Hi everyone I am new to the forum so bear with me 😊

My wife and I are looking to move over to Vancouver next year and I was just wondering what I may need qualification wise.

I am 37 and has been a carpenter/joiner for the last 21 years, 18 of those as a self-employed subcontractor.
I mainly work renovating listed building and barn conversions but have and will quite happily do new builds.
I was an apprentice joiner for the first 3 years and still produce a lot of my joinery for my carpentry/building work.

I will have an up todate C.V, a long with certificates in GNVQ levels 1,2,3 ( although never needed it ) in my profession.

I also have hundreds of photographs showing my work over the years and loads of customer references, along with lots of character references from customers and building firms I have subcontracted too (new and old).

Would this be enough to go over with or am I being some what naive.

Thanks Stu 😊😊

Read this link for BC carpentry requirements and what you would need to do
Carpenter | ITA BC

It is possible you will be OK with this. Years ago I worked for a high-end furniture manufacturer and they hired on talent rather than qualifications.

If you have the right status in Canada you can easily set up as a self-employed carpenter though you will need funds to cover the time it takes to build up a customer base.

Both carpentry and joinery are regulated trades so you should certainly look into routes to get your journeyman qualification(s). You can challenge the exams rather than go through an apprenticeship but you need to prove 9,000 hours on the job. Normally this proof is provided by an employer. I am not sure how it works when you have been self-employer. It might be worth talking to the Industry Training Authority.

Challenging Exams | ITA BC

I got pr in canada through the bc pnp without having any canadian carpentry qualifications, I havent had a problem working anywhere around the lower mainland in the last few years, although I was always working for other people, maybe if you are self employed you need so kind of qualifications, I wouldn't know about that though.

Yes, carpentry (NOC 7271) isn't actually regulated in BC:

Carpenters (NOC 7271-B) - Lower Mainland - Southwest Region, British Columbia - education and job requirements (provincial) - Job Bank

S

If you have been self employed, letters of reference from an accountant, customers, tax returns etc are helpful. You would be asked to fill in a self declaration for hours.

Cheers guys, thank you very much for posting this information.
Very interesting indeed.
Judging by some of the jobs available at the moment some company's are looking for the red seal certificates and some aren't, I will look into it a little more.
Seems like work is picked up over in Canada just like the UK over the last few years, very promising 😀

Thank again
Stu 😀