Insulation Workers, Floor, Ceiling, and Wall
In short: today's best AI models could do about 2% 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 98% of the time, stays with people.
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.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on1 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people39 h
Insulation Workers, Floor, Ceiling, and Wall, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 1 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 39 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Read blueprints, and select appropriate insulation, based on space characteristics and the heat retaining or excluding characteristics of the material (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.
- 2%
- 0%
- 98%
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, 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.
Measured use over time
None of this job's 10 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 93% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 93% in a purpose-built cell. 0.93 of 3, the 158th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 4%
- No robot shown 3%
- In a purpose-built cell 93%
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 . 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. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Randek ZeroLabor Robotic Insulation System (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 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. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Randek ZeroLabor Robotic Insulation System (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 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. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, WEINMANN WALLTEQ M-380 blowTEC + ISOCELL blowing plate (HOMAG/WEINMANN with ISOCELL) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 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. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Fecken-Kirfel C 55/C 56/C 57/C 58 CNC contour cutting centers (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 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. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, FANUC dispensing/sealing robots (e.g., automotive seam sealer application) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 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. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 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. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, LaborSave automatic bag slitting and emptying machine (Ayal Robotics & Engineering Ltd.) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 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. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Randek ZeroLabor Robotic Gluing System (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 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. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, WEINMANN WALLTEQ M-380 blowTEC (with ISOCELL blowing plate) (HOMAG/WEINMANN with ISOCELL) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 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).
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Insulation Workers, Floor, Ceiling, and Wall is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 2% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 2% 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 Insulation Workers, Floor, Ceiling, and Wall 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 blueprints, and select appropriate insulation, based on space characteristics and the heat retaining or excluding characteristics of the material (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Insulation Workers, Floor, Ceiling, and Wall stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: 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; Fit, wrap, staple, or glue insulating materials to structures or surfaces, using hand tools or wires; and Distribute insulating materials evenly into small spaces within floors, ceilings, or walls, using blowers and hose attachments, or cement mortars. Together such tasks are about 98% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Insulation Workers, Floor, Ceiling, and Wall?
- 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 Insulation Workers, Floor, Ceiling, and Wall?
- 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 93% of the working time. Its index is 0.93 of 3. One example: Randek ZeroLabor Robotic Insulation System for "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". 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 10 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.
This job in your state or metro area
Embed these figures on your site
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.
Your own version of this job
The page above is the occupation. Your job is your title and what you actually do: give both, and they are read against these tasks in your browser, nothing sent anywhere. The headline is free: how much of your working time is within reach now and by the end of 2028, and how many of the tasks your description names.
This occupation has not been reviewed task by task yet, so the full personal report is not offered for it; 402 of 923 occupations are reviewed so far, largest first.