Where we work: combined shops in every province and territory

West Coast: British Columbia

BC is two markets. The southwest coast, including Metro Vancouver and Victoria, has mild, wet winters, so heating demand is gentler and rain-driven plumbing work, such as drains and sump pumps, carries more weight. The Interior and the North run long, cold heating seasons more like the Prairies.

For a combined shop, that means seasonal balancing in BC is less about surviving a single brutal peak and more about managing a long, damp shoulder season. Income-based rebates for heat pumps and heat pump water heaters cross both trades. See the British Columbia page.

Prairies: Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba

The Prairie provinces have long, very cold winters and, in Alberta and Saskatchewan especially, a heavy reliance on natural gas. Heating carries the year, and the risk for a combined shop is that plumbing marketing gets forgotten from November to March, exactly when frozen lines and failing water heaters peak.

Saskatchewan stands out for a utility rebate that covers furnaces, boilers, combi boilers and tankless water heaters in one program, a natural two-trade message. Manitoba has heat pump rebates through its efficiency utility. Read the Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba pages.

Central Canada: Ontario and Quebec

Ontario is the largest market, with dense competition in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area and Ottawa, and a mostly gas-heated housing stock in the south. Fuels work is regulated by TSSA, and provincial rebates for heat pumps and heat pump water heaters are a talking point for both trades.

Quebec is different: electricity heats most homes, plumbing and heating contractors need RBQ licensing, and customers often search in French. The heat pump grant from Hydro-Québec shapes a lot of HVAC demand. See the Ontario and Quebec pages.

Atlantic Canada: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI and Newfoundland and Labrador

Atlantic Canada has a maritime climate with damp, changeable winters, a large share of homes still heated with oil in some provinces, and heat pumps already common in others. For combined shops, oil-to-heat-pump conversions, and the plumbing and water heater changes that often come with them, are the defining opportunity.

Sales tax is HST throughout: 14% in Nova Scotia and 15% in New Brunswick, PEI and Newfoundland and Labrador. Province detail for the East Coast: NB, NS, PEI, NL.

The North: Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut

The territories have the longest and coldest heating seasons in the country, small populations spread across large distances, and high costs for every service call. A combined shop there is often the only mechanical contractor for a long way, and its marketing is more about trust, reachability and recruiting than about outbidding competitors. See the territories page.

Sales tax at a glance

Prices on this site are in Canadian dollars before tax. Each region page shows its own rate. In short, the western provinces and the territories pay 5% GST; Ontario 13% HST; Nova Scotia 14% HST; New Brunswick, PEI and Newfoundland and Labrador 15% HST; and Quebec 5% GST plus 9.975% QST.

What stays the same everywhere

Whatever the region, a few things hold true for a two-trade shop:

• The brand should name both trades. See one brand across plumbing and HVAC.
• Each trade needs its own campaigns, so one can be turned up while the other is full.
• Programs change often. Anything about rebates on your site should carry a date and a link to the administrator.
• We don't give compliance advice. We link to the regulators in each region and you confirm the rules with them.

Prices and sales tax by province are on the pricing page. To talk about your region, get in touch.