Commercial flooring recruiters serving Knoxville.
Nuclear-facility flooring (contamination-control, decontaminable surfaces) is a distinct, highly specialized installation. General commercial flooring tracks national average.
A highly specialized niche, and an honest baseline.
Metro pay for every role we recruit is in the table below. What the hub does name: Oak Ridge's enrichment facility and the Y-12 cleanup program as the nuclear-facility flooring niche, while general commercial flooring elsewhere tracks national average.
We recruit across the full org chart for commercial flooring contractors in Knoxville against that documented context.
The nuclear-industrial base.
Two named drivers, tied to Oak Ridge's historic and future missions.
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A new facility on the historic K-25 uranium enrichment site - the named driver behind nuclear-facility flooring requiring contamination-control and decontaminable surfaces.
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Clearing contaminated Manhattan Project/Cold War-era sites for new missions - a second named driver of the region's specialized nuclear-facility flooring niche.
What commercial flooring roles pay in Knoxville.
In the Knoxville metro, BLS puts the median for floor layers at $51,480 a year, 9% below the $56,460 national median. Among the 56 metros BLS publishes for this occupation, Knoxville ranks 36th on pay. Most of the market sits between $35,500 and $59,990. Floor layers, tile setters and carpet installers are published separately, which is why the range across the rows below is wide. BLS does not publish Knoxville pay for 3 of the roles below, which it withholds where a metro's sample is too small to be reliable. National benchmarks by role are in the 2026 Commercial Flooring Salary Guide.
| Role | Knoxville median | Typical range | National median | vs. national | Employed locally |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Floor LayerFloor Layers (47-2042) | $51,480 | $35,500–$59,990 | $56,460 | −9% | 30 |
| Tile and Stone SetterTile and Stone Setters (47-2044) | – | – | $55,690 | – | – |
| Carpet InstallerCarpet Installers (47-2041) | – | – | $50,340 | – | – |
| Floor Sander / FinisherFloor Sanders and Finishers (47-2043) | – | – | $50,440 | – | – |
| Flooring ForemanFirst-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers (47-1011) | $66,830 | $44,810–$104,520 | $79,920 | −16% | – |
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, Knoxville metro. Range is 10th to 90th percentile. Headcount is shown for field occupations only; management, estimating and supervisory codes are counted across every industry in the metro.
What candidates expect. What credentials matter. What kills offers.
We don't tell prospective clients who their competitors are hiring - that's a discipline our clients value, and we'll honor it on a call. What we will share publicly: how Knoxville commercial flooring hiring actually plays out in 2026.
Why we name the enrichment facility and Y-12, not the DOE Innovation Campus
The DOE Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus is a named finalist project in the hub's own data, but it's still in site selection. The enrichment facility and Y-12 are the concrete, active drivers of the nuclear-facility flooring niche today.
Why contamination-control flooring is a highly specialized niche, and general flooring is honestly average
The hub is explicit: outside the nuclear-facility niche, general commercial flooring in Knoxville tracks national average - no inflated market-wide story.
What this means for sourcing
We source against verified contamination-control and decontaminable-surface flooring experience for nuclear-facility-adjacent roles, and standard commercial experience for general-market roles.
Realistic timelines
Standard commercial flooring roles: 4-6 weeks intake to signed offer, consistent with the region's broader hiring timeline. First slate of vetted candidates within 48 hours regardless.
The commercial flooring positions we fill, most often.
Across all Knoxville commercial flooring clients, these are the highest-volume roles we've recruited for in the last 24 months.
- Contamination-control flooring installer
- Nuclear-facility flooring installer
- Commercial flooring installer
- Commercial flooring project manager
For the broader picture across every commercial trade in Knoxville, see the Knoxville metro overview. To learn more about commercial flooring generally (across all 100+ markets we serve), see our Commercial Flooring industry page.
How we recruit commercial flooring in Knoxville, plainly.
Same approach we use in every market - but tuned for what works in Knoxville's commercial flooring segment specifically:
- Same-day intake call. We get the role, the project context, the budget, your dealbreakers. For Knoxville flooring work, we also confirm whether the role is nuclear-facility contamination-control or general commercial scope.
- Candidate sourcing within 48 hours. We pull from our existing Knoxville commercial flooring candidate network, filtered for verified contamination-control experience where relevant.
- Vetted short list (week one to several weeks). Three to five candidates. We verify real installation history rather than a line on a resume.
- Offer and close. Standard roles close in 4-6 weeks. We help with offer math against Knoxville's documented general context.
Knoxville runs 49% fewer commercial flooring workers per job than the country as a whole — well below the national concentration. Fewer per job means the people you want are already working, and usually for someone who would rather keep them.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 , Floor Layers (nearest published occupation for this trade). Metro-wide figures for the base occupation; the wage table above is role-specific and commercial.
How Knoxville's commercial flooring market compares
In 2023 the Knoxville metro had 13 nonresidential flooring contractors (counted by business location), with about 101 people on their payrolls. Average pay at those firms was $77,021, in line with the national average of $78,136 for the same kind of employer. The number of these employers rose 44.4%, more firms competing for the same crews. That works out to 1.4 per 100,000 residents against 1.0 nationally, a crowded field where experienced people get approached often.
Among the 54 metros we cover with published BLS figures, Knoxville ranks 49th for headcount, 34th for median pay and 44th for concentration for floor layers.
| Metro | Employed | Median pay | Concentration | Commercial employers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nashville | 80 | $55,720 | 0.45 | 28 |
| Knoxville | 30 | $51,480 | 0.51 | 13 |
| Memphis | – | – | – | 14 |
| Chattanooga | – | – | – | 4 |
BLS OEWS occupation figures and QCEW business-location counts; a dash means not published.
What this means for hiring:For commercial flooring employers in Knoxville, the local pool is thinner than most, so plan on recruiting some roles in from outside the metro.
Sources: BLS QCEW 2023 annual averages and BLS OEWS May 2025, Knoxville metro. Employers are counted by business location.
How Knoxville's commercial flooring market has changed since 2018.
The number of nonresidential flooring contractors in Knoxville rose from 6 in 2018 to 13 in 2023, up 117%, ahead of the 7% national rise.
| Measure | 2018 | 2023 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nonresidential flooring contractors: business locations | 6 | 13 | +117% |
| Nonresidential flooring contractors: employment | – | 101 | – |
| Nonresidential flooring contractors: average annual pay | – | $77,021 | – |
BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, private employers, annual averages. A dash means BLS did not publish the figure.
Frequently asked — commercial flooring hiring in Knoxville.
What are Knoxville's named flooring demand centers?
The $1.38B Oak Ridge laser uranium enrichment facility and the Y-12 demolition and cleanup program - both named directly in the metro's own data as drivers of the nuclear-facility flooring niche.
What is driving commercial flooring demand in Knoxville right now?
Nuclear-facility flooring (contamination-control, decontaminable surfaces) is a distinct, highly specialized installation. General commercial flooring tracks national average.
What do floor layers earn in Knoxville?
BLS puts the Knoxville median for floor layers at $51,480 a year, 9% below the $56,460 national median. That ranks 36th of 56 metros with published figures, in the middle of the pack. Most of the market sits between $35,500 and $59,990, a 1.7x gap and a moderate spread, so a few thousand dollars over the median buys real experience. Within Tennessee, Nashville pays more, at $55,720.
Is it hard to hire floor layers in Knoxville?
Yes. Knoxville has 49% fewer floor layers per job than the country as a whole, roughly 30 in the metro, so most of the people worth hiring are already employed. The 13 nonresidential flooring contractors here average about 7.8 employees per location, mostly small shops, so candidates often know every employer in town by name. With 117% more of those firms than in 2018, more employers are competing for the same crews.
Which commercial flooring roles pay the most in Knoxville?
Of the roles we recruit for, Flooring Foreman pays the most in Knoxville, a $66,830 median (BLS measures that occupation across all industries in the metro). Among field roles the top earner is Floor Layer at $51,480, 23% below it. Flooring Foreman trails national pay the most (16% below).
How many nonresidential flooring contractors operate in Knoxville?
BLS counted 13 nonresidential flooring contractors in Knoxville in 2023, employing about 101 people between them. Up from 6 in 2018, a 117% increase against 7% growth nationally. That averages 7.8 people per location, so most are small shops. They pay about the national average of $78,136.
Which nearby metros compete with Knoxville for floor layers?
The closest metros we cover with published figures are Atlanta (155 miles, about 190, $46,030 median), Nashville (161 miles, about 80, $55,720 median) and Charlotte (180 miles, $56,040 median). Atlanta has the larger pool, so it is the first place to look for senior people willing to move. Nashville pays 8% more, which is where Knoxville employers tend to lose people.
Hiring commercial flooring talent in Knoxville?
Tell us the role. We'll tell you timeline and where we'd source the candidate - in under 30 minutes.