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Trade Playbook
Sheet metal splits two ways people don't expect — the shop and the field, and HVAC ducting versus architectural metal. The questions follow: shop fabrication or field install, duct work or custom cladding, union (SMART) or not, and whether to chase the detailing/CAD side off the tools. It's a precision trade hiding inside a dirty one.
Where it starts
A % of journeyperson rate
Apprentice
Where it tops out
Business income
Sheet metal / HVAC contractor
Union route
SMART locals
Ontario figures for sheet metal work, 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Apprentice | A % of journeyperson rate | Climbing each level through the 308A apprenticeship. |
| Journeyperson (308A) | $32–45/hr | SMART union sits at the top with a pension. |
| Shop / field foreman | More | |
| Detailer / CAD | Strong, off the tools | The drafting/layout side — a well-paid escape from field work. |
| Sheet metal / HVAC contractor | Business income |
Every figure above is what sheet metal workers get paid. It is not what you charge once you run a sheet metal 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 standout off-tools move is detailing/CAD — sheet metal detailers who can model duct and coordinate in BIM are well paid and out of the weather. Beyond that: estimating, shop or field foreman, superintendent, or owning a sheet metal/HVAC business. The fabrication-and-layout brain transfers straight into the design side.
Wage data, union rate sheets, and the places sheet metal workers 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.
HVAC, Refrigeration and Mechanical Jobs in Ontario: Who Is HiringAEC Stack handles incorporation, WSIB, insurance certificates, quoting, invoicing, and chasing the money, so a sheet metal business runs like one with an office behind it.
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