Short answer: Canada has no single contractor licence. Each province and territory sets its own rules, then cities add business licences and permits on top. So before you quote, you need three answers. Which province is the job in? Which trades does the scope touch? Who is actually doing the work, you or a subbie?
Get that wrong and you haven't just broken a rule. You've priced a job you might not be allowed to do.
I built my maintenance company in London, not Toronto. The rule books are different. The logic is the same. The licence question comes before the price, never after.
Written October 2026. Rules change, so confirm everything with the provincial regulator before you put a number on paper.
Is there one contractor licence that covers all of Canada?
No. Licensing is provincial. Ottawa doesn't hand out a general contractor licence.
What you're really dealing with is two layers. First, the trade itself. Most provinces have compulsory trades, usually electrical, plumbing, gas and some mechanical work. Only a certified person, or a registered apprentice under supervision, can legally do that work.
Second, the business. Some provinces license the company doing the work, separate from the people holding the tools. Quebec is the big one here.
Red Seal confuses a lot of people. It's an interprovincial standard, not a licence. It makes moving between provinces easier for a certified tradesperson, but the province still decides who can work.
What you need before you quote, province by province
This is a starting map, not legal advice. Use it to know which door to knock on.
Ontario
Ontario has no general licence for renovation contractors at provincial level. That's where people get lazy.
The trades are a different story. Skilled Trades Ontario oversees the compulsory trades, and electricians and plumbers sit on that list. Electrical contracting needs a licence from the Electrical Safety Authority. Gas work comes under the TSSA.
If you build new homes, you need a licence from the Home Construction Regulatory Authority, plus Tarion registration. And cities matter. Toronto, for example, licenses building renovators at the municipal level. Check the city before you assume you're clear.
Quebec
Quebec is the strictest, and it's not close. The Régie du bâtiment du Québec (RBQ) licenses contractors who do construction work or have it done. That covers the middleman too. If you take the contract and send subbies, you generally need the right RBQ licence subclass for that work.
On top of that, the Commission de la construction du Québec (CCQ) controls competency certificates for workers on much of the construction industry. Electrical contractors deal with the CMEQ, plumbing and heating contractors with the CMMTQ.
Here's the part people hate hearing: an RBQ number belongs on your quotes and contracts. If you're quoting in Quebec without one, stop.
British Columbia
In BC, residential builders of new homes need a licence through BC Housing, along with home warranty insurance. Electrical and gas contractors are licensed by Technical Safety BC.
SkilledTradesBC has brought in compulsory certification for a set of trades, starting with electrical and mechanical work. If your scope includes those, the person doing it needs the ticket.
Alberta
Alberta catches out a lot of renovators with the prepaid contractor licence. If you do home improvement work and take money before the job is finished, a deposit for example, you're likely to need one under consumer protection rules.
New home builders need a residential builder licence. Compulsory trades are certified through the provincial apprenticeship system, and electrical, gas and plumbing work runs on permits under the Safety Codes Act.
The Prairies, Atlantic Canada and the territories
Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI, Newfoundland and Labrador and the three territories all run compulsory trades through their own apprenticeship bodies. Electrical and gas licensing sits with provincial safety regulators, and permits come from the municipality or the province.
The pattern holds. Find the apprenticeship authority, the safety regulator and the city. Call all three if you're new there.
The paperwork that isn't a trade licence
A licence lets you do the work. These let you run the job without getting burned:
- Workers' compensation coverage. WSIB in Ontario, WorkSafeBC, WCB in Alberta, CNESST in Quebec, and the boards everywhere else.
- A clearance from the board for every subbie. Ontario calls it a clearance certificate, BC a clearance letter. If a subbie hasn't paid premiums, the board can come after the contractor who hired them.
- Commercial general liability insurance. Not always law, but most clients ask for it, and you don't want to find out why after a flood.
- GST/HST registration. Once you're past the small supplier threshold, you register and charge it. Your quote should show it properly.
- A municipal business licence and the right permits. These differ city by city, even inside one province.
None of this is exciting. All of it decides whether you get paid and stay paid.
How to check your subbies before they go on site
This is where middlemen get hurt. You hold the contract. If the subbie isn't licensed, it's your name on the job.
My rule when I ran my company was simple. Nobody went on site because they sounded good on the phone. Papers first, then the address. A subbie who gets funny about sending a certificate is telling you something.
Here's the order I'd run it in Canada:
- Read the scope and list every trade it touches. A "bathroom refit" can hide plumbing, electrical and gas.
- For each trade, confirm whether it's compulsory in that province.
- Ask the subbie for their certificate of qualification or licence number, and look it up on the regulator's public register where one exists.
- Get a current workers' comp clearance. Not last year's.
- Get their liability insurance certificate and check the dates.
- In Quebec, check the RBQ licence and the subclass matches the work.
- Diarise the expiry dates. Papers that were fine in March can be dead by October.
You can collect a price from a subbie before all of this is done. You can't send them through the client's front door before it is.
If you want the bigger picture on running the contract and keeping the spread, I've written about it on Construction Arbitrage.
Where Plan@Job fits
Plan@Job is AI-powered project and operations management for construction and property businesses. In Plan@Job the Operator is you, the contractor business managing clients, project delivery, subcontractors and your own in-house operatives.
On a job, you split the work into internal stages, each with its own scope, dates, status and costs. A stage can go to a subbie or to your own operative. The client sees the agreed scope, the agreed price and the evidence you choose to share. Your stage costs and who your subbies are stay internal. That's your margin, and it should stay yours. More on that on the project management page.
The licence check fits into that flow at the right point. Subbies can price before vetting in supported workflows, then checks and approval happen before the work is awarded. A person decides who gets the job. The software doesn't award work, set prices or guarantee anybody is compliant in your province. That's still on you.
The aim is to check credentials once and keep them on your profile, so the conversation with a new client starts with your papers already on file instead of another "send me your insurance again" email.
One honest point. Plan@Job is live in the UK first. In Canada, you can reserve your place on the Canadian contractors page and we'll bring you in when the regional launch opens. I'm not going to tell you UK features are already running in Ontario. They aren't yet.
FAQ
Do I need a licence to be a general contractor in Canada?
It depends on the province, and it's not a vague "it depends". Quebec licenses contractors through the RBQ. Alberta needs a prepaid contractor licence if you take deposits on home improvement work. Ontario has no general provincial renovation licence, but cities like Toronto license renovators, and every province controls who can do electrical, plumbing and gas work.
Can I quote a job and subcontract the licensed work?
Yes, in most provinces that's how general contracting works. The subbie doing compulsory trade work must hold the right certificate, and in some cases the contracting business needs its own licence too, Quebec and electrical contracting being the obvious ones. Check both layers before your quote goes out.
Does a Red Seal let me work in any province?
Red Seal is the interprovincial standard for many trades and it makes working across provinces much easier. But it's not a licence. The province still sets the rules for compulsory trades, business licensing and permits, so check with the local authority before you take work there.