Who licenses gas contractors in BC?

Technical Safety BC licenses gas and electrical contractors, even in the handful of local governments that issue some of their own permits. Check its website directly for what applies to your business; we don't give licensing advice.

Should a new BC heating company focus on heat pumps or gas?

It depends on where you work. Statistics Canada data shows BC homes split between natural gas and electricity for primary heat, and the mix differs between the coast and the Interior. Your service menu and your brand should match the homes in your area.

Can I mention CleanBC rebates in my ads?

You can refer customers to the official programs, but rules changed in July 2026 and eligibility is income-based for some streams. Link to Better Homes BC rather than quoting amounts, and recheck before each season.

Starting a Heating Company in British Columbia

British Columbia is a good province to start a heating company in, but it rewards owners who know exactly which part of it they serve. A Lower Mainland company sells into mild, damp winters, older homes with hot-water boilers and a fast-growing heat pump market. A Kelowna or Prince George company deals with real cold and a long furnace season. Your name, your services and your first ads should be built for one of those markets, not both.

As a marketing service, we help with the brand and the launch. The licensing side is between you and the BC authorities linked below.

The BC heating market a new company walks into

The main point: BC homes are split between gas and electric heat, so a new company has to choose its lane on purpose.

According to Statistics Canada, in 2023 natural gas was the primary heating energy for 42% of BC households and electricity for 36%. That split creates three realistic positions for a new company:

Gas heating specialist. Furnaces, boilers and combi boilers, often in older Vancouver, Burnaby and Victoria-area homes. This is the lane GasBoilers.ca was built for.
Heat pump specialist. Ductless and ducted systems, much of it replacing baseboards or adding cooling.
Full-service heating. Both, which is broader but makes the brand harder to explain in one line.

The largest communities by population, from Vancouver and Surrey to Burnaby, Richmond, Abbotsford, Coquitlam, Kelowna and Saanich, each have established competitors. A new company usually wins first in a tight cluster of neighbouring towns, not across the whole metro.

Climate and the shape of the season

The coast and the Interior run on different calendars. On the southwest coast, winters are mild and wet, so the "no heat" emergency surge is shorter and maintenance and upgrades fill more of the year. In the Interior and the North, colder and longer heating seasons mean a sharper autumn rush and more urgent winter calls.

For your launch, that means:

Coastal companies should plan their first push for early autumn tune-ups and boiler service, and be ready for heat pump interest in spring and summer.
Interior and northern companies should have the website, Google listing and call handling ready before the first hard frost, because that's when strangers search in volume.

Authorities to look up before you open

We name and link these so you can go straight to the source. Confirm your obligations with them directly.

Technical Safety BC: the safety authority for gas, electrical, boilers, pressure vessels and refrigeration. According to its jurisdiction page, a small number of local governments issue some permits, but contractor licensing stays with Technical Safety BC.
SkilledTradesBC: trade certification. Its Skilled Trades Certification page lists the trades now covered, which include gasfitter A and B and refrigeration and air conditioning mechanic.
WorkSafeBC: workers' compensation and workplace safety.
BC Registries and Online Services: business name approval and registration.
Consumer Protection BC: consumer protection rules.

Programs your customers will ask about

As of October 2026, BC homeowners ask about rebates more than almost anywhere else, and the rules moved this year. The CleanBC Better Homes Energy Savings Program is income-qualified and changed its requirements for invoices dated on or after 6 July 2026. Separately, a federal–provincial affordability agreement announced in June 2026 funds no-cost retrofits through BC Hydro and FortisBC for lower-income households, according to the federal backgrounder.

For a new company, the safe marketing move is a short, dated page that sends customers to the official sources and explains how you'll help them check eligibility. Quoting amounts that later change makes a new brand look careless. Always tell readers to confirm with the administrator.

How we'd launch a new heating company in BC

Pick the lane and the cluster. For example: gas boilers and furnaces in three adjacent Metro Vancouver cities, or furnaces and heat pumps in the Central Okanagan.
Name for the lane. A name that signals your focus makes the brand work simpler.
Build a small site with one page per service and an honest service-area list. See launch website.
Verify your Google profile early, because Lower Mainland map results are crowded and take time.
Run capped paid search only for your cluster, timed to your local season.

BCWide.ca reached 3× leads in 90 days in this province, which shows how fast a focused BC campaign can move once the foundations are there. For other provinces, see our areas overview, or read the launch checklist.

Starting a heating company in British Columbia