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.
Most important skills
- Coordination
- Quality Control Analysis
- Speaking
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Monitoring
- Operations Monitoring
- Operation and Control
- Time Management
Key knowledge
- Building and Construction
- Design
- Mathematics
- English Language
- Administration and Management
- Customer and Personal Service
- Chemistry
- Mechanical
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.
- Position and secure moisture membrane and wire mesh in preparation for pouring base materials for terrazzo installation.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Artistic.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (69.9% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (49.7%)
- On-the-job training
- None or short demonstration (19.8%)
- 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 Terrazzo Workers 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 | Very low | Lower on contact with others than 94% of occupations compared | 37% of surveyed respondents chose “Contact with others most of the time” |
| Dealing with the public | Very low | Lower on dealing with the public than 90% of occupations compared | 50% of surveyed respondents chose “Not important at all” |
| Teamwork | Moderate | Higher on teamwork than 52% of occupations compared | 46% of surveyed respondents chose “Very important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 97% of occupations compared | 25% of surveyed respondents chose “Very little freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very high | Higher on time pressure than 81% of occupations compared | 56% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very low | Lower on conflict situations than 82% of occupations compared | — |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Low | Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 60% of occupations compared | 32% of surveyed respondents chose “Never” |
| Consequence of error | High | Higher on consequence of error than 61% of occupations compared | 42% of surveyed respondents chose “Very serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very high
- Conflict situations: very low
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: low
- Consequence of error: high
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: 7.14%
- Occasional contact with others: 17.78%
- Contact with others about half the time: 13.12%
- Contact with others most of the time: 37.14%
- Constant contact with others: 24.83%
n = 23, Incumbent 07/2015
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 50.07%
- Fairly important: 11.27%
- Important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Very important: 10.24%
- Extremely important: 7.69%
n = 23, Incumbent 07/2015
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 2.14%
- Important: 8%
- Very important: 46.49%
- Extremely important: 43.37%
n = 23, Incumbent 07/2015
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 14.27%
- Very little freedom: 25.18%
- Limited freedom: 19.87%
- Some freedom: 22.61%
- A lot of freedom: 18.07%
n = 23, Incumbent 07/2015
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 8.76%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 9.56%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 25.93%
- Every day: 55.74%
n = 22, Incumbent 07/2015
Conflict situations
- Never: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a year or more but not every month: 25.22%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 6.17%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 19.87%
- Every day: 9.49%
n = 21, Incumbent 07/2015
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 31.69%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 15.55%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 19.66%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 25.83%
- Every day: 7.28%
n = 22, Incumbent 07/2015
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 3.1%
- Fairly serious: 13.83%
- Serious: 40.9%
- Very serious: 42.17%
- Extremely serious: 0%
n = 23, Incumbent 07/2015
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O*NET-SOC 47-2053.00 · SOC 47-2053 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8