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Construction & project management · Building & Making

Painter: what the job actually is

Preparing surfaces and putting coatings on them so they look right and last, on walls, steel and everything between.

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Painter: quick facts

Painter salary in Ontario: the median pay is $25.00 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
$25.00 an hour
Pay range (low to high)
$20.00 to $34.80 an hour
Job outlook, 2025-2027
Moderate
People working in it in Ontario
15,200
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 73112. Pay varies by region and experience.

The work

What this job actually is

  • Getting a surface ready and then covering it with paint or another coating. The covering is the short part. The preparation is most of the job.
  • Preparation means moving furniture, taping, filling holes, sanding, scraping, washing and priming. A good finish is mostly decided before the first coat goes on.
  • The work splits into types. Residential and commercial painting is walls, ceilings, trim and doors. Industrial painting is coatings on steel, tanks and equipment, and it can involve scaffolds, spray equipment and protective gear.
  • Many painters work for themselves. Job Bank notes that self-employment is common in this occupation, and the work is often done as a subcontractor for a building finishing contractor.
  • Your work is judged by light. A wall that looks fine at noon can show every roller mark when the sun comes in sideways at four, and the customer will find that time of day.

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. 6:45 — Load the van: drop sheets, ladders, buckets, tape. Check the colour on the work order against the tin, because a wrong tin is a repaint.
  2. 7:30 — Arrive on site. Walk the rooms with the homeowner or the site contact and look at what is actually on the walls, not what the quote assumed.
  3. 8:00 — Cover floors and fixtures, tape the trim, take off switch plates. Nobody notices this when it is done properly.
  4. 9:00 — Fill nail holes and cracks, wait, sand them flush, wipe the dust. Do not skip the wiping.
  5. 10:00 — Break. There is paint on your forearms and you stopped noticing it years ago.
  6. 10:15 — Prime the patched spots so they do not show through, then cut in the edges along the ceiling and trim with a brush, steady, one long pass at a time.
  7. 11:30 — Roll the walls in even sections and keep a wet edge so the joins do not show.
  8. 12:30 — Lunch on an upturned bucket.
  9. 13:00 — Second coat in the first room, first coat in the second. Check the finish with a light held sideways to the wall.
  10. 15:30 — Peel the tape while the paint is still slightly soft, touch up, wash the brushes and rollers, and tell the customer what is dry enough to touch.

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 get real satisfaction from a straight line and a clean edge, and you notice crooked ones in other people's work.
  • You can do careful, repetitive work for hours without needing it to be exciting.
  • You like walking out at the end of the day and seeing a room that looks different from this morning.
  • You are fine on ladders and scaffolds, or willing to get used to them.
  • You would like the option of working for yourself, with a van and a few tools, without a huge up-front investment.
You may hate this if
  • You hate repetition. One wall is much like the next one, and you do many walls.
  • Heights, ladders and awkward reaching bother you. Ceilings, stairwells and exteriors do not come at floor level.
  • You dislike prep work. If you want to be the one rolling on colour, you will spend more hours than you expect sanding and taping first.
  • Your shoulders, knees or back are already a problem. The same arm movement all day adds up.
  • Fumes and dust bother you. Industrial coatings in particular come with protective equipment and strict handling rules.
  • You find customers who change their mind after the second coat hard to deal with, because they happen.

The route in

How you actually get there in Ontario

  1. Start as a painter's helper or in a student job

    There is no regulator licence you must hold to paint for a living in Ontario. Many people start as a helper to a painting contractor, learn prep and cutting in, and are trusted with more as they get cleaner. Job Bank describes either a three- or four-year apprenticeship or more than three years of work experience as the usual route.

  2. Register as an apprentice if you want the certificate

    Painter and Decorator is a trade with Skilled Trades Ontario: the commercial and residential version is trade code 404C and the industrial version is 404D. Both are non-compulsory, which means you can work in them without a certificate. The apprenticeship on the 404C page is 6,000 hours: 5,280 hours on the job and 720 hours in school, over three levels.

  3. Finish the school levels and write the exam

    Pass the certifying exam and Skilled Trades Ontario issues a Certificate of Qualification. Because the trade is non-compulsory, the certificate does not need to be renewed and you will not appear on the Public Register.

  4. Decide what kind of painter you want to be

    Residential repaints, new-build commercial work, industrial coatings and your own small company are four different jobs with different pay, risk and hours. Job Bank also notes the Red Seal exam is available to qualified painters and decorators if you want a credential recognised across Canada.

Where this comes from: Skilled Trades Ontario: Painter and Decorator, Commercial and Residential (404C) · Skilled Trades Ontario: Painter and Decorator, Industrial (404D) · Job Bank: Painters and decorators, requirements in Ontario · Ontario: Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program

The money

Painter 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.

$20.00
Low (hourly)
$25.00
Median (hourly)
$34.80
High (hourly)

Ontario, NOC 73112. 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 — Painter 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 moderate number of 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.

What is changing in this work

  • Construction activity is expected to be favourable across Ontario over the forecast period, supporting opportunities in this occupation
  • Large infrastructure investments in transit, health care, and public facilities
  • Steady demand for new housing to meet population growth
  • Ongoing need for repair and maintenance work

Who hires for it

  • Most work in construction, mainly as building finishing contractors
  • Self-employment is common
15,200
people work in this job in Ontario
15%
are women (48% across all jobs)
52%
are self-employed (15% across all jobs)

Source: Job Bank — Painters and decorators (except interior decorators) job prospects in Ontario (NOC 73112). 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 technology or any course where you measure, tape and finish a surface. It is the cheapest way to learn whether you like prep work.
  • Ask your guidance office about OYAP. Ontario's page says you can take part from Grade 11 or 12 once you have 14 credits and are at least 15, and that placements in a skilled trade earn you co-op credits.
  • Paint something real for someone, with their permission: a fence, a shed, a friend's room. Ask them honestly where the finish is poor.
  • Look at who is doing the painting when a school or community building is being redone, and ask the foreman how they started.

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.

Test your patience for a clean edge

About 60 minutes
  1. Watch two videos of a painter cutting in along a ceiling and trim. Notice how slow the hand is. Write down what you think the hard part is.
  2. Take a sheet of paper and a marker or brush pen. Run a masking or painter's tape line if you have some, or draw a single straight line freehand along the edge of a book, then another, ten times. Do not rush. Look at which lines wobble.
  3. Set a 25-minute timer and do something repetitive and careful with your hands, with no phone: colouring an area in evenly, sanding a piece of scrap wood smooth, or washing a window without streaks. Note whether the time passed quickly.
  4. Call or visit one local painting contractor or paint-counter and ask one question: how do the helpers on their crews usually start? You are asking, not applying.

What it tells you. If you wanted to redo the wobbly lines and the 25 minutes passed without you checking the clock, painting's repetition and fussiness may suit you, and the next step is to ask for a day as a helper. If you got bored in ten minutes and the lines were not worth redoing, it is far cheaper to find that out now than after you have bought a ladder.

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. “How much of your day is preparation and how much is actually putting colour on?”
  2. “What do you do on a job when the customer hates the colour after the first coat?”
  3. “Which is harder on your body: the ceilings, the ladders or the repetition?”
  4. “What is the difference between a helper who gets trusted with the good brush and one who does not?”
  5. “If you were starting out in Ontario now, would you do the apprenticeship or just work?”
  6. “How do you get work when you go out on your own?”

Could you own one of these?

The part other career sites never mention

Yes, and it is one of the more accessible trades to start on your own. Job Bank notes that self-employment is common in this occupation. The start-up costs are a van, brushes, rollers, ladders and insurance rather than a shop, but the real work is quoting honestly, winning repeat customers and finding the time to chase invoices. That business side is what the entrepreneurship side of this site is for.

Business 101 is free and teaches that part

Quick answers

Questions people ask about this job

How much does a painter make in Ontario?

The median pay for a painter in Ontario is $25.00 an hour, according to Job Bank (reference period 2023-2024, updated 19 November 2025). The range Job Bank publishes runs from $20.00 to $34.80 an hour. Pay varies by region, employer and experience.

What is the job outlook for a painter 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 moderate number of 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 painter 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 as a painter's helper or in a student job; Register as an apprentice if you want the certificate; Finish the school levels and write the exam.

Where does a painter work in Ontario?

Most work in construction, mainly as building finishing contractors. Self-employment is common. (Job Bank.)

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

Job Bank counts about 15,200 people working in this job in Ontario. 15% of them are women, compared with 48% across all jobs. That describes who does the work today, not who can.

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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.