Shingle houses and seal flat commercial roofs. Quick to enter, hot and high.
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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 3,520 hours on the job, even at the minimum wage you would earn at least $63,184 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 $64,000 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $46,000 at the lower end to about $92,000 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
2 to 3 years, on the usual route, and you are paid while you train from the first day.
$900 to $4,650 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 Quebec. 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
$64,000
Lower end
$46,000
Upper end
$92,000
Job Bank's median for roofers is $30.97 an hour, about $64,000 a year at 40 hours a week. The lower end ($22) and upper end ($44.24) are the bottom and top of the wage range for everyone in the group. Residential shingle crews are often paid by the square (100 square feet), so fast crews earn more.
$37.60 an hour
The Job Bank median in Quebec, the highest of any province
BC (British Columbia) is $30 and Ontario $29.14. Manitoba is lowest at $25.67. Roofing slows in the coldest months, so a year's pay depends on how much winter work your employer has.
Roughly, all in
$900 to $4,650
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
This is a paid apprenticeship, so there is no tuition year to fund. The low end is Ontario, where Level 1 class is free for classes from January 2026 and the first certificate exam try is free once your apprenticeship is complete, so you pay for one cheap block and a basic set of tools. The high end is pricier blocks in a higher cost province plus a full harness, boots and hand tools. The Canada Apprentice Loan has no interest during class and EI (Employment Insurance) covers the lost wages, so almost nobody leaves this trade with student debt.
Almost nobody leaves this trade with student debt. The federal Apprenticeship Incentive Grant closed on March 31, 2025. The new federal Red Seal Completion Bonus pays $5,000 if you finish your apprenticeship and get certified in a Red Seal trade on or after April 1, 2025. Applications open November 16, 2026.
Union pension and health plan
The roofers' union locals in Toronto, Vancouver and elsewhere run pension, health and dental plans on commercial jobs.
Overtime at premium rates
Common in the busy months when the weather is good.
EI (Employment Insurance) in the off-season
Normal for roofers laid off in winter, though it pays much less than working.
Fast path to your own company
A truck, a ladder and a crew is a business. Some roofers start their own.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
One of the shortest apprenticeships in construction.
High school diploma
Grade 12
Grade 12 helps but some employers will take you without it. Math and shop are useful.
Find a sponsor
Weeks
A roofing contractor or the union hall. Showing up as a labourer for a season is the usual way in.
Register the apprenticeship
Days
With Skilled Trades Ontario, Alberta Apprenticeship and Industry Training, or your province's trades body.
Work and study
2 to 3 years
About 4,000 hours in Ontario: roughly 3,500 on the job plus two in-school levels of about 6 weeks at a college or union training centre.
Certificate of Qualification and Red Seal
After your hours
Pass the provincial exam. The Red Seal endorsement lets you work in any province.
Math
Roof area, pitch, material counts and quotes.
Construction technology or shop
Basic tool skills and reading a plan.
Physical education
Carrying 30 kilogram bundles up a ladder in July is the job.
Business or entrepreneurship
Useful sooner than you think in this trade.
Roofer is a compulsory trade only in Quebec, where you need a competency certificate from the CCQ (Commission de la construction du Québec) on construction sites. In the rest of Canada, including Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia, plenty of roofers work without a certificate. Certification is still worth it: union and commercial employers prefer it, it raises your rate, and it helps if you ever want to bid on public work. The Red Seal endorsement transfers between provinces.
In Quebec you take a short vocational diploma first, and the construction commission decides who can work on a site.
Secondary III courses
From age 16
The DEP (Diploma of Vocational Studies) needs Secondary III language of instruction, second language and math, or a high school diploma. You can start at 16.
DEP in Roofing
About 5 months
Pose de revĂȘtements de toiture (5351), 630 hours, in French. Offered at public vocational centres in Quebec City, Laval and ChĂąteauguay.
Apprentice competency certificate
Weeks
From the CCQ (Commission de la construction du Québec). You need the DEP, an employer who guarantees 150 hours of work within 3 months, the 30 hour site safety course and a $100 fee.
Work as an apprentice
About 1 to 2 years
Two periods of 2,000 hours, 4,000 in all. DEP hours count one and a half times, so the diploma covers 945 hours of it.
Qualification exam
End of apprenticeship
3 hours, 60 questions, 60% to pass. About two thirds of the marks are on flat roof systems.
Red Seal
Optional
Quebec is part of the Red Seal program for roofers. It makes it simpler to work in other provinces.
Pay from Job Bank's Quebec row. Other figures from the CCQ (Commission de la construction du Québec), which rates the job outlook as excellent.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Red Seal endorsement
One extra exam. Recognised across Canada.
Flat and low-slope membrane roofing
Torch-on, rubber and single-ply systems on commercial buildings. More year-round than shingles.
Metal roofing and cladding
Standing-seam steel on houses, barns and commercial buildings. Growing fast.
Manufacturer certifications
Roofing product makers certify installers so their warranties apply. Employers want certified crews.
Green and solar-ready roofs
Rooftop gardens and solar mounting are a small but growing niche in cities.
Working at heights and WHMIS (workplace hazardous materials training)
Mandatory in Ontario before you go up. One-day courses.
Driver's licence
Jobs move every day or two.
Heat tolerance
A dark roof in August can be 20 degrees hotter than the air.
Fall-arrest habits
Wearing your harness every time is what separates a long career from a short one.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Start at 7am, earlier in summer to beat the heat. Set up ladders and fall protection, tear off the old roof and throw it into the bin, replace rotten boards, lay underlay and flashing, then shingle. On a commercial job, roll out and heat-weld membrane over insulation. Sweep the yard for nails, tarp everything if rain is coming, done by 3 or 4pm.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Job Bank counts about 23,000 roofers and shinglers in Canada in 2023, and sees a moderate risk of a shortage over 2024 to 2033.
Falls from height are consistently among the top causes of death and critical injury on Canadian construction sites. That is why Ontario requires working at heights training before you can go up.
Almost every warehouse, school, mall and condo tower has a flat or low-slope roof sealed with a membrane rather than shingles. Commercial roofing is a different craft from houses. In Quebec's collective agreements a journeyperson earns $51.20 an hour on industrial, institutional and commercial jobs, against $47.85 on light residential work (August 2026).
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Construction 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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