For machine shops
Machining-only work, with the metal delivered to your shop cut to size.
We take the buyer’s whole job and buy the metal for it. You answer one question: what you’d charge to machine it, on metal that arrives with its mill certificate.
- No buyer to chase: we quote, contract and collect
- Freight booked both ways, metal in and parts out
- Paid by EFT in about 15 days from your invoice
What partner shops get
Everything around the machining, handled by us.
Sourcing metal, chasing buyers and booking trucks take a shop’s time. We take them on, so your time goes on the machines.
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Machining-only requests
One question per request: your price to machine the job, with the metal supplied. You never quote or buy the metal.
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Metal delivered cut to size
Bought by us from Canadian metal suppliers, cut to the blank size, with its mill certificate and heat number.
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No buyer to manage
We handle the buyer: the quote, the contract, the changes and the payment. Your one customer is us.
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Freight both ways
We book the metal to your dock and the pickup when the parts are done. The carrier’s label comes with the booking.
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Paid in about 15 days
By EFT from your invoice, with a remittance advice by email. No chasing buyers for payment.
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Work split by operation
When a job needs more than one shop, it’s split by operation, so you quote only what you run.
Across Canada
2,384 machine shops across Canada, and where we start.
Statistics Canada counted 2,384 machine shops with employees in June 2026; 1,506 of them have fewer than 10 people. We’re signing up partner shops in Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec first, then every province.
The full table- Yukon: 1
- NT: No value published
- NU: No value published
- British Columbia: 196
- Alberta: 289
- Saskatchewan: 46
- Manitoba: 40
- Ontario: 1,006, Where we start
- Quebec: 704, Where we start
- Newfoundland and Labrador: 16
- New Brunswick: 37
- Prince Edward Island: 5
- Nova Scotia: 44, Where we start
The request
Every request carries what you need to price it.
A request arrives by email and in your shop portal when a job fits your processes, machines and materials. You see exactly what you’re pricing, and nothing you have to buy.
- The drawing and the STEP model, with the critical callouts
- The operations to price, on the metal already bought
- When the metal arrives, and when the parts are due at your dock
- Your reply: a price for the lot, a lead time and notes, or a decline
Bids close at the time on the request, and you can change your price until then.
The work
From request to payout, in eight steps.
What happens after you reply, and who does each step.
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A request arrives
By email and in your portal, when a job fits your processes and machines.
CanadaFab -
You reply
Your price for the lot, a lead time and notes, or a decline.
You -
We award the job
A purchase order on our paper, with the drawing and the dates.
CanadaFab -
The metal arrives
Cut to size, with its mill certificate. You check it before you cut.
You -
Machine and inspect
Sign off each operation in the portal and inspect to the drawing.
You -
Mark it done
We book the pickup, and the carrier’s label comes with it.
CanadaFab -
Invoice us
One invoice to CanadaFab, never to the buyer.
You -
Get paid
By EFT in about 15 days, with a remittance advice by email.
CanadaFab
The work order
Check the metal, then sign off each operation.
An awarded job has its own work order in your portal, with the purchase order, the drawing and the mill certificate. You check the metal against the certificate when it arrives, sign off each operation as it’s done and mark the work done for the pickup.
- The incoming check: pieces, heat number and sizes against the certificate
- Each operation signed off, with its date
- Inspection, then the pickup we book
- Your payout and its due date on the same page
Before the first request
What we check before we send you work.
We verify every shop before its first request, and each request only goes to shops that meet what its buyer needs.
| What we check | Why |
|---|---|
| A machine shop in Canada | The network is Canadian only: Canadian shops, Canadian metal suppliers and Canadian carriers. |
| Your processes, machines and materials | Requests only go to shops that can do the work, on machines with the envelope it needs. |
| ISO 9001, where the buyer needs it | A certificate isn’t needed to join. When a buyer asks for ISO 9001, the request goes to certified shops. |
| Liability insurance | The insurer, the coverage and the expiry date, with the certificate. |
| Controlled Goods registration, for controlled work | Controlled drawings go only to registered shops, through a separate lane held in Canada. We don’t take controlled work yet. |
| Your payout account | Added in a secure step after we verify the shop, and confirmed before the first payout. |
Applying
How applying works.
A few minutes, and no drawings or files. Nothing is saved in this preview: each step goes to the demo server only to show the next, your answers stay in your browser for two hours, and at the end your own email app opens with them, addressed to us.
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Create your account
Your name, the shop’s name, a work email, the province and your language, then confirm the email.
You -
Five short steps
Company and location, capabilities, quality and compliance, payouts, and the agreement’s main points.
You -
Email it to us
Your answers go to info@canadafab.ca from your own inbox, with your certificates attached.
You -
We reply and verify
We write back to every application, verify the shop and send the full agreement to sign.
CanadaFab
Questions
Questions shops ask.
Who buys the metal, and who owns it?
We do. We buy it for each job from Canadian metal suppliers and have it delivered to you cut to size, with its mill certificate. The partner agreement we’re drafting with counsel sets out that the metal stays ours while it’s in your shop.
What if the metal arrives wrong?
Check it against its mill certificate, the piece count and the heat number before you cut it, and tell us in the portal what’s off. We take it up with the supplier, so you don’t have to.
How and when are we paid?
By EFT to the company’s bank account, in about 15 days from your invoice, with a remittance advice by email. The exact terms are in the partner agreement you sign.
Do we deal with the buyer?
No. We handle the buyer: the quote, the contract, the changes and the payment. Questions about a drawing come to our desk, and we get the answer.
Can one job go to more than one shop?
Yes. A job that needs turning in one shop and five-axis milling in another is split by operation. Each shop quotes only its own operations, and we book the freight between shops.
Do we need ISO 9001?
No, a certificate isn’t needed to join. Tell us where you stand: certified, working towards it, or your own quality system. Jobs whose buyer asks for ISO 9001 go to certified shops.
Do we need Controlled Goods registration?
Only for controlled work, which we don’t take yet. Controlled drawings will only ever go to shops registered in the Controlled Goods Program, through a separate storage lane in Canada. The guide Controlled Goods and Notice 1159 explains the rules.
Is our shop named to buyers?
Your shop and its province are named on the Canadian content record of every order you machine. We don’t name partners on this site.
Apply to join our network of machine shops.
A few minutes, and no drawings or files. We write back to every application from info@canadafab.ca.
