The Gold Seal Certification program certifies estimators, foremen, owner’s construction managers, project managers, safety practitioners and superintendents working in, or with, Canada’s non-residential construction industry. When you earn your Gold Seal Certified (GSC) or Professional, Gold Seal Certified (P.GSC) credential, you demonstrate excellence through certified experience and nationally-recognized validation of your skills, competence and knowledge.
Application framework and new tools
Starting on March 13, 2021, all applicants enroll into the Gold Seal program at $425 plus applicable taxes and be approved as Gold Seal Interns (GSI), giving them up to five years to meet the Gold Seal Certified (GSC) application requirements and challenge the Gold Seal exam. The same minimum requirements apply as previously for the Gold Seal Intern applications (one year of Canadian experience in the designation or two years in an assistant’s role directly related to the designation).
Applicants enrolling into the program will be able to take advantage of new tools to identify the areas that they should get training on to maximize their chances of passing the exam as well as to estimate their credits to know whether they are ready to apply for their GSC. When the applicant meets the GSC requirements, they can fill out a GSC application for $100 plus applicable taxes. Approved applicants can book an exam within a year from GSC application approval for $125 plus applicable taxes.
Those existing applicants who applied as GSIs and were approved as such before March 12, 2021 have a special form to submit their GSC application for $525 plus applicable taxes. Those applicants who applied as GSCs but were approved as GSIs as an intermediary step can submit their applications for final review free of charge. There are no changes to our highest level of the certification, the P.GSC credential.
New ethics course
A new, consolidated Construction Industry Ethics course was made available starting May 21, 2021. It replaces the requirement for the online and in-class/virtual portions of the course. New applicants will be required to take the revised course in either e-learning or virtual/in-class format. Applicants who took the previous online and in-class/virtual courses will be given the same number of credits and they are not required to take the new course. However, if you are missing either the old online or the old in-class/virtual portion, you are required to take the new course. This course is worth 3 Gold Seal credits. We do not accept any other ethics courses.
Courses are offered through local construction associations across the country. Please contact your local construction association to learn more about course schedules.
Other planned changes
The Gold Seal directory of certificate holders has been offline for a few years. We look forward to listing active GSIs, GSCs and P.GSCs on our website this fall. Certificate holders can grant or deny their consent at bit.ly/Consent2List.
The Gold Seal program will be developing digital badges and certificates by the fall. We will make a digital copy of the new certificate, which will also feature a certification number, available for all certificate holders. To ensure that we can contact you, update your contact information at bit.ly/UpdateGSContact.
Get a head start on your application
This is a perfect time to learn more about the program and to see if you qualify. Visit the Gold Seal website to register for our monthly webinar, review requirements and competency self-assessments and to read up on the exam. The sample questions can be found on the Gold Seal exam page. The Gold Seal team is only an email away if you have any questions – let us know at goldseal@cca-acc.com!