The ups and downs of getting to your floor

This should come as no surprise, but Canada has a lot of buildings that might need an elevator or escalator! (And you know we have the numbers.)

When we last counted in 2019, across the provinces, there was a total floor area of 709 million square metres spread across nearly 556,000 commercial and institutional buildings, and another 72.5 million square metres of floor area among the country’s hospitals and postsecondary campuses.

The 2021 Census of Population counted over 36 million Canadians and nearly 15 million private dwellings occupied by their usual residents. Many of these households were in an apartment building with fewer than five storeys (over 2.7 million) or with five or more storeys (almost 1.6 million).

More recently, we know from our building permits survey that excavation means elevation.

In January alone, municipalities across Canada granted permits for the new construction of 2,914 commercial buildings (including office and retail buildings, and hotels); 458 institutional and government buildings (including schools and hospitals); and another 1,267 major non-residential projects such as factories, plants, and utility buildings. In addition, 2,132 permits were granted for new apartment and condo construction projects.

So who is installing and fixing all the devices who move all those people between floors?

In December 2025, there were 376 elevator and escalator installation contractors across Canada. Businesses in this industry primarily install, service and maintain elevators and escalators, as well as moving sidewalks (don’t miss your flight!) and other similar conveying equipment in buildings.

About 7 in 10 of those contractors (261) reported staff numbers, and many of them are small businesses. Of those that reported staff numbers, about one in four of them (24.5%) had one to four employees.

Proportions were fairly even among those who had 5 to 9 (16.9%), 10 to 19 (18.0%), and 20 to 49 (16.5%) employees. Less than 1 in 10 (9.2%) had 100 or more staff.

Those that didn’t report staff numbers could be sole proprietorships, large businesses, or anything in between.

Later this spring, the Survey of Commercial and Institutional Energy Use will release 2024 data, including total floor area.

Starting May 4, Canadians will also begin receiving their census invitation letter in the mail with instructions on how to complete their 2026 Census of Population questionnaire. Collecting information such as the number of dwellings and dwelling type, alongside other topics such as age, education and occupation, leads to valuable census data. These data help guide important policy and planning decisions that matter to families, communities, businesses, and more—for example, ensuring that municipalities can properly plan for infrastructure to support all those dwellings!