Housing Maintainers offer vital services to Northerners

Program: Housing Maintainer

Schools:

Location:

Program length: 8 Weeks

Start date: October - January - April

Credential:

  • Completion of Apprenticeship and Certificate of Qualificiation from the GNWT

Delivery:

  • Classroom
  • Shop
Tuition & Fees Housing Information

Program Description

The Apprenticeship Housing Maintainer program is designed to train apprentices to perform preventative and on-demand maintenance, minor repairs, and modernization improvements on existing physical structures and components of buildings.   Due to the nature of the work of housing maintainers, safety is taught on a continuous basis throughout this program.

This program outline is based the NWT Housing Maintainer Course Outline issued by the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT).

The goal of apprenticeship training is to develop a competent journeyperson through a combination of on-the-job and technical training.

The Apprenticeship Housing Maintainer program at Aurora College provides all three levels of technical training.

Program Eligibility

Program participants must be registered with the GNWT, Department of Education, Culture and Employment (Apprenticeship Division) prior to registering at Aurora College.

Applicant Assessment

Program applicants are assessed by the GNWT.  Service is accessed through a local career service centre.  Anyone wishing to become a Housing Maintainer apprentice must:

  • Be at least 16 years of age
  • Be physically capable of performing the work involved in the Housing Maintainer trade
  • Have a genuine desire to become a good tradesperson
  • Find a suitable employer, who holds a Journey certificate in the Housing Maintainer trade or employs the holder of a Journey certificate in the trade and who is willing to hire and train the applicant.
  • Obtain an overall average of 70% and a minimum of 50% in each of the subsections (Mathematics, English and Science) on the Trades Entrance Examination, Cluster #2.  The relevant trades are listed below:
Eligible Supervising Trades
Level One housing maintainer, oil heat systems technician, gasfitter, power engineer
Level Two housing maintainer, plumber, gasfitter, power engineer
Level Three housing maintainer, carpenter

Program Admission

Participants will be admitted to this program based on the eligibility requirements set by the GNWT.

Program Information

Aurora College provides technical training for each of the three levels that comprise a Housing Maintainer Apprenticeship.  Each level of technical training is 240 hours (eight weeks).

Curriculum requirements are set by the GNWT.

Participants must take each level in its entirety.

Participants are exposed to the program concepts through lectures, discussions, demonstrations, independent study and group study.  They are then given opportunities for skill development through a series of practical applications.

Program Objectives

Level 1

The objectives of this level are to enable graduates to carry out the tasks required of a Housing Maintainer in a responsible, competent and safe manner.  These tasks include:

  1. Describing safe work practices related to jobsite conditions.
  2. Describing and identifying the tools used for heating work.
  3. Describing heating systems with the focus on oil burners and warm-air appliances.
  4. Reading and interpreting construction documents, including blueprints and specifications.
  5. Understanding the fundamentals of electricity and performing basic electrical maintenance tasks.

Level 2

The objectives of this level are to enable graduates to carry out the tasks required of a Housing Maintainer in a responsible, competent and safe manner.  These tasks include:

  1. Describing and understanding safety legislation for the trade.
  2. Describing and safely using tools for Hydronic Heating work.
  3. Understanding heating systems; specifically the installation and servicing of hot water heating for a single-family dwelling, including boilers and trim.
  4. Describing key components of the plumbing systems including fittings, piping, hangers, flush valves, and fixtures.
  5. Describing the heat transfer process; and applying the process to relative pipe trades.
  6. Implementing basic heat calculations relevant to the trade; utilizing both metric and imperial values.

Level 3

The objectives of this level are to enable graduates to carry out the tasks required of a Housing Maintainer in a responsible, competent and safe manner.  These tasks include:

  1. Describing and demonstrating safe use of tools and equipment for carpentry work.
  2. Demonstrating how to utilize construction documents for planning maintenance and construction projects.
  3. Describing foundation systems used in the North.
  4. Performing preventative and on-demand maintenance.
  5. Performing minor repairs

Completion Requirements

Theoretical and practical assignments and written examinations are used to evaluate participant progress.

Course marks are weighted based on a formula provided by Apprenticeship & Occupational Certification, Government of the Northwest Territories.

In order for a participant to pass their apprenticeship level training, they must achieve a class mark of 65% or greater, obtain a shop mark of 65% or greater and complete all course work.

A participant who fails technical training must repeat the training regardless of the result obtained on the level examinations administered by the GNWT.

“An apprentice who is absent from a trade instruction course in which he or she is enrolled for more than 5% of the total time of the course may be terminated from that course by the supervisor and be subsequently scheduled to repeat the entire course.”

Article 20 (1), NWT Apprenticeship, Trade and Occupations Certification Regulations

Participants must achieve a mark of 70% in the GNWT-administered level examination in order to progress to the next level of technical training.

Document of Recognition

Completion of Apprenticeship Certificate and a Certificate of Qualification at the Journeyperson Level

Contact Aurora College for more information

Important Information

Participants in Apprenticeship programs must be registered Canadian apprentices in the level to which they are applying. Aurora College can accept apprentices from jurisdictions across Canada, however, all participants must be registered with the Government of the Northwest Territories Apprenticeship Division (apprenticeship@gov.nt.ca) prior to registering with Aurora College.

For more information about the above visit: www.ece.gov.nt.ca/en/services/apprenticeship-and-trades