models, each for a different kind of work:

  • Flat-rate installs: the standard residential quote. One number covering equipment, labour, venting and line set, permit, and disposal of the old unit. It works because the customer can compare it, and because the installer has seen the site, the access, and the existing system. State what the number includes and what counts as an extra: electrical upgrades, ductwork changes, and condensate or gas line reroutes.
  • Diagnostic plus repair quote: the standard service model. A diagnostic fee up front, then a repair quote before parts are ordered, with the diagnostic fee credited or not according to a policy stated in advance. A customer who hears the full repair price before the work starts approves faster than one who hears it after.
  • Maintenance plans: the recurring leg. An annual furnace and air conditioner tune-up plan, billed once or monthly, keeps the customer on your books, catches failing parts before the coldest week of the year, and fills the shoulder seasons when installs slow down. Price the plan to cover the visit honestly — a plan that loses money on every visit is a discount program, not a business — and use each visit to note the age and condition of the equipment so the replacement quote, when it comes, is not a surprise.

Whichever model you use, the written quote should separate equipment, labour, and permit, name the equipment model, state the warranty terms, and say how extras are charged. A deposit before work starts is normal; the balance on completion after commissioning and the walk-through is normal too.

Step 9: Finding the first clients

The first ten jobs rarely come from advertising. They come from people who already trust you:

  • Tell everyone you know, plainly: you do heating and cooling, here is the service, here is the number. Friends, family, neighbours, and former employers are the first book.
  • Real estate agents, property managers, and general contractors buy HVAC repeatedly, and they buy on reliability first: show up when promised, send the quote when promised, and finish when promised. One property manager who trusts you is worth a season of ads.
  • Home inspectors and home warranty companies are a quieter channel: an inspector who flags an aging furnace hands the homeowner a name, and the name that answers first usually gets the replacement quote.
  • Before-and-after photos, with the customer's permission, are the portfolio. Photograph the install, not the mess: clean lines, labelled disconnects, and a tidy mechanical room sell the next job.
  • Online listings and a simple website come next: service area, services, certifications, photos, and a phone number. Reviews follow completed jobs, not advertising spend — ask every happy customer for one, and answer every review, good or bad, like a person, not a brand.

Commercial work follows the same rule at a larger scale: a written quote, a certificate of insurance, workers' compensation clearance, and a start date you keep. The property manager who gets all four on time hires you again.

What not to do

  • Do not sell refrigeration or air conditioning work in a compulsory province without the trade certification that province requires.
  • Do not let an uncertified crew member handle refrigerant, even under a certified owner's supervision.
  • Do not let a G3 technician run a gas job alone, and do not let anyone without gas certification touch a gas line.
  • Do not skip the municipal permit or the inspection on a furnace, boiler, or heat pump install.
  • Do not vent a new appliance into venting sized for the old one, and do not leave a site without combustion testing.
  • Do not hire a crew before registering for workers' compensation coverage in the province where the crew works.
  • Do not quote an install without seeing the site, the access, and the existing system.
  • Do not promise a heating or cooling result, a date, or a warranty level your certification, your kit, or your supplier cannot deliver.

Related guides

Starting an HVAC business in Canada, in six steps

  1. Pick residential, commercial, or bothHomes need furnaces, air conditioners, and heat pumps. Commercial work needs rooftop units, boilers, and ventilation. Pick one lane first and add the second once the first books steadily.
  2. Sort the certification stackRefrigeration and air conditioning mechanic certification is compulsory in seven provinces, gas work needs a certified gas technician in Ontario, and anyone handling refrigerant needs an ODP certificate. No single licence covers all three.
  3. Register the businessProvincial business name registration if you trade under a name, a free CRA business number, and GST/HST registration once taxable sales pass $30,000.
  4. Insure the work and the crewCommercial general liability for damage to someone else's property, and workers' compensation coverage once you hire staff.
  5. Line up permits and inspectionsFurnace, boiler, and heat pump installs usually touch a municipal permit and an inspection. Gas work sits under the provincial gas safety authority, not the building department alone.
  6. Price installs flat and service by planInstalls quote as one flat number for equipment, labour, and venting. Service work runs on diagnostic fees and maintenance plans that keep the phone ringing between installs.

Questions people ask

Do I need a licence to start an HVAC business in Canada?

You need the certifications for the work you actually do, and HVAC is three certifications, not one. Job Bank, drawing on the National Occupational Classification, states that trade certification for refrigeration and air conditioning mechanics is compulsory in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, and available but voluntary in the other provinces and the territories, with a Red Seal endorsement available on passing the interprovincial exam. Gas-fired equipment is a second track: in Ontario, gas work is done by Technical Standards and Safety Authority certified gas technicians, with G3 as the supervised entry level and G2 as the level that works independently, both up to 400,000 BTUH of appliance input. Refrigerant handling is a third track: Ontario requires a certificate from an approved course for handling ozone depleting substances, halocarbons, and refrigerants. An owner who holds only one of the three can only sell the work that one covers, and must hire or subcontract the rest.

What is an ODP certificate and who needs one?

ODP stands for ozone depletion prevention. In Ontario, the refrigerant-handling certificate qualifies a person who has completed a course approved by the Director covering the use and handling of ozone depleting substances, halocarbons, refrigerants, and refrigeration equipment. The rule lives in Ontario Regulation 463/10, section 34, which succeeded the old Regulation 189/94, section 21. Every province and territory has its own version of the refrigerant-handling rule, and the federal Halocarbon Regulations apply on top where the site is under federal jurisdiction, such as a bank, airport, or post office. The practical rule for a new HVAC owner: nobody on your crew touches a refrigerant circuit without the certificate for the province the job sits in, and out-of-province cards need to be converted before the job, not after.

What is the difference between G3, G2, and G1 gas certification?

G3 is the entry level. A G3 technician works on gas-fired equipment with an input up to 400,000 BTUH, but only under the supervision of a G2 or G1 holder, so a G3 cannot run jobs alone. G2 is the working level most residential HVAC businesses are built on: a G2 works independently on the same equipment, including gas lines, meters, regulators, and appliances up to 400,000 BTUH. G1 is the advanced level, covering larger and higher-input systems, and it requires G2 certification plus field experience at the G2 level. If you are hiring your first gas technician, G2 is the credential that lets a truck run a residential install or service call without a supervisor riding along.

What business registration does an HVAC business need?

The same as any Canadian service business. If you trade under a name other than your own legal name, register that name provincially: in Ontario that costs $60 through the Ontario Business Registry and lasts five years, and in BC a name request costs $30 followed by a $40 registration. A CRA business number is free. Register for GST/HST once your taxable sales pass $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters, or voluntarily before that if claiming input tax credits matters to you. On top of that, check the municipal business licence and any municipal HVAC or mechanical contractor licence in every city you work in: some cities license the contractor, some only the business, and the answer changes at the city line.

Do HVAC installs need permits?

Usually, yes, and from more than one authority. A furnace, boiler, or heat pump install typically needs a municipal building or mechanical permit and an inspection before the system is signed off. Gas work is separately under the provincial gas safety authority: in Ontario that is the Technical Standards and Safety Authority, and other provinces have their own gas safety regulators. Venting changes, gas line work, and fuel conversions are the jobs where a skipped permit or a missed inspection comes back as a failed insurance claim or a red-tagged appliance, so build the permit and the inspection into the quote and the schedule instead of treating them as paperwork after the fact.

How do HVAC companies price installs and service?

Installs price flat, service prices by visit, and the two need different math. A flat install quote covers the equipment, the labour, the venting and line set, the permit, and the disposal of the old unit, stated as one number the customer can compare. Time-and-materials pricing suits open-ended repair work where the fault is unknown until the unit is opened, but the customer should still get a diagnostic fee up front and a repair quote before parts are ordered. Maintenance plans are the third leg: an annual furnace and air conditioner tune-up plan, billed once or monthly, keeps the customer on your books, catches failing parts before the coldest week of the year, and fills the shoulder seasons when installs slow down.

Keep going

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