Insulation Workers, Floor, Ceiling, and Wall
Line and cover structures with insulating materials. May work with batt, roll, or blown insulation materials.
44,440 people do this job in the US. $49,120 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 2%
- 0%
- 98%
Measured, from Anthropic's usage data (2025). Counts help on part of a task.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 4.4 h 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, 2%. Today's estimate: 2%.
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.
The tasks
Sorted by . 10 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cover and line structures with blown or rolled forms of materials to insulate against cold, heat, or moisture, using saws, knives, rasps, trowels, blowers, or other tools and implements.Done daily by most who do it. | 37% | 2.5 h50 min to 5 h | Stays with people | |
| Fit, wrap, staple, or glue insulating materials to structures or surfaces, using hand tools or wires.Done daily by most who do it. | 19% | 1.3 h25 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Distribute insulating materials evenly into small spaces within floors, ceilings, or walls, using blowers and hose attachments, or cement mortars.Done daily by most who do it. | 14% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Measure and cut insulation for covering surfaces, using tape measures, handsaws, power saws, knives, or scissors.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 14% | 38 min17 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Cover, seal, or finish insulated surfaces or access holes with plastic covers, canvas strips, sealants, tape, cement or asphalt mastic.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 38 min17 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Remove old insulation, such as asbestos, following safety procedures.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 4% | 5 h1.7 h to 1.7 work days | Stays with people | |
| Fill blower hoppers with insulating materials.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 17 min8 min to 33 min | Stays with people | |
| Prepare surfaces for insulation application by brushing or spreading on adhesives, cement, or asphalt, or by attaching metal pins to surfaces.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 50 min17 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Read blueprints, and select appropriate insulation, based on space characteristics and the heat retaining or excluding characteristics of the material.Done daily by most who do it. | 2% | 25 min13 min to 1.3 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Move controls, buttons, or levers to start blowers and regulate flow of materials through nozzles.Done daily by most who do it. | 1% | 8 min4 min to 17 min | 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.
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).