Floor Sanders and Finishers
Scrape and sand wooden floors to smooth surfaces using floor scraper and floor sanding machine, and apply coats of finish.
Most important skills
- Operation and Control
- Active Listening
- Coordination
- Monitoring
- Operations Monitoring
- Time Management
- Speaking
- Critical Thinking
Key knowledge
- Building and Construction
- Customer and Personal Service
- English Language
- Production and Processing
- Administration and Management
- Mechanical
- Mathematics
- Design
What the work involves
- Inspect floors for smoothness.
- Scrape and sand floor edges and areas inaccessible to floor sanders, using scrapers, disk-type sanders, and sandpaper.
- Guide sanding machines over surfaces of floors until surfaces are smooth.
- Attach sandpaper to rollers of sanding machines.
- Apply filler compound and coats of finish to floors to seal wood.
- Remove excess glue from joints, using knives, scrapers, or wood chisels.
- Buff and vacuum floors to ensure their cleanliness prior to the application of finish.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Enterprising.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Less than a High School Diploma (46.6% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 2 years, up to and including 4 years (27%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 2 years, up to and including 4 years (36.8%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Floor Sanders and Finishers is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Low | Lower on contact with others than 78% of occupations compared | 38% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Low | Lower on dealing with the public than 63% of occupations compared | 34% of surveyed respondents chose “Important” |
| Teamwork | Very low | Lower on teamwork than 86% of occupations compared | 53% of surveyed respondents chose “Important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | High | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 77% of occupations compared | 55% of surveyed respondents chose “Some freedom” |
| Time pressure | Moderate | Higher on time pressure than 59% of occupations compared | 53% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very low | Lower on conflict situations than 97% of occupations compared | 44% of surveyed respondents chose “Never” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Low | Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 77% of occupations compared | 45% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Consequence of error | Moderate | Lower on consequence of error than 55% of occupations compared | 31% of surveyed respondents chose “Serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: moderate
- Conflict situations: very low
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: low
- Consequence of error: moderate
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 10%
- Contact with others about half the time: 22.8%
- Contact with others most of the time: 29.25%
- Constant contact with others: 37.95%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2021
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 16.01%
- Fairly important: 16.1%
- Important: 33.75%
- Very important: 7.81%
- Extremely important: 26.34%
n = 18, Incumbent 08/2021
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 4.13%
- Important: 53.19%
- Very important: 14.88%
- Extremely important: 27.8%
n = 18, Incumbent 08/2021
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 0%
- Limited freedom: 0%
- Some freedom: 54.93%
- A lot of freedom: 45.07%
n = 18, Incumbent 08/2021
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 2.35%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 21.45%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 52.59%
- Every day: 23.62%
n = 18, Incumbent 08/2021
Conflict situations
- Never: 43.99%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 21.75%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 34.26%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 0%
- Every day: 0%
n = 18, Incumbent 08/2021
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 26.79%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 44.79%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 4.33%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 14.49%
- Every day: 9.59%
n = 18, Incumbent 08/2021
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 9.59%
- Fairly serious: 28.58%
- Serious: 31.2%
- Very serious: 24.71%
- Extremely serious: 5.92%
n = 18, Incumbent 08/2021
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O*NET-SOC 47-2043.00 · SOC 47-2043 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8