City trades hiring guide
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Vancouver Trades Jobs in 2026: LNG Tail, Transit Build, Tower Crane Reset
Vancouver skilled trades hiring guide — LNG Canada Phase 2 watch, Trans Mountain operations, Broadway and SkyTrain extensions, SkilledTradesBC compulsory framework, wage ranges, and contractors hiring now.
Free for workers · city-specific hiring context
Vancouver isn't the hiring market it was two years ago. Tower crane counts are off their 2023 peak, residential starts are softer, and a chunk of the industrial trades that worked LNG Canada Phase 1 came home in 2024 looking for the next move. But the city's still hiring — the work just shifted, and the trades who follow it are doing fine.
Three things changed the map.
What's actually hiring in Vancouver right now
The LNG Canada Phase 2 watch. Phase 1 loaded first cargo in June 2025; at peak there were more than 9,400 skilled Canadians on site in Kitimat under JGC Fluor Joint Venture (JFJV). Phase 2 has not taken FID; LNG Canada describes it as a potential expansion subject to a future investment decision. Treat it as watch-list, not active hiring. Cedar LNG construction (Haisla Nation / Pembina project, Kitimat) is peaking through 2026, so industrial work continues even without Phase 2 sanction.
Trans Mountain operations and maintenance. The pipeline expansion is in service; the long tail is ongoing M&O work. Burnaby Terminal, the 2.6km Burnaby-to-Westridge underground tunnel, and the Westridge Marine Terminal all run continuous maintenance crews. Pipeline integrity work runs the BC interior corridor.
Broadway Subway extension and SkyTrain south of the Fraser. Broadway Subway is in fitout and approaching final mechanical and electrical work. The Surrey-Langley SkyTrain extension is now full-build across all 8 stations with 30%+ of elevated guideway in place — trackwork started end of April 2026, station fitout work ramps through 2026 and 2027 (in-service late 2029).
Refining and process turnaround work. The Parkland-built Burnaby Refinery entered its 2026 planned turnaround after Sunoco announced its Parkland acquisition. The site keeps a year-round maintenance base, with turnaround windows pulling in substantially larger contractor crews.
Hospital and post-secondary capital. New St. Paul's Hospital construction continues. UBC, SFU, BCIT all have steady capital programs. Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster is in late-stage Phase 2.
Trades the Lower Mainland can't get enough of
- Refrigeration & Air Conditioning Mechanic — Compulsory in BC, and chronic shortage. Hospital chillers, commercial cooling, increasingly data centre infrastructure. See HVAC Vancouver jobs and the HVAC resume guide.
- Construction Electrician — Compulsory, in demand across transit, commercial and institutional. Electrician Vancouver | electrician resume guide.
- Pipefitter/Steamfitter — Compulsory, heavy on refinery maintenance, mechanical rooms, and LNG-adjacent industrial. Pipefitter Vancouver | pipefitter resume guide.
- Industrial Electrician — Compulsory and tight, especially with refinery and LNG experience.
- Sheet Metal Worker — Compulsory; high demand on hospital and large institutional.
- Welder (CWB, B-pressure, alloy) — Industrial and pipeline. Welder Vancouver | welder resume guide.
- Industrial Millwright — Refinery, pulp/paper, terminals. Millwright Vancouver | millwright resume guide.
- Plumber — Hospital, commercial high-rise, multi-family. Plumber Vancouver | plumber resume guide.
- Heavy Equipment Operator — Transit civil, site prep. HEO Vancouver | HEO resume guide.
- Carpenter — Steady, especially formwork on civil and mid-rise. Carpenter Vancouver | carpenter resume guide.
How BC certification works after the 2022 reset
This is the framework people most often get wrong. The old Industry Training Authority (ITA) was renamed SkilledTradesBC in late 2022 when the province reintroduced compulsory certification after two decades without it.
Seven trades are now compulsory (called Skilled Trades Certification or STC trades):
- Construction Electrician
- Industrial Electrician
- Powerline Technician
- Pipefitter/Steamfitter
- Refrigeration & Air Conditioning Mechanic
- Sheet Metal Worker
- Gasfitter Class A and B (Class A became a Red Seal trade in BC in 2023)
Three additional automotive trades are in the phase-in pipeline. If you work in a compulsory trade you must be a registered apprentice, a certified journeyperson, or registered as a Trade Qualifier or Uncertified Experienced Worker.
The August 2026 policy change matters. SkilledTradesBC is tightening Level Challenger and Trade Qualifier rules effective August 1, 2026. Level Challengers will need to write level exams in sequence; Trade Qualifiers with four unsuccessful exam attempts must register as apprentices through the Portal to keep working. If you're sitting on uncertified experience in a compulsory trade, the cleaner move now is to start that paperwork rather than wait.
For non-compulsory trades (Plumber, Welder, Millwright, Carpenter, Heavy Equipment Operator and others) certification is still valuable and Red Seal-endorsed via SkilledTradesBC, but not legally required to work in the trade.
What you'll earn in the Lower Mainland
Hourly journeyperson base. Add benefits load (often 25–30% on union sites) and shift premiums.
| Trade | Vancouver hourly wages (low / median / high) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Refrigeration & AC Mechanic | $23.50 / $42.00 / $62.00 | NOC 72402; critical-environment premiums sit toward the high end |
| Construction Electrician | $21.82 / $34.57 / $47.69 | NOC 72200 |
| Industrial Electrician | $28.00 / $46.50 / $53.00 | NOC 72201; refinery / LNG-adjacent premium |
| Pipefitter/Steamfitter | $25.00 / $38.51 / $57.55 | NOC 72301 |
| Sheet Metal Worker | $22.98 / $32.17 / $45.95 | NOC 72102 |
| Welder (B-pressure) | $26.00 / $37.50 / $49.50 | NOC 72106; specialty alloy work may price above survey median |
| Industrial Millwright | $23.00 / $37.00 / $48.08 | NOC 72400 |
| 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; pipeline integrity and LNG-adjacent work can pay significantly above the reported medians with travel, per-diem, and shift premiums layered on.
Who's hiring: contractors active right now
EllisDon, Ledcor, PCL Constructors Westcoast, Graham Construction, Aecon, Pomerleau, Modern Niagara, Black & McDonald, Houle Electric, Western Pacific Enterprises, Tundra Process Solutions, Trotter & Morton (mechanical), Smith Bros & Wilson, Bird Construction, Acciona-Ghella JV (Broadway Subway), Skytrain Surrey-Langley Limited Partnership (SLSE), JGC-Fluor Joint Venture (LNG Canada, Kitimat-based but Vancouver-recruiting), Aluma Systems (scaffolding), and the Parkland/Sunoco-contracted maintenance shops working Burnaby Refinery (Worley, Bantrel, Black & McDonald industrial).
For Trans Mountain operations work: Macro Industries, WCSB, PowerTel, and the pipeline integrity rotation contractors.
The trap of being "almost certified"
Lower Mainland hiring under the new compulsory framework is more paper-driven than it was three years ago. Recruiters now filter hard on STC registration status for the compulsory trades. If you've been working in pipefitting or refrigeration for years without ever registering with SkilledTradesBC, you're going to hit a wall fast — not because you can't do the work, but because the employer can't legally put you on the job. The Trade Qualifier pathway is the bridge. Use it before August 1.
Where to start
Vancouver hiring rewards a clean, machine-readable resume that surfaces the right STC trade designation, certification number, and travel preference. Recruiters here filter on those fields first.
Drop your resume into your TradeCraft profile — we'll auto-extract your tickets, employers, and trade, then keep your contact info private until you accept a match.