Wall and floor tiler
Prepare and lay ceramic, stone and similar tiles to walls, floors and wet areas.
Jobs, demand and who does this work
Figures for the ANZSCO occupation Wall and Floor Tiler (333411), the closest official match for wall and floor tiler, from Your Career (Jobs and Skills Australia data, sourced 2026-09-23).
- People employed
- 21,700
- Future demand
- Stable
- Work full-time
- 89%
- Average full-time hours
- 42 a week
- Women
- 3%
- Median age
- 37
Where the jobs are (share of workers)
| NSW | 34.8% |
| VIC | 14.9% |
| QLD | 26.4% |
| WA | 12.8% |
| SA | 8.1% |
| TAS | 1.2% |
| ACT | 0.9% |
| NT | 1% |
Highest qualification held by workers
| Postgraduate qualification | 0.8% |
| Bachelor degree | 4.4% |
| Diploma or advanced diploma | 4.5% |
| Certificate I-IV | 49.5% |
| Year 12 | 15.1% |
| Below Year 12 | 17.9% |
What a wall and floor tiler actually does
Wall and floor tilers prepare and lay ceramic, porcelain and stone tiles to walls, floors and wet areas. Days typically start at 7am with prep: checking levels, cleaning the substrate, repairing minor cracks and laying out a setout from the focal point of the room. Most residential bathrooms or laundries take a tiler two to three days from waterproofing to grouting. Commercial work runs longer with bigger formats and tighter tolerances. Waterproofing is licensed work in most states. Tilers also handle cutting around fixtures, pipes and penetrations, which takes patience and skill. Hours run 7am to 3.30pm or 4pm with longer days when there is a deadline coming up. Tiling is hard on the knees and shoulders from a lifetime kneeling on a floor. Many tilers move into sub-contracting after 5 years.
Typical tasks
- Waterproof wet areas to AS 3740.
- Set out, cut and lay tiles.
- Grout and seal tiled surfaces.
Skills you'll use
- Reading bathroom and floor plans for tile setout
- Waterproofing wet areas to AS 3740
- Cutting tiles with a wet saw and angle grinder
- Levelling and screeding substrates
- Applying adhesive and laying tiles to plumb and level
- Grouting and silicone sealing
- Customer communication and quoting from drawings
How to become one
- 1Finish Year 10 or 12. A pre-apprenticeship Certificate II in Construction Pathways is helpful if you have not yet found a host employer
- 2Secure a host with a residential builder or tiling sub-contractor and sign an apprenticeship agreement
- 3Complete a 3-year Certificate III in Wall and Floor Tiling (CPC31320) at TAFE alongside paid on-job training
- 4Add the waterproofing units in your apprenticeship so you can sign off your own wet-area work in states that require it
- 5Add a White Card and any other site tickets such as EWP and working at heights early
- 6Optional next steps include a Certificate IV in Building and Construction, a state Waterproofer Licence, or specialising in large-format porcelain or natural stone work
Where you can work
- Residential builders and renovators
- Project home builders
- Commercial and shopfitting fit-out crews
- Pool tiling specialists
- Heritage and bespoke residential builders
- Tile and stone showrooms as technical advisers
- Self-employed sole traders and small crews
Career progression
Typical stages and roles. Years of experience are a rough guide; pay at each stage depends on the employer, award or agreement.
- Apprentice0-3 yearsTypical roles: First-year apprentice, Third-year apprentice
- Qualified tiler3-8 yearsTypical roles: Residential tiler, Commercial tiler, Wet area specialist
- Leading hand or sub-contractor8-15 yearsTypical roles: Leading hand, Sub-contractor with a small crew, Estimator
- Business owner or supervisor12+ yearsTypical roles: Tiling business owner, Site supervisor, Stone or large-format specialist
Is this for you?
You might love this if
- You take pride in clean, square, well aligned work
- You can handle hours kneeling on a floor
- You enjoy a balance of indoor work and physical effort
- You are good with measurement and setting out
- You want a trade that suits steady self-employment
This might not suit you if
- You have knee, hip or back issues that limit kneeling
- You want a profession with little dust or messy cutting
- You dislike repetitive setting out and grouting
Three ways in
Uni, TAFE and trade routes for wall and floor tiler. Not every career has all three; we only list pathways that actually lead to this occupation.
University
Bachelor degrees that lead to this career.
No direct undergraduate pathway. Consider postgraduate study after a related bachelor degree.
TAFE / VET
Nationally accredited Certificate and Diploma qualifications.
Apprenticeship trade
Earn while you learn through an Australian Apprenticeship.
Sources
ExamExplained does not publish predictive salary figures. For current Australian earnings data check Your Career (yourcareer.gov.au) directly. Career classifications follow the ABS ANZSCO 2022 release.