Advanced Apprentice — Hardwood Floors

The Advanced Apprentice is a full working member of an Old to Gold crew. You do the defined steps of a job without being walked through them, on a job a Lead owns. You own your prep, your between-coat cleaning, and the sanding and finish work on the areas you are given. Paid training continues, the company van gets you to the job, and the crew rolls out at 7:00 AM.

What you'll do

• Own the prep on your areas: furniture and appliance moves, moulding and vents, masking, and dust containment — doorways sealed, HVAC returns pre-filtered.
• Walk the floor before sanding, refasten loose boards and set every visible fastener.
• Run the drum, edger and sanders with little supervision. Hand-scrape and block-sand where the edger can't reach. Take edger scratch out along the walls with the random orbital and blend to the final grit.
• Own the between-coat steps: a thorough vacuum with the felt head and angled nozzle, and never outdoor shoes on a final-vacuumed floor.
• Do installations on your own — cutting, fitting and fastening — and continue layouts the Lead has set.
• Spot and fix finishing problems like bubbles and streaks, and do repairs that blend in.
• Keep the van stocked and maintained, and give the machines their Friday care.
• Show a Beginner Apprentice how a step is done when the Lead asks.

What we expect

• You work independently and finish your day's work on schedule.
• You answer a customer's question about what you are doing right now. Anything about scope, price, timeline or a change goes to the Lead.
• You note the stain color and any change to the quote and hand it to the Lead the same day.
• You wear the required protection: N95 or better for dust, a cartridge respirator with oil-based product, plus hearing and eye protection. You handle rags and dust the safe way, every day.
• You check cord and circuit before plugging in, and unplug before changing abrasives or leaving the site.
• You follow the Customer Experience Process on every job.

Where this goes The next rung is Journeyman. You move up when you can do every core task on your own and run a job from start to finish on budget and to Old to Gold's standards.