Career profile for Floor Finisher

What does a Floor Finisher do?

Floor Finishers scrape and sand wooden floors to smooth surfaces using floor scraper and floor sanding machine, and apply coats of finish.

What kind of tasks does a Floor Finisher perform regularly?

Floor Finishers are often responsible for overseeing or executing some or all of the following tasks:

Buff and vacuum floors to ensure their cleanliness prior to the application of finish.
Scrape and sand floor edges and areas inaccessible to floor sanders, using scrapers, disk-type sanders, and sandpaper.
Inspect floors for smoothness.
Attach sandpaper to rollers of sanding machines.
Guide sanding machines over surfaces of floors until surfaces are smooth.
Apply filler compound and coats of finish to floors to seal wood.
Remove excess glue from joints, using knives, scrapers, or wood chisels.

The above responsibilities are specific to Floor Finishers. More generally, Floor Finishers are involved in several broader types of activities:

Activities	Importance	Details
Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings		Monitoring and reviewing information from materials, events, or the environment, to detect or assess problems.
Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials		Inspecting equipment, structures, or materials to identify the cause of errors or other problems or defects.
Getting Information		Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events		Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.
Performing General Physical Activities		Performing physical activities that require considerable use of your arms and legs and moving your whole body, such as climbing, lifting, balancing, walking, stooping, and handling materials.

Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings

Monitoring and reviewing information from materials, events, or the environment, to detect or assess problems.

Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials

Inspecting equipment, structures, or materials to identify the cause of errors or other problems or defects.

Getting Information

Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.

Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events

Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.

Performing General Physical Activities

Performing physical activities that require considerable use of your arms and legs and moving your whole body, such as climbing, lifting, balancing, walking, stooping, and handling materials.

What is a Floor Finisher salary?

The median salary for a Floor Finisher is $38,850, and the average salary is $41,400. Both the median and average roughly describe the middle of the Floor Finisher salary range, but the average is more easily affected by extremely high or low salaries.

Many Floor Finishers earn significantly more or less than the average, due to several factors. About 10% of Floor Finishers earn less than $27,080 per year, 25% earn less than $31,230, 75% earn less than $48,390, and 90% earn less than $61,540.

Between the years of 2020 and 2030, the number of Floor Finishers is expected to change by 4.2%, and there should be roughly 700 open positions for Floor Finishers every year.

Median annual salary: $38,850
Typical salary range: $27,080 - $61,540
Projected growth (2020 - 2030): 4.2%

What personality traits are common among Floor Finishers?

Interests

Career interests describe a person's preferences for different types of working environments and activities. When a person's interest match the demands of an occupation, people are usually more engaged and satisfied in that role.

Compared to most occupations, those who work as a Floor Finisher are usually higher in their Realistic interests.

Floor Finishers typically have very strong Realistic interests. Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.

Values

People differ in their values, or what is most important to them for building job satisfaction and fulfillment.

Compared to most people, those working as a Floor Finisher tend to value Support, Relationships, and Working Conditions.

Most importantly, Floor Finishers moderately value Support. Occupations that satisfy this work value offer supportive management that stands behind employees.

Second, Floor Finishers somewhat value Relationships. Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to provide service to others and work with co-workers in a friendly non-competitive environment.

Lastly, Floor Finishers somewhat value Working Conditions. Occupations that satisfy this work value offer job security and good working conditions.

Psychological Demands

Each occupation brings its own set of psychological demands, which describe the characteristics necessary to perform the job well.

In order to perform their job successfully, people who work as Floor Finishers must consistently demonstrate qualities such as attention to detail, integrity, and dependability.

Below, you'll find a list of qualities typically required of Floor Finishers, ranked by importance:

Demands	Importance	Details
Attention to Detail		Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.
Integrity		Job requires being honest and ethical.
Dependability		Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.
Independence		Job requires developing one's own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done.
Initiative		Job requires a willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges.

Attention to Detail

Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.

Integrity

Job requires being honest and ethical.

Dependability

Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.

Independence

Job requires developing one's own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done.

Initiative

Job requires a willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges.

What education and training do Floor Finishers need?

Working as a Floor Finisher may require a high school diploma or GED certificate.

Floor Finishers need anywhere from a few days to a few months of training. Usually, an experienced worker could show you how to do the job.

Educational degrees among Floor Finishers

31.7% did not complete high school or secondary school
43.7% completed high school or secondary school
15.6% completed some college coursework
3.5% earned a Associate's degree
4.9% earned a Bachelor's degree
0.7% earned a Master's degree
0.1% earned a doctorate or professional degree

Knowledge and expertise required by Floor Finishers

Floor Finishers may benefit from understanding of specialized subject areas, such as building and construction, customer and personal service, or production and processing knowledge.

The list below shows several areas in which most Floor Finishers might want to build proficiency, ranked by importance.

Knowledge areas	Importance	Details
Building and Construction		Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
Customer and Personal Service		Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Production and Processing		Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
Administration and Management		Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Mechanical		Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.

Building and Construction

Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.

Customer and Personal Service

Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.

Production and Processing

Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.

Administration and Management

Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

Mechanical

Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.

Important Abilities needed by Floor Finishers

Floor Finishers must develop a particular set of abilities to perform their job well. Abilities are individual capacities that influence a person's information processing, sensory perception, motor coordination, and physical strength or endurance. Individuals may naturally have certain abilities without explicit training, but most abilities can be sharpened somewhat through practice.

For example, Floor Finishers need abilities such as arm-hand steadiness, manual dexterity, and control precision in order to perform their job at a high level. The list below shows several important abilities for Floor Finishers, ranked by their relative importance.

Abilities	Importance	Details
Arm-Hand Steadiness		The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
Manual Dexterity		The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
Control Precision		The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
Multilimb Coordination		The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
Trunk Strength		The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.

Arm-Hand Steadiness

The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.

Manual Dexterity

The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.

Control Precision

The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.

Multilimb Coordination

The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.

Trunk Strength

The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.

Critical Skills needed by Floor Finishers

Skills are developed capacities that enable people to function effectively in real-world settings. Unlike abilities, skills are typically easier to build through practice and experience. Skills influence effectiveness in areas such as learning, working with others, design, troubleshooting, and more.

Floor Finishers frequently use skills like operation and control, active listening, and coordination to perform their job effectively. The list below shows several critical skills for Floor Finishers, ranked by their relative importance.

Skills	Importance	Details
Operation and Control		Controlling operations of equipment or systems.
Active Listening		Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Coordination		Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
Monitoring		Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Operations Monitoring		Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.

Operation and Control

Controlling operations of equipment or systems.

Active Listening

Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.

Coordination

Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.

Monitoring

Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.

Operations Monitoring

Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.

What is the source of this information?

The information provided on this page is adapted from data and descriptions published by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration under the CC BY 4.0 license. TraitLab has modified some information for ease of use and reading, and the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment, and Training Administration has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

If you have any questions or suggestions about this information, please send a message.

Career profile Floor Finisher

Floor Finisher

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