Brickmasons and Blockmasons
In short: today's best AI models could do about 8% of this job's working time (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) if the work were set up for them, and about the same by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The conversations, in-person and hands-on work, about 92% of the time, stays with people.
Lay and bind building materials, such as brick, structural tile, concrete block, cinder block, glass block, and terra-cotta block, with mortar and other substances, to construct or repair walls, partitions, arches, sewers, and other structures.
52,550 people do this job in the US. $62,120 a year.
Reviewed on October 18, 2026: what each task is made of, and what handing it over would ask.
A typical 40-hour week
- AI could take on0 h
- A person checks AI's work3 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people37 h
Brickmasons and Blockmasons, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 0 hours, 3 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 37 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Read drawings and figure materials (about 2 h, a person checks); Work out courses and alignment (under an hour, a person checks).
Estimates for a typical week of this job, if progress keeps its long-run pace, counting work the best models finish four times in five. Every task is below.
of the working time. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- 8%
- 0%
- 0%
- 2%
- 90%
of the work: Anthropic's measure of what people already bring to Claude at work (2025). It counts help with part of a task, so it can be higher than the share within reach.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
Change assumptionsHide assumptionsLong-run pace, four in five
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 2.4 work days long four times in five.
What handing it over would take, now
The 8% within reach splits by what a model would need. The dates, pace and reliability follow the controls above. Estimates.
of the working time. The material can be handed to a model and the result handed back.
of the working time. The model has to be connected to the system the work lives in.
is conversation short enough by length. This site leaves conversation with people, so it is not in the total.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 8%. Today's estimate: 8%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Measured use over time
None of this job's 14 tasks showed up in the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled in any of its 7 releases, from February 2025 to May 2026.
Measured, not estimated: Anthropic's samples of Claude.ai conversations, each tied by a model to an O*NET task, from the Anthropic Economic Index. It says where Claude's use goes, not how much of this job's working time it covers, so it is not on the same scale as the reach above. The releases differ in their sample, their classifier and the smallest share they report (the June 2026 file rounds each task to a hundredth of a percent, so a smaller task reads as none), which is why a change of method starts a new line. At least 96% of each older release's task-tied use matched this site's tasks, and all of the newest. Claude.ai only, so use through other tools and other companies' models is not in it. Every job ranked.
Robots and the physical work
Anthropic rates 96% of this job's working time as physical work. For 86% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 51% in a purpose-built cell, 14% in a structured facility, 21% in any setting. 1.42 of 3, the 26th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 4%
- No robot shown 10%
- In a purpose-built cell 51%
- In a structured facility 14%
- In any setting 21%
Anthropic's rating, not this site's estimate: Claude Opus 5, searching the web, rated each physical O*NET task by the kind of setting in which a robot it could cite (deployed, sold or demonstrated) does most of the task, weighted by its own estimate of each task's share of the time (What work can robots do?, September 30, 2026, data CC BY 4.0; every job ranked). A robot shown somewhere is not a robot in your building: cost, setup and safety decide that. The share within reach on this page still counts no body work. The robot behind each rated task is under the task below.
What changes for the people in this job
From the task-by-task review, by the end of 2028 on the long-run pace at four in five. It says which parts of the work stay with people and which change, not whether anyone keeps a job: that depends on decisions no data set can see.
What stays with people
92% of the working time: the conversation, in-person and hands-on parts of the tasks.
- Build corners and courses to a line, the hands-on work, 20%
- Apply mortar, the hands-on work, 11%
- Fasten brick to the structure, the hands-on work, 10%
- Finish mortar joints, the hands-on work, 10%
- Lay out guidelines, the hands-on work, 9%
- Lay brick for structures and furnaces, the hands-on work, 9%
What becomes checking the machine
8% of the working time: desk work a model could do by then, in tasks where a mistake costs something or a licensed person signs. A person checks it.
- Read drawings and figure materials, costly if wrong, 5%
- Work out courses and alignment, costly if wrong, 2%
What to learn
- The hands-on craft. About 90% of the time is hands-on work, which no model here does; robots are rated separately on this page.
- Judgment where errors are severe. Some tasks are severe if wrong. Knowing when not to trust an output matters more there than speed.
- Reviewing work you did not do yourself. The tasks under What becomes checking the machine, where a mistake costs something, stay a person's to check: spotting what a draft gets wrong is a skill of its own.
Your own version of this job: read it against your job description. The headline is free; the full personal report, every task with its timeline and what to learn, is $19 (a sample).
The tasks
Sorted by . 14 tasks from .
| Task | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Construct corners by fastening in plumb position a corner pole or building a corner pyramid of bricks, and filling in between the corners using a line from corner to corner to guide each course, or layer, of brick.Setting the corners plumb and laying each course to the line between them.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a structured facility, Monumental bricklaying robots (Atrium software) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 20% | 1.3 h38 min to 3.3 h | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Apply and smooth mortar or other mixture over work surface.Spreading and smoothing the mortar.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in any setting, Monumental bricklaying robot fleet (Pisa layer + Atrium software) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 11% | 25 min8 min to 1.1 h | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Fasten or fuse brick or other building material to structure with wire clamps, anchor holes, torch, or cement.Anchoring the brick to the structure with clamps, anchors, torch or cement.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, ROBmade robotic brick fabrication (Gramazio Kohler / Keller AG) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 10% | 38 min13 min to 1.3 h | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Remove excess mortar with trowels and hand tools, and finish mortar joints with jointing tools, for a sealed, uniform appearance.Striking off the excess and tooling the joints.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 10% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Measure distance from reference points and mark guidelines to lay out work, using plumb bobs and levels.Measuring from the reference points and marking the lines with plumb bob and level.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a structured facility, HP SitePrint (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 9% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Lay and align bricks, blocks, or tiles to build or repair structures or high temperature equipment, such as cupola, kilns, ovens, or furnaces.Laying and aligning brick, block or tile for walls, kilns and furnaces.Done yearly or less by most who do it.Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Monumental (Pisa/Petra/Panama fleet, Atrium AI platform) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 9% | 3.3 h50 min to 6.7 h | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Interpret blueprints and drawings to determine specifications and to calculate the materials required.Reading the drawings for the specifications and working out the materials needed.Done daily by most who do it. | 8% | 38 min17 min to 1.7 h | Documents 70%, in person 30% | 70%Desk part half by now |
| Calculate angles and courses and determine vertical and horizontal alignment of courses.Calculating the angles and courses and checking the alignment on the wall.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in any setting, FieldPrinter (FieldPrint Platform) (Dusty Robotics) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | Documents 50%, hands-on 50% | 50%Desk part half by now |
| Break or cut bricks, tiles, or blocks to size, using trowel edge, hammer, or power saw.Cutting brick, tile and block with the trowel, hammer or saw.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Hadrian X (FBR / Fastbrick Robotics) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Remove burned or damaged brick or mortar, using sledgehammer, crowbar, chipping gun, or chisel.Breaking out burned and damaged brick with sledge, crowbar or chipping gun.Done more than monthly by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Spatial-AI robotic brickwork deconstruction system (UR20 + Robotnik RB-VOGUI+ mobile platform) (Technical University of Munich) (demonstrated). Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 1.7 h25 min to 3.3 h | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Clean working surface to remove scale, dust, soot, or chips of brick and mortar, using broom, wire brush, or scraper.Brushing and scraping the surface clean.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Mana precast pallet circulation system (cleaning unit) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Examine brickwork or structure to determine need for repair.Looking the brickwork over and deciding what needs repair.Done more than weekly by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, MINSCAN LSC (MINSCAN robotic gunning applicator + Ferrotron LaCam + SCANTROL) (Minteq International / Ferrotron) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 50 min17 min to 1.7 h | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach. Made of: how the task's time splits among five kinds of doing. Only the documents and systems parts can count as within reach, so a task that is 30% documents can be at most 30% within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Helpers--Brickmasons, Blockmasons, Stonemasons, and Tile and Marble Setters6% now, 6% by 2028
- Refractory Materials Repairers, Except Brickmasons0% now, 0% by 2028
- Stonemasons0% now, 0% by 2028
- Tile and Stone Setters4% now, 4% by 2028
- Cement Masons and Concrete Finishers0% now, 0% by 2028
- Terrazzo Workers and Finishers3% now, 3% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Brickmasons and Blockmasons is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 8% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 8% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five. Within reach means a model could finish work that long at that reliability. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
- Which tasks of Brickmasons and Blockmasons come within reach first?
- Weighted by the time each takes, the tasks with the most within reach now (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) are: Read drawings and figure materials (70% of the task's time now); and Work out courses and alignment (50% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Brickmasons and Blockmasons stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Build corners and courses to a line; Apply mortar; and Fasten brick to the structure. Together such tasks are about 88% of the working time, and the people and body parts of the other tasks stay with people too.
- What should Brickmasons and Blockmasons learn as AI takes on more of the work?
- By the job's own task-by-task review, the first things to learn are the hands-on craft; judgment where errors are severe; and reviewing work you did not do yourself. By the end of 2028 on the long-run pace at four in five, about 92% of the working time stays with people, 8% becomes checking a model's work and 0% could be handed over with lighter checks. It says which parts of the work change, never whether anyone keeps a job.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Brickmasons and Blockmasons?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026, no reportable share went to this job's tasks. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 0%. These are measures of use, not of how much of the work AI could finish, and they cover Claude only.
- Can robots do the physical work of Brickmasons and Blockmasons?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 96% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 86% of the working time, 21% in any setting. Its index is 1.42 of 3. One example: Monumental bricklaying robot fleet (Pisa layer + Atrium software) for "apply mortar". A robot shown somewhere is not one in every workplace; this site's own estimates still count no physical work as within reach.
- How is this estimated?
- From the 14 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, reviewed one task at a time on October 18, 2026 for what each is made of (documents, business systems, conversation, in person, hands-on), and METR's measurements of how long a task the best AI models can finish, carried forward to the date from the latest, Claude Mythos Preview (early) in April 2026. Data checked November 10, 2026.
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