Bolt up the steel skeleton of towers and bridges, or tie the rebar inside concrete. High pay, high risk, 3 to 4 years to certify.
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What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Journeyperson
$89,000
1st-year apprentice
$60,000
Union, Toronto or industrial
$104,000
Job Bank's median for ironworkers is $43 an hour, about $89,000 a year, and the top of its Ontario range is about $50 an hour, which is where union journeypersons with Ironworkers Local 721 (the Toronto ironworkers' union) sit, plus pension. Alberta industrial shutdowns and remote sites pay similar rates with overtime on top.
$25 to $30 an hour
First-year apprentice, roughly 55 to 70% of the journeyperson rate
One of the highest apprentice starting rates in construction. Union apprentices get raises tied to hours worked and school levels finished.
$43 to $50 an hour and up
About $89,000 to $104,000 a year with steady hours
Overtime is common on towers and shutdowns and pays time and a half or double. Connectors, the workers who bolt beams together at height, are the top of the crew.
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
Paid work from day one, so the low end is three in school levels at the cheaper provincial rate or through a union training centre, a basic kit of spud wrench, bolt bag, harness and boots, and the Certificate of Qualification exam at about $150. The high end is the dearer provincial rate for all three levels with a fuller kit. The Canada Apprentice Loan is interest free and EI (Employment Insurance) can cover you during class blocks. Most ironworkers finish their apprenticeship with savings rather than debt.
Most ironworkers finish with money saved, not debt. The federal Apprenticeship Incentive Grant ended in 2025, so check the Government of Canada apprenticeship page for current help.
Union pension and health plan
Ironworkers locals across Canada run defined-benefit pensions, health and dental.
Overtime at time and a half or double time
Travel, camp and living-out pay
Standard on remote industrial jobs.
Union training centre
Free welding, rigging and safety upgrading for members.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
An apprenticeship: three to four years of paid site work with short school blocks.
High school diploma
Grade 12
Grade 12 with math and shop. You must be comfortable at height and physically strong.
Get into the union hall or a contractor
Weeks to months
Most ironworkers are union. Locals run intake with a fitness test and an aptitude test. Non-union steel erectors and rebar contractors also sponsor.
Register the apprenticeship
Days
With Skilled Trades Ontario, Alberta Apprenticeship and Industry Training, or your province's trades body. Pick a stream: generalist, structural, or reinforcing.
Work and study
3 to 4 years
About 6,000 hours in Ontario: roughly 5,300 on the job plus three school levels of roughly 8 weeks, often at the union training centre.
Certificate of Qualification and Red Seal
After your hours
Pass the provincial exam. The Red Seal endorsement lets you follow the work to any province.
Math
Reading steel drawings, bolt patterns, rigging loads.
Physics
Loads, leverage and why a crane pick can go wrong.
Welding or metal shop
Welding is a big part of structural work.
Physical education
The union fitness test is real. Train for it.
Ironworker is not a compulsory trade in Ontario, Alberta or BC, but union sites and big general contractors expect certification. There are three Red Seal ironworker trades: Generalist, Structural/Ornamental (steel beams, stairs, railings) and Reinforcing (rebar inside concrete). Quebec regulates construction work through the CCQ (Commission de la construction du Québec). The Red Seal endorsement transfers between provinces.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Red Seal endorsement
One extra exam. Lets you chase booms in Alberta or BC.
Welding tickets
Tested by the CWB (Canadian Welding Bureau). Structural welders are always short.
Rigging and signalling
Directing crane picks. Every crew needs a qualified signaller.
Connector
Not a ticket, a role. The most experienced and best-paid ironworkers on the raising gang.
Post-tensioning
Stressing steel cables inside concrete slabs. A specialty on parking garages and towers.
Comfort at height
You will be walking beams 30 storeys up in wind. Find out early whether you can.
Strength and endurance
Rebar bundles and steel are heavy. Fitness is tested at union intake.
Working at heights and WHMIS (workplace hazardous materials training)
One-day courses. Mandatory before you set foot on most sites.
Driver's licence
Sites are everywhere and shifts start early.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
On site before 7am, harness on. Structural crew: the crane lifts a beam, connectors guide it in and bolt it, the bolting crew follows and torques everything, welders close it up. Reinforcing crew: carry, place and tie thousands of pieces of rebar so the slab can be poured. Cold in winter, hot on the steel in summer. Done by 3:30pm unless overtime is on.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Ironworkers from Kahnawake, near Montreal, helped raise the Empire State Building and generations of skyscrapers. The tradition continues today, and many still commute between Kahnawake and New York.
In 1907 the Quebec Bridge collapsed during construction, killing 75 workers, 33 of them Mohawk ironworkers from Kahnawake. The disaster changed engineering practice, and the iron ring worn by Canadian engineers, a tradition that began in 1925, is often traced back to it.
Reinforcing ironworkers, nicknamed rodbusters, tie the steel bars hidden inside every concrete floor, column and bridge deck. Without them concrete would crack and fall apart under its own weight.
Big ironworker locals take apprentices in batches and test strength, balance and basic math before you get in. Passing the tryout is often harder than the school blocks.
Last checked September 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.