Maintenance and Repair Workers, General
Perform work involving the skills of two or more maintenance or craft occupations to keep machines, mechanical equipment, or the structure of a building in repair. Duties may involve pipe fitting; HVAC maintenance; insulating; welding; machining; carpentry; repairing electrical or mechanical equipment; installing, aligning, and balancing new equipment; and repairing buildings, floors, or stairs.
1,529,700 people do this job in the US. $49,590 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 15%
- 4%
- 81%
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, 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.
The tasks
Sorted by . 27 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Repair machines, equipment, or structures, using tools such as hammers, hoists, saws, drills, wrenches, or equipment such as precision measuring instruments or electrical or electronic testing devices.Done daily by most who do it. | 14% | 2.5 h50 min to 5 h | Stays with people | |
| Design new equipment to aid in the repair or maintenance of machines, mechanical equipment, or building structures.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 10% | 6.7 h3.3 h to 2.5 work days | 10%Half by May 2027 | |
| Assemble, install, or repair wiring, electrical or electronic components, pipe systems, plumbing, machinery, or equipment.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 9% | 3.3 h50 min to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Paint or repair roofs, windows, doors, floors, woodwork, plaster, drywall, or other parts of building structures.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 7% | 3.3 h1.3 h to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Set up and operate machine tools to repair or fabricate machine parts, jigs, fixtures, or tools.Done daily by most who do it. | 6% | 3.3 h1.7 h to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Dismantle machines, equipment, or devices to access and remove defective parts, using hoists, cranes, hand tools, or power tools.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 5% | 2.5 h50 min to 5 h | Stays with people | |
| Inspect, operate, or test machinery or equipment to diagnose machine malfunctions.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 4% | 1.3 h25 min to 2.1 h | Stays with people | |
| Assemble boilers at installation sites, using tools such as levels, plumb bobs, hammers, torches, or other hand tools.Done yearly or less by most who do it. | 4% | 1 work day3.3 h to 2.6 work days | Stays with people | |
| Train or manage maintenance personnel or subcontractors.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 4% | 1.7 h25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Perform general cleaning of buildings or properties.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 1.7 h25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Maintain or repair specialized equipment or machinery located in cafeterias, laundries, hospitals, stores, offices, or factories.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 3% | 2.1 h50 min to 5 h | Stays with people | |
| Fabricate or repair counters, benches, partitions, or other wooden structures, such as sheds or outbuildings.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 3% | 3.3 h1.7 h to 6.7 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.
- Millwrights0% now, 0% by 2028
- Aircraft Structure, Surfaces, Rigging, and Systems Assemblers4% now, 4% by 2028
- Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters16% now, 24% by 2028
- Helpers--Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Workers2% now, 2% by 2028
- Industrial Machinery Mechanics15% now, 17% by 2028
- Mobile Heavy Equipment Mechanics, Except Engines5% now, 5% 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).