Bed bugs, mice, wasps and termites. Licensed in months, hired fast, never boring.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Good for a wall or a guidance counsellor.
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What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Licensed technician
$54,000
Trainee
$40,000
Senior or route owner
$78,000
Job Bank's national median is $25.96 an hour, about $54,000 a year full time. Big cities with lots of apartments and restaurants pay the most. Commission on sales pushes some technicians past the top of this range.
$19 to $22 an hour
Trainee technician, about $40,000 a year
Most companies hire you with no experience, train you and pay for your licence course. You ride with a licensed exterminator until you pass.
$35 to $38 an hour
About $78,000 a year, more with commission
Many firms pay a base plus commission on contracts you sell. Fumigation, bird control and commercial food-plant work pay above ordinary house calls.
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
Most companies pay the course and licence fees for new technicians and supply the uniform, respirator fit test and driver abstract, so the low end genuinely is nothing out of pocket. The high end is paying the technician application and listing, the exterminator exam with one retake allowed for, and the structural licence yourself. You can be earning within a week of being hired and fully licensed within a few months. Fees vary by province, and the figures here follow the Ontario schedule.
Most employers pay the course and licence fees. You can be earning within a week and licensed within a few months.
Company vehicle
Take-home van is common.
Health and dental
At national firms like Orkin, Abell and Rentokil.
Commission and bonuses
For selling annual service contracts.
Year-round work
Rodents in winter, insects in summer. Few layoffs.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
Get hired first, then get licensed. No college needed.
High school diploma
Grade 12
Biology and chemistry help. A driver's licence is essential.
Get hired as a trainee
Weeks
Pest control companies hire year-round and train from scratch. You work under direct supervision at first.
Technician certificate
1 to 3 months
In Ontario, pass the Core Manual exam with 75% or better plus practical training from a licensed exterminator. Then you can work with weekly supervision.
Exterminator licence
Within the first year
Pass the ministry-approved exam: a 1-hour closed-book core exam and a 1.5-hour open-book structural module, 75% on both. Then apply for the licence, valid 5 years.
Specialize
Ongoing
Fumigation, wildlife, bird control or food-plant audits.
Biology
Insect and rodent life cycles are the whole job.
Chemistry
Understanding what pesticides do and how to use them safely.
English
Service reports, labels and customer conversations.
Business
Many technicians sell contracts or run their own route.
Applying pesticides for pay needs a provincial licence everywhere in Canada. In Ontario the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks issues a structural extermination licence after you pass an approved course, and it is valid for 5 years. Other provinces run their own applicator certificates. A licence from one province can usually be transferred through labour mobility rules.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Fumigation licence
Whole-structure and container fumigation. Rare skill, high pay.
Wildlife control
Raccoons, squirrels and bats. Often a separate provincial permit.
Food-plant and audit work
Commercial kitchens, warehouses and food factories need documented programs.
Bed bug heat treatment
Specialised equipment, premium pricing in big cities.
Clean driver's abstract
You drive all day in a company van.
Comfort with heights and crawlspaces
Attics, ladders and basements are daily.
Sales skills
Commission on contracts is a real part of the pay.
No fear of bugs or rodents
Obvious, but it rules some people out.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Load the van by 7am and check the route: a restaurant's monthly service, a bed bug treatment in an apartment, a wasp nest under a deck, then bait stations at a warehouse. Each stop means an inspection, a treatment, a written report and a talk with the customer. Summer days run long. Winter is mostly mice and rats.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Ontario lets you apply for an exterminator licence at 16. The certification is a 1-hour closed-book core exam plus a 1.5-hour open-book module, 50 multiple-choice questions each, and you need 75% on both.
Bed bugs were nearly gone from Canada by the 1950s and returned in the 2000s as older pesticides were banned and travel grew. Treating them is now a large share of urban pest control work.
An Ontario structural exterminator licence is good for 5 years. Technicians who work under supervision must renew every 2 years by redoing both the study component and the supervised practical training.
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.