Fence Erectors
In short: today's best AI models could do about 0% 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 100% of the time, stays with people.
Erect and repair fences and fence gates, using hand and power tools.
24,480 people do this job in the US. $47,980 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on0 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people40 h
Fence Erectors, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 0 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 40 hours stay with people.
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.
- 0%
- 4%
- 96%
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, 0%. Today's estimate: 0%.
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 20 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 95% of this job's working time as physical work. For 84% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 64% in a purpose-built cell, 20% in a structured facility. 1.04 of 3, the 95th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 5%
- No robot shown 11%
- In a purpose-built cell 64%
- In a structured facility 20%
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 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Erect alternate panel, basket weave, and louvered fences.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Airtex Controls hit-and-miss timber fence panel machine (and hopper-fed trellis machine) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 14% | 3.3 h1.7 h to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Blast rock formations and rocky areas with dynamite to facilitate posthole digging.Done several times a day by most who do it.Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 10% | 3.3 h1.7 h to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Dig postholes, using spades, posthole diggers, or power-driven augers.Done more than weekly by most who do it. Robots: in a structured facility, Epiroc SmartROC D65 MKII (autonomous surface drill) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 9% | 50 min17 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Establish the location for a fence, and gather information needed to ensure that there are no electric cables or water lines in the area.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a structured facility, CivDot / CivDot+ (Civ Robotics) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 7% | 38 min17 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Construct and repair barriers, retaining walls, trellises, and other types of fences, walls, and gates.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Randek ZeroLabor Robotic System (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 7% | 2.5 h50 min to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Measure and lay out fence lines and mark posthole positions, following instructions, drawings, or specifications.Done more than weekly by most who do it. Robots: in a structured facility, CivDot / CivDot+ (Civ Robotics) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 38 min21 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Nail pointed slats to rails to construct picket fences.Done more than weekly by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, GBN Excalibur stringer pallet system (GBN Machine and Engineering Corp.) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 50 min25 min to 2.1 h | Stays with people | |
| Attach rails or tension wire along bottoms of posts to form fencing frames.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, BOS-FENC FE/LP7/LP9 and BOS-FENC H fencing panel nailers (Bostitch (Stanley Black & Decker) / Handsaeme Machinery) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 29 min17 min to 58 min | Stays with people | |
| Set metal or wooden posts in upright positions in postholes.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, WEINMANN framing station with KUKA six-axis robot / FEEDBOT F-500 (HOMAG / WEINMANN with KUKA) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Discuss fencing needs with customers, and estimate and quote prices.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Weld metal parts together, using portable gas welding equipment.Done more than weekly by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Path Robotics AW-3 / AF-1 (Obsidian AI) welding cells (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Assemble gates, and fasten gates into position, using hand tools.Done more than weekly by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Kawasaki BX250L robots on Güdel TrackMotion rails with SCADAware software (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 50 min25 min to 2.1 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.
- Carpenters15% now, 15% by 2028
- Structural Iron and Steel Workers3% now, 3% by 2028
- Reinforcing Iron and Rebar Workers8% now, 8% by 2028
- Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installers5% now, 5% by 2028
- Electrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers1% now, 1% by 2028
- Helpers--Pipelayers, Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters0% now, 0% 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 Fence Erectors is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 0% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 0% 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 Fence Erectors come within reach first?
- No task has a meaningful share of its time within reach now or by the end of 2028, on the long-run pace at four in five: the work is mostly people work and body work, which the site does not count.
- Which tasks of Fence Erectors stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Erect alternate panel, basket weave, and louvered fences; Blast rock formations and rocky areas with dynamite to facilitate posthole digging; and Dig postholes, using spades, posthole diggers, or power-driven augers. Together such tasks are about 100% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Fence Erectors?
- 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 Fence Erectors?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 95% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 84% of the working time, 20% in a structured facility. Its index is 1.04 of 3. One example: Epiroc SmartROC D65 MKII (autonomous surface drill) for "dig postholes, using spades, posthole diggers, or power-driven augers". 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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