Today we take you into the life of a concrete finisher. We will see many things such as typical workday, tools used, and how it relates to steam. The education needed is a high school diploma or equivalent. With this diploma, you are looking at 19$ an hour or close to 63,000 a year. On a typical workday, most companies start at sun up, but once you get started you don’t stop you will work for hours straight. But what you will be doing is smoothing the concrete so it’s easy to walk on, you will do so using a darby or afloat. The next step is to cut cracks or groves so that when the concrete freezes it won’t crack and break off you will do so using a Grover. Now after you do that it gets more complicated, in some areas they use a broom to give the concrete texture so you don’t slip and fall. This depends on the job. 

The outlook on this job is good but not great because with modern technology they are inventing machines to do this. But I have no doubt this job will be around for many more years to come. I think this job is really important to our communities because without it. We wouldn’t have sidewalks or buildings because all of these things are built out of concrete. As far as relates to stem I think it relates highly. Because there is a science behind how the concrete sets and forms. There are all new technology and tools that are being invented. Engineering is a very big part because you have to figure out how much and where it is going. Math is an even bigger part because you have to find out how much you need by finding the volume. Than dividing how many trucks you will need.

Another good part about this career there are many different jobs available, such as a Laborer, Supervisor, Manager. The laborers will be the ones physically doing the work. The supervisors are the ones making sure the job gets done and done correctly. The managers are the ones finding the jobs and figuring out when and how it will get done. That is only one side of the career the other side is the making of concrete. At the plant is where it will be mixed, then it will be loaded in a truck to where the water is added until it is at the right consistency. The trucks will drive from the plant to the job site than dump the concrete in the forms where the finishers will continue the process. This is a big industry and career considering there can be over 300 trucks per site. And it employs a lot of people as finishers, supervisors, managers, and truck drivers.

To sum all of this up, a concrete finisher will make a living for you, although it is tough work. You can start out of high school, stack up some money for the future. It is a growing business that will stay around. It is also very related to STEM through math and engineering.