Hi Everyone
I am due to fly out to Vancouver in july for a research trip and would love to hear from anyone who has made the move from the UK to BC with all there views about areas finding work etc.If there are any other plumbers that have made the move then how easy is it to find work?
We are looking to live on the out skirts of Vancouver as we dont like city living can anybody suggest a nice area for us to visit whilst were there.


Many Thanks

Fitzpatrick Family

Hi and welcome to the forum. If you can give a bit more info about what kind of area and house you're after (i.e. your budget, what sort of place you want, etc) then there will probably be lots of suggestions from people that live in Vancouver.

I'm not one of them yet, but heading to Vancouver later this year - planning on settling in North Vancouver (also not a city person but hubby needs to commute to Burrard Street so that's our best option I think!).

Good luck with it all.

I'm afraid I can't help with regards to the plumbing industry, but the lower mainland of BC is a great area to live. The outskirts would be more Surrey/Langley/Abbotsford/Coquitlam/Port Moody areas, etc where housing is cheaper. The further you go from Vancouver the less the cost of housing.

You don't mention if you have a children, but it's a great place for families with lots of opportunities and outdoors activities. I cannot compare to any other part of Canada as this is where I've always lived and raised a family, and love it here. There's a reason it's called Beautiful BC!

That is a great help many thanks i do have a boy who will be looking for his first school once we arrive.
Thank you once again

we are looking to recce BC in March and hopefully secure a few job interviews / meetings before we head out there.

i understand however, that the BC construction industry (as per the UK's) suffers quite acutely at the very start of any economic adversity and as luck would have it *sarc*, that happens to be the industry my office based experience lies within.

but we shall persist and also hope to check out the housing situation to the east of Vancouver, in Surrey / Burnaby / New Westminster etc.... although probably not as far east as Abbotsford.

if anyone can suggest / advise as to a 'favourable' region of housing / recruitment, we would of course be grateful to limitless proportions!

what are the sort of commuter times for people living in such areas? i suspect that most of our employment opportunities would lie within Vancouver itself?

If you are working in downtown Vancouver during regular business hours, I would strong suggest you plan to live in easy access to the West Coast Express commuter train. I used it for over 10 years, and it's by far the best way to commute. Do not think commuter trains in the UK, it's way better than that. Otherwise, plan on living somewhere with access to the skytrain route. Driving into/out of Vancouver in rush hour can be a nightmare. Especially right now with one of our major bridges out of commission due to fire.

now that is exactly the sort of 'insider information' i would hope to find.

many MANY thanks.

I drive in to the airport from Abby once or twice a week and have few probs, done it for years. Hate the train when I used to to go downtown, such a limited schedule. The bridge being out is not really an issue to decide where to live, this is the first time in 70 years or so this has happened and the bridge is to be replaced in a few years with a 6 lane bridge. The trains have stopped running before as well due to fires, accidents and trees on the tracks.

Check out as many communities as poss before moving, what suits one would not suit another. Rent first, don't buy, then if you change your mind there is way more flexibility.

Not necessarily. One could argue that Surrey, Richmond, and Burnaby have equally as many options for employment as Vancouver, depending on the industry. And there are business districts in North Vancouver, New Westminster, etc. Vancouver has a small business district all things considered - many of its towers downtown are actually residential. As a result, many suburbs (such as Richmond or Burnaby, etc) are home to large business complexes and company headquarters, and many people actually commute from Vancouver into the suburbs for work. So don't immediately assume Vancouver's where you'll find the majority of your employment options - you may not end up having to commute to Vancouver at all! Many people live in Surrey/work in Surrey, live in Richmond/work in Richmond, live in Abbotsford/work in Abbotsford, etc.

People either love or hate the WCE. OH refused to consider it after seeing the peeps all crushed in like sardines (his words, not mine).

the other drawback to the WCE is it doesn't run on the weekends. However, i have friends living in Port Moody for whom the WCE station is a short walk from their townhome, making it a short commute. They love it there.

I'd really need to know more about what you're looking for to advise you on places to live.

And I second whoever suggested renting somewhere first. It's a good way to get to know the lay of the land. Also agree there are businesses in burnaby, richmond etc. for plumbing, i don't know that van is necessarily the centre of things.

anyway, nice areas out of the city:

south surrey/white rock (more$$$ but good schools, nice homes, close to beaches and ok access to downtown)
langley (very fast growing, lots of young families. I personally don't think it's particularly pretty and there isn't great transit there, but lots of people live there/move there, so...)
delta - ladner/tswawssen (good schools and very involved communties in both cities. also, tswawssen has great beaches and a sunnier climate) they have more of a villagey-small town feel and less really highly built up housing. they are a bit more $$ though.

chilliwhack/abby etc. are nice too but quite far to commute imo. also the fraser valley (chilliwack, abby) has a bit of a problem with poor air quality. beautiful to look at though.

[quote=Kiwilass;7188542chilliwhack/abby etc. are nice too but quite far to commute imo. also the fraser valley (chilliwack, abby) has a bit of a problem with poor air quality. beautiful to look at though.[/quote]

Vancouver seems to believe that it does not have an air quality issue. It is just as bad as the Fraser Valley and out to the straits. Coming into YVR from the East or West the haze is quite evident from hope on to YVR. Depends on the winds as well. Right now there is an arctic high sitting over SW BC and this is blowing any pollution west to Vancouver. While the east end of valley has been basking in sun for a week or more, the west has been in thick fog.

Eh, no. We're sunny today!

Heh. just went on google and found, as per usual, a bunch of links on air quality in bc that contradict each other.

Do a google on "Pacific 2001". That'll take you to the results of the most recent comprehensive study of which I'm aware.

I never saw anybody crushed in like sardines in all the years I used it. Very few people ever had to stand, when it happens it's usually during bad weather when people decide not to drive. Never met anyone who hated it, either! Most commuters love it.

There is also a "train bus" that runs on weekends. You can find the info on the West Coast Express website.

It may be the first time this bridge has been out of action for so long but bridge troubles are well known. When I moved here the most common advice I got from locals was "don't have more than one bridge on your commute".