Building things that weren't there
Flooring & Tile
You do the last thing that goes into a room and the first thing anybody notices. Tile, stone, hardwood, LVP. It is close, precise work on your knees, and a good tile setter is booked out months in advance in every market in Georgia.
A day in it
- Check the floor for flat before anything else. Everything depends on that.
- Layout — find the center, dry-lay the field, decide where the cuts land.
- Cuts go where nobody looks. That decision is the craft.
- Set the field through the morning, back-buttering every piece.
- Lunch, then the wet saw for the perimeter and the outlets.
- Let it set overnight. Grout tomorrow.
- Homeowner walks in and says nothing about the layout. That means it's right.
What it pays
- Starting out
- $36,140
- Median
- $52,240
- Experienced
- $82,960
The figures above are tile and stone setters (SOC 47-2044). Floor layers (SOC 47-2042) run $37,190 starting out, $54,340 median, $97,180 experienced.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2024 (national). Starting out = 10th percentile. Median = 50th. Experienced = 90th. Annual. Georgia figures to be added alongside national. SOC 47-2044. Real numbers only — never estimated, never rounded up.
How you get in
- —Helper first, mixing and cutting for a setter. That is the apprenticeship in practice.
- —Formal three-year apprenticeships exist through the union.
- —Manufacturer training — Schluter, Laticrete — is short and worth doing.
- —The Mustard Seed covers training and your first saw and trowels.
What you need before you start
- —Knees. Get good pads on day one and use them.
- —Patience — a rushed layout can't be fixed later.
- —An eye for detail that borders on irritating.
Someone doing it
Photograph, first name, age, and three or four sentences in their own words — to be supplied.
What it turns into
Independent setter almost immediately. Custom stone, large-format, and waterproofing work commands premium rates and there are not enough people doing it.
Want to talk to somebody doing this?
Two fields. A person reads it and texts you back.