Invoices get paid on time
Trades come back to us because the money shows up when it's due. It should not be a selling point in this industry, and yet here we are.
We're hiring
Build good work on the North Shore.
RealDream renovates kitchens, bathrooms, basements and whole homes in North Vancouver and West Vancouver. We're looking for carpenters, site leads and subtrades who care how the finished work looks when the furniture goes back in.
- 2013
- Renovating on the North Shore since
- 50+
- Projects finished start to finish
- North Shore
- Where nearly all our sites are
- Fixed price
- Scope locked before demolition
Why people stay
The parts of this job that usually go wrong, and what we do about them.
Every trade has worked for a company that ran late, paid late and blamed someone else. Here is how we try not to be that company.
The scope is locked before demolition
We work on fixed price, which only holds if the plan is real before anyone opens a wall. You are not framing the same corner three times because someone changed their mind in week six.
The owner is on site
Nima runs the projects himself. When something on site is wrong, you tell the person who can decide, that day, instead of leaving a message with a coordinator.
Short drives
Lynn Valley, Edgemont, Deep Cove, Lower Lonsdale, the British Properties. Our sites sit inside a small radius, so you are not leaving at five in the morning to beat the bridge.
Clean sites, real schedules
People are usually living in these houses while we work. Sites get swept, materials get staged before you need them, and the schedule is built so trades are not stacked on top of each other.
Houses that are actually interesting
Much of the North Shore was built between the 1960s and the 1980s. Old panels, galvanized supply lines, drainage on steep lots, foundations that predate current seismic rules. Good problems if you like solving them.
Who we hire
Roles we take applications for.
Nothing here is a numbered posting with a start date. These are the seats on a renovation crew, and we keep applications on file for when one opens.
Site lead
Runs the day on one renovation: sequencing, trades, materials, and the homeowner's questions. Reports straight to Nima.
Lead carpenter
Framing through finish on kitchens, bathrooms, basements and additions. Comfortable working inside an occupied house.
Finishing carpenter
Doors, trim, stairs, built-ins and cabinet installation. The work everyone sees and nobody forgives if it's off.
Carpenter's helper or apprentice
Learning the trade on live renovation sites rather than one repetitive station on a production build.
General labourer
Site prep, protection, material handling, demolition and keeping the job clean enough to work in.
Project coordinator
Permits, selections, supplier orders and schedules. Office-based with regular site visits across North and West Vancouver.
Subtrades
If you run your own crew, use the same form. Tell us your trade, your WorkSafeBC clearance status and your liability coverage, and we'll take it from there.
- Electrical
- Plumbing and gas
- HVAC
- Drywall and taping
- Tile setting
- Painting
- Flooring
- Cabinetry and millwork
- Drainage and excavation
- Roofing
What we look for
Skill is teachable. The rest of this is not.
- You show up on the day you said you would, at the time you said you would.
- You measure before you cut, and you say something the moment a detail looks wrong.
- You can talk to a homeowner in their own kitchen without making them nervous.
- You are legally able to work in Canada.
- Red Seal, an apprenticeship in progress, or years of solid site experience. In that order of paperwork, but attitude comes first.
- Site leads need a driver's licence and a vehicle. Everyone else, tell us what you have.
How hiring works
Four steps, and none of them take a month.
You will know where you stand at every point. If it's a no, we say so instead of going quiet.
- 01
Send your details
The form below takes about five minutes. A resume helps but it is not required. Photos of work you are proud of help more.
- 02
A phone call
Fifteen minutes, usually with Nima. What you've built, what you want to be doing in two years, and what you're looking to earn.
- 03
A day on site
You spend a working day with the crew so both sides can tell whether it fits. The day is paid, at the rate we agreed on the call.
- 04
Offer and start date
If it's a fit, we put the rate, the hours and the start date in writing. No two-week silence while you wonder what happened.
Apply
Five minutes, and it goes straight to Nima.
No account, no portal, no application number. Fill this in and it lands in his inbox with whatever you attach.
Rather talk first?
Call during working hours and ask for Nima, or send your details straight to nima@realdream.ca.
Monday to Friday: 9am to 6pm
Questions
Things people ask before they apply.
Do I need a Red Seal to apply? +
No. We hire apprentices and helpers alongside ticketed carpenters. If you are partway through an apprenticeship, say which level you're at on the form.
I run my own crew. Do you take subtrades? +
Yes. Use the same form and tell us your trade, how many people you run, your WorkSafeBC clearance status, and your liability insurance. Most of our subtrade relationships have lasted years, so we are slow and careful about adding new ones.
Where are the jobs? +
Almost entirely in North Vancouver and West Vancouver, across both the City and the District. We take select projects in Vancouver, New Westminster and White Rock, but the North Shore is the core of the work.
Do you post wage ranges? +
We talk about money on the first call, before anyone spends time on a site day. The form asks what you're looking for so the conversation starts in the right place. We don't ask what you earned at your last job, and under BC's Pay Transparency Act nobody should.
What should I send with my application? +
A resume if you have one, and photos of finished work if you don't. Two or three good photos of a kitchen, a staircase or a set of built-ins tell us more than a page of bullet points.
Nothing is open right now. Should I still apply? +
Yes. Renovation crews turn over with the project schedule, and the people we call first are the ones already in the file. Applications stay on hand.
One more thing
Not sure you're what we're after? Send it anyway.
A resume tells us where someone worked. Three photos of a staircase, a tiled shower or a run of built-ins tell us whether they can build. Send whichever you have.