How Calgary's metal shops show up online
31%
We read the websites of 150 metal shops in Calgary, part of our study of 2,095 shops in 23 Canadian cities. Here is what they show buyers, and how Calgary compares.
What buyers in Calgary see
Calgary's structural steel shops show their CWB more than any other city's. Only 11 of 35 leave it off their site, the lowest share of the 23 cities, and 20% of all Calgary shops show CWB without ISO, level with Winnipeg for the highest share. Calgary shops are open about small work too: 49% say they take small or one-off jobs, against 38% across all cities. And machine shops here name their equipment more often. Only 10 of 50 leave it out.
The basics
Four basics, and how Calgary compares
- 68%show no ISO or CWB certificationAll 23 cities: 74% · 6 points lower · 4th lowest of 23 cities
- 48%name none of their equipmentAll 23 cities: 54% · 6 points lower · 5th lowest of 23 cities
- 95%don't say how many people work thereAll 23 cities: 96% · 1 point lower · tied 6th lowest of 23 cities
- 45%don't say when they startedAll 23 cities: 49% · 4 points lower · 10th lowest of 23 cities
The oldest Calgary shop that gives a year started in 1931.
The shop map
Every one of Calgary's 150 shops, one dot each
Pick what the colours show.
Shows a certification: 48Shows none: 102
Names its equipment: 78Names none: 72
Gives its team size: 8Doesn't say: 142
Each dot is a listed shop with a website, moved a little (about 250 m) so no single shop can be picked out. The darker outline is Calgary. The others are its neighbouring municipalities.
What a buyer checks
A shop's spec sheet, the way most Calgary sites read it
A made-up Calgary shop. A line is struck through when most of the city's 150 sites leave it out.
Sample Fabricating, Calgary
Sample shop, not a real company
- Services
Fabrication, welding, laser cuttingOn nearly every site - Phone
555 010 0142Shown on 143 of 150 - Certification
CWB W47.1 · ISO 9001Missing on 102 of 150 - Equipment
4 kW fiber laser · 220 t press brake · 5 axis millShown on 78 of 150 - Year started
Since 1989Shown on 83 of 150 - Team size
34 peopleMissing on 142 of 150 - Small jobs
One-offs welcomeMissing on 76 of 150
How it compares
Where Calgary sits among the 23 cities
Each dot is one of the 23 cities. The dark line is all 23 cities together. Each row runs from the lowest city to the highest.
Show no ISO or CWB certification
60%85%
Name none of their equipment
34%73%
Don't say how many people work there
89%100%
Don't say when they started
33%60%
Don't say whether they take small jobs
31%77%
Close to home
Calgary and the nearest study cities
Edmonton 280 km · Langley 655 km
| Measure | Calgary150 shops | Edmonton266 shops | Langley39 shops |
|---|---|---|---|
| No certification | 68% | 74% | 72% |
| No equipment | 48% | 49% | 46% |
| No team size | 95% | 97% | 95% |
| No year founded | 45% | 51% | 44% |
How long they have been at it
83 Calgary shops say when they started
- Middle year
- 1988
- 10th oldest of 23 cities
- Started in 2001 or earlier
- 71%
- 6th lowest of 23 cities
- Oldest year given
- 1931
The other 67 give no year. Plum: started in 2001 or earlier. Teal: since 2002.
What people search for
What people in Calgary search for, and what shops show
- 480searches a month for “tig welding”from Calgary65%of welding shops in Calgary don't mention CWB
- 880searches a month for “cnc machining”from Calgary20%of machine shops in Calgary name none of their machines
- 590searches a month for “metal fabrication calgary”across Canada48%of shop websites in Calgary name none of their equipment
Source: Google Keyword Planner, average monthly searches from October 2025 to September 2026, read on October 28, 2026 for Metal Shop Guide. “From Calgary” means people searching there. “Across Canada” means searches that name the city.
What they show and what they do
Certifications and trades in Calgary
Certifications on their websites
| Group | Calgary | All 23 cities | Rank of 23 |
|---|---|---|---|
| None of these | 68% | 74% | 20th |
| ISO only | 11% | 12% | 12th |
| CWB only | 20% | 12% | Tied highest |
| Both ISO and CWB | 1% | 3% | tied 16th |
ISO here means ISO 9001, AS9100 or ISO 13485. CWB means CWB W47.1 or W47.2. Rank 1 is the city with the biggest share.
The work they offer
| Work | Calgary | All 23 cities | Rank of 23 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Metal fabrication | 77% | 69% | tied 5th |
| Welding | 59% | 49% | 4th |
| Sheet metal, cutting and bending | 45% | 40% | 7th |
| Machining | 33% | 40% | tied 17th |
| Railings and stairs | 25% | 20% | 6th |
| Structural steel | 23% | 20% | tied 6th |
Shares of all the city's shops. A shop can do several kinds of work. Rank 1 is the city with the biggest share.
A buyer with a big order wants to know how many people will build it
Industry in Calgary
A few numbers on industry in Calgary
- 46,100manufacturing jobs in the Calgary region, 2023Source: Rocky View County, Invest in Rocky View County: Manufacturing
- 11.7%of them make fabricated metal productsSource: Rocky View County, Invest in Rocky View County: Manufacturing
- $40/hrmedian machinist pay, Calgary regionSource: Job Bank, Government of Canada
From the city's page on Metal Shop Guide, each with its source.
For shop owners
In Calgary, add these three things first
In the order of the city's own gaps: what most sites here leave out first.
- 0195%of sites here don't show it
How many you are
Roughly how many people work there.
- 0268%of sites here don't show it
Your certifications, by name and standard
CWB W47.1 Division 2, ISO 9001:2015, AS9100D. Link the certificate.
- 0351%of sites here don't show it
The jobs you take
One-offs, prototypes, short runs or production only. If there's a minimum, say so.
Source
Where these numbers come from
For Calgary, Metal Shop Guide covers Calgary and area and lists 150 shops. All of them have a website of their own, and we read them, as of October 28, 2026. “Not shown” means we didn't find it on the pages we read. A blind check of 40 shops suggests each share is a few points high.
One shop is 0.7% of the Calgary total, so small gaps can be chance.
Cite this page: Figured Media, “How Calgary's metal shops show up online”, October 2026, with data from Metal Shop Guide. https://figuredmedia.com/research/metal-shops-online-2026/calgary/
Photo credits
- Calgary, at the top: Photo by Bilyj mak, CC BY-SA 4.0, edited (cropped)
- Shop floor, behind the quote: Photo by Kim Madsen, Unsplash License, edited (cropped)
Shop map: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census boundary files, Open Government Licence, Canada. Country map: Natural Earth, public domain.