CCQ trade · Painter
Painter in Québec: wage, competency card and outlook.
What apainter does, what it pays under the CCQ, how you get your competency card, and where the market is headed. The facts, sourced, no fluff.
CCQ wage
How much does apainter earn in Québec?
$42.81 – $47.89 / hour (journeyperson, by sector, April 26, 2026)
Hourly rates are set by the collective agreements of Québec's construction industry and vary by sector: $42.81/h in light residential, $47.00/h in heavy residential, $47.39/h in institutional-commercial and industrial and $47.89/h in civil engineering and roads (journeyperson rate, effective April 26, 2026). Apprentices earn a percentage of that rate depending on their apprenticeship period. Official grids published by the ACQ (residential and institutional-commercial-industrial) and the ACRGTQ (civil engineering and roads).
The trade
Painters prepare and finish surfaces on any type of construction, applying one or more coats of film-forming compounds — paint, varnish, lacquer. They also cover wall surfaces with wallpaper or similar materials, install reinforcements, corner beads, and accessories, and fill joints on wall panels. The trade calls for precision, a sharp eye for colour, and the ability to work cleanly and at height.
Competency card
How to become a CCQ-carded painter.
Painters must hold a CCQ competency card. The apprentice certificate (CCA) is issued after completing the DEP in Building Painting (program 5336, 900 hours) — also offered in English as Commercial and Residential Painting (5836) — and presenting a job guarantee of at least 150 hours over 3 consecutive months with a CCQ-registered employer. The apprenticeship then covers 3 periods of 2,000 hours each (6,000 hours total), after which the apprentice can sit the provincial qualification exam; passing it leads to the journeyperson certificate (CCC). The apprentice-to-journeyperson ratio is 1:1 in residential, and 2 journeypersons per apprentice in industrial, institutional-commercial, and civil engineering and roads (a second apprentice is allowed if one of them is in their final period or is a woman).
Outlook
The painter market, in 2025.
The CCQ rates job prospects for painters as excellent. Even though demand is stable, low labour availability, significant aging, high turnover, and too few new graduates are creating sustained needs. In 2024, 6,957 painters were active on Quebec job sites and 1,960 companies were recruiting. Only 683 new apprentices were admitted that year, below the 2020-2023 annual average of 714. Aging is pronounced among journeypersons: their average age reaches 47.4, and 34% are 55 or older, pointing to a wave of upcoming retirements. In 2024, women made up 27.47% of the trade's workforce (1,911 active women workers).
What it takes
The skills in demand.
- Valid CCQ competency card (apprentice or journeyperson) — mandatory to work on job sites governed by the R-20 Act
- ASP Construction card (general health and safety on job sites) — required to obtain the CCQ competency certificate
- Completed DEP in Building Painting (5336) or Commercial and Residential Painting (5836), or a CCQ-recognized entry path
- Precision, a sharp eye for colour, and the ability to work at height and keep a clean finish
- Experience in the institutional-commercial sector, which accounts for 69% of the trade's work volume
Frequently asked questions
The painter trade, plainly.
Do I need a DEP in Building Painting to get into the trade?
It's the most common and direct path. The DEP in Building Painting (program 5336, 900 hours) — also offered in English as Commercial and Residential Painting (5836) — gets you the apprentice competency certificate (CCA) right at graduation, once you present the CCQ with a job guarantee of at least 150 hours over 3 consecutive months signed by a CCQ-registered employer. Other paths to a CCA exist, including some available during your studies — check ccq.org/apprentissage for details. The timing is good: the CCQ rates job prospects for painters as excellent, and in 2024, 1,960 companies were hiring painters in Quebec, which improves your odds of landing the job guarantee you need to get started quickly.
How long before I'm a journeyperson at full rate?
Once you have your CCA, you need to log 6,000 apprenticeship hours across 3 periods of 2,000 hours each, then pass the provincial qualification exam to earn the journeyperson competency certificate (CCC). Working full-time, that's roughly 3 to 4 years. Your hourly rate climbs with each period — in civil engineering and roads, for example, you go from $28.73 in period 1 to $40.71 in period 3, before reaching the journeyperson rate of $47.89 (April 26, 2026). Rates vary by sector — the journeyperson rate runs from $42.81/h in light residential up to $47.89/h in civil engineering and roads. In 2024, a journeyperson who worked more than 500 hours earned an average of $63,711.
Which sector will I work in most often as a painter?
Institutional-commercial dominates by a wide margin: it accounts for 69% of the work volume for painters in Quebec — hospitals, schools, offices, retail. Residential follows at 23% of hours, then civil engineering and roads (4%) and industrial (4%). The CCQ expects the institutional-commercial sector to stay strong over the coming years, as will residential. As for travel, the trade is fairly local: only 11% of painters travel between regions for work, compared to 16% across all construction trades combined. In practice, you have good odds of finding work close to home, especially in major centres where institutional and commercial job sites are concentrated.
Sector breakdown, regional mobility and apprenticeship progression figures are drawn from Commission de la construction du Québec data. Hourly rates: official grids published by the ACQ (residential, institutional-commercial and industrial) and the ACRGTQ (civil engineering and roads), in force since April 26, 2026. acq.org
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