An honest head-to-head of the three biggest trade businesses: training time, where each trade is compulsory, journeyperson pay benchmarks, startup costs, and how to pick.
Applies in: across Canada
Pick the trade you actually want to do for the next twenty years. The money, training time, and startup costs of plumbing, electrical, and HVAC are close enough that fit beats optimization. What differs is the path: how long the apprenticeship is in your province, whether the trade is compulsory there, and which licence gets you to journeyperson. This guide compares all three on verified numbers so you can stop guessing.
| Plumbing | Electrician | HVAC (Refrigeration & A/C Mechanic) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apprenticeship | 4-5 years; 6,300 hrs (BC), 9,000 hrs (ON), 6,240 hrs (AB) | ~4 years in AB: 4 periods, 6,120 hrs plus classroom | 3-5 year program (Job Bank) |
| Compulsory provinces | ON, AB, SK, QC, NB, NS, PEI | AB (check your province for others) | NS, NB, QC, ON, MB, SK, AB |
| Journeyperson pay benchmark | $90k-$140k/yr in BC, ON, AB | $38/hr median in AB (~$79k full-time) | $37.50/hr national median (~$78k full-time) |
| Typical startup shape | Van + tools + insurance; published estimate CAD 22,900-37,200 | Van + tools + insurance; no verified total | Van + tools + insurance + gauges, vacuum pump, recovery unit; no verified total |
| Extra licence to know | Gas fitter (separate, except AB bundles Gasfitter Class B) | Master Electrician to pull permits in AB | None beyond the trade ticket |
Sources for every figure are at the bottom of this page.
Plumbing is compulsory in seven provinces (Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and PEI) and voluntary in BC, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, and the territories. Even where it is voluntary, municipalities, insurers, and customers still expect certified journeypersons, so treat certification as mandatory in practice everywhere.
The business case for plumbing is straightforward. Our plumbing guide puts journeyperson wages at roughly $90,000 to $140,000 a year before overtime in BC, Ontario, and Alberta, with established solo operators commonly clearing $100,000 or more. The admin side of starting is cheap: business-name registration runs $40 to $60, a CRA business number costs nothing, and a $2M commercial general liability policy benchmarks around $45 a month for a solo operator. The real money goes to the van and the tools, which is why one published Canadian component estimate lands a fully-equipped startup at CAD 22,900 to 37,200.
Two things to know before you commit. First, gas fitting is regulated separately from plumbing across most of Canada, so gas work usually means a second licence. Alberta is the exception: the plumbing apprenticeship there bundles Gasfitter Class B, so graduates leave with both tickets. Second, most one-truck shops start as a sole proprietorship and incorporate later, not the other way around.
Full path: How to Start Your Own Plumbing Company in Canada
In Alberta, electrician is a compulsory-certification trade with restricted activities: only registered apprentices, certified journeypersons, or recognized trade-certificate holders may do the electrical work. The path is four apprenticeship periods totalling 6,120 on-the-job hours, with 8 weeks of classroom instruction in periods 1 and 2 and 10 weeks in periods 3 and 4. That is about four years, and you earn a wage the whole way.
The economics are transparent. Classroom periods cost a few thousand each (one 2025-26 estimate for an 8-week period is about $1,865 all in), and the federal Canada Apprentice Loan offers up to $4,000 per period of technical training, interest-free while you train. Job Bank's Alberta median for electricians is $38/hour, which works out to roughly $79,000 a year full-time. Our electrician guide is Alberta-specific, so check your own province's apprenticeship board for local hours and rules.
The business wrinkle is permits. In Alberta, electrical work permits require a Master Electrician Identification Number, which you can apply for after three years of certification. So an electrical contracting shop needs a master on the team, not just a journeyperson. Budget for that when you plan the business, not after you land your first permit-requiring job.
Full path: How to Become an Electrician Apprentice in Alberta
Refrigeration and air conditioning mechanics complete a three- to five-year apprenticeship program, per Job Bank. Certification is compulsory in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, and voluntary in the rest of the country. The Red Seal endorsement is available on the interprovincial exam, same as the other two trades.
The pay benchmark is the cleanest of the three because Job Bank publishes a national figure: $37.50/hour median across Canada (updated November 2025), or roughly $78,000 a year full-time. Provincial medians range from $29.76 in New Brunswick to $40.00 in Alberta and BC.
What makes HVAC interesting as a business is the equipment base. Every building with heating, cooling, or refrigeration is a future service contract: residential furnaces and air conditioners, commercial rooftop units, restaurant refrigeration. The startup has the same van-and-tools shape as the other trades, plus specialized gear (manifold gauges, vacuum pump, refrigerant recovery unit). We have no verified startup-cost total for HVAC, so plan from your own quotes rather than a published number.
Whichever trade you pick, the company-formation steps are identical:
Run these four questions in order:
And the multi-trade question, since everyone asks: yes, you can add a second trade later. The Red Seal and the journeyperson pattern are the same, and experienced tradespeople do cross over. But each trade's restricted work still needs the right certified person, so a multi-trade company is a staffing decision, not a paperwork trick.
On the benchmarks we can verify, the three run close. Our plumbing guide cites journeyperson wages of roughly $90,000 to $140,000 a year in BC, Ontario, and Alberta. Job Bank puts Alberta electricians at a $38/hour median (about $79,000 full-time) and refrigeration mechanics at a $37.50/hour national median (about $78,000 full-time). Owners clear more than employees in all three trades, so the bigger money question is whether you build a crew, not which trade you pick.
It depends on the province more than the trade. In Alberta, electrician is four apprenticeship periods totalling 6,120 on-the-job hours, about four years, while plumbing is 6,240 hours over four periods. In BC, plumbing needs about 6,300 hours, but Ontario demands 9,000. Refrigeration and air conditioning mechanics complete a three- to five-year apprenticeship program per Job Bank. Check your own province before comparing, because the spread within one trade can be bigger than the spread between trades.
No. Most one-truck trade shops start as a sole proprietorship: cheapest to register, done in days, and you can incorporate later if revenue justifies it or a big contract demands the liability shield. Our sole proprietorship guide walks through registration and the GST/HST number, and our bank account guide covers separating business money from personal money.
As a business, yes, but the work rules follow the trade, not the company name. In provinces where a trade is compulsory, the restricted work must be done by certified journeypersons or registered apprentices. So a multi-trade shop needs the right certified people on staff for each trade it sells. The certification requirement attaches to the person doing the work.
We only have a published component estimate for one of the three: a fully-equipped plumbing startup runs CAD 22,900 to 37,200, with a used van ($10,000 to $15,000) and tools ($5,500 to $9,500) as the biggest line items. Electrician and HVAC startups have the same shape — van, trade tools, insurance, registration — with HVAC adding specialized gear like gauges, a vacuum pump, and a recovery unit. No verified equivalent total exists for those two, so treat any precise number you see elsewhere as a guess.
The Red Seal is an endorsement on your provincial certificate, not a separate licence, and it works the same way in all three trades: pass the interprovincial exam and you can work the trade anywhere in Canada. It also signals credibility to customers. You do not strictly need it to operate in your home province, but it is the cheapest national mobility a tradesperson can buy.