How Hamilton's metal shops show up online
49%
We read the websites of 65 metal shops in Hamilton, part of our study of 2,095 shops in 23 Canadian cities. Here is what they show buyers, and how Hamilton compares.
What buyers in Hamilton see
Hamilton is known for steel, but on Metal Shop Guide it is a machining city: 57% of its shops offer machining, the highest share of the 23 cities. Yet 18 of 37 machine shops name none of their machines, also the highest share. Only one Hamilton shop says how many people work there, and few say they work on site (17%, the lowest share).
The basics
Four basics, and how Hamilton compares
- 75%show no ISO or CWB certificationAll 23 cities: 74% · 1 point higher · 11th highest of 23 cities
- 60%name none of their equipmentAll 23 cities: 54% · 6 points higher · tied 5th highest of 23 cities
- 99%don't say how many people work thereAll 23 cities: 96% · 3 points higher · 3rd highest of 23 cities
- 48%don't say when they startedAll 23 cities: 49% · 1 point lower · tied 11th highest of 23 cities
Only one Hamilton shop says how many people work there.
The shop map
Every one of Hamilton's 65 shops, one dot each
Pick what the colours show.
Shows a certification: 16Shows none: 49
Names its equipment: 26Names none: 39
Gives its team size: 1Doesn't say: 64
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 Hamilton. The others are its neighbouring municipalities.
What a buyer checks
A shop's spec sheet, the way most Hamilton sites read it
A made-up Hamilton shop. A line is struck through when most of the city's 65 sites leave it out.
Sample Fabricating, Hamilton
Sample shop, not a real company
- Services
Fabrication, welding, laser cuttingOn nearly every site - Phone
555 010 0142Shown on 62 of 65 - Certification
CWB W47.1 · ISO 9001Missing on 49 of 65 - Equipment
4 kW fiber laser · 220 t press brake · 5 axis millMissing on 39 of 65 - Year started
Since 1989Shown on 34 of 65 - Team size
34 peopleMissing on 64 of 65 - Small jobs
One-offs welcomeMissing on 47 of 65
Not one of the 65 shops in Hamilton shows all four basics a buyer checks.
How it compares
Where Hamilton 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
Hamilton and its neighbours
Mississauga 45 km · Cambridge 50 km · Brampton 55 km
| Measure | Hamilton65 shops | Mississauga158 shops | Cambridge67 shops | Brampton82 shops |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No certification | 75% | 73% | 66% | 70% |
| No equipment | 60% | 56% | 39% | 50% |
| No team size | 99% | 96% | 96% | 96% |
| No year founded | 48% | 54% | 36% | 56% |
How long they have been at it
34 Hamilton shops say when they started
- Middle year
- 1986
- tied 5th oldest of 23 cities
- Started in 2001 or earlier
- 79%
- tied 6th highest of 23 cities
- Oldest year given
- 1910
The other 31 give no year. Plum: started in 2001 or earlier. Teal: since 2002.
What they show and what they do
Certifications and trades in Hamilton
Certifications on their websites
| Group | Hamilton | All 23 cities | Rank of 23 |
|---|---|---|---|
| None of these | 75% | 74% | 11th |
| ISO only | 12% | 12% | 11th |
| CWB only | 5% | 12% | tied 20th |
| Both ISO and CWB | 8% | 3% | Tied highest |
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 | Hamilton | All 23 cities | Rank of 23 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Machining | 57% | 40% | Highest |
| Metal fabrication | 55% | 69% | tied 21st |
| Welding | 42% | 49% | 18th |
| Sheet metal, cutting and bending | 35% | 40% | 17th |
| Structural steel | 12% | 20% | tied 21st |
| Railings and stairs | 6% | 20% | tied 21st |
Shares of all the city's shops. A shop can do several kinds of work. Rank 1 is the city with the biggest share.
If the site doesn't say it takes one-off parts, the buyer calls someone else
Industry in Hamilton
A few numbers on industry in Hamilton
- 28,294manufacturing jobs in Hamilton, 2024Source: Invest in Hamilton, City of Hamilton, Hamilton Manufacturing Metrics (February 2025)
- $32/hrmedian machinist pay, Hamilton regionSource: Job Bank, Government of Canada
- $27/hrmedian welder pay, Hamilton regionSource: Job Bank, Government of Canada
From the city's page on Metal Shop Guide, each with its source.
The oldest Hamilton shop that gives a year started in 1910.
For shop owners
In Hamilton, add these three things first
In the order of the city's own gaps: what most sites here leave out first.
- 0199%of sites here don't show it
How many you are
Roughly how many people work there.
- 0275%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.
- 0372%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 Hamilton, Metal Shop Guide covers the City of Hamilton and lists 66 shops. 65 have a website of their own, and those are the shops we read, 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 2% of the Hamilton total, so small gaps can be chance.
Cite this page: Figured Media, “How Hamilton's metal shops show up online”, October 2026, with data from Metal Shop Guide. https://figuredmedia.com/research/metal-shops-online-2026/hamilton/
Photo credits
- Hamilton, at the top: Photo by Martin Cathrae, CC BY-SA 2.0, edited (cropped)
- Shop floor, behind the quote: Photo by Contour, CC0, edited (cropped)
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Shop map: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census boundary files, Open Government Licence, Canada. Country map: Natural Earth, public domain.