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Construction & project management · Leading & Selling

General contractor: what the job actually is

Running construction work on site: hiring the trades, keeping the schedule, and answering for what gets built and what it costs.

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General contractor: quick facts

General contractor salary in Ontario: the median pay is $37.50 an hour, according to Job Bank (reference period 2023-2024). Its three-year outlook in Ontario is moderate. The job usually needs a college diploma, or an apprenticeship of two or more years.

Median pay in Ontario
$37.50 an hour
Pay range (low to high)
$25.00 to $49.50 an hour
Job outlook, 2025-2027
Moderate
People working in it in Ontario
23,500
Usually needs
Usually a college diploma, or an apprenticeship of two or more years

Source: Job Bank wages (updated 19 November 2025) and job prospects (updated 10 December 2025), NOC 72014. Pay varies by region and experience.

The work

What this job actually is

  • Organising and overseeing construction work. You line up the trades, order the material, keep the schedule, deal with the client and check the work.
  • Job Bank's group is contractors and supervisors in other construction trades, installers, repairers and servicers. It is broad, and covers supervisors in trades such as concrete finishing as well as people who run their own contracting business.
  • Most people get here from a trade. Job Bank says completion of secondary school is usually required, trade certification may be required for some roles, and several years of experience in the trade or the area supervised are usually required.
  • The job is about people, money and timing as much as building. A late delivery or a trade that does not show up can change the whole week.
  • A general contractor is not a licensed role of its own in Job Bank's page, but some work is regulated. Job Bank lists the well contractor as regulated in Ontario, and HCRA licenses new home builders.

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. 6:30 — Check the weather and the day's plan. Rain changes what can be done today.
  2. 7:00 — Meet the crews on site. Say what gets done today and what has to wait.
  3. 8:00 — A delivery is wrong. Call the supplier and rework the day.
  4. 9:30 — Walk the site and check the work against the drawings. Fix what is wrong now, not later.
  5. 11:00 — Meet the client, who wants a change that costs money and time. Explain both.
  6. 12:30 — Lunch in the truck, on the phone.
  7. 13:30 — Price a change and send a quote.
  8. 15:00 — A safety check. Anything unsafe stops the work until it is fixed.
  9. 16:00 — Call tomorrow's trades and confirm they are coming.
  10. 17:30 — Paperwork: invoices, orders, notes. It is not glamorous and it has to be done.

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 construction and want to run the job, not only do a trade on it.
  • You can juggle people, money and schedules and stay calm when the plan changes.
  • You can explain things plainly to clients and to crews, and say no when you have to.
  • You like being outside and moving around a site.
  • You might want to run your own business one day.
You may hate this if
  • You dislike paperwork and phone calls. Much of the day is quoting, ordering and chasing.
  • You hate pressure. Late materials, weather and unhappy clients all land on you.
  • You want to keep working with your hands. Supervising means less time doing the trade yourself.
  • You need a regular 9-to-5. Construction runs early, and problems come at awkward times.
  • You dislike responsibility for other people's safety and mistakes. You are accountable for the site.

The route in

How you actually get there in Ontario

  1. Finish high school and learn a trade

    Job Bank says completion of secondary school is usually required and that journeyperson trade certification may be required for some occupations. Most contractors begin by working in a trade, such as carpentry or another construction trade, and several pages on this site cover them.

  2. Work for several years and then supervise

    Job Bank says several years of experience in the trade or the work area supervised are usually required. Lead hand and foreman roles are where people prove they can run a crew.

  3. Know what is regulated

    Job Bank says this group is regulated in Ontario for the well contractor role, overseen by the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks. HCRA says all new home builders and sellers must be licensed by it, and that renovations to an existing home do not make it a new home, so they do not require the builder to be licensed. Check what applies to the work you plan to do.

  4. Start the business side when you are ready

    Running your own contracting business adds quoting, insurance, invoicing and hiring. The business owner page and this site's entrepreneurship guide cover the basics.

Where this comes from: Job Bank — Requirements for contractors and supervisors, other construction trades in Ontario · HCRA — Do I need a licence? · Ontario — Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program

The money

General contractor 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.

$25.00
Low (hourly)
$37.50
Median (hourly)
$49.50
High (hourly)

Ontario, NOC 72014. 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 — General contractor 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.
  • A moderate number of 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.

23,500
people work in this job in Ontario
6%
are women (48% across all jobs)

Source: Job Bank — Contractors and supervisors, other construction trades, installers, repairers and servicers job prospects in Ontario (NOC 72014). 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 every construction, shop or technology course on offer, plus maths for measuring and estimating.
  • Ask about OYAP. Ontario's page says students need to be at least 15, in Grade 11 or 12, with enough credits, and can earn co-op credits through a placement in a skilled trade.
  • Take a summer job on a construction crew, if you are old enough, and watch what the supervisor does all day.
  • Help with a real building project, such as building a shed or a school garden bed, and notice who coordinates it.

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.

Plan and cost a small building job on paper

About 90 minutes
  1. Choose a small project such as a backyard deck or a shed. Find a free plan online and list every material and every trade it would need.
  2. Put them in the order they would be done, and write down what has to be finished before each step can start.
  3. Phone or visit a local building supply store and ask the price of three of the main materials. Add up a rough budget from what you were told.
  4. Write down three things that could go wrong, such as weather or a late delivery, and what you would do about each.

What it tells you. If you enjoyed sequencing the work and finding what could go wrong, supervising may suit you, and you should start with a trade. If you only wanted to build with your hands, a trade career without running the job may be a better fit. If the lists and phone calls were boring, avoid the supervisor path.

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. “Which trade did you start in, and how long before you ran a crew?”
  2. “What takes up most of your day now?”
  3. “What is the hardest part of dealing with clients?”
  4. “How do you decide what to charge for a job?”
  5. “What licences or certificates did you need for your kind of work?”
  6. “What do you wish you had known before you started supervising?”

Could you own one of these?

The part other career sites never mention

Yes, and it is one of the most common ways people own a business in construction. You need the skills, the insurance, enough money to carry costs before clients pay, and the right licence for the work you do, such as an HCRA licence if you build new homes. Many people begin as a one-person renovation business and grow.

Business 101 is free and teaches that part

Quick answers

Questions people ask about this job

How much does a general contractor make in Ontario?

The median pay for a general contractor in Ontario is $37.50 an hour, according to Job Bank (reference period 2023-2024, updated 19 November 2025). The range Job Bank publishes runs from $25.00 to $49.50 an hour. Pay varies by region, employer and experience.

What is the job outlook for a general contractor 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. A moderate number of 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 general contractor in Ontario?

Job Bank says this work usually needs a college diploma, or an apprenticeship of two or more years. The usual route in Ontario, in order: Finish high school and learn a trade; Work for several years and then supervise; Know what is regulated.

How many people work as a general contractor in Ontario, and how many are women?

Job Bank counts about 23,500 people working in this job in Ontario. 6% 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?

Not sure this is the right list to be reading

Start from yourself, not from the job.

Future Finder is free, takes about ten minutes, needs no account and stores nothing. It will tell you which kinds of work you lean toward, and which of these pages are worth your time.

Try Future Finder — freeAll jobs

Parent of a teenager weighing this up? Career coaching for teens gets them talking to people who do the work, anywhere in Ontario.

If this appeals, look at these too

construction manager home renovation manager carpenter electrician plumber business owner

Read next

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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.