Handyman pay in Quebec: how much you really earn

Pay

Handyman pay in Quebec, according to the official numbers

The Government of Canada's Job Bank publishes hourly wages for the job title "handyman/woman". It belongs to NOC 73201, "General building maintenance workers and building superintendents". Here are the low, median and high hourly wages, by region:

• Province of Quebec: $17.00 — $25.00 — $36.25;
• Montréal region: $17.00 — $22.00 — $33.65;
• Laval region: $16.60 — $25.00 — $33.33;
• Montérégie (Longueuil): $17.00 — $25.00 — $36.25;
• Outaouais (Gatineau): $23.00 — $27.88 — $37.00.

The median wage is the one in the middle: half of people earn more, half earn less. Three things to keep in mind before drawing conclusions. These numbers cover the 2023-2024 period (Statistics Canada's Labour Force Survey, updated November 19, 2025): today's rates may be different. The group is broad: it also includes building superintendents. And an hourly rate tells you nothing about the hours you'll actually work.

Source: Job Bank, "Handyman/woman" wages in Quebec (NOC 73201), accessed October 5, 2026.

For context, Quebec's general minimum wage is $16.60 an hour since May 1, 2026.

Source: CNESST, Minimum wage in Quebec, accessed October 5, 2026.

Why two "$26 an hour" offers don't pay the same

In handyman job postings, in Montréal and elsewhere, the advertised rates vary a lot. But the hourly rate is only half the story. Four things change what actually lands in your bank account.

Guaranteed hours, or not

"Full time" doesn't always mean "guaranteed hours". If you're sent home when things are slow, your pay drops with the appointment book. Ask how many hours are paid every week, no matter how much work there is.

Paid hours or billable hours

Some jobs only pay for the time spent at the client's. Driving between two clients, waiting, a stop at the hardware store: all of that can fall through the cracks. Ask whether you're paid from start time to end time, or only for billed time.

The vehicle, gas and tools

If you have to use your own vehicle, gas, maintenance and wear come out of your pocket. Same goes for tools. Two offers at the same rate can leave you with very different amounts at the end of the month.

Employee or self-employed

When you're self-employed, the rate you bill the client isn't your salary. More on that below. For a full comparison of both paths, read our article self-employed or salaried?

The math that matters: your pay over a year

To compare two offers, forget the rate on its own. Do this calculation:

1. multiply the hourly rate by the number of guaranteed hours per week;
2. multiply by the number of paid weeks in the year;
3. subtract what comes out of your pocket to do the job: vehicle, gas, tools.

Example: 35 h × $26 = $910 per week, gross. Over 52 paid weeks, that's $47,320 gross per year. At Beau-frère à louer, those 52 weeks are real: the holiday week is paid.

Now take an offer at the same rate, but with no guaranteed hours. A slow 28-hour week is $728 instead of $910. Add gas for your own vehicle, and the gap grows even more. Same pay on paper, two very different paycheques.

Being self-employed: what your rate has to cover

A self-employed handyman often bills a higher rate than an employee earns. That's normal: that rate has to pay for everything. The vehicle and gas, insurance, tools, bookkeeping and taxes. It also has to cover the hours you can't bill: answering calls, driving out to give a quote, chasing a late payment.

And slow weeks, vacations and sick days are paid by no one. Before you compare your self-employed rate to a salary, run the numbers over a full year, with all those expenses. For some people, it's worth it. For others, stability is worth more.

What Beau-frère à louer pays

At Beau-frère à louer, the handyman position is a salaried job, daytime, Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.:

• $26 an hour from day one, $27 after 12 months;
• 35 paid hours every week, guaranteed from your very first day, with a paycheque every week. A slower week? Those hours go to training, shadowing an experienced colleague, maintaining the van and inspecting our members' homes;
• a company van, gas paid, which you keep at home so you can head straight to your first client (for work only);
• $400 a year for your tools, and work clothes provided;
• a $500 bonus at the end of your first 3 months, group insurance 50% paid after 3 months, and the holiday week paid.

No sales, no quotes: your schedule is prepared by our call centre. You do the work, then the invoice on site in the Beau-frère à louer app, and you hand it to the client. No electrical or plumbing work: that's not our trade.

The pay path: from $26 to a Pro position

Your pay isn't frozen. The path is laid out in advance:

• $26/h when you're hired, then $27/h after 12 months;
• after 6 months, if you want it, Residential Maintenance Lead at $28.50/h, after 10 supervised inspections and training in building maintenance plans;
• later on, if it appeals to you, the Pro position, with income directly tied to your work, from $50,000 to $80,000 a year depending on your work.

And if you love your trade just as it is, staying a handyman is a choice we respect.

We have one position per region: Montréal (East), Montréal (West), Laval, Longueuil and Gatineau. You don't need to have worked in the trade, but you need to have done the work: a bathroom redone, a floor installed, a basement finished. Attach photos of your projects to your application. Then: a 15-minute call, a one-hour hands-on trial near you (at our Laval warehouse for the Montréal area), and an offer in less than two weeks.