Construction Managers
In short: today's best AI models could do about 38% 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 47% by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The conversations, in-person and hands-on work, about 53% of the time, stays with people.
Plan, direct, or coordinate, usually through subordinate supervisory personnel, activities concerned with the construction and maintenance of structures, facilities, and systems. Participate in the conceptual development of a construction project and oversee its organization, scheduling, budgeting, and implementation. Includes managers in specialized construction fields, such as carpentry or plumbing.
380,360 people do this job in the US. $114,990 a year.
Reviewed on September 30, 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 work15 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet4 h
- Stays with people21 h
Construction Managers, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 0 hours, 15 hours become checking its work, 4 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 21 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Set up quality control (about 3 h, a person checks); Schedule and coordinate the project (about 3 h, a person checks); Choose construction methods from specs (about 1 h, 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.
- 46%
- 1%
- 11%
- 36%
- 6%
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 38% 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, 6%. Today's estimate: 38%.
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
Of the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled and tied to a work task, no reportable share went to this job's tasks in May 2026; 0 of its 25 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.09% to 0.031% (released February and March 2025); 0.028% to 0.043% (August 2025 to February 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.09% | 183 of 708 | 8 of 25 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.031% | 357 of 703 | 5 of 25 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.028% | 330 of 655 | 7 of 25 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.035% | 297 of 672 | 6 of 25 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.043% | 269 of 677 | 6 of 25 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 25 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 25 |
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 8% of this job's working time as physical work. For 0% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere. 0.00 of 3.
- Not physical 92%
- No robot shown 8%
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
52% of the working time: the conversation, in-person and hands-on parts of the tasks.
- Direct the construction crews, the in-person work, 14%
- Direct construction activities, the in-person work, 8%
- Set up quality control, the in-person work, 6%
- Schedule and coordinate the project, the conversation, 6%
- Contract and oversee the trades, the in-person work, 5%
- Inspect sites for code compliance, the hands-on work, 4%
What becomes checking the machine
44% 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.
- Set up quality control, costly if wrong, 9%
- Schedule and coordinate the project, costly if wrong, 9%
- Direct construction activities, severe if wrong, 5%
- Choose construction methods from specs, costly if wrong, 4%
- Model methods and costs, costly if wrong, 3%
- Inspect sites for code compliance, severe if wrong, 3%
What to learn
- 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.
- The conversations. About 47% of the time is conversation and in-person work, which this site leaves with people: listening, explaining, persuading, calming.
- Briefing a model and checking its drafts. About 46% of the time is documents and data, the part models reach first: writing a clear brief, giving the right material, and checking what comes back.
- Judgment where errors are severe. Some tasks are severe if wrong. Knowing when not to trust an output matters more there than speed.
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 . 25 tasks from .
| Task | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Develop or implement quality control programs.Writing the program and seeing it done on site.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 15% | 6.7 h3.3 h to 2.1 work days | Documents 60%, in person 40% | 51%Desk part half by now |
| Plan, schedule, or coordinate construction project activities to meet deadlines.Building the schedule and keeping the trades to it, on paper and by phone.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 15% | 5 h1.7 h to 1.7 work days | Documents 60%, conversation 40% | 48%Desk part half by now |
| Direct and supervise construction or related workers.On site with the crews, directing the work.Done daily by most who do it. | 14% | 3.3 h50 min to 6.7 h | In person 100% | Stays with people |
| Plan, organize, or direct activities concerned with the construction or maintenance of structures, facilities, or systems.Mostly on site and with the supervisors, plus planning and deciding.Done daily by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 14% | 6.7 h1.7 h to 2.5 work days | In person 60%, documents 40% | 22%Desk part half by now |
| Inspect or review projects to monitor compliance with building and safety codes or other regulations.Walking the site against the codes and the plans.Done more than monthly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 7% | 2.5 h50 min to 6.7 h | Hands-on 60%, documents 40% | 38%Desk part half by now |
| Contract or oversee craft work, such as painting or plumbing.Hiring the trades and checking their work on site.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 6% | 3.3 h50 min to 6.7 h | In person 60%, documents 20%, conversation 20% | 18%Desk part half by now |
| Study job specifications to determine appropriate construction methods.Reading the specifications and deciding how to build it.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 4% | 2.5 h50 min to 1 work day | Documents 100% | 92%Half by now |
| Evaluate construction methods and determine cost-effectiveness of plans, using computer models.Working the alternatives through on the computer.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 3% | 5 h2.5 h to 2.1 work days | Documents 100% | 86%Half by now |
| Perform, or contract others to perform, pre-building assessments, such as conceptual cost estimating, rough order of magnitude estimating, feasibility, or energy efficiency, environmental, and sustainability assessments.Estimates and feasibility work, some contracted out.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 3% | 1.3 work days3.3 h to 4.2 work days | Documents 80%, conversation 20% | 35%Desk part half by Dec 2026 |
| Investigate damage, accidents, or delays at construction sites to ensure that proper construction procedures are being followed.Looking at what happened on site, asking the people there, and writing it up.Done more than monthly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 3.3 h1.7 h to 1.3 work days | Hands-on 40%, documents 30%, in person 30% | 29%Desk part half by now |
| Prepare and submit budget estimates, progress reports, or cost tracking reports.Reports and estimates built from the tracking figures.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 2% | 3.3 h1.3 h to 1.3 work days | Documents 80%, systems 20% | 91%Half by now |
| Confer with supervisory personnel, owners, contractors, or design professionals to discuss and resolve matters, such as work procedures, complaints, or construction problems.Meetings on site and calls to work problems through.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 2% | 1.3 h25 min to 4.2 h | Conversation 50%, in person 50% | 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.
- Civil Engineers30% now, 74% by 2028
- Solar Energy Installation Managers54% now, 61% by 2028
- Civil Engineering Technologists and Technicians62% now, 82% by 2028
- First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers32% now, 32% by 2028
- Construction and Building Inspectors49% now, 51% by 2028
- Architects, Except Landscape and Naval35% now, 90% 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 Construction Managers is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 38% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 47% 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 Construction Managers 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: Set up quality control (51% of the task's time now, 60% by the end of 2028); Schedule and coordinate the project (48% of the task's time now, 60% by the end of 2028); and Choose construction methods from specs (92% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028).
- Which tasks of Construction Managers stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Direct the construction crews; and Resolve issues with owners and contractors. Together such tasks are about 16% of the working time, and the people and body parts of the other tasks stay with people too.
- What should Construction Managers learn as AI takes on more of the work?
- By the job's own task-by-task review, the first things to learn are reviewing work you did not do yourself; the conversations; and briefing a model and checking its drafts. By the end of 2028 on the long-run pace at four in five, about 52% of the working time stays with people, 44% 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 Construction Managers?
- 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 12%. 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 Construction Managers?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 8% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 0% of the working time. Its index is 0.00 of 3. 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 25 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 September 30, 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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A small card with the share of working time within reach now and at the end of 2027, 2028 and 2030, the date and a link back. Free under CC BY 4.0; the card carries the credit.
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