Fix fridges, washers, dryers and stoves in people's homes. A Red Seal trade with a van and steady calls.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Counsellors: send it to a student from your own email in one click.
An apprenticeship: you are hired by a sponsor, paid while you learn on the job, and go to class for a few weeks at a time. Every fact here is from Skilled Trades Ontario (STO) and the Ontario government. See every Ontario trade side by side
You are paid from your first day. Over the 5,280 hours on the job, even at the minimum wage you would earn at least $94,776 before tax while you train, and most sponsors pay more as your skills grow.
The trade on Skilled Trades Ontario's site(opens in a new tab)
Still in high school? In Grade 11 or 12, with at least 14 credits and age 15 or older, you can start an apprenticeship through co-op placements and earn credits at the same time. Ask your school's OYAP recruiter, guidance counsellor or co-op teacher. Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program (OYAP)(opens in a new tab)
Not ready to find a sponsor? Free pre-apprenticeship programs (up to a year at a college or community agency, tools and books covered, with a work placement) get you ready and in front of employers. Employment Ontario helps you apply. Pre-apprenticeship training(opens in a new tab)
Ontario sets no percentage of full pay for apprentices. Your sponsor agrees your wage with you, and it can never be below the minimum wage: $17.95 an hour from 1 October 2026. Source (opens in a new tab)
The median pay is about $59,000 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $42,000 at the lower end to about $87,000 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
3 to 4 years, on the usual route, and you are paid while you train from the first day.
$900 to $7,800 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
It depends where you work. You need a licence, certificate or registration in Alberta. Elsewhere there is none to hold, though many employers still ask for training or a certificate.
Moderate demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$59,000
Lower end
$42,000
Upper end
$87,000
Job Bank groups this job under gas appliance repairers. Its national median is $28.13 an hour, about $59,000 a year full time. Technicians with a gas ticket and those who run their own service business sit at the top.
$30.49 an hour
The median in British Columbia, the highest in Canada
Saskatchewan ($28.47) and Manitoba ($27.93) follow. Ontario's median is $27.00 and Alberta's is the lowest, at $25.00. Adding a gas technician certificate lets you service gas stoves, dryers and furnaces as well.
Roughly, all in
$900 to $7,800
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
You are paid throughout the apprenticeship, so the low end is an employer that covers the in school levels while you buy a meter and hand tools and sit the Certificate of Qualification and Red Seal exam, free on your first try in Ontario once your apprenticeship is complete. The high end is paying for all three school levels yourself, a fuller tool kit, and the optional gas technician courses, which open up more work. Most technicians finish with no debt, which is unusual for a trade that pays this well.
You are paid throughout the apprenticeship, so most technicians finish with no debt.
Company van, phone and parts
Standard once you run your own route.
Health and dental
At manufacturers, retailers and larger service companies.
Commission or bonus per call
Some employers pay per completed job on top of a base wage.
Manufacturer training
Brands train technicians on their own products, often at their expense.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
An apprenticeship, shorter than most trades, plus an optional gas ticket.
High school diploma
Grade 12
Math, physics and a shop or electronics class. A driver's licence is essential.
Find a sponsor
Weeks to months
Appliance service companies, retailers and manufacturer service divisions take on apprentices. Many hire helpers first and register them later.
Register and train
About 3 years
In Ontario, Appliance Service Technician (445A) is 6,000 hours: 5,280 on the job and 720 in school over three levels. Other provinces run similar programs.
Certificate of Qualification and Red Seal
After your hours
Pass the provincial exam and add the Red Seal endorsement, recognized in nine provinces and territories.
Optional gas certificate
6 months to 2 years
In Ontario, a TSSA (Technical Standards and Safety Authority) gas technician certificate, G3 first and then G2, lets you work on gas appliances. Other provinces have their own gas tickets.
Physics
Electricity, motors and refrigeration cycles.
Electronics or computer technology
Modern appliances are circuit boards with a drum attached.
Math
Reading wiring diagrams and measuring voltages.
English
You explain problems and prices to customers in their kitchens.
Appliance Service Technician is a non-compulsory trade in Ontario and every other province and territory except Alberta, where you must be a registered apprentice or certified. Elsewhere you can work without a certificate, though the Red Seal, in place since 1994, helps you get hired and move between provinces. Gas is different. Touching a gas stove, dryer or furnace requires a gas technician certificate in every province, issued in Ontario by TSSA (Technical Standards and Safety Authority). Refrigerant work also needs an environmental awareness certificate.
Appliance repair is not a Red Seal trade in Quebec, and the training is a vocational diploma offered at a single school in Montreal.
Secondary IV courses
From age 16
The DEP (Diploma of Vocational Studies) in Household Appliance Repair needs a high school diploma, or age 16 with Secondary IV credits, including Secondary IV math. From 18, the general development test is another way in.
DEP in Household Appliance Repair (5024)
About 9 months
1,350 hours, from mechanical drives to gas and refrigerant systems, and the consumer protection rules that apply to repairs. In French at the Antoine-de-St-Exupéry vocational centre in Montreal.
Get hired
After the DEP
Graduates work for appliance makers, repair companies and service firms. Much of the work is done in the client's home.
Voluntary Quebec certificate
Optional
Quebec offers a voluntary certificate of qualification for appliance repairers. It is not available through the PAMT (workplace apprenticeship program).
Gas appliances, if you want them
About 6 months
The ASP (Attestation of Vocational Specialization) in Natural Gas Appliance Repair (5172) adds 600 hours after the DEP. Offered in Quebec City, Montreal and Montérégie.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Gas technician certificate
Opens gas ranges, dryers and water heaters. The biggest single pay step in this trade.
Refrigeration and air conditioning
Adding the refrigeration mechanic trade lets you service commercial coolers and heat pumps.
Commercial kitchen equipment
Restaurants need fast repairs on ovens, dishwashers and walk-in coolers.
Your own business
A van, a phone and a good reputation. Many technicians go independent after a few years.
Driver's licence and clean abstract
You drive to every job.
Customer skills
You work alone in people's homes, so trust and clear explanations matter.
Electronics hobby
Fixing old gear at home builds the diagnostic instinct.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Check the day's route on your phone, load parts into the van and drive to the first call by 8am. A fridge not cooling, a washer that will not spin, a dishwasher leaking. Diagnose with a meter and the service manual, quote the repair, fix it if you have the part or order it and book a return visit. Four to eight calls a day, with driving in between. You write up each job and collect payment. Busy seasons are summer, when fridges fail in the heat, and the holidays.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Appliance Service Technician has Red Seal status in Alberta, BC (British Columbia), Ontario, the Atlantic provinces, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. The federal program describes the trade as repairing washers, dryers, dishwashers, refrigerators and central vacuum systems.
In Ontario you cannot skip levels: TSSA (Technical Standards and Safety Authority) requires a G3 certificate before you can write G2, and G2 before G1. Most appliance technicians stop at G2, which covers household appliances.
Experienced technicians often diagnose a washer or fridge from the sound it makes before they open it. A grinding pump, a clicking relay and a buzzing compressor each point to a different part.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Industrial and mechanical first, then the rest of the field. See every career in skilled trades.
Last checked October 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
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