Terrazzo Workers and Finishers
Apply a mixture of cement, sand, pigment, or marble chips to floors, stairways, and cabinet fixtures to fashion durable and decorative surfaces.
- Median pay
- $76,170
- Doing it now
- 1,200
- By 2035
- Down 13%
- Usually needs
- High school diploma or equivalent
a year
across the country
100 openings a year
to get in
What the work involves
- Cut metal division strips and press them into the terrazzo base for joints or changes of color to form designs or patterns or to help prevent cracks.
- Blend marble chip mixtures, place into panels, and push a roller over the surface to embed the chips.
- Measure designated amounts of ingredients for terrazzo or grout, according to standard formulas and specifications, using graduated containers and scales, and load ingredients into portable mixer.
- Mold expansion joints and edges, using edging tools, jointers, or straightedges.
- Spread, level, or smooth concrete or terrazzo mixtures to form bases or finished surfaces, using rakes, shovels, hand or power trowels, hand or power screeds, or floats.
- Grind curved surfaces or areas inaccessible to surfacing machine, such as stairways or cabinet tops, with portable hand grinder.
- Grind surfaces with a power grinder, or polish surfaces with polishing or surfacing machines.
What to study
The fields of study the Department of Education links to this occupation, most widely taught first.
- Building/Construction Finishing, Management, and InspectionSee 14 colleges that teach it
Who it suits
O*NET scores every occupation on six interest dimensions. This one leans hardest on these three.
Hands-on and practical
Organised and precise
Creative and expressive
Careers like this one
Where this comes from: the description and the task list are O*NET, which the Department of Labor maintains. Pay, workforce size, outlook and the education normally needed are the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections programme, 2025 wages and 2025 to 2035 projections. Half of them earn more than $76,170 a year, which means half earn less, and what you would earn depends on where you work and how long you have been doing it. The fields of study come from the National Center for Education Statistics crosswalk.