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Trade Playbooks

The compulsory trades in Ontario

In a compulsory trade it is the work itself that is restricted. You hold the certificate, or you are a registered apprentice working under someone who does, or the work is not yours to do. 11 of the 43 trades on this site fall into that category, and if you are scoping a job these are the lines you cannot cross by being careful.

What this means when you are pricing a job

If a scope touches one of the trades above and you do not hold the ticket, that scope is a subcontract and it needs to be priced as one, with the sub's markup, their certificate of insurance and their WSIB clearance in your file before they set foot on site. Contractors get caught out at the certificate stage, not at the pricing stage, and by then the job has started.

The voluntary trades

The province does not restrict this work. The market still does: general contractors, insurers and public buyers all ask for the ticket.

Every sub on your job needs a valid certificate on file

AEC Stack tracks WSIB clearances and insurance certificates, tells you before one expires, and chases the renewal, so the file is complete before the inspector asks for it.

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