hi guys

im coming to vancouver in july or augest of next year and am looking for advice. im basiclly coming over to play rugby and to travel a bit. i intend on going to whistler at some stage to work and board.

im a qualified bricklayer of 8 years after having a bad rugby injury ruin my career. what is the work like for bricklayers over there and how much do they get paid.

also what is the price of things over there. how much will it cost a 28 year old who enjoys the pub to live in vancouver week to week. just a rough guess.

any people have any advice of where a nice area to live is as well? i dont mind paying for a nice apartment in a good area. thanks to you all hopefully speak with some of you soon.

also looking at areas to live. south surry, white rock area? how far are these from the city centre and what are they like?

Half hour in the middle of the night to hour and a half in the worst of rush hour by car. About an hour 15 minutes by bus/skytrain. About 45kms/28miles to the heart of downtown Vancouver.

White Rock is a small seaside resort. South Surrey is very well-healed suburbia

if bricklaying involved wood boards, saws and cladding, there is plenty.

if however you are more of a brick-centric, traditional bricklayer.... well.... i don't see that too often when out and about.

i have been told this about vancouver. this is why im asking to what extent is there work for a bricklayer. i dont mind what i hear i just need an accurate idea of how busy it is out there.

also is the surry/white rock area pretty nice then i take it. i dont mind living outside the city but being close to it would be quite nice to be honest.

honestly, i cannot recall seeing genuine brickwork since i came here 14 months ago and houses, offices and highrises are springing up all over the place.

even your average garden wall is concrete posts with cladding! in fact small walls like that are rare; bushes and picket fences being the norm.

I have been to White Rock a few times. A nice fish and chips type of place but very small. I've not been to South Surrey though. Whether they are close to the city center / area is debatable on what you think is 'close'.

Of course it takes just one traffic accident and no where is close by!

Its all poured concrete over here. They don't really use bricks unless its a fancy rock garden or a drive. If you can turn your hand at other things there's quite a lot of construction work around.

Sorry to say I agree with the others. They do a tiny bit of ornamental brick on buildings, but it's really just for show.

I don't think South Surrey is close to DT. Close to DT for me is within 10-20 mins drive (parts of burnaby, north shore, east van, kits etc).

No bricks and few pubs and very spendy..... (7 bucks a pint...although my local is only 5,75 for a real pint..taxes in!)

Im a bricklayer in calgary its not good in canada for bricklayers. They dont know how to lay bricks here i think ontario is your best bet for brickwork. Here in calgary your hourly wage can be $28-37 an hour normally the higher price is for commercial work. Let me know how you get on.

well it hasnt taken me long. i may have been offered a job with a company in the white rock/surrey area. its with a masonary company im guessing that is what they call bricklaying over there.

no idea of how much money but they seem pretty keen and the words when can you get here have been mentioned. an hour outside the city isnt to bad to be honest and im sure ive lived in worse areas. the work is situated in the white rock surry area ao i can pretty much live anywhere as long as i can get there on time.

in everyones opinion what is vancouver like as a place to live? good? and bad? i dont mind hearing both sides of the story.

Brilliant, well done. Are they prepared to help you get a visa though, or do you already have one?

well they are calling me today at some stage to talk about the job. its been set up by a guy i know over there. im guessing that they will help with paperwork. i havent got a visa yet no and i have to apply soon as bunacs holiday visas come out soon in december.

hopefully this all should be good. looking forward to hearing what they have to say about it and possibly sort out getting over there pretty soon.

Ah, ok, didn't realise you were doing a working holiday visa. You do know that WHV's are changing though and it looks as if Bunac won't be doing them this year - it's expected that you'll have to get them direct from CIC and they won't be opening the program until end of January?

http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca...ail/index.aspx

all things i need to iron out to be honest. i dont mind doing a a skilled visa its all up to the company and what they want to do. basicly im only 28 and im looking for a change. the one place i havent been is canada.

i just want to see it as everyone else says it amazing. lets hope so. im really looking forward to getting over there.