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Building superintendent: what the job actually is

The person who keeps a building working: fixing, cleaning, checking and answering the knock on the door when something breaks.

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Building superintendent: quick facts

Building superintendent salary in Ontario: the median pay is $24.00 an hour, according to Job Bank (reference period 2023-2024). Its three-year outlook in Ontario is moderate. The job usually needs a shorter college programme or apprenticeship, or over six months of on-the-job training.

Median pay in Ontario
$24.00 an hour
Pay range (low to high)
$17.95 to $39.00 an hour
Job outlook, 2025-2027
Moderate
People working in it in Ontario
32,900
Usually needs
Usually a shorter college programme or apprenticeship, or over six months of on-the-job training

Source: Job Bank wages (updated 19 November 2025) and job prospects (updated 10 December 2025), NOC 73201. Pay varies by region and experience.

The work

What this job actually is

  • Looking after the day-to-day running of a building, most often an apartment building: repairs, cleaning, inspections, garbage, heating and plumbing problems, and keeping common areas safe.
  • Job Bank groups general building maintenance workers and building superintendents together, so the figures cover everyone from a maintenance worker at a school to a resident super in an apartment.
  • Job Bank says secondary school education is usually required, previous maintenance experience may be required, and a journeyperson certificate in one or more trades or a building operator certificate may be required for building superintendents.
  • It is a jack-of-all-trades job. You do a lot of small things across trades, and you call a specialist when it is beyond you.
  • You are the person the residents and the owner both go to, so the people side is as large a part of the job as the repairs.

A Tuesday

What a normal day looks like

Not a good day or a bad one. The ordinary version, which is what you would actually be living.

  1. 7:00 — Walk the building: check the hallways, stairwells, the boiler room and the garbage area for anything that broke overnight.
  2. 7:45 — A message from a resident: no hot water. You go check the unit and the tank.
  3. 8:30 — Replace a tap washer, or a light, or reset a breaker. Small and fiddly, and you did it right.
  4. 10:00 — Meet a contractor at the building, show them the leak and make sure they close the wall after.
  5. 11:00 — Fix a hallway door that will not latch. You carry a lot of different tools around in your head.
  6. 12:00 — Lunch, interrupted. Someone is locked out.
  7. 13:00 — Prepare a unit for the next tenant: patch, paint, clean, test every fixture.
  8. 15:00 — Update the log of work orders, order parts, and report what you cannot do to the owner or manager.
  9. 16:30 — End of shift. If you live in the building, the knocks on the door do not stop.

Honestly

Who loves this, and who should not do it

The second list is the useful one. Nearly every careers page leaves it out, which is why nearly every careers page reads like an advert.

You may like this if
  • You like fixing things in a lot of different ways and learning something new on every call.
  • You are patient with people who are having a bad day because their heat or water went out.
  • You like being the one the building depends on, and seeing the results of your work.
  • You like a job with a mix of walking around, thinking and repairs rather than the same task for eight hours.
  • You are interested in a trade, like electrical, plumbing or HVAC, and want to see them all up close first.
You may hate this if
  • You do not want to be on call. In some building jobs, particularly if you live on site, an emergency is your job even at night.
  • You dislike dealing with complaints. Residents contact you when something is wrong, not when it works.
  • You want to specialise. This job asks you to be a bit of everything and an expert in none.
  • You are uncomfortable in boiler rooms, crawl spaces and old buildings with surprises in the walls.
  • You do not like being caught between owners who want costs down and residents who want everything fixed.
  • You dislike dirty work. Garbage, drains and burst pipes are part of it.

The route in

How you actually get there in Ontario

  1. Start with general maintenance experience

    Job Bank says secondary school education is usually required and previous maintenance experience may be required. A summer job on a school, hospital or grounds maintenance crew, or helping a handyperson, is a way in.

  2. Learn one trade properly, or get a building operator certificate

    Job Bank says a journeyperson certificate in one or more trades or a building operator certificate may be required for building superintendents. I did not find a Skilled Trades Ontario trade with a building operator title, so ask a college or a building owner what certificate they accept before you spend money.

  3. Apply to property management companies and building owners

    Many superintendent jobs are advertised by property management companies and housing providers. A resident superintendent job may include housing. Ask exactly what is included and what the on-call expectations are.

  4. Grow into property or facility management

    Some superintendents move into property manager or facility roles, where the work is mostly organising people and budgets rather than repairs.

Where this comes from: Job Bank: General building maintenance workers and building superintendents, requirements in Ontario · Skilled Trades Ontario: Trade information, list of trades

The money

Building superintendent salary in Ontario

Job Bank's own figures, quoted rather than summarised, with the period they describe — so you can tell how old they are and go and check them.

$17.95
Low (hourly)
$24.00
Median (hourly)
$39.00
High (hourly)

Ontario, NOC 73201. Reference period 2023-2024, last updated by Job Bank on 19 November 2025. Wages vary a lot by region inside Ontario and by how long you have been doing it — the low figure is roughly where you start, not what the job is worth.

Source: Job Bank — Building superintendent wages in Ontario

Where it is heading

The outlook for the next three years

Job Bank publishes a three-year outlook for every job in every province. It is the closest thing to an honest forecast, and it moves, so read it as a weather report rather than a verdict.

Ontario, 2025-2027

Moderate3 out of 5 stars

  • Employment growth will lead to a few new positions.
  • Several positions will become available due to retirements.
  • There are a moderate number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation.

What that rating means: how many openings Job Bank expects in Ontario for this kind of work against how many people are likely to be looking — not whether it is a good job. A “limited” rating means more competition for each opening; it does not close the door, and it can change before you are ready to walk through it.

32,900
people work in this job in Ontario
11%
are women (48% across all jobs)
16%
are self-employed (15% across all jobs)

Source: Job Bank — General building maintenance workers and building superintendents job prospects in Ontario (NOC 73201). Outlook updated by Job Bank on 10 December 2025; read by us on 5 October 2026.

Before you leave school

Things you can do now

  • Take construction, shop or electrical courses. They give you the basic vocabulary of building systems.
  • Volunteer with the school's custodial or facilities staff on a project, if the school allows it, and ask what a normal day looks like.
  • Fix something at home properly: a dripping tap, a loose hinge, a squeaky door. Learn what you do not know.
  • Ask about OYAP if you are drawn to a specific trade like electrical or plumbing as a base for this work.

Test it

Do this before you decide anything

Reading about a job tells you almost nothing. This is designed to be done alone, this week, for free.

Walk a building like a superintendent would

About 60 minutes
  1. Walk through your own home, school or a public building you know well, and write down eight things that need maintenance or are about to: a worn door, a stained ceiling, a flickering light.
  2. For each, write down which trade fixes it and whether you could do it yourself safely. Do not touch anything electrical, gas-related or structural.
  3. Pick the one simple repair that is safe, like a loose cabinet hinge or a squeaky door, and fix it with the right tool. Look up how first.
  4. Ask the person who looks after your building, or a family member who owns a home, what the most annoying repair they have had to deal with was.

What it tells you. If you found the walk interesting and enjoyed fixing the small thing, building maintenance could suit you and a school or maintenance helper job is a good test. If the list felt like a chore and the repair annoyed you, you may prefer a more specialised trade, or a different kind of work altogether.

Better than any article

Questions for somebody who does this job

Most people say yes to a teenager who asks good questions. These are the ones that get real answers rather than encouragement.

  1. “What is the first thing you check when you start your day?”
  2. “How often are you called out of hours, and what do you do?”
  3. “Which trade skill has been the most useful to you?”
  4. “What does a resident super's life look like when work and home are in the same building?”
  5. “How did you get your first superintendent job?”
  6. “What would you tell someone choosing between this and a formal trade?”

Could you own one of these?

The part other career sites never mention

Partly. Most people in this group are employees of building owners or property companies, and Job Bank shows self-employment is not much higher than average for it. But a skilled handyperson or small maintenance contractor who services several buildings is a real small business. It usually starts after you have a trade qualification and a reputation.

Business 101 is free and teaches that part

Quick answers

Questions people ask about this job

How much does a building superintendent make in Ontario?

The median pay for a building superintendent in Ontario is $24.00 an hour, according to Job Bank (reference period 2023-2024, updated 19 November 2025). The range Job Bank publishes runs from $17.95 to $39.00 an hour. Pay varies by region, employer and experience.

What is the job outlook for a building superintendent in Ontario?

Job Bank rates the employment outlook for this work in Ontario as moderate for 2025-2027 (updated 10 December 2025). Employment growth will lead to a few new positions. Several positions will become available due to retirements. There are a moderate number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation. A lower rating means more competition for each opening, not that no one is hiring.

What do you need to become a building superintendent in Ontario?

Job Bank says this work usually needs a shorter college programme or apprenticeship, or over six months of on-the-job training. The usual route in Ontario, in order: Start with general maintenance experience; Learn one trade properly, or get a building operator certificate; Apply to property management companies and building owners.

How many people work as a building superintendent in Ontario, and how many are women?

Job Bank counts about 32,900 people working in this job in Ontario. 11% of them are women, compared with 48% across all jobs. That describes who does the work today, not who can.

Skilled trades hub: kids, teens and adults The highest-paying skilled trades OYAP: start in high school What can you do with your degree?

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Wages and training requirements change. Every figure on this page is linked to the body that publishes it, and the review date above says when we last checked. If you find something out of date, tell us and we will fix it.