CCQ trade · Tile Setter
Tile Setter in Québec: wage, competency card and outlook.
What atile setter 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 atile setter earn in Québec?
$46.59 – $50.18 / hour (journeyperson, by sector, April 26, 2026)
Hourly rates are set by the collective agreements of Québec's construction industry and vary by sector: $46.59/h in light residential, $49.70/h in heavy residential, $50.12/h in institutional-commercial and industrial and $50.18/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
Tile setters prepare surfaces, cut, and install marble, granite, terrazzo, slate, ceramic tile, and other similar or substitute covering materials. They polish granite, marble, or comparable surfaces by hand or machine, and work on both institutional-commercial and residential job sites.
Competency card
How to become a CCQ-carded tile setter.
Tile setters must hold a CCQ competency card to work on job sites governed by the R-20 Act. The apprentice certificate (CCA) is issued after completing the DEP in Tiling (5300) or Tiling (5800), 690 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 those hours, the apprentice sits the provincial qualification exam (3 hours, 60 questions, 60% pass threshold) to earn the journeyperson certificate (CCC). The apprentice-to-journeyperson ratio is 1:1 in residential; in institutional-commercial, industrial, and civil engineering, the ratio on the books is 2 journeypersons per apprentice (a journeyperson can supervise a 2nd apprentice if one of them is in their final apprenticeship period or is a woman).
Outlook
The tile setter market, in 2025.
In 2024, 2,818 tile setters were active on Quebec job sites, with an average age of 39.5. The CCQ rates job prospects for the trade as excellent: very low labour availability, high turnover, and an insufficient number of new graduates are driving sustained needs. Only 209 new apprentices were admitted in 2024, below the 2020-2023 average of 284 per year. At the same time, 1,016 companies were hiring tile setters that same year — a very tight ratio between the available pool and demand. Interregional mobility in the trade is low (10%, versus 16% across all construction trades), which concentrates the workforce and sharpens scarcity in certain regions.
What it takes
The skills in demand.
- Valid CCQ competency certificate (CCA apprentice or CCC journeyperson) — mandatory on job sites governed by the R-20 Act
- Completed DEP in Tiling (5300) or Tiling (5800) or a CCQ-recognized equivalent
- Current ASP Construction health and safety card (general health and safety on construction sites)
- Skilled at surface preparation, thin-set installation (ceramic, marble, granite, terrazzo, slate), and reading plans
- Experience in institutional-commercial, the sector holding 72% of hours worked by tile setters
Frequently asked questions
The tile setter trade, plainly.
Do I need a DEP in Tiling to get into the trade?
It's the most direct path: the DEP in Tiling (5300) or Tiling (5800), 690 hours, gets you the apprentice 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. Once you have your certificate, the market is favourable: the CCQ rates job prospects for tile setters as excellent, largely because of the insufficient number of new graduates. In 2024, only 209 new apprentices were admitted — below the 284-per-year average from 2020-2023 — while 1,016 companies were hiring tile setters. That gives you good odds of finding an employer quickly for your job guarantee and starting your apprenticeship.
How long before I'm a journeyperson at full rate?
You need to log 6,000 apprenticeship hours across 3 periods of 2,000 hours each, then pass the provincial qualification exam. Working full-time, that's roughly 3 to 4 years. The exam runs 3 hours, covers 60 questions, and requires a 60% pass threshold. During your apprenticeship, your rate climbs with each period: in residential, an apprentice moves from about $27.95/h in period 1 to $39.60/h in period 3, before reaching the journeyperson rate. Once you're a journeyperson, the rate runs between $46.59/h in light residential and $50.18/h in civil engineering and roads (April 26, 2026), depending on the sector you're assigned to. With the CCQ rating prospects as excellent, demand for newly qualified journeypersons should stay strong.
Which sector has the most work for a tile setter in Quebec?
Institutional-commercial accounted for 72% of hours worked by tile setters in 2024 — hospitals, schools, office buildings, retail. Residential follows at 26% of hours, while civil engineering and roads and industrial each make up 1%. In practice, most positions are in commercial and institutional buildings, where you're installing ceramic, marble, granite, and terrazzo over large surfaces. The apprentice-to-journeyperson ratio also varies by sector: 1:1 in residential, but 2 journeypersons per apprentice in institutional-commercial, industrial, and civil engineering — which affects your odds of being hired as an apprentice depending on the sector you apply to. With interregional mobility low at 10%, most tile setters work close to home.
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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