College Certificate - Carpentry and Renovation Techniques

The Carpentry and Renovation Techniques certificate is an eight-month shop and site-based introduction to residential carpentry.

Content covers hand and power tool use and safety, framing systems for floors, walls and roofs, stair construction and layout, exterior finishing including cladding, roofing and windows, interior finishing and trim carpentry, drywall and insulation, blueprint reading and material estimating, the Ontario Building Code as it applies to residential construction, and renovation-specific work including demolition and structural modification. Students build real assemblies in the shop throughout.

Renovation is the smart emphasis. Toronto’s housing stock is old and expensive to replace, so the renovation market is large, resilient and less exposed to new-build cycles than framing work alone.

One point international students should understand about Ontario trades: this program is a college credential, not an apprenticeship. It gives you the theory, shop skills and safety certifications employers want, and it can shorten an apprenticeship, but full trade qualification in Ontario runs through a registered apprenticeship with an employer sponsor and a certificate of qualification. Plan for that step rather than assuming graduation completes it.

Humber Polytechnic — formerly Humber College — is Ontario’s largest public college and a Designated Learning Institution (DLI O19376943122). The North campus in Etobicoke is its main site, running technology, engineering, health science, business and skilled trades programs in purpose-built labs and shops rather than lecture halls, with three intakes a year and the deepest employer network in the Greater Toronto Area.

Its field maps to CIP 46.0201 (Carpentry). Important: this is a college credential rather than a degree, so it is not exempt from the November 2024 PGWP field-of-study restriction — eligibility depends on this CIP field appearing on IRCC’s eligible list when you apply. Humber publishes a PGWP-eligible program list with CIP codes; check it, and confirm with an Apply Study Visa counsellor before committing. IRCC makes the final decision.