How Quebec City's metal shops show up online
42%
We read the websites of 97 metal shops in Quebec City, part of our study of 2,095 shops in 23 Canadian cities. Here is what they show buyers, and how Quebec City compares.
What buyers in Quebec City see
Quebec City's shops come to you: 42% say they work on site, the highest share of the 23 cities, and 62% offer welding, the second highest. Machine shops here list their machines more than most (only 8 of 35 don't), but 29 of the 35 show no ISO 9001, AS9100 or ISO 13485. Few mention prototypes: 11%, against 23% across all cities.
The basics
Four basics, and how Quebec City compares
- 74%show no ISO or CWB certificationAll 23 cities: 74% · the same · tied 11th lowest of 23 cities
- 59%name none of their equipmentAll 23 cities: 54% · 5 points higher · 8th highest of 23 cities
- 94%don't say how many people work thereAll 23 cities: 96% · 2 points lower · tied 4th lowest of 23 cities
- 44%don't say when they startedAll 23 cities: 49% · 5 points lower · tied 8th lowest of 23 cities
The oldest Quebec City shop that gives a year started in 1920.
The shop map
Every one of Quebec City's 97 shops, one dot each
Pick what the colours show.
Shows a certification: 25Shows none: 72
Names its equipment: 40Names none: 57
Gives its team size: 6Doesn't say: 91
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 Quebec City. The others are its neighbouring municipalities.
What a buyer checks
A shop's spec sheet, the way most Quebec City sites read it
A made-up Quebec City shop. A line is struck through when most of the city's 97 sites leave it out.
Sample Fabricating, Quebec City
Sample shop, not a real company
- Services
Fabrication, welding, laser cuttingOn nearly every site - Phone
555 010 0142Shown on 97 of 97 - Certification
CWB W47.1 · ISO 9001Missing on 72 of 97 - Equipment
4 kW fiber laser · 220 t press brake · 5 axis millMissing on 57 of 97 - Year started
Since 1989Shown on 54 of 97 - Team size
34 peopleMissing on 91 of 97 - Small jobs
One-offs welcomeMissing on 58 of 97
How it compares
Where Quebec City 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
Quebec City and its neighbours
Lévis 15 km · Terrebonne 215 km · Longueuil 220 km
| Measure | Quebec City97 shops | Lévis44 shops | Terrebonne52 shops | Longueuil108 shops |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No certification | 74% | 73% | 81% | 76% |
| No equipment | 59% | 71% | 58% | 58% |
| No team size | 94% | 98% | 89% | 94% |
| No year founded | 44% | 48% | 40% | 57% |
How long they have been at it
54 Quebec City shops say when they started
- Middle year
- 1994
- tied 4th youngest of 23 cities
- Started in 2001 or earlier
- 72%
- tied 7th lowest of 23 cities
- Oldest year given
- 1920
The other 43 give no year. Plum: started in 2001 or earlier. Teal: since 2002.
What they show and what they do
Certifications and trades in Quebec City
Certifications on their websites
| Group | Quebec City | All 23 cities | Rank of 23 |
|---|---|---|---|
| None of these | 74% | 74% | tied 12th |
| ISO only | 6% | 12% | tied 16th |
| CWB only | 16% | 12% | tied 5th |
| Both ISO and CWB | 4% | 3% | tied 5th |
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 | Quebec City | All 23 cities | Rank of 23 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Metal fabrication | 75% | 69% | 8th |
| Welding | 62% | 49% | tied 2nd |
| Sheet metal, cutting and bending | 39% | 40% | 13th |
| Machining | 36% | 40% | tied 13th |
| Structural steel | 28% | 20% | 3rd |
| Railings and stairs | 23% | 20% | 8th |
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 name the machines, an engineer can't tell if the part will fit
Industry in Quebec City
A few numbers on industry in Quebec City
- 6.6%of jobs in manufacturing, Capitale-Nationale, 2025Source: Government of Quebec, socio-economic portrait of the Capitale-Nationale
- $27/hrmedian machinist pay, Capitale-Nationale regionSource: Job Bank, Government of Canada
- $28/hrmedian welder pay, Capitale-Nationale regionSource: Job Bank, Government of Canada
From the city's page on Metal Shop Guide, each with its source.
For shop owners
In Quebec City, add these three things first
In the order of the city's own gaps: what most sites here leave out first.
- 0194%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.
- 0360%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 Quebec City, Metal Shop Guide covers Quebec City and area and lists 98 shops. 97 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 1% of the Quebec City total, so small gaps can be chance.
Cite this page: Figured Media, “How Quebec City's metal shops show up online”, October 2026, with data from Metal Shop Guide. https://figuredmedia.com/research/metal-shops-online-2026/quebec-city/
Photo credits
- Quebec City, at the top: Photo by Wilfredor, CC0, 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.