CCQ trade · Plasterer
Plasterer in Québec: wage, competency card and outlook.
What aplasterer 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 aplasterer earn in Québec?
$44.99 – $48.47 / hour (journeyperson, by sector, April 26, 2026)
Hourly rates are set by the collective agreements of Québec's construction industry and vary by sector: $44.99/h in light residential, $48.05/h in heavy residential, $48.26/h in institutional-commercial and industrial and $48.47/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
Plasterers tape and finish joints, and level and cover surfaces using specialized tools and calcareous coatings — plaster, mortar, cement, stucco, or aggregates. They fabricate and install plaster mouldings, mold and set decorative ornaments, and apply acrylic finishes. It's a finishing trade that calls for precision, care, and a creative eye, practiced mostly in the institutional-commercial and residential sectors.
Competency card
How to become a CCQ-carded plasterer.
The plasterer trade is regulated by the CCQ. Entry starts with the apprentice competency certificate (CCA), issued after completing the DEP in Plastering (program 5286, also offered in English as Plastering 5786, 810 hours) and presenting a job guarantee of at least 150 hours over 3 consecutive months with a CCQ-registered employer. The apprenticeship 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 competency certificate (CCC). The book ratio is 1 journeyperson per apprentice in residential, and 2 journeypersons per apprentice in institutional-commercial, industrial, and civil engineering and roads. On-site, a journeyperson can supervise a 2nd apprentice (maximum two) if one of them is in their last apprenticeship period or is a woman — the two conditions don't stack.
Outlook
The plasterer market, in 2025.
The CCQ rates the plasterer's job outlook as "excellent." In 2024, 3,950 plasterers were active on Quebec job sites and 1,450 companies were hiring — a sign of a tight market. Only 241 new apprentices were admitted to the trade in 2024, well below the 390 annual average seen from 2020 to 2023. The CCQ attributes these labour needs to a combination of factors: slightly rising demand, low availability, a very significant aging workforce, high turnover, and not enough new graduates. The aging trend is real: the average age of journeyperson plasterers is 45.1, and 28% are 55 or older — a wave of retirements is on the horizon.
What it takes
The skills in demand.
- Valid CCQ competency certificate (apprentice or journeyperson) — mandatory to work on job sites governed by the R-20 Act
- Completion of the DEP in Plastering (5286 or English-stream 5786), or an equivalent recognized by the CCQ
- Current ASP Construction card (general health and safety on construction sites)
- Skilled at taping and finishing joints, applying coatings (plaster, cement, stucco), and installing ornaments and mouldings
- Experience in the institutional-commercial sector (76% of the trade's work volume) or residential (24%)
Frequently asked questions
The plasterer trade, plainly.
Do I need a DEP in Plastering to get into the trade?
It's the most common and direct path: the DEP in Plastering (program 5286, or English-stream Plastering 5786, 810 hours) gets you the apprentice competency certificate (CCA) right at graduation, provided you present a job guarantee of at least 150 hours over 3 consecutive months with a CCQ-registered employer. Other entry paths exist too (experience recognition, apprenticeship during studies) — check ccq.org directly to see which one applies to your situation. Once you've got your certificate, the market works in your favour: the CCQ rates the plasterer's job outlook as "excellent." In 2024, 3,950 plasterers were active and 1,450 companies were hiring, but only 241 new apprentices were admitted — so you've got a good shot at landing an employer for your job guarantee quickly.
How long before I'm a journeyperson plasterer at full rate?
You need to log 6,000 apprenticeship hours across 3 periods of 2,000 hours each, then pass the CCQ's provincial qualification exam. Working full-time, that's roughly 3 to 4 years. Your hourly rate climbs with each period — in the institutional-commercial sector, for example, it goes from $28.96 in period 1 to $41.02 in period 3, then to $48.26 once you're a journeyperson (April 26, 2026). In light residential, the journeyperson rate is $44.99, and in civil engineering and roads it's $48.47. Once you've got your CCC in hand, demand should stay strong: the average age of journeyperson plasterers is 45.1, and 28% are 55 or older — a sign of several retirements on the horizon.
Which sector has the most work for plasterers in Quebec?
Institutional-commercial accounts for 76% of plasterers' work volume in Quebec in 2024 — hospitals, schools, office buildings, retail spaces. Residential makes up the remaining 24%. Unlike several other construction trades, plasterers work almost no hours in civil engineering or industrial (0% of volume). In short, most positions are on institutional and commercial buildings, a sector the CCQ expects to stay strong in the coming years. The trade is also not very mobile: only 10% of plasterers travel between regions for work, compared to a 16% average across all trades — so you can generally find work close to home, especially in the major centres where institutional-commercial activity is 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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