Rates vary widely by region, trade and the specific job, so treat every figure below as a guide, not a quote. As a rough national picture for 2025 to 2026, most residential trades bill somewhere between $50 and $200 an hour to the homeowner, with skilled licensed trades (electrical, plumbing, HVAC, gas) at the higher end and labour-led trades (painting, general carpentry) at the lower end. The biggest single driver is where you work: the Greater Toronto Area, Vancouver and the territories sit well above the Prairies and Atlantic Canada.
These are indicative published ranges, not a price list. Your own number depends on your overhead, your reputation and the job in front of you. Work out your real rate using Pricing a Job and Understanding Markup rather than copying a competitor's.
Why a billout rate is not a wage
Published wage data tells you what employees earn, not what you charge. Statistics Canada put the average specialty trade contractor wage at roughly $37 an hour for 2024. The rate a self-employed tradesperson bills a homeowner is typically two and a half to three and a half times the employee wage, because it has to cover overhead, profit, insurance, vehicle, tools, and all the hours you cannot bill: quoting, driving, chasing payment and admin. So a $37 wage points to an indicative billout floor around $90 an hour before any profit. That multiplier is a directional rule of thumb, not a formula.
Indicative hourly ranges by trade
The figures below are cross-referenced published ranges for residential work. They are estimates and they move with the market.
- Electrician: roughly $80 to $150 an hour, higher in Vancouver and the GTA, with first-hour or call-out fees common
- Plumber: roughly $80 to $150 an hour standard, often $180 to $300 for the first hour of emergency or after-hours work
- HVAC technician: roughly $100 to $190 an hour depending on region
- Gas technician (call-out): roughly $100 to $210 an hour
- Carpenter or framer: roughly $50 to $110 an hour, or priced per square foot for framing
- Painter: roughly $25 to $80 an hour, or $1 to $4 a square foot for walls
- Tiler or flooring installer: roughly $4 to $12 a square foot to install
- Roofer: roughly $4 to $9 a square foot supplied and installed for asphalt shingle
- Concrete: roughly $10 to $30 a square foot for a pad, more for decorative work
- Landscaper: roughly $45 to $110 an hour for a crew
- Mobile welder: roughly $80 to $300 an hour, highest in the big-city markets
Add a meaningful premium in the territories (often 20 to 40 percent) and for emergency, after-hours and difficult-access work.
Indicative job prices
Homeowners search for whole-job prices more than hourly rates. As a guide only, expect wide ranges: a 200-amp panel upgrade in the $2,500 to $5,000 area; a water heater replacement around $900 to $2,000; a furnace install around $3,000 to $8,000; an asphalt re-roof on a 1,500 square foot roof around $9,000 to $16,500; a single 200 square foot room painted around $200 to $500. None of these is a quote. Soil, access, materials, finish level and your local market move every one of them.
How to set your own number
- Start from your costs, not the market. Use Pricing a Job and Understanding Markup to find the rate that actually pays you.
- Charge for travel, quoting and admin somewhere, because they are real costs.
- Do not race other quotes to the bottom. Winning more than roughly a third of the jobs you quote can mean you are priced too low. Compete on trust and reliability using Quoting to Win Without Racing to the Bottom.
- Quote one all-in price. Advertising a low base rate and then adding a mandatory call-out or fuel fee that was not disclosed up front is drip pricing, which is prohibited under the federal Competition Act. The only thing you may add on top of an advertised price is government tax.
Common mistakes
- Copying a competitor's rate. Their overhead, skill and reputation are not yours. Price from your own numbers.
- Quoting an hourly rate for a whole job. Homeowners want a fixed price for the result, not the clock. Price the job, then check it against your hourly target.
- Forgetting the unbillable hours. Quoting, driving and chasing money are unpaid unless your rate covers them.
- Underpricing to win. A queue of cheap jobs can earn less than a smaller book of properly priced work.
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