Manitoba charges a combined 12 percent (5 percent GST plus 7 percent provincial RST), pays a minimum wage of $16.00 an hour (rising to $16.40 on 1 October 2026), and gives you 60 days to register a builders lien on all contracts, with an unusually low 7.5 percent holdback. Prompt payment has been in force since 1 April 2025, your board is WCB Manitoba with the lowest average rate in the country, and the small claims limit is $20,000. Manitoba also has a quirk that catches everyone: gas permits come from the Office of the Fire Commissioner, not the utility. This guide is the one-page summary; each topic links to a fuller guide.
Sales tax
Manitoba did not harmonize. You charge the 5 percent federal GST, which is recoverable, plus a 7 percent provincial Retail Sales Tax (RST, often just called PST), which is not, for a combined 12 percent. The RST rule for trades is that a contractor who supplies and installs materials into real property is the end consumer and pays 7 percent RST on those materials at purchase, rather than charging RST on the contract price. Mechanical and electrical trades are an exception, they collect RST on their total selling price for the work, so plumbers, electricians and HVAC fitters operate under a different rule from a general renovator.
Minimum wage
Manitoba's general minimum wage is $16.00 an hour and steps up to $16.40 on 1 October 2026, the annual review date. Note that the construction sector has its own higher mandatory wage floors under the Construction Industry Wages Act for employees on ICI and heavy-construction sites, well above the general minimum, so if you hire on those sites check the CIWA schedule, not just the general rate.
Builders lien and holdback
Under The Builders' Liens Act, you have 60 days to preserve a lien by registering it on title, and this 60-day period applies to all contracts entered on or after the late-2024 reforms (the older 40-day period still governs genuinely old contracts). The holdback is 7.5 percent, not the 10 percent used in most other provinces, a rate Manitoba has used since the Act's inception. After registration, you have an unusually generous 2 years to perfect the lien by starting an action, although a notice to commence can shorten that to 30 days. The 7.5 percent holdback is the figure to remember, it is lower than almost everywhere else.
Prompt payment
Prompt payment has been in force in Manitoba since 1 April 2025, applying to contracts entered on or after that date (it does not apply retroactively to older contracts). An owner must pay a proper invoice within 28 days, a contractor must pay subcontractors within 7 days of being paid, and disputes go to adjudication through the Manitoba Prompt Payment Adjudication Authority (MPPAA), with the decision payable within 10 days.
Workers comp
Your board is WCB Manitoba. The 2026 average premium is about $0.95 per $100 of assessable payroll, the lowest average rate in Canada, reflecting the board's healthy reserve, with assessable earnings capped at a high $171,500. That $0.95 is the all-industry average: your construction classification rate will be higher, so confirm your class rate with WCB Manitoba rather than budgeting on the average.
Licensing
Manitoba has nine compulsory trades, and unusually three of them are personal-service trades (electrologist, esthetician and hairstylist) rather than construction trades. Plumber and sheet metal worker, compulsory in most provinces, are voluntary in Manitoba. Manitoba Hydro issues electrical permits, but gas installation permits come from the Office of the Fire Commissioner, not Hydro and not the apprenticeship body. That split is a common and costly mix-up, so do not assume the utility handles gas.
Small claims and quirks
Manitoba's small claims limit is $20,000, raised from $15,000 on 1 January 2025. Two Manitoba quirks stand out: the 7.5 percent holdback, the lowest in the country, and gas permits issued by the Office of the Fire Commissioner. Manitoba also passed a Home Improvement Contracts law (Bill 14) requiring written contracts for renovation work over $500, but its in-force date was not confirmed as proclaimed at the time of writing, so check the Manitoba proclamations list before relying on it (compare Saskatchewan's narrower regime in Working in Saskatchewan).
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