Just wondering really. My hubby is a welder and when I search the job banks there is always lots of openings in Fort Mcmurray.

What's the weather like there? Are houses more expensive there than other parts of Alberta?

Also does anyone know roughly how much welders would earn? My hubby is a pipeline welder, a specialised trade, so earns £27 an hour here. He is fully qualified and can do a standard welders job as well as his own.

There are loads of threads about Fort McMoney. Try the search function.

Here's one: http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...=fort+mcmurray

To add to all the preexisting threads I'll answer those two questions


Weather is Grim. Bugs are grimmer


Houses are simply unaffordable. Housing is a major problem there. My bosses kid pays about $1200 a month to rent one room in a house shared by 6.

Ft McMurray is somewhere you go and put up with to make good money, as long as you can avoid all the fronteer town attractions there to try and liberate your money (booze, drugs, gambling, hookers)

Its a long way from anywhere, its bitterly cold in the winter, its bug hell when its not winter. General advice for those who think they can stick it out is to Go for the money, but dont take your family.

There are plenty of threads here on Ft Mac. Try the search engine.

My own thoughts as I am currently looking at Ft Mac work are.

The house prices are extremely high as there is so much work up there in the Oil Industry, but housing is really short. I am told that only people working for the Oil companies can live there and this is why the wages are high. I have looked at some estate and you won't get an average home for less than 600k.

That said, there is a lot fo young, rich workers there and in the town I hear that there is a lot of drugs and vice. I know someone who lived there for 25 years and his son is still there. He strongly advised me, with a young family , to stay away.

This means that I am looking for a company, there are a few, who operate a fly in fly out policy due to the extreme location. Bit like the oil rigs, but on land. Not too sure what the wages are like for welders. I am told from a very good source that the outside operators get $180k for one particular company. Obviously control and supervisors will be on much more.

Google it and look at what is in the town. Pretty much you are isolated from the rest of the major cities. Edmonton is the nearest and would be maybe a 4hr drive on a highway that is notorious for collisions !!!!

I would say that most of the work for a welder maybe contract. This probably means that he will earn the dollar but may have to work long stints without much time off. If he can get a job with a company he will be rostered and maybe more secure.

JET

I'd also add that there are many layoffs at present in Fort Mc with the collapse in oil prices as projects are being mothballed, shelved or slowed.

Have you come across any of these companies that have the fly in fly out policy? My husband usually works 3 months in Saudi Arabia on a barge, then a couple of weeks at home. So we are all used to him being away working.

Okay... so Fort Mcmurray is no longer an option!!

Don't think about it for a family. My son in law is heading up there for work in his trade, huge money, very attractive signing bonus, lots of benefits. But the family is staying put down here and he will fly back once a month for his week off. He has an apartment which is costing more per month than similar in Vancouver, though nowhere near as expensive as an earlier poster noted for one room. A double-wide mobile home costs more to buy than a 4 bdrm house here in Maple Ridge. It's best looked at as very temporary.

Good decision!

We lived there for almost 5 years. It is cold, isolated and the housing is very expensive (although could be coming down now).

We didn't have much of a life there, my husband was constantly working and we had no time to do anything for ourselves. I was happy to leave.