High-pressure pipe in power plants, refineries and hospitals. A paid apprenticeship of 4 to 5 years.
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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 8,280 hours on the job, even at the minimum wage you would earn at least $148,626 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 $91,000 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $56,000 at the lower end to about $116,000 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
4 to 5 years, on the usual route, and you are paid while you train from the first day.
$2,300 to $8,000 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, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Quebec. Elsewhere there is none to hold, though many employers still ask for training or a certificate.
Limited 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
$91,000
Lower end
$56,000
Upper end
$116,000
Job Bank's figures for steamfitters, pipefitters and sprinkler system installers: $27 an hour at the low end, $43.89 at the median and $55.59 at the high end. The yearly figures assume 40 hours a week, so heavy overtime on a big shutdown or nuclear refurbishment can push a year's pay higher.
$23.93 to $25.44 an hour
First-period apprentice on Quebec construction sites, by sector (August 2026)
These are the CCQ (Commission de la construction du Québec) collective agreement rates. Apprentice pay is a share of the journeyperson rate and climbs with each period, up to $40.68 to $43.24 an hour in the fourth. In Ontario no share is set in law: your sponsor agrees your rate, often in a union or company agreement, and it can never be below the minimum wage.
$46.02 an hour in Saskatchewan
The highest provincial median on Job Bank, about $96,000 a year at 40 hours a week
Ontario is close behind at $45.96 and Manitoba is lowest at $41.93. On Quebec construction sites the CCQ (Commission de la construction du Québec) rate for a journeyperson is $47.85 to $50.87 an hour (August 2026). Union rates come with pension and benefits on top.
Roughly, all in
$2,300 to $8,000
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
Apprentices are paid from day one, so almost nobody finishes this trade carrying debt. 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 two blocks at the cheaper rate and a starter tool kit. The high end is four blocks at the top of the range with a fuller set of tools. The Canada Apprentice Loan charges no interest on up to 4,000 dollars a block and EI (Employment Insurance) covers part of your income during school, but the federal Apprenticeship Incentive Grant closed on March 31, 2025, so check what your province offers now.
About $2,300 to $8,000 in all. 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. Most apprentices still finish with no debt.
Union pension
UA (the plumbers and pipefitters union) locals run defined-benefit pension plans, which pay a set amount every month for life. Rare outside government jobs.
Health and dental
Overtime at time and a half or double time
Plant shutdowns often run 10 to 12 hour days, 6 days a week.
Travel, camp and living-out allowances
On remote industrial and oil sands work.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
A paid apprenticeship. Ontario's is one of the longest in the trades at 9,000 hours.
High school diploma
Grade 12
Grade 12 math, physics and shop. A welding class is a real advantage.
Find a sponsor
Weeks to months
A mechanical contractor or a union hall. Pre-apprenticeship college programs and union intake exams are the usual way in.
Register the apprenticeship
Days
With Skilled Trades Ontario, Alberta Apprenticeship and Industry Training, or SkilledTradesBC.
Work and study
4 to 5 years
9,000 hours in Ontario (8,280 on the job plus 720 in class over three blocks). Alberta runs 4 years of at least 1,560 hours on the job plus 8 weeks of school each.
Certificate of Qualification and Red Seal
After your hours
Pass the provincial exam. The Red Seal endorsement lets you work in any province.
Math
Pipe offsets, angles and pressure calculations every day. Trigonometry matters here more than in most trades.
Physics
Steam, pressure and heat are the whole job.
Welding or shop classes
Many steamfitters weld their own joints.
Technical drawing
You build from isometric drawings and blueprints.
In Ontario, steamfitter is a compulsory trade: you must be a registered apprentice or hold a Certificate of Qualification to do the work. It is compulsory in Alberta, BC (British Columbia), Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island too, and voluntary in Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador and the territories. Quebec has no separate steamfitter trade: pipefitter (tuyauteur) is one compulsory construction trade, trained through the plumbing and heating diploma. Steamfitter/Pipefitter is a Red Seal trade, so your ticket transfers between provinces once you pass the interprovincial exam.
In Quebec the pipe trade is called pipefitter (tuyauteur) and is trained through the Plumbing and Heating diploma, and the CCQ (Commission de la construction du Québec, the Quebec construction commission) decides who can work on a site.
Secondary IV courses
From age 16
The DEP (Diploma of Vocational Studies) in Plumbing and Heating takes a high school diploma, or age 16 with Secondary IV language, second language and math. From 18, the general development test is another way in.
DEP in Plumbing and Heating (5333, or 5833 in English)
About 14 to 17 months
1,680 hours of water supply, drainage and hydronic, steam and forced-air heating. In English at Verdun Adult and Career Centre in Montreal, Construc-Plus in the Laurentides and the Lennoxville vocational centre in Estrie.
Apprentice competency certificate
Weeks
Issued by the CCQ. You need the DEP, an employer registered with the CCQ who guarantees at least 150 hours of work within 3 months, the 30 hour site safety course and a $100 fee.
Work as an apprentice
About 5,480 hours
Four periods of 2,000 hours, 8,000 in all. The DEP counts for its hours plus a 50% bonus, about 2,520, which leaves about 5,480 hours of paid site work.
Qualification exam
Near the end
Set by the CCQ, multiple choice, up to 3 hours. You can sit it once 85% of your apprenticeship hours are done. Pass and you become a journeyperson (compagnon).
In 2025 the CCQ (Commission de la construction du Québec, the Quebec construction commission) counted 11,352 pipefitters on sites and admitted 747 new apprentices. Apprentices earned $40,725 on average that year, and journeypersons who worked at least 500 hours earned $89,107. Those averages include overtime and premiums. Collective agreement rates in August 2026 run from $23.93 to $50.87 an hour.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Welding tickets
CWB (Canadian Welding Bureau) tickets and pressure welding tickets. A steamfitter who can weld can take on more of the job.
Plumber licence (a second trade)
Many hold both. It opens commercial and hospital work that is less cyclical.
Medical gas certification
Hospitals need certified installers for oxygen and vacuum piping.
Nuclear security clearance
Ontario's nuclear refurbishments, such as Bruce Power's six reactors through 2033, hire pipefitters for steady multi-year work.
Pre-apprenticeship program
A college semester in plumbing or steamfitting that makes union intake easier.
Driver's licence
Job sites are rarely on a bus route.
Rigging and confined-space tickets
Short courses. Industrial sites expect them.
Willingness to travel
Much of the industrial work is where the plants are, not always where you live.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Start at 7am with a safety briefing. Read the isometric drawing, measure and cut pipe, fit and tack the joints, then weld or bolt flanges. Hang pipe from steel with rigging gear. Pressure-test the line before it goes live. On a plant shutdown the pace doubles: 10 to 12 hour days for a few weeks, then time off. On new construction it is steadier but more repetitive.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Bruce Power is refurbishing six of its eight reactors on Lake Huron between 2020 and 2033, with crews from the Ontario building trades. Nuclear sites need a security clearance.
The CCQ (Commission de la construction du Québec) rates job prospects for pipefitters as excellent. 747 new apprentices joined in 2025, more than the yearly average of 646 from 2021 to 2024.
Steamfitters build systems that carry steam and hot water under pressure. Pipefitters build everything else that flows: fuel, chemicals, medical gas, refrigerant. In Canada it is one Red Seal ticket.
Refineries and chemical plants shut down at set intervals for maintenance, called a turnaround. Large crews of pipefitters work 12 hour days for weeks at a time. Some tradespeople chase turnarounds across the country for the overtime.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Plumbing, pipes and HVAC 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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