General contractor or specialist in Montréal: who to hire?

For work that involves a single trade, a specialty contractor is enough. As soon as several trades must follow each other, a general contractor coordinates the job and answers to you for it. The choice changes the contract you sign, the licence to check and the person you call when something goes wrong.

1. A specialist is enough when…

• The work involves one trade: replacing a water heater, redoing a roof, painting, replacing windows.
• You can describe the job in one sentence and it needs no other trades.
• No wall, foundation or room layout is changed.

2. A general contractor helps when…

• Several trades follow each other: demolition, framing, plumbing, electrical, drywall, finishing (bathroom, kitchen, basement, addition).
• The work touches the structure or needs a municipal permit.
• You want one contract, one price and one person responsible for the schedule.

3. What a general contractor actually does

They plan the order of the trades, hire and pay the subcontractors, order materials, prepare or arrange the permit documents and check that each stage is finished before the next one starts. That role has a cost, built into their price, but it spares you from acting as the go-between for five or six companies. If you hire each specialist yourself instead, you manage the delays between them, and each contract stands on its own.

4. What the licence allows

A general contractor holds an RBQ general-category licence (for example subclass 1.2 for small buildings). It also covers several common specialty jobs. But electrical and plumbing work must be done by contractors licensed for those trades (CMEQ and CMMTQ): ask who will do it. The licence bond is $40,000 for a general contractor and $20,000 for a specialty contractor, according to the RBQ claim page (in French) read on November 1, 2026.

Load-bearing walls, plumbing, wiring: who handles the permit in Montréal, Brossard or Repentigny

The permit often shows whether you need a coordinator. In Montréal, work that affects the structure requires, besides scale drawings, structural plans signed and sealed by an engineer; on the other hand, the City no longer issues permits for plumbing, electrical work and electric or gas heating, which follow provincial rules and licensed contractors (the City’s interior renovation page). In Brossard, any major work or structural change to a home needs a permit, with separate procedures for interior remodelling or basement finishing (page Travaux majeurs et transformations, in French). In Repentigny, redoing a kitchen or bathroom only takes an online declaration of work, while removing a load-bearing wall or adding a bedroom requires a permit (page Demander un permis ou déclarer des travaux, in French).

Write into the contract who prepares the drawings, who files the application and who pays for the permit. To find a company, browse renovation contractors in Montréal, those in Repentigny or master electricians in Montréal if only the wiring is involved.

5. Before you sign

• Check the licence of the contractor who signs the contract.
• Ask for the list of subcontractors and check their licences too.
• Insist on a written contract with the description of the work, the price, the schedule and staged payments.
• Keep the subcontractors’ declaration letters and ask for their releases before the last payment (see legal construction hypothec).

See also: comparing quotes. Not sure which kind of company you need? Describe the project: general contractors and specialists alike can reply.