Sheet metal worker in Québec: wage, competency card and outlook.

First you need to find a CCQ-registered employer who can guarantee you at least 150 hours of work over 3 consecutive months. With your DEP and that job guarantee, you apply for your apprentice competency certificate (CCA) from the CCQ. Once you have your card, you're set to work. You'll then have 6,000 apprenticeship hours to complete before sitting your journeyperson exam. That final exam runs three hours with 60 questions and a 60% pass threshold. With 1,060 companies recruiting sheet metal workers against 5,622 active in 2024, landing that first job guarantee is generally one of the easier parts of getting started. Rates for a fully qualified journeyperson then run between $47.85 and $51.26 an hour depending on sector, and with the CCQ flagging low availability in this trade, that first job guarantee tends to come together fast.

Most sheet metal work happens in the institutional-commercial sector — that's 83% of the trade's work volume. Think office buildings, hospitals, shopping centres, schools. Residential (11%), industrial (5%), and civil engineering (1%) round out the picture. That heavy concentration in institutional-commercial lines up with the day-to-day work itself — fabricating and installing ventilation, heating, and air conditioning systems, plus metal cladding and roofing, on buildings large enough to need it. The average active sheet metal worker is 39.4 years old, with 14% already 55 or older, so this sector will keep needing new talent. Whichever sector you land in, the actual work is the same core skill set: cutting, forming, and assembling sheet metal from technical drawings for ventilation, heating, air conditioning, and cladding systems.

It's a provincial exam run by the CCQ. It's 3 hours long with 60 questions covering sheet metal basics, ventilation and HVAC systems, and metal roofing and cladding installation. You need at least 60% to pass. You get access to it after completing your 6,000 apprenticeship hours. Passing it earns you the journeyperson competency certificate, and rates then run between $47.85 and $51.26 an hour depending on sector. Given the CCQ has flagged low labour availability and too few graduates in this trade, journeypersons are generally in a strong position once they clear that hurdle. Precision matters throughout, since the trade calls for independence, comfort working at height, and manual dexterity to hold tight tolerances — qualities the CCQ notes are in short supply given the aging workforce and thin graduate pipeline.