Do you work with heating companies outside BC?

Yes. We're based in Vancouver but work with heating companies across Canada, meeting by video call or in person, as well as by phone, text and email. Every region page explains what's specific to that market.

Is a Red Seal valid in every province?

The Red Seal endorsement shows a tradesperson meets the national standard, and provinces and territories administer it together. Not every Red Seal trade is designated everywhere, so check the Red Seal site and your provincial certification body.

Where do I find my province's licensing authority?

Open the page for your province or territory below. Each one names and links the trade safety authority, the certification body, workers' compensation and the business registry. Confirm your obligations with them directly.

Can you help us launch in two provinces at once?

We can plan it, but we usually suggest one market first. Two provinces mean two sets of authorities, sometimes two languages, and twice the launch budget.

Starting a Heating Company Anywhere in Canada

A heating company in Kelowna and one in Halifax sell the same kind of comfort, but almost nothing else about their launch is the same. The fuels homes burn, the length of the season, the authorities that license the work and the programs customers ask about all change at the provincial border. That's why we keep a separate page for each province and one for the territories.

Each page follows the same pattern: the local heating market, climate and season, the authorities to look up (named and linked, never interpreted), programs your customers will ask about as of October 2026, and how we'd market a new company there. We're a marketing and business consulting service; for licensing questions, the authorities on each page are the source.

West Coast: British Columbia

BC splits into a mild, wet southwest coast and a much colder Interior and North. Homes divide between natural gas and electricity for primary heat, so a new company has to choose whether it's a gas, heat pump or full-service brand. Technical Safety BC licenses gas and electrical contractors, and SkilledTradesBC handles certification. Income-qualified CleanBC rebates changed in July 2026.

Read starting a heating company in British Columbia.

Prairies: Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba

The Prairies share long, cold winters and heavy reliance on natural gas, though Manitoba has a much larger electric share than its neighbours. Each province regulates differently:

Alberta runs a safety codes system with accredited municipalities issuing permits, and has prepaid contracting rules that matter if you take deposits in customers' homes.
Saskatchewan centralises gas and electrical licensing with TSASK, and SaskEnergy offers rebates on high-efficiency gas equipment.
Manitoba licenses gas and oil tradespeople through the Office of the Fire Commissioner, and Efficiency Manitoba runs heat pump rebates.

Across all three, the first hard freeze is when strangers search in volume, so a new company has to be findable before it.

Central Canada: Ontario and Quebec

Central Canada holds the largest heating markets in the country and the most competition. Yet the two provinces could hardly be more different.

Ontario is mostly gas-heated, with TSSA for fuels and the ESA for electrical licensing. The Home Renovation Savings Program drives heat pump enquiries.
Quebec is mostly electrically heated, with RBQ licensing, CCQ competency cards and French-language requirements that affect your company name, signs and website. Hydro-Québec's LogisVert grants shape the heat pump market.

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

Atlantic Canada has the most varied heating mix in the country: heat pumps, electricity, oil and wood all matter, and many oil-to-heat-pump programs closed or changed in 2026.

New Brunswick: heat pumps are the primary system in more than a quarter of homes, and the bilingual population makes a two-language brand worth considering.
Nova Scotia: oil, electricity and heat pumps each serve large shares of homes; Efficiency Nova Scotia rebates apply to new heat pumps.
Prince Edward Island: heat pumps lead, oil follows, and reputation travels fast.
Newfoundland and Labrador: mostly electric, with takeCHARGE incentives for switching from oil.

The North: Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut

The territories need heat for most of the year, and communities are small and spread out. Each territory has its own safety offices, the NWT is phasing in a new Technical Safety Act, and in Nunavut, Inuktut is required on business signs and advertising. Reputation and reliability matter far more than ad budgets.

Read starting a heating company in the territories.

National points every new owner should know

A few things apply wherever you open:

Heating-fuel data. Our provincial figures come from Statistics Canada Table 38-10-0286-01, reference year 2023. The territories aren't covered by that table.
Red Seal. The Red Seal Program sets an interprovincial standard, but trades aren't designated identically everywhere.
A federal heat pump rebate is coming. On 8 October 2026 the Prime Minister announced a national heat pump rebate program. As of October 2026 it isn't open, with a launch expected in 2027 and the administrator not yet named. Don't promise customers amounts until the official program page exists.

Ready to plan your own launch? Start with the launch checklist, look at our services, or get in touch.

Starting a heating company in every province and territory