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Trade Playbook
Drain is the plumbing niche that brands itself separately and prints money on emergencies — and the questions are all about the model: do you need a plumber's licence (the cleaning-vs-repair split), franchise vs independent (the defining decision), the equipment reality (cameras, jetters, trenchless rigs), and how emergency pricing and Google reviews drive the entire business.
Where it starts
$20–30/hr
Drain technician (entry)
Where it tops out
Business income
Drain business owner
Ontario figures for drain & sewer services, from the first day on site to the top of the trade. Approximate, and worth checking against current collective agreement rates and job postings in your region.
| Stage | Pay | What is going on at this stage |
|---|---|---|
| Drain technician (entry) | $20–30/hr | Augers, jetters, cameras — service work, fast entry. |
| Experienced tech / camera operator | $30–42/hr | |
| Licensed plumber on drains | 306A rates | For the repair/replacement scope. |
| Drain business owner | Business income | Emergency pricing + trenchless premiums = strong margins. |
Two drain technicians with the same ticket can be twenty dollars an hour apart because they picked different work.
Fixing or replacing the drain or sewer you find broken — this is plumbing (306A) with permits, and where the big money is.
Best for: Licensed plumbers, or businesses that employ one.
Every figure above is what drain technicians get paid. It is not what you charge once you run a drain and sewer business. Your rate has to carry the hours you are not on the tools, the truck, the tools themselves, WSIB, insurance, the quote you wrote and lost, and the holdback sitting in someone else's account for 60 days. Contractors who set their rate off their old hourly wage are the ones who work every weekend and still cannot say whether the year was profitable.
The step from paid by the hour to paid by the jobGrow the fleet, invest in trenchless (lining and bursting — the big-ticket differentiator that replaces sewers without digging up yards), or expand into full plumbing service. Emergency-service businesses with strong reviews and recurring municipal/commercial relationships sell well — the reputation and the call volume are real assets.
Wage data, union rate sheets, and the places drain technicians talk about money openly.
The rates above are the market. The live feed is the market this week: which builders and contractors just pulled a permit or won a contract in Ontario, what they are about to need, and who to call.
Plumber Jobs in Ontario: Who Is Hiring Right NowAEC Stack handles incorporation, WSIB, insurance certificates, quoting, invoicing, and chasing the money, so a drain and sewer business runs like one with an office behind it.
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