How Ottawa's metal shops show up online
60%
We read the websites of 112 metal shops in Ottawa, part of our study of 2,095 shops in 23 Canadian cities. Here is what they show buyers, and how Ottawa compares.
What buyers in Ottawa see
Ottawa has the biggest share of structural steel shops in the study: 39 of 112, or 35%. But 26 of those 39 don't mention CWB on their site, one of the highest shares of the 23 cities. Ottawa shops are also the most likely to leave out when they started: 60% don't say. And they are among the most open about small work, with 52% saying they take small or one-off jobs, second only to Vancouver's small sample.
The basics
Four basics, and how Ottawa compares
- 76%show no ISO or CWB certificationAll 23 cities: 74% · 2 points higher · tied 9th highest of 23 cities
- 56%name none of their equipmentAll 23 cities: 54% · 2 points higher · tied 11th 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
- 60%Highest of 23don't say when they startedAll 23 cities: 49% · 11 points higher · the highest of 23 cities
26 of the 39 structural steel shops in Ottawa don't mention CWB.
The shop map
Every one of Ottawa's 112 shops, one dot each
Pick what the colours show.
Shows a certification: 27Shows none: 85
Names its equipment: 49Names none: 63
Gives its team size: 6Doesn't say: 106
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 Ottawa. The others are its neighbouring municipalities.
What a buyer checks
A shop's spec sheet, the way most Ottawa sites read it
A made-up Ottawa shop. A line is struck through when most of the city's 112 sites leave it out.
Sample Fabricating, Ottawa
Sample shop, not a real company
- Services
Fabrication, welding, laser cuttingOn nearly every site - Phone
555 010 0142Shown on 107 of 112 - Certification
CWB W47.1 · ISO 9001Missing on 85 of 112 - Equipment
4 kW fiber laser · 220 t press brake · 5 axis millMissing on 63 of 112 - Year started
Since 1989Missing on 67 of 112 - Team size
34 peopleMissing on 106 of 112 - Small jobs
One-offs welcomeShown on 58 of 112
35% of Ottawa shops offer structural steel, the biggest share of the 23 cities.
How it compares
Where Ottawa 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
Ottawa and its neighbours
Laval 150 km · Montreal 155 km · Terrebonne 160 km
| Measure | Ottawa112 shops | Laval37 shops | Montreal170 shops | Terrebonne52 shops |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No certification | 76% | 84% | 84% | 81% |
| No equipment | 56% | 60% | 55% | 58% |
| No team size | 95% | 97% | 95% | 89% |
| No year founded | 60% | 51% | 48% | 40% |
How long they have been at it
45 Ottawa shops say when they started
- Middle year
- 1990
- tied 11th oldest of 23 cities
- Started in 2001 or earlier
- 69%
- 5th lowest of 23 cities
- Oldest year given
- 1962
The other 67 give no year. Plum: started in 2001 or earlier. Teal: since 2002.
What they show and what they do
Certifications and trades in Ottawa
Certifications on their websites
| Group | Ottawa | All 23 cities | Rank of 23 |
|---|---|---|---|
| None of these | 76% | 74% | tied 9th |
| ISO only | 6% | 12% | tied 16th |
| CWB only | 15% | 12% | tied 7th |
| Both ISO and CWB | 3% | 3% | tied 10th |
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 | Ottawa | All 23 cities | Rank of 23 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Metal fabrication | 78% | 69% | 4th |
| Welding | 56% | 49% | tied 5th |
| Sheet metal, cutting and bending | 40% | 40% | 12th |
| Machining | 35% | 40% | tied 15th |
| Structural steel | 35% | 20% | Highest |
| Railings and stairs | 29% | 20% | 5th |
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 Ottawa
A few numbers on industry in Ottawa
- $30/hrmedian machinist pay, Ottawa regionSource: Job Bank, Government of Canada
From the city's page on Metal Shop Guide, each with its source.
The oldest Ottawa shop that gives a year started in 1962.
For shop owners
In Ottawa, 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.
- 0276%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.
- 0360%of sites here don't show it
How long you've been at it
The year you started.
Source
Where these numbers come from
For Ottawa, Metal Shop Guide covers Ottawa and area and lists 114 shops. 112 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 0.9% of the Ottawa total, so small gaps can be chance.
Cite this page: Figured Media, “How Ottawa's metal shops show up online”, October 2026, with data from Metal Shop Guide. https://figuredmedia.com/research/metal-shops-online-2026/ottawa/
Photo credits
- Ottawa, at the top: Photo by Yooylee 30, 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.