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Trade Playbook

Decorative & Polished Concrete

No provincial trade licence required

Decorative concrete sells finishes, not just slabs — stamped and exposed-aggregate exteriors, polished floors for retail and warehouses, overlays and epoxy systems. It is the craft-margin side of concrete, sold on portfolio.

Decorative & Polished Concrete at a glance

Licence to do the work
Not required — manufacturer/ACI systems training is the credential
Path in
Flatwork base → stamping/overlays → polishing capital
Regulated by
Municipality; manufacturers certify installers on systems
Insurance baseline
$2M CGL — finish-failure disputes are the claims

Where are you right now?

Learn it. Earn it. Own it. Pick the door that matches where you are.

Getting inBecome a decorative concrete contractorHow people actually enter this trade: sponsors, registration, hours, and school.Open Getting certifiedFinish your ticketAlready an apprentice? The Last Mile guide: closing out hours, booking the exam, exam day.Open Going out on your ownStart a decorative concrete businessThe step-by-step from qualified tradesperson to incorporated, insured, bid-ready owner.Open Just lookingCommon questionsLicences, costs, timelines: the questions everyone asks, answered straight.Open

The licensing layer, explained

No trade licence. Business licence, WSIB, and insurance apply; the credibility layer is manufacturer and ACI training — polishing systems (densifiers, grinder progressions), overlay and coating systems, and stamping. Polished-concrete specs for commercial work increasingly name certified installers.

Certifications in this trade

Insurance to expect

Finish failures (delamination, colour inconsistency, coating peel) drive disputes more than structural issues — document substrate moisture and prep, and carry $2M CGL with completed-operations.

Go to the source

The official pages that govern this trade. Bookmark these, they are the final word on requirements and fees.

Keep reading

244G Concrete FinisherIncorporationCRA RegistrationWSIB & ProvincialTrade LicensingInsuranceSafety ComplianceOperational SetupBid Readiness

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