Concrete Finisher

Do you like to work with tools and equipment? Are you strong and physically fit? Do you like precise work? Do you like working with your hands? Then, you could become a concrete finisher!

What the work is like

Concrete finishers smooth and finish freshly poured concrete, and install, maintain and restore floors, ceilings, sidewalks, roads and patios.

Most concrete finishers are employed by construction companies, and by concrete contractors and manufacturers. Some concrete finishers are self-employed, contracting their services for smaller projects such as patios, sidewalks and driveways.

Concrete finishers work in all four construction sectors: new home building and renovation, heavy industrial, institutional and commercial, and civil engineering.

Your duties

As a concrete finisher, your duties may include:

• Levelling the top surface of freshly poured concrete on floors, walls, ceilings or sidewalks
• Operating a power vibrator to compress concrete
• Applying hardening and sealing compounds to cure the surface of concrete
• Waterproofing, damp-proofing and restoring concrete surfaces
• Installing anchor bolts, steel plates and other fixtures in freshly poured concrete

Work conditions

As a concrete finisher, your work hours are weather-dependent. There is less work available in the winter, and summer hours are often longer than the standard 40-hour week. Overtime is often required because concrete finishers cannot leave a project in the middle and return to it the next day. The number of additional hours you work each week depends on the construction sector and region you work in, and will vary from one job to the next.

As a concrete finisher, you may work indoors or outdoors, usually with a team of other construction professionals. The work is often fast-paced and strenuous—you may have to lift heavy materials and spend long periods of time bending and kneeling.

As with all careers in the construction industry, safety is the top priority. Concrete finishers are trained to work safely, and wear special equipment to protect themselves from injury.

Essential skills

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) has identified nine essential skills that are necessary to succeed in the workplace. These skills provide the foundation for learning all other skills and are applicable to most construction careers. Best of all, you can learn and improve on these skills in school, on the job, and during your everyday life.

The most important Essential Skills for concrete finishers are:

• Document use—reading and interpreting documents to extract information
• Numeracy—working with numbers to perform calculations
• Problem solving—coming up with solutions to challenges
• Decision making—making a choice among options

Apprenticeship

Apprenticeship is one way of starting out in the construction industry. It involves both classroom studies and on-the-job training under the supervision of a certified concrete finisher, called a journeyperson.

As an apprentice, you earn while you learn and are paid by the hour while working on the job site. Wages start at about 60% of a journeyperson’s hourly rate and increase during your apprenticeship, until you reach the full rate.

Entering an apprenticeship program

Requirements for concrete finisher apprenticeship programs vary across Canada. In most provinces and territories, you must be at least 16 years old and have a Grade 10 education, or equivalent, to enter a concrete finisher apprenticeship program. You may find it helpful to have courses in math, science and drafting.

Some provinces and territories offer secondary school apprenticeship programs that allow high school students to work towards a career as a concrete finisher.

Program length

Apprenticeship training programs for concrete finishers vary across Canada, but generally involve three 12-month periods, including at least 3,600 hours of on-the-job training, two four-week blocks of technical training, and a final certificate examination.

Related work experience or completion of a concrete finisher program at a college or technical institute can reduce the time required to complete your apprenticeship.

Certification

Concrete finisher certification is required in Québec, and is available but voluntary in most other provinces and territories. Even where certification is voluntary, it is still recommended. Certification tells employers and other workers that you are a skilled professional. It also helps you get jobs.

To be certified as a concrete finisher, you usually need required to complete a three-year apprenticeship program. Once you successfully complete the on-the-job training, technical training and examinations required by the program, you are awarded a journeyperson certificate.

If you have over four years of on-the-job experience and some high school, college or industry courses in concrete finishing, you may be eligible for concrete finisher certification in some provinces and territories.

As a certified concrete finisher you may attempt the Interprovincial Exam to qualify for the Interprovincial Standards’ Red Seal. With a Red Seal, you can work as a concrete finisher anywhere in Canada.

Certification for concrete finishers is compulsory in Québec.

It is available, but voluntary, in:

• Alberta,
• British Columbia,
• Manitoba,
• New Brunswick,
• Newfoundland,
• Nova Scotia,
• Ontario,
• Prince Edward Island, and
• Saskatchewan.

In provinces and territories where certification is not available, it may be possible to study as an apprentice through your local labour organization.

To keep your skills current, you have to keep up with new technological developments by reading and talking with other concrete finishers.

Salary ranges

TYPICAL WORK WEEK/YEAR *

In addition to their hourly rate, many construction workers receive statutory holiday and vacation pay. Depending on the contract, you may also receive benefits such as group insurance for health, dental and vision care, retirement packages, and training benefits up to 30% of your hourly rate.

If you are self-employed, it’s up to you to arrange your own benefits.

* Wages vary across Canada, among labour organization locals and among open-shop construction contractors.

** Most construction work involves overtime, so your annual salary will vary depending on the number of hours you work. The salary range listed above represents the annual salary range for full-time journeyperson concrete finishers across Canada, based on a 40-hour work week, without taking overtime into account.

Building your career

With experience you can progress to supervisory positions. You can also become self-employed and start your own concrete finishing business.

As with most careers in the construction industry, your skills are portable. If you want to move, you can take your skills with you.

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