DVS 5711 · Career
You're nearly done with your DVS. You've spent months learning how a building works: how to repair it, diagnose it, maintain it. Now comes the real question: where do you put all that to work?
The answer isn't the same for everyone. Here's an honest look at your options, to help you pick a first job that fits who you are.
What your DVS really taught you
The DVS 5711, General Building Maintenance (a Quebec vocational diploma), is 900 hours of training, or about 8 months full-time, according to the official program sheet on Inforoute FPT. It covers, among other things:
- occupational health and safety;
- minor general maintenance work and maintenance carpentry;
- diagnosing simple problems with a building's mechanical systems;
- maintaining air conditioning, ventilation and fire protection systems;
- reading building plans;
- workplace communication and building administration.
Source: Inforoute FPT, program sheet for DVS 5711 General Building Maintenance (inforoutefpt.org).
Above all, remember this: your DVS didn't just teach you to fix things. It taught you to read a building. And that skill is rarer, and more valuable, than people think.
The main paths after your DVS
1. Maintaining a building
This is the best-known path: maintenance attendant, janitor or maintenance worker in an apartment building, a school, a residence or an office building.
What you get out of it: you know your building inside out, you settle into a routine, and you become the person the place can't do without.
What you should know: you often spend your days in the same building, and a big part of the job can be cleaning and monitoring. Schedules vary a lot from one employer to the next. Ask about it in the interview.
2. A service or property management company
You travel from one building to another for a property manager or a service company. More variety, more driving, and often a specialty that grows over time.
3. Home maintenance
This is the path graduates know least about, and yet it's one of the richest. In a house, everything changes from one address to the next: the age, the materials, what previous owners did (or didn't do). You deal directly with the homeowner, who counts on you to tell them the truth about their home.
Houses or buildings: how to choose?
Ask yourself three questions.
Do I like variety or routine? If you like knowing one building inside out, a building job will suit you. If you get bored quickly, houses will keep you on your toes.
Do I like talking to people? In a house, you're in someone's home. You explain, you reassure, you recommend. If you enjoy that, it's a huge strength.
Where do I want to be in five years? Some jobs lead to a lead role; others stay hands-on only. Ask the employer straight out: "What does the career path actually look like?"
A role with a future: Residential Maintenance Lead
More and more Quebec homeowners are looking for someone who looks after their home over the long haul, not just someone to call when something breaks. And on the condo side, the law now requires an up-to-date maintenance logbook (we cover it in detail in our article on Quebec's Bill 16).
That's where the Residential Maintenance Lead role comes in:
- you do the maintenance work and small repairs for your members yourself;
- you inspect their homes, the ones in your portfolio;
- you build their preventive maintenance plan;
- you make sure it's followed, season after season;
- you become the person the homeowner relies on for their home.
That's exactly what your DVS prepared you for: reading a building, spotting what's about to fail, documenting, prioritizing.
What Beau-frère à louer offers DVS graduates
At Beau-frère à louer, the Residential Maintenance Lead position is open to graduates and soon-to-be graduates of the DVS in General Building Maintenance.
Your first six months are your onboarding, in a paid job, in the field, in our members' homes: maintenance, small repairs, and inspections alongside an experienced lead. You inspect better what you've already repaired. Then, after 6 months and 10 supervised inspections and training in building maintenance plans, you become a Residential Maintenance Lead, at $28.50/h, with your own portfolio of about 50 homes and a few condo boards.
From day one:
- $26/h, and 35 paid hours every week, guaranteed;
- days, Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.;
- a company van that you take home;
- $400 a year for your tools, and work clothes provided;
- a $500 bonus and group insurance 50% paid after 3 months;
- the holiday week paid.
The position is new, and we'll be upfront about it: our first leads help shape how the work gets done. If you like the idea of having a say, now's the time.
Important: Beau-frère à louer does not do electrical or plumbing work. When an inspection turns up those needs, they're handed to licensed partner companies.
Finishing soon? Here's what to do now
- Check your program end date and start applying a few months ahead.
- Prepare two or three examples of work you did in the shop or on a work placement: photos say more than a résumé.
- Ask every employer about the career path. A good first job leads somewhere.
Key takeaways
- DVS 5711 taught you to read a building, not just to fix things.
- Three main paths: maintaining a building, a service or property management company, or home maintenance.
- Before accepting a job, ask the employer: "What does the career path actually look like?"
- At Beau-frère à louer, the Residential Maintenance Lead role is within reach after 6 months, at $28.50/h.
Connect-forces
Have your DVS 5711, or finishing it?
Discover the Residential Maintenance Lead position. Applying takes 2 minutes, and soon-to-be graduates are welcome.
Not sure? Find your fit in four questions or see all the jobs.
Connect-forces, the Beau-frère à louer network.