Calgary 2013 Chit/Chat/Travel Advice READ

AlanMc86

Have friends living there at the moment,

For jobs: http://www.jobbank.gc.ca

For Accomodation: http://www.rentfaster.ca/

Also when it comes to accom they arrived at the start of the month which caused them a lot of problems, most places only begin leases at the start of the month so unless you have places lined up to see before you arrive its best to arrive towards the end of the month so you have a week or two to find the house before the start of the month. They ended up spending nearly a full month in the hostel which ate away into the funds.

Also unlike ireland nearly everywhere is unfurnished, they have told me about this yoke called a "bed in a bag" sounds like the job.

makita

Just out of curiousity how much would you want to bring to Calgary to get set up between hostels and finding a place to rent spending money etc?

rusheen

makita wrote: »

Just out of curiousity how much would you want to bring to Calgary to get set up between hostels and finding a place to rent spending money etc?

The more the better chance you have !
Food is expensive !
bring at least 5k

7ofBrian

JustRoss23 wrote: »

7 o brian you in calgary?? if soo how you find it?? would one better to stock up on clothes in ireland or they cheaper or there? jackets winter gear etc?:D

Not yet. Myself and the other half are hoping to go later this year. We got our letters this week so just about to start stage 2.
Ive just done a bit of research and Ikea seems to be the best option over there for the expat on a budget.

LostOneHelpMe

If im lucky enough to get a visa i'd be more than happy to do a house share with some of you lovely helpful people from boards

JustRoss23

+1 for me i would more then happy aswell to do a house share:D. i am hoping to have between 4k and 5k i no everyone says bring lots of money but that's simply not an option if one is unemployed hence why i am going as soon as i get my visa to avoid having to lose another 200euro of my saved money to increased flight fares:D

hdowney

7ofBrian wrote: »

Not yet. Myself and the other half are hoping to go later this year. We got our letters this week so just about to start stage 2.
Ive just done a bit of research and Ikea seems to be the best option over there for the expat on a budget.

We'll all be over there soon by the looks of it!!! I'll be heading later this year/early next at the latest.

JustRoss23

anyone any recommendations as for what clothes to bring in April i no it will be cold enough will i need the terminals?:P and also is it cheaper to buy here before i go or wait till i get over there?:D

AlanMc86

buy as much as you can here before you go but i wouldn't go buying ski gear that would just take up too much weight. There is no such thing as pennies there nothing even comes close.

JustRoss23

were you over there?:D

AlanMc86

Two friends living there at the moment, the lad paid 20 bobs for boxers and the girl paid 20 dollars for a scarf that you would get in pennys for 4 euro. The girl told the OH that a pair a shoes you would pay 20 quid for in pennys would cost about 100 dollars. So that is what i am basing my opinion on and they have told us to stock well up on clothes before we come over. She did say runners were cheap and that she got two pairs in footlocker for 90 dollars so that is pretty good but other than that the impression they have given us is stock right up.

Martyn1989

WasterEx wrote: »

What are people doing/ have people done to get furniture? I've heard of a few sites where people give stuff away for free but how would you get the furniture to your apartment? (Table, chairs, desk, couch, etc.)

Ok beds we went to Surplus Furniture near the Chinnook centre, more then happy to offload their display models for a reasonable price and they could deliver it that day.

Couches off kijiji, the free stuff you'll need a truck to get, we got a 2er and a 3er for $160 and offered him a few quid to deliver and help me get it up to floor 4.

Walmart is great for kitchen stuff like pots, pans, plates, cutlery etc. We went there, got the essentials and taxi'd it back, 2 trips and we'd everything we needed. Most of our stuff came from walmart, tv, duvet, pillows, bins, clothes horse etc.

We found Ikea here to be a complete rip off and its well out of the way, plus its all weird looking, made it difficult for people with no car. We got cheap coffee table and tv stand there though.

JustRoss23

cheers dude will stock up on wolly socks scarfs gloves etc. might even buy some of them long jons:o:o

frankspencer

where is the best places to look for a place i.e websites

Martyn1989

frankspencer wrote: »

where is the best places to look for a place i.e websites

rentfaster.ca

7ofBrian

Also www.kijiji.ca

Tonto86

AlanMc86 wrote: »

Two friends living there at the moment, the lad paid 20 bobs for boxers and the girl paid 20 dollars for a scarf that you would get in pennys for 4 euro. The girl told the OH that a pair a shoes you would pay 20 quid for in pennys would cost about 100 dollars. So that is what i am basing my opinion on and they have told us to stock well up on clothes before we come over. She did say runners were cheap and that she got two pairs in footlocker for 90 dollars so that is pretty good but other than that the impression they have given us is stock right up.

Where the hell they shopping? Clothes here are cheaper if you look around. The GF has come home with bags of stuff for $100. For boxers, socks etc Walmart is your friend.

Sure if you shop in the Chinook or TD Core its expensive but these places are geared towards the rich. There's loads of other malls.

JustRoss23

good man tonto i will stock up on a few bits in penny's for April but wont be buying a fortunes worth of clothes.. hoping construction working clothes aren't to expensive:D

Theresalwaysone

Hoping to arrive in Calgary in early August.

Have a load of Canadian friends so hoping they'll have the inside scoop on jobs and living issues.

sully2010

JustRoss great thread, was thinking Calgary myself. My background is construction too but I read you are looking to get work in Calgary in the oil sands industry. Is there much of this in Calgary or do you have to go further north?

What type of construction work is involved with the oil sands industry or is it spin off construction around Calgary you are talking about?

Cheers

AlanMc86

Ah very good!! Probably something to do with where they are living so.

JustRoss23

i plan to get work in the oil rigs but from chatting to the oil companies i will be there at the wrong time lol as they mostly only operate during the winter months from sept-march/april so thats why i am going to Calgary now there seems to be a lot of general construction work..The oil sands you are asking about are in fort mcmurry when i first started looking into Canada it was here i was going to go but on further information i found it has kind of turned me against it fort mcmurry doesn't seem to be the nicest place to live.and it is ment to be unreal expensive so when you take that in to fact the wage you would get for working in labour work in Calgary would be not to far off fort mcmurry money. and you would have a much better lifestyle in calgary with the chance to make a big buck too:D

AlanMc86

JustRoss23 wrote: »

i plan to get work in the oil rigs but from chatting to the oil companies i will be there at the wrong time lol as they mostly only operate during the winter months from sept-march/april so thats why i am going to Calgary now there seems to be a lot of general construction work..The oil sands you are asking about are in fort mcmurry when i first started looking into Canada it was here i was going to go but on further information i found it has kind of turned me against it fort mcmurry doesn't seem to be the nicest place to live.and it is ment to be unreal expensive so when you take that in to fact the wage you would get for working in labour work in Calgary would be not to far off fort mcmurry money. and you would have a much better lifestyle in calgary with the chance to make a big buck too:D

Have a friend that was thinking of going to fort mc aswel, impression they had was that its a great place to go and make money but very very isolated. Everyone is heavily paid there no matter what you do because its pretty much a place to work and nothing else. I think for the work they were looking at it would be 3 weeks on and 1 week off. but it would be 12 hour shifts for those 3 weeks 7 days a week. That was just the job he was looking at but there ya go

JustRoss23

yea i no all about fort mc but a labourer there is going to be only getting a bit more then same job in Calgary alright a bit more an hour but when you take in the extra cost for accommodation it didn't seem worth it to me. the job in fort mc i looked at was 25 and hour i that was doing the shift of 2/1. for the same kind of position in Calgary i was to be getting 22 and was told i could work as many hours a week as i wanted. so i suppose its really each to there own i guess. i like to work but i also like a life aswell:D

LostOneHelpMe

JustRoss23 wrote: »

yea i no all about fort mc but a labourer there is going to be only getting a bit more then same job in Calgary alright a bit more an hour but when you take in the extra cost for accommodation it didn't seem worth it to me. the job in fort mc i looked at was 25 and hour i that was doing the shift of 2/1. for the same kind of position in Calgary i was to be getting 22 and was told i could work as many hours a week as i wanted. so i suppose its really each to there own i guess. i like to work but i also like a life aswell:D

How you getting all your info Ross , I dunno where to start lol would love to get talkin to actual companies about work etc

dory

Hello all,

Need some info. Have a friend who is moving to Calgary soon. She's hoping to stay in Cochrane, little suburb outside. She's having trouble finding accomodation from Ireland. If she waits until she's there it'd cost a bomb for herself and her child in hotels. Does anyone know if it's possible to find an apartment from Ireland?

Is there a website she could post a 'Wanted' ad for an apartment? We're trying the kijiji one but it's not really working for us.

Thanks!

frankspencer

sully2010 wrote: »

JustRoss great thread, was thinking Calgary myself. My background is construction too but I read you are looking to get work in Calgary in the oil sands industry. Is there much of this in Calgary or do you have to go further north?

What type of construction work is involved with the oil sands industry or is it spin off construction around Calgary you are talking about?

Cheers

There are over a 1000 oil companies based in Calgary alone,main companies are CNRL,Shell,Suncor,and Flint. For construction work in the oil sands best to check out the contractors these big firms use.
I applied for a job yesterday for a labour job in Fort Mc,****s were either 7 on 7 off or 14 on 14 off,this also included flights from fort mc to edmonton or calgary....not too bad:)

JustRoss23

dory wrote: »

Hello all,

Need some info. Have a friend who is moving to Calgary soon. She's hoping to stay in Cochrane, little suburb outside. She's having trouble finding accomodation from Ireland. If she waits until she's there it'd cost a bomb for herself and her child in hotels. Does anyone know if it's possible to find an apartment from Ireland?

Is there a website she could post a 'Wanted' ad for an apartment? We're trying the kijiji one but it's not really working for us.

Thanks!

Dory i think she will find it quite hard to get accommodation from Ireland:( as most places only become available at the start of the month so there will be a huge demand with people already looking for the best places etc and i cant imagine they would want to hold for a person whos not even in the country yet. i suppose she could just looked up websites and if she likes a place try and work a deal with them. she would also need proof of a job/offer as most places wont let you rent until you have a job.:(

JustRoss23

frankspencer wrote: »

There are over a 1000 oil companies based in Calgary alone,main companies are CNRL,Shell,Suncor,and Flint. For construction work in the oil sands best to check out the contractors these big firms use.
I applied for a job yesterday for a labour job in Fort Mc,****s were either 7 on 7 off or 14 on 14 off,this also included flights from fort mc to edmonton or calgary....not too bad:)

Good man would not mind a deal like that especially if they fly you to Calgary the ones i found would not fly me to Calgary feel free to pm the name if you want;);)

JustRoss23

i topped up the phone with 50euro of credit and started ringing its not to hard to do just get a list together and you will be grand:D:D