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Floor Sanders and Finishers: Career Overview

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

What Tasks Do Floor Sanders and Finishers Perform?

The core tasks performed by floor sanders and finishers include:

• 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.

What Floor Sanders and Finishers Need to Know

Effective floor sanders and finishers rely on a mix of skills and domain knowledge.

Top Skills

The competencies most important for this role, rated on an importance scale of 0 to 5:

Core Knowledge

Related Job Titles

This career also goes by job titles like:

• Bowling Alley Refinisher
• Finisher
• Floor Finisher
• Floor Mechanic
• Floor Refinisher
• Floor Renovator
• Floor Sander
• Floor Sander and Finisher

Employment and Demand

There are about 131,005 floor sanders and finishers working in the United States today. This occupation is expected to decline by -0.1% over the projection horizon.

Salary for Floor Sanders and Finishers

Statistic	Value
Annual median	$71,975
Hourly median	$34.60
10th percentile	$43,017
25th percentile	$57,496
75th percentile	$86,454
90th percentile	$100,933

Wages vary widely based on experience, location, and industry.

Pay by State

State	Annual median salary
Washington	$73,140
Oregon	$65,180
Minnesota	$60,690
Missouri	$54,340
Pennsylvania	$53,780
Georgia	$52,730
Florida	$51,750
Texas	$50,930
New York	$50,460
Tennessee	$50,310
Colorado	$49,180
Maryland	$48,580
Indiana	$48,480
Alaska	$48,200
Massachusetts	$47,020
Virginia	$46,840
Ohio	$46,160
Nebraska	$45,440
California	$45,180
North Carolina	$43,550
Wisconsin	$43,350
Puerto Rico	$21,600

Top-Paying U.S. Regions

Pay for floor sanders and finishers shift depending on where you work. Top regions by median wage:

Region	Median annual wage	Share of U.S. jobs	Location quotient
Plains States	$54,340	4.7%	1.00
Middle Atlantic	$53,780	7.1%	0.74
Rocky Mountains	$49,180	12.9%	2.88
Southeast	$48,432	73.5%	2.10
Far Western US	$48,200	1.8%	3.62

Top Metro Areas

Metro area	State	Median annual wage	Employment
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	OR	$66,470
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	MN	$60,690
St. Louis, MO-IL	MO	$59,920	30
Durham-Chapel Hill, NC	NC	$53,860	40
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	GA	$53,530	180
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	DC	$52,240	190
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL	FL	$52,000
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	NY	$50,460

Industry Breakdown

The largest employers of floor sanders and finishers are found across these industries:

Industry	Employment	Median annual wage
Construction	3,840	$49,490
Manufacturing	100	$47,410
Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services	100	$37,910
Retail Trade	80	$54,340

Floor Sanders and Finishers work in the following industries:

Software Floor Sanders and Finishers Use

• Spreadsheet software: Microsoft Excel (hot technology)

What the Workplace Is Like

The work environment for floor sanders and finishers reflects the following characteristics:

• Exposed to Contaminants
• Spend Time Using Your Hands to Handle, Control, or Feel Objects, Tools, or Controls
• Face-to-Face Discussions with Individuals and Within Teams
• Spend Time Bending or Twisting Your Body
• Spend Time Making Repetitive Motions

Education and Training

Most floor sanders and finishers positions require less than a high school diploma as the typical entry-level education. The role falls in Some Preparation Needed (Job Zone 2), indicating the level of preparation typically expected.

Related Careers

Similar Occupations

• Brickmasons and Blockmasons (Supplemental)
• Carpenters (Supplemental)
• Carpet Installers (Primary-Short)
• Floor Layers, Except Carpet, Wood, and Hard Tiles (Primary-Short)
• Tile and Stone Setters (Primary-Short)
• Cement Masons and Concrete Finishers (Primary-Long)
• Terrazzo Workers and Finishers (Primary-Short)
• Construction Laborers (Supplemental)

Degree Programs

Aspiring floor sanders and finishers typically earn programs in:

Construction Trades

1 programs across 1 majors

• Building Management & Inspection

References

Statistics shown above are sourced from the following authoritative sources:

• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) for employment and wage data by state and industry.
• BLS Employment Projections for total employment and growth forecasts.
• O*NET (Occupational Information Network) for skills, knowledge, tasks, work activities, work context, technology, and education-zone data.

SOC code: 47-2043.00 (Floor Sanders and Finishers).