Place, level and finish concrete floors, sidewalks and slabs. Early mornings, because concrete waits for no one.
Click through it
Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Good for a wall or a guidance counsellor.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Journeyperson
$71,000
1st-year apprentice
$51,000
Union or specialty floors
$90,000
Union finishers on commercial and infrastructure jobs earn at the top. Crews that do polished or large industrial floors with laser screeds charge more.
$24 to $28 an hour
First-year apprentice, a set percentage of the journeyperson rate
Most people start as a labourer on a concrete crew, raking and shovelling on pour days, before an employer sponsors them.
$34 to $43 an hour
About $71,000 to $90,000 a year with a full season
Pour days run long and overtime adds up fast. Winter is slower in most of Canada, though heated enclosures keep commercial pours going.
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
This is one of the cheapest trades to enter and the apprenticeship is paid work from the first day. The low end is trowels, floats, edgers and boots plus about $150 for the Certificate of Qualification exam, with the employer covering the two in school levels. The high end is paying for both levels yourself at the top provincial rate and buying a fuller set of tools. The Canada Apprentice Loan lends up to $4,000 per school block interest free, and EI (Employment Insurance) can replace part of your income while you are in class.
One of the cheapest trades to enter. The federal Apprenticeship Incentive Grant closed in March 2025, so check the Government of Canada apprenticeship page for what is open now.
Union pension and health plan
Cement masons and labourers' union locals cover most commercial and infrastructure work.
Overtime on pour days
A big slab does not stop at 3:30pm.
EI (Employment Insurance) in the off-season
Common for outdoor crews in winter, though it pays much less than working.
Own-business potential
Driveways, patios and garage floors are a steady residential business with low start-up cost.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
A short apprenticeship, mostly learned on pour days.
High school diploma
Grade 12
Grade 12 with math and shop. Some employers will take you without it.
Find a sponsor
Weeks
A concrete contractor, a forming company or the union hall. Labouring on a crew for a season is the normal way in.
Register the apprenticeship
Days
With Skilled Trades Ontario (where the trade is called Cement (Concrete) Finisher), Alberta Apprenticeship and Industry Training, or your province's trades body.
Work and study
2 to 3 years
About 5,000 hours in Ontario: 4,500 on the job plus 480 hours in class, usually two levels of about 8 weeks. Other provinces set their own hours.
Certificate of Qualification and Red Seal
After your hours
Pass the provincial exam. The Red Seal endorsement lets you work in any province.
Math
Volumes, slopes and ordering the right number of trucks.
Chemistry
Concrete is a chemical reaction. Temperature and water change how it sets.
Construction technology or shop
Any hands-on class.
Physical education
Pour days are long and heavy.
Concrete finisher is not a compulsory trade in Ontario, Alberta or BC. Many finishers work without a certificate. Certification raises your rate, opens union and public work, and proves you can read specifications and handle the timing. Quebec regulates construction work through the CCQ (Commission de la construction du Québec). The Red Seal endorsement transfers between provinces.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Red Seal endorsement
One extra exam, recognised across Canada.
Polished and decorative concrete
Ground, polished, stained or stamped floors in stores, condos and homes. Higher rates, cleaner work.
Large industrial floors
Warehouse slabs poured with laser screeds and ride-on trowels. Flatness specs are strict and pay reflects it.
Curb and gutter machines
Road and municipal work, often on big infrastructure contracts.
Concrete repair and restoration
Parking garages and balconies in every Canadian city need constant repair.
Driver's licence
You will be at the site before the first truck arrives.
WHMIS (workplace hazardous materials training)
Wet concrete burns skin. Employers expect this one-day course.
Early-riser habits
Summer pours start at 5 or 6am to beat the heat.
Patience with weather
Rain, frost and heat all change the plan on the day.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
On site at 6am, sometimes earlier. Check the forms and rebar, then the first truck backs in. Rake and screed the concrete level, bull-float it, and wait while it starts to set. Then edge, cut control joints and trowel it smooth by hand or ride-on machine, racing the clock before it hardens. Cure and cover it. On a small pour you are done by early afternoon. On a big slab, well past dark.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Once water hits cement the clock starts. A finisher has a couple of hours, less in summer heat, to get the surface right. Miss the window and the slab has to be ground down or torn out.
Concrete is the most widely used building material in the world. Humanity pours billions of tonnes of it a year, and every tonne needs someone to finish it.
Concrete does not dry, it cures. It reaches its design strength at about 28 days and keeps hardening slowly for years. Engineers test it at 7 and 28 days.
Commercial pours keep going in January under heated enclosures and insulated blankets. If fresh concrete freezes before it sets, it is ruined.
Last checked September 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students.