Elevator and Escalator Installers and Repairers
In short: today's best AI models could do about 5% 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 people and hands-on work, about 95% of the time, stays with people.
Assemble, install, repair, or maintain electric or hydraulic freight or passenger elevators, escalators, or dumbwaiters.
23,790 people do this job in the US. $109,910 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on2 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people38 h
Elevator and Escalator Installers and Repairers, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 2 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 38 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Read and interpret blueprints to determine the layout of system components, frameworks, and foundations, and to select installation equipment (under an hour); Maintain log books that detail all repairs and checks performed (under an hour); Participate in additional training to keep skills up to date (under an hour).
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.
- 5%
- 0%
- 95%
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.
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, 4%. Today's estimate: 5%.
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 20 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: none to 0.0024% (released February and March 2025).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | none | n/a | 0 of 20 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.0024% | 641 of 703 | 1 of 20 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | none | n/a | 0 of 20 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 20 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 20 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 20 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 20 |
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 91% of this job's working time as physical work. For 26% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 26% in a purpose-built cell. 0.26 of 3, the 402nd highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 9%
- No robot shown 65%
- In a purpose-built cell 26%
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.
The tasks
Sorted by . 20 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assemble, install, repair, and maintain elevators, escalators, moving sidewalks, and dumbwaiters, using hand and power tools, and testing devices such as test lamps, ammeters, and voltmeters.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 16% | 1.5 work days3.3 h to 4.2 work days | Stays with people | |
| Assemble electrically powered stairs, steel frameworks, and tracks, and install associated motors and electrical wiring.Done yearly or less by most who do it.Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 16% | 2.1 work days6.7 h to 1 work week | Stays with people | |
| Disassemble defective units, and repair or replace parts such as locks, gears, cables, and electric wiring.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 14% | 4.2 h1.7 h to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Inspect wiring connections, control panel hookups, door installations, and alignments and clearances of cars and hoistways to ensure that equipment will operate properly.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Cognex In-Sight vision system on Fanuc robot (Piston Group inspection station) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 10% | 2.5 h50 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Adjust safety controls, counterweights, door mechanisms, and components such as valves, ratchets, seals, and brake linings.Done more than weekly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 7% | 2.1 h38 min to 4.2 h | Stays with people | |
| Install electrical wires and controls by attaching conduit along shaft walls from floor to floor and pulling plastic-covered wires through the conduit.Done more than yearly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 7% | 1 work day3.3 h to 2.5 work days | Stays with people | |
| Check that safety regulations and building codes are met, and complete service reports verifying conformance to standards.Done more than weekly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 1.7 h38 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Locate malfunctions in brakes, motors, switches, and signal and control systems, using test equipment.Done more than weekly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 2.1 h50 min to 4.2 h | Stays with people | |
| Assemble elevator cars, installing each car's platform, walls, and doors.Done more than yearly by most who do it.Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Schindler R.I.S.E (Robotic Installation System for Elevators) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 1.3 work days3.3 h to 3.1 work days | Stays with people | |
| Connect electrical wiring to control panels and electric motors.Done more than yearly by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Averex robotic wiring centre (Kiesling Maschinentechnik / Rittal) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 2.5 h50 min to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Read and interpret blueprints to determine the layout of system components, frameworks, and foundations, and to select installation equipment.Done daily by most who do it. | 2% | 50 min25 min to 2.5 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Attach guide shoes and rollers to minimize the lateral motion of cars as they travel through shafts.Done more than yearly by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Schindler R.I.S.E. (Robotic Installation System for Elevators) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 2% | 2.5 h50 min to 4.2 h | 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.
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.
- Maintenance and Repair Workers, General11% now, 13% by 2028
- Mobile Heavy Equipment Mechanics, Except Engines6% now, 6% by 2028
- Millwrights0% now, 0% by 2028
- Rail Car Repairers3% now, 3% by 2028
- Mechanical Door Repairers4% now, 4% by 2028
- Aircraft Structure, Surfaces, Rigging, and Systems Assemblers4% now, 4% 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 Elevator and Escalator Installers and Repairers is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 5% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 5% 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 Elevator and Escalator Installers and Repairers 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 and interpret blueprints to determine the layout of system components, frameworks, and foundations, and to select installation equipment (100% of the task's time now); Maintain log books that detail all repairs and checks performed (100% of the task's time now); and Participate in additional training to keep skills up to date (91% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028).
- Which tasks of Elevator and Escalator Installers and Repairers stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Assemble, install, repair, and maintain elevators, escalators, moving sidewalks, and dumbwaiters, using hand and power tools, and testing devices such as test lamps, ammeters, and voltmeters; Assemble electrically powered stairs, steel frameworks, and tracks, and install associated motors and electrical wiring; and Disassemble defective units, and repair or replace parts such as locks, gears, cables, and electric wiring. Together such tasks are about 95% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Elevator and Escalator Installers and Repairers?
- 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 Elevator and Escalator Installers and Repairers?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 91% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 26% of the working time. Its index is 0.26 of 3. One example: Cognex In-Sight vision system on Fanuc robot (Piston Group inspection station) for "inspect wiring connections, control panel hookups, door installations, and alignments and clearances of cars and hoistways to ensure that equipment will operate properly". 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 20 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, each classed as desk, people or body work, 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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