Construction Technician

Non-Commissioned Member | Full Time, Part Time

As a member of the military, Construction Technicians provide structural engineering support to operational units at home and abroad.

The Construction Technician job is one of seven Construction Engineering positions that provide all construction, civil, electrical and mechanical engineering services to Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) operations. The primary responsibilities of the Construction Technician are to:

• Construct, repair and maintain buildings for the protection of personnel and equipment
• Produce related structural designs and specifications
• Produce related structural drawings
• Construct field defences
• Erect prefabricated structures

Work environment

Construction Technicians often work with the challenges that come with varying environments. They maintain their skills while employed at home units or on humanitarian and United Nations operational assignments.

If you choose a career in the Regular Force, upon completion of all required training, you will be assigned to your first base. While there is some flexibility with regards to postings (relocations), accommodations can’t always be made, and therefore, you can likely expect to move at some point in your career. However, if you decide to join the Primary Reserve Force, you will do so through a specific Reserve unit. Outside of training, your chosen Reserve unit will be your workplace on a part-time basis, and you will not be obligated to relocate to a different base. As part of the Primary Reserve Force, you typically work one night per week and some weekends as a minimum with possibilities of full-time employment.

Construction Technicians work with all units of the Canadian Armed Forces – the Army, Air Force, Navy, Joint and Special Operations – building and maintaining barracks, hangars, storage facilities, offices, and temporary shelters. They are part of the highly skilled and versatile Construction Engineering division, working alongside Drafting and Survey Techs, Electrical Generating Systems Techs, Electrical Distribution Techs, Plumbing and Heating Techs, Mechanical and Refrigeration Techs as well as Water, Fuels and Environment Techs to support Canadian Armed Forces operations here at home and overseas.

On deployment, troops are often going into areas where the infrastructure isn’t up to Canadian standards, or possibly isn’t there at all. Construction Technicians are often called upon to be the first people into a situation, and very often to be the last person out. Prior to a camp set-up or prior to an established site, it’s their job to actually build the camp up, to give a more comfortable living environment and provide the necessary infrastructure for people to work out of – not just the front-line people like the infantry or the artillery, but also everyone that’s behind the scenes, like the administration side of it with clerks, officers, medics, and any of those trades. They assist those to actually build up the infrastructure, so that they can work and do their job.

On completing their military and preliminary occupation training, Construction Technicians are assigned to a Real Property Operations unit or a Construction Engineering Flight for two years of on-the-job experience and training. They’ll work under the supervision of senior technicians on tasks that get progressively more complex as time goes by.

The minimum required education to apply for this occupation is the completion of the provincial requirements for Grade 10 or Secondary 4 in Quebec, including Grade 10 applied math or 416 / CST 4 in Quebec.