City trades hiring guide
- Local demand
- Wage context
- Contractor radar
Burnaby Trades Jobs in 2026: The Refinery Town in the Suburbs
Burnaby skilled trades hiring guide — Burnaby Refinery (Sunoco) turnarounds, Trans Mountain Burnaby Terminal, SkyTrain Millennium Line extension, SkilledTradesBC compulsory framework, and wage ranges.
Free for workers · city-specific hiring context
Most people outside the Lower Mainland don't realize Burnaby is an industrial city wearing a suburb's clothes. Drive Hastings east from Vancouver and you cross into Burnaby; ten minutes later you're looking at one of the few remaining West Coast oil refineries and one of the most strategically important petroleum terminals in Canada. The Burnaby Refinery has operated continuously since 1935 and the Trans Mountain pipeline ends at Burnaby Terminal.
For trades workers, that means: real industrial work close to home, on the SkyTrain line, without the airport-airport-camp logistics that define Fort Mac or Kitimat.
What's actually hiring in Burnaby right now
Burnaby Refinery. Parkland announced the 55,000 bpd refinery had entered its 2026 planned turnaround while Sunoco pursued the Parkland acquisition. Turnaround windows add temporary contractor demand. With a Nelson Complexity Index of 9.1, this is a meaningfully complex facility — coker, hydrotreater, alkylation. Pipefitter, welder, millwright, instrument tech and electrician work is steady and pays well.
Trans Mountain Burnaby Terminal and Westridge Marine Terminal. Burnaby Terminal is the western end of the Trans Mountain pipeline system and the distribution point for refined product to the refinery and crude to Westridge for tanker loading. The 2.6km underground tunnel between the two terminals (built for the expansion) is now in operation. Ongoing maintenance work runs continuously. Pipeline maintenance staged from Burnaby ran a segment shutdown into Hope in March 2026.
Millennium Line SkyTrain extension — Broadway Subway adjacency. The Millennium Line in Burnaby is staying busy with stations like Brentwood, Gilmore and Production Way absorbing the development around them. Broadway Subway terminus at Arbutus in Vancouver pulls into Brentwood when completed.
Brentwood, Metrotown, Lougheed mixed-use towers. Burnaby has been quietly one of Metro Vancouver's most aggressive tower-building cities. Concord Brentwood, Etoile, Solo District, The Amazing Brentwood, City of Lougheed — these are billion-dollar multi-tower programs running for years.
SFU Burnaby campus and BCIT. Steady capital and renovation work, especially mechanical and electrical retrofits.
Trades Burnaby hires hardest
- Pipefitter/Steamfitter — Compulsory in BC; refinery turnaround and terminal mechanical drive most of the demand. Pipefitter Burnaby | pipefitter resume guide.
- Industrial Electrician — Compulsory; refinery instrument and motor work. Electrician Burnaby | electrician resume guide.
- Welder (B-pressure, alloy) — Refinery vessel and pipe work. Welder Burnaby | welder resume guide.
- Refrigeration & Air Conditioning Mechanic — Compulsory; commercial tower work. HVAC Burnaby | HVAC resume guide.
- Industrial Millwright — Pumps, compressors, rotating equipment at the refinery. Millwright Burnaby | millwright resume guide.
- Construction Electrician — Compulsory; the tower programs.
- Sheet Metal Worker — Compulsory; commercial ducting.
- Plumber — Tower programs, institutional. Plumber Burnaby | plumber resume guide.
- Heavy Equipment Operator — Civil for tower foundations, SkyTrain corridor work. HEO Burnaby | HEO resume guide.
- Carpenter — Form work and finishing. Carpenter Burnaby | carpenter resume guide.
How BC certification works
Burnaby falls under SkilledTradesBC (formerly ITA), with seven compulsory trades now requiring active registration to work legally on covered sites:
- Construction Electrician
- Industrial Electrician
- Powerline Technician
- Pipefitter/Steamfitter
- Refrigeration & Air Conditioning Mechanic
- Sheet Metal Worker
- Gasfitter Class A and B
If you've been working uncertified in any of these — common in older refinery and industrial workforces — the Trade Qualifier or Uncertified Experienced Worker pathway is the catch-up route. Effective August 1, 2026, SkilledTradesBC is tightening exam attempt rules: four unsuccessful Trade Qualifier exam attempts will require apprentice registration through the Portal to continue working.
For the refinery and terminal work specifically, layer on:
- CSTS safety training
- H2S Alive (especially refinery)
- Confined space, fall protection, WHMIS 2015
- TDG (Transportation of Dangerous Goods) — common requirement for terminal work
- Site-specific orientations for Sunoco/Burnaby Refinery and Trans Mountain
What you'll earn in Burnaby
Hourly journeyperson base. Refinery turnaround work pays higher with shift premiums and overtime layered.
| Trade | Burnaby hourly wages (low / median / high) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Pipefitter/Steamfitter | $25.00 / $38.51 / $57.55 | NOC 72301; refinery turnaround work can price above the median |
| Industrial Electrician | $28.00 / $46.50 / $53.00 | NOC 72201 |
| Welder (B-pressure) | $26.00 / $37.50 / $49.50 | NOC 72106; specialty alloy work may price higher |
| Refrigeration & AC Mechanic | $23.50 / $42.00 / $62.00 | NOC 72402 |
| Industrial Millwright | $23.00 / $37.00 / $48.08 | NOC 72400 |
| Construction Electrician | $21.82 / $34.57 / $47.69 | NOC 72200 |
| Sheet Metal Worker | $22.98 / $32.17 / $45.95 | NOC 72102 |
| Plumber | $22.00 / $30.00 / $48.00 | NOC 72300 |
| Heavy Equipment Operator | $26.00 / $37.00 / $50.00 | NOC 73400 |
| Carpenter | $22.50 / $31.50 / $43.00 | NOC 72310 |
Source: Job Bank — Lower Mainland–Southwest Region wage report, updated November 19, 2025. These are regional low / median / high hourly wages; turnaround windows at the Burnaby Refinery can push effective hourly significantly higher with 60-hour weeks and OT premiums.
Who's hiring: contractors active in Burnaby
For Burnaby Refinery: Worley, Bantrel, Black & McDonald industrial, Aluma Systems (scaffolding), Brand Industrial Services, Wood Canada, Aecon Industrial, Ledcor Industrial.
For Trans Mountain Burnaby Terminal: Macro Industries, Trans Mountain direct hire for some maintenance roles, WCSB, and the pipeline integrity rotation contractors.
For tower and ICI work: PCL Constructors Westcoast, Ledcor, Graham Construction, EllisDon, Aecon, Bird Construction, ICON Pacific, Marcon Construction (especially on the Brentwood and Lougheed programs), Concord Pacific construction division, Boffo, Anthem Properties, plus the dense mechanical/electrical sub-trade roster.
The Burnaby advantage
A Pipefitter with B-pressure and refinery experience living in East Burnaby is 15 minutes from work without ever crossing a bridge. A Refrigeration Mechanic working Brentwood and Metrotown towers can SkyTrain to most jobs. That's a lifestyle most of Metro Vancouver trades workers would trade their truck for.
The risk is over-concentration. If the refinery announces a long-term outage scope reduction, or if Trans Mountain reduces its M&O footprint, the industrial Burnaby market gets thin fast. The hedge: keep your mobility options open — be ready to follow turnaround work to Edmonton, Sarnia, or Saint John when the local cycle goes quiet.
Where to start
Burnaby industrial recruiters filter hard on STC compulsory registration, B-pressure status (for pressure trades), and refinery-specific safety stacks. Make those visible on your resume.
Drop your resume into your TradeCraft profile — we'll surface your trade designation, certification number, and travel/rotation preference to recruiters running Burnaby Refinery turnarounds and Trans Mountain M&O work.