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Trade Playbook
Most of the questions people actually agonize over before becoming an electrician are not about Ohm's law. They are: will my body hold up, should I go residential or commercial, union or non-union, and is it worth going out on my own — or am I better off staying on the tools. Here is the straight version, not the brochure.
Where it starts
$20–22/hr
1st-year apprentice
Where it tops out
$100k–250k+
Master Electrician / contractor (LEC)
Union route
IBEW locals
Ontario figures for electrical contracting, 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 1st-year apprentice | $20–22/hr | Ontario sets apprentice minimums as a % of journeyperson rate: 40% year 1. |
| 2nd year | $23–25/hr | 50% of journeyperson rate. |
| 3rd year | $26–30/hr | 60%. |
| 4th–5th year | $28–35/hr | 70–80%. You are doing near-journeyperson work for less. |
| Journeyperson (309A) | $38–50+/hr | ≈$75k–100k+ with overtime. Union total comp runs ~40% higher once you add the defined-benefit pension and benefits. |
| Foreman / general foreman | +$5–10/hr over journeyperson | You run the crew and the paperwork instead of pulling wire all day. |
| Master Electrician / contractor (LEC) | $100k–250k+ | Now you are a business owner, not a wage earner — the number swings entirely on how well you run the business, not how well you bend pipe. |
Two electricians with the same ticket can be twenty dollars an hour apart because they picked different work.
Houses — pulling Romex through stud bays, panel changes, renos, talking to homeowners. Smaller crews, lots of variety, lots of driving between jobs.
Best for: People who like variety, customer contact, and being their own boss early.
277/480V three-phase, EMT and pipe-bending, big crews on big sites. Day-shift dominant but overtime-heavy — punch-list weeks before turnover are routinely 50–60 hours. Home most nights.
Best for: People who want steady large-project work and don't mind the crunch before turnover.
Plants and mills — PLCs, motor controls, troubleshooting a line that's costing the plant thousands a minute while it's down. Shift work, and travel/per-diem on the big jobs.
Best for: Problem-solvers who can handle pressure, shifts, and travel, and want the top of the trade.
Every figure above is what electricians get paid. It is not what you charge once you run a electrical contracting 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 jobThe body question is real, and the smart move is to know your exit ramps early. Off the tools, a 309A leads to foreman and superintendent, estimating, project management, ESA inspector, electrical instructor/teacher, controls and automation, manufacturer sales/rep work, or owning a contracting business you eventually sell. Many electricians move off the tools by their 40s or 50s into supervision, estimating, or ownership — the ones who plan for it protect both their back and their income. "Selling the business" is itself an exit: a healthy electrical contracting business with recurring clients and a book of work is a sellable asset, not just a job.
Wage data, union rate sheets, and the places electricians 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.
Electrician Jobs in Ontario: Who Is Hiring Right NowAEC Stack handles incorporation, WSIB, insurance certificates, quoting, invoicing, and chasing the money, so a electrical contracting business runs like one with an office behind it.
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