How Edmonton's metal shops show up online
74%
We read the websites of 266 metal shops in Edmonton, part of our study of 2,095 shops in 23 Canadian cities. Here is what they show buyers, and how Edmonton compares.
What buyers in Edmonton see
Edmonton has the most listed shops of the 23 Canadian cities, 266, so a buyer here has the widest choice and the most sites to sort through. On certification, Edmonton looks like the rest of the country: 74% of its shop sites show none. The difference is in what shops offer. Only 43% say they help with drawings or design, one of the lowest shares in the study, while 18% mention rush work, one of the highest.
The basics
Four basics, and how Edmonton compares
- 74%show no ISO or CWB certificationAll 23 cities: 74% · the same · tied 11th lowest of 23 cities
- 49%name none of their equipmentAll 23 cities: 54% · 5 points lower · 6th lowest of 23 cities
- 97%don't say how many people work thereAll 23 cities: 96% · 1 point higher · tied 5th highest of 23 cities
- 51%don't say when they startedAll 23 cities: 49% · 2 points higher · tied 6th highest of 23 cities
The oldest Edmonton shop that gives a year started in 1907.
The shop map
Every one of Edmonton's 266 shops, one dot each
Pick what the colours show.
Shows a certification: 68Shows none: 198
Names its equipment: 136Names none: 130
Gives its team size: 9Doesn't say: 257
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 Edmonton. The others are its neighbouring municipalities.
What a buyer checks
A shop's spec sheet, the way most Edmonton sites read it
A made-up Edmonton shop. A line is struck through when most of the city's 266 sites leave it out.
Sample Fabricating, Edmonton
Sample shop, not a real company
- Services
Fabrication, welding, laser cuttingOn nearly every site - Phone
555 010 0142Shown on 257 of 266 - Certification
CWB W47.1 · ISO 9001Missing on 198 of 266 - Equipment
4 kW fiber laser · 220 t press brake · 5 axis millShown on 136 of 266 - Year started
Since 1989Missing on 136 of 266 - Team size
34 peopleMissing on 257 of 266 - Small jobs
One-offs welcomeMissing on 168 of 266
How it compares
Where Edmonton 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
Edmonton and the nearest study cities
Calgary 280 km · Langley 800 km
| Measure | Edmonton266 shops | Calgary150 shops | Langley39 shops |
|---|---|---|---|
| No certification | 74% | 68% | 72% |
| No equipment | 49% | 48% | 46% |
| No team size | 97% | 95% | 95% |
| No year founded | 51% | 45% | 44% |
How long they have been at it
130 Edmonton shops say when they started
- Middle year
- 1987
- tied 7th oldest of 23 cities
- Started in 2001 or earlier
- 79%
- tied 6th highest of 23 cities
- Oldest year given
- 1907
The other 136 give no year. Plum: started in 2001 or earlier. Teal: since 2002.
What they show and what they do
Certifications and trades in Edmonton
Certifications on their websites
| Group | Edmonton | All 23 cities | Rank of 23 |
|---|---|---|---|
| None of these | 74% | 74% | tied 12th |
| ISO only | 13% | 12% | tied 9th |
| CWB only | 12% | 12% | 12th |
| Both ISO and CWB | 0.4% | 3% | Tied lowest |
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 | Edmonton | All 23 cities | Rank of 23 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Metal fabrication | 64% | 69% | 17th |
| Welding | 46% | 49% | 16th |
| Machining | 41% | 40% | 9th |
| Sheet metal, cutting and bending | 34% | 40% | tied 18th |
| Structural steel | 19% | 20% | tied 11th |
| Railings and stairs | 15% | 20% | 18th |
Shares of all the city's shops. A shop can do several kinds of work. Rank 1 is the city with the biggest share.
Thirty years in business sells, but only if the site says so
Industry in Edmonton
A few numbers on industry in Edmonton
- 40%of Alberta's manufacturing output, Edmonton regionSource: Edmonton Global, advanced manufacturing
- $36.50/hrmedian machinist pay, Edmonton regionSource: Job Bank, Government of Canada
- $39.90/hrmedian welder pay, Edmonton regionSource: Job Bank, Government of Canada
From the city's page on Metal Shop Guide, each with its source.
For shop owners
In Edmonton, add these three things first
In the order of the city's own gaps: what most sites here leave out first.
- 0197%of sites here don't show it
How many you are
Roughly how many people work there.
- 0274%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.
- 0363%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 Edmonton, Metal Shop Guide covers Edmonton and area and lists 266 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 0.4% of the Edmonton total, so small gaps can be chance.
Cite this page: Figured Media, “How Edmonton's metal shops show up online”, October 2026, with data from Metal Shop Guide. https://figuredmedia.com/research/metal-shops-online-2026/edmonton/
Photo credits
- Edmonton, at the top: Photo by awmcphee, CC BY-SA 4.0, edited (cropped)
- Shop floor, behind the quote: Photo by Christopher Burns, Unsplash License, edited (cropped)
Shop map: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census boundary files, Open Government Licence, Canada. Country map: Natural Earth, public domain.