Tile and Terrazzo Contractors (U.S.) — An Investor's Primer

NAICS 2022 code 23834

NAICS = North American Industry Classification System, the U.S. government's standard for grouping businesses. This page covers a NAICS "industry" (5-digit) level.

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1. Overview

Tile and terrazzo contractors are the specialty-trade crews that set ceramic, porcelain, and stone tile and pour terrazzo floors — the durable hard surfaces in bathrooms, kitchens, lobbies, hospitals, schools, and airport concourses. It is a labor-driven, project-by-project construction trade, not a manufacturing or product business: contractors buy tile and cement, then sell skilled installation [3].

This page is a short rollup. In the NAICS hierarchy, the 5-digit industry 23834 contains exactly one 6-digit national industry — 238340 — with the same name. The two levels are, for practical purposes, the same industry (see Section 2). This page gives the level's own ground-truth federal figures and the top-line investment picture, then points you to the 238340 primer for full detail on structure, economics, regulation, consolidation, and how to invest.

The one-line investment takeaway is unchanged at this level: this is a large, steady, deeply fragmented slice of U.S. construction — roughly $12.2 billion in annual receipts across about 10,500 employer firms [1] — with no pure-play, publicly traded installer. Public-market exposure is indirect (tile makers and retailers); the direct route is private (owning, buying, or backing a contracting business).

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2. What's inside — the child industry, and why this level equals it

NAICS is a nested system: each 5-digit industry splits into one or more 6-digit national industries. When an industry has only one child, the two codes describe the identical activity — the extra digit adds no new detail.

Because 238340 is the sole child, everything true of 23834 is true of 238340 and vice versa: the same scope (setting ceramic, porcelain, quarry, glass, and mosaic tile; interior stone and marble; and cast-in-place terrazzo), the same explicit exclusions (exterior stone → Masonry Contractors 238140; resilient/vinyl/carpet/wood → Flooring Contractors 238330; plant-made precast terrazzo → 327390), and the same firms and receipts [3]. For full coverage, read the 238340 primer. The remainder of this page is deliberately brief.

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3. How big it is (this level's rollup figures)

Because 23834 has a single child, its federal statistics are the 238340 statistics — the rollup and the leaf are the same numbers.

CR4 = combined revenue share of the four largest firms (and so on). HHI is a 0–10,000 concentration gauge; 18.6 is about as close to "perfectly unconcentrated" as an industry gets — a textbook fragmented trade.

These figures come from our ground-truth federal stats file for this level (stats-23834.md), which matches the child exactly. Two useful derived indicators (not separately reported): roughly $56,000 of annual payroll per employee ($3.296B ÷ 58,611) and about 5.5 employees per establishment (58,611 ÷ 10,685) [1][2].

Undercount caveat (important here). These figures count employer firms only. The construction trades have very large numbers of nonemployer businesses — self-employed tile setters and one-person crews with no payroll — that the payroll-based series do not capture [2]. Because the average employer firm is already only ~5.5 people, the true count of operating businesses is materially higher than ~10,500, and a real share of installation is done informally (in-house by general contractors, or do-it-yourself) and never shows up as specialty-trade receipts. Read the $12.2 billion as the formal, employer-firm core of a somewhat larger real activity base. The official file does not report capacity utilization, backlog, average contract value, margin, or nonemployer revenue.

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4. Investable universe (where value concentrates)

With a single child, there is no "which sub-industry holds the value" question — all of the value sits in 238340, and it is overwhelmingly private and small-scale. The concentration data explain why: the four largest firms account for just 6.4% of revenue, the top 50 for 20.7%, and the HHI is 18.6 [1]. There is no pure-play, publicly traded tile or terrazzo installation contractor.

Public exposure is therefore upstream (materials/distribution) or adjacent (retail), and none of these is a clean measure of installer revenue:

• Mohawk Industries (MHK) — world's largest flooring maker; its Global Ceramic segment (Daltile, American Olean, Marazzi) is the closest public proxy, but it makes and distributes tile rather than installing it [9].
• Floor & Decor (FND) and Tile Shop Holdings (TTSH) — tile-heavy specialty retailers/distributors serving professional installers and DIY (TTSH now trades over-the-counter with reduced disclosure) [10][11].
• Home Depot (HD) / Lowe's (LOW) — retail supply plus installation-referral networks staffed by independent providers [12][13].

The actual industry lives in private hands: local and regional terrazzo/commercial-tile specialists (e.g., David Allen Company, National Terrazzo Tile & Marble, Grazzini Brothers), and private-equity commercial-flooring roll-ups (Diverzify, SCI Flooring, Galleher, Interior Logic Group) that aggregate regional installers [14][15][16][17]. See the 238340 primer for the full universe.

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5. How the money works

This is a bid-and-backlog, labor-margin business — the economics of specialty-trade construction, not of a retailer or a factory. A job's price = materials (tile, stone, cement/epoxy, thinset, grout) + labor + overhead + margin; the durable profit is the spread on billable crew labor. Capital intensity is low (wet saws, grinders, mixers, a few vehicles, working capital); the scarce asset is skilled labor, not equipment. Owners and acquirers watch crew utilization, job gross margin and rework, backlog, and working capital — commercial contracts typically hold back 5–10% "retainage" until completion, so a profitable income statement can still be cash-poor. Two distinct businesses sit under this one code: quick-turn, higher-margin residential remodel/repair, and larger, bonded, backlog-driven commercial/institutional and terrazzo work. Full detail is in the 238340 primer, Section 5.

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6. Demand drivers

Demand is downstream of construction and housing turnover, across three streams: residential repair and remodeling (R&R) — the biggest and most stable driver, now roughly 44% of residential construction outlays and supported by an aging housing stock [22][23]; new residential construction — interest-rate sensitive; and nonresidential/institutional building (offices, hospitality, healthcare, education, transportation), the heart of terrazzo demand [15]. The cycle is real: U.S. ceramic tile consumption fell 5.1% in 2024 to 2.7 billion square feet amid high mortgage rates and soft existing-home sales [7]. Renovation and institutional work cushion weak new-housing periods, but commercial and terrazzo projects remain lumpy. (238340 primer, Section 6.)

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7. Regulation

The regulatory profile is the child's — nothing is added or removed at the 5-digit level:

• OSHA silica rule (the big one). Cutting, grinding, and polishing tile releases respirable crystalline silica; the Occupational Safety and Health Administration standard 29 CFR 1926.1153 sets a permissible exposure limit of 50 micrograms per cubic meter (8-hour average), met chiefly with wet saws and respirators [20].
• State contractor licensing, bonding, and insurance (e.g., California's C-54 Ceramic and Mosaic Tile classification), plus prevailing-wage and surety-bond requirements on public jobs — all of which favor larger, established firms [22].
• EPA Lead RRP rule on pre-1978 buildings [21], and trade policy on materials: imports are 71.5% of U.S. tile consumption, and a June 2025 U.S. countervailing-duty order on ceramic tile from India moves installers' material costs [7][20][21].
• Installation standards (ANSI/TCNA, NTMA terrazzo specs) and ADA slip-resistance rules govern how work is specified and inspected [7][15].

(Full treatment in the 238340 primer, Section 7.)

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8. Consolidation

Fragmentation is the defining feature (CR4 6.4%, HHI 18.6), so no firm has national pricing power [1]. Upstream manufacturing/distribution is already concentrated (Mohawk/Daltile) [9]; commercial flooring installation is consolidating via private-equity roll-ups that fold in regional contractors — small single-state installers trade around 4–6x EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) and larger platforms with contracted pipelines 7–9x [14]. Terrazzo is "consolidated" by scarcity of craft talent rather than by acquisition, and residential tile remains stubbornly mom-and-pop [15]. (238340 primer, Section 8.)

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9. Risks

The risk set is the child's: cyclicality and rate sensitivity (the 2024–25 tile-consumption decline shows it directly) [7][8]; skilled-labor scarcity and an aging workforce (3–4 year apprenticeships) [23]; fixed-price execution, warranty, and cash-flow risk (underbidding, moisture/cracking failures, retainage, slow-paying owners); customer concentration on a few general contractors; safety, liability, and regulatory exposure (silica, lead, licensing) [20][21]; input-cost and tariff volatility on import-dependent materials [7]; no pricing power for small shops; substitution from luxury vinyl tile and engineered surfaces; and acquisition risk for consolidators that overpay for owner-dependent earnings. (238340 primer, Section 9.)

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10. How to invest & outlook

Public-market routes are all indirect proxies, not installer bets — Mohawk (MHK), Floor & Decor (FND), Tile Shop (TTSH), and Home Depot (HD)/Lowe's (LOW) express tile demand and the R&R cycle, not installation-labor economics [9][10][11][12][13]. The direct route is private: owning or acquiring a local contracting business (low capital intensity and SBA financing make these classic small-business acquisitions; the constraint is finding and keeping skilled crews), backing a commercial-flooring roll-up, or holding a specialty terrazzo firm as a defensible high-skill niche [4][14][15].

Outlook: the next 12–24 months look soft-to-stabilizing on the residential side, with recovery hinging on rates easing and home turnover reviving [7][8]; medium-term drivers point up — remodeling is expected to resume growth (the National Association of Home Builders projects roughly +3% residential remodeling in 2026), the aging housing stock provides a durable R&R floor, and institutional demand underpins terrazzo [22][23][15]. The persistent constant is fragmentation: for public investors, no clean pure-play; for private investors, the opportunity is in operating or consolidating the trade, not trading it.

For the complete analysis, read the child primer: 238340 — Tile and Terrazzo Contractors.

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Sources

Because 23834 equals its single child 238340, this rollup draws on the same federal ground-truth stats (stats-23834.md) and the same sources cited in the 238340 primer. Numbering matches that primer.

1. U.S. Census Bureau. 2022 Economic Census — Industry Concentration (NAICS 238340): receipts ($12,231,379 thousand), firms (10,469), CR4/CR8/CR20/CR50 (6.4/9.3/13.8/20.7%), HHI (18.6). https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/economic-census.html
2. U.S. Census Bureau. County Business Patterns, 2023 (NAICS 238340): establishments (10,685), employment (58,611), annual payroll ($3,296,169 thousand), Q1 payroll ($765,460 thousand); note nonemployer undercount. https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/cbp.html
3. U.S. Census Bureau. 2022 NAICS Definition — 238340 Tile and Terrazzo Contractors (scope and exclusions 238140 / 238330 / 238390 / 327390). https://www.census.gov/naics/?details=238340&year=2022
4. U.S. Small Business Administration. Table of Small Business Size Standards (NAICS 238340 — $19 million). 2023. https://www.sba.gov/document/support-table-size-standards
5. Tile Council of North America (TCNA). 2024 U.S. Ceramic Tile Market Update (consumption 2.7B sq ft, −5.1%; imports 71.5% of consumption; India/Spain/Italy top sources; installation standards). 2025. https://tcnatile.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/PR-2024-U.S.-Ceramic-Tile-Market-Update-4.30.25.pdf
6. Floor Covering News. Stats 2026: Tile segment remains strong despite headwinds (ceramic tile sales 2024–2025). 2026. https://www.fcnews.net/2026/07/stats-2026-tile-segment-remains-strong-despite-headwinds/
7. Mohawk Industries, Inc. Form 10-K, Fiscal Year 2024 (net sales ~$10.8B; Global Ceramic segment ≈39%; Daltile/American Olean/Marazzi). 2025. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/851968/000085196825000023/mhk-20241231.htm
8. Floor & Decor Holdings, Inc. SEC filings (Form 10-K), EDGAR CIK 0001507079. https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001507079&type=10-K
9. Tile Shop Holdings, Inc. SEC filings and Nasdaq-to-OTC delisting, EDGAR CIK 0001552800. https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001552800
10. The Home Depot. Tile Installation / Become a Service Provider. https://www.homedepot.com/services/c/tile-installation/146501ef0
11. Lowe's. Tile Floor Installation. https://www.lowes.com/l/install/tile-floors
12. CT Acquisitions / Anchor Peabody. Flooring PE Roll-Up Tracker (Diverzify, SCI Flooring, Galleher; EBITDA multiples). 2024–2026. https://ctacquisitions.com/guides/flooring-pe-rollup-tracker-2026/
13. National Terrazzo & Mosaic Association (NTMA). Terrazzo specifications, technical systems, and contractor resources. https://ntma.com/
14. David Allen Company. Company overview (commercial tile, stone, terrazzo, specialty-concrete contractor). https://davidallen.com/
15. National Terrazzo, Tile & Marble. Heritage and services (family-owned commercial contractor). https://www.nationalterrazzo.com/
16. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Respirable Crystalline Silica — Construction, 29 CFR 1926.1153 (PEL 50 µg/m³ 8-hr TWA; action level 25; Table 1 controls). https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1926/1926.1153
17. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) Program Rules (pre-1978 lead paint). https://www.epa.gov/lead/lead-renovation-repair-and-painting-program-rules
18. Contractors State License Board (CSLB), California. C-54 — Ceramic and Mosaic Tile Contractor (classification and requirements). https://www.cslb.ca.gov/about_us/library/licensing_classifications/Licensing_Classifications_Detail.aspx?Class=C54
19. International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers (BAC). Tile, Marble & Terrazzo trades — apprenticeship and wages. 2024. https://bacweb.org/
20. U.S. Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration. Final Determinations in the Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Investigations of Ceramic Tile from India. 2025. https://www.trade.gov/final-determinations-antidumping-and-countervailing-duty-investigations-ceramic-tile-india
21. Federal Register. Ceramic Tile From India: Countervailing Duty Order (effective June 16, 2025). 2025. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/06/16/2025-11052/ceramic-tile-from-india-countervailing-duty-order
22. Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University (JCHS). 2025 Outlook for Home Remodeling (R&R share of residential spending ≈44%). 2025. https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/modest-gains-2025-outlook-home-remodeling
23. National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). Remodeling Growth in 2026 and Beyond (80%+ of homes over 20 years old; ~+3% remodeling forecast). 2026. https://www.nahb.org/news-and-economics/press-releases/2026/02/nahb-expects-remodeling-growth-2026