UK AI Exposure · Skilled trades occupations
Boat and ship builders and repairers
Boat and ship builders and repairers construct, install and repair wooden structures and fittings, and shape, position, rivet and seal metal plates and girders to form the metal structures and frameworks for marine craft.
- Employees (UK)
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- Median annual pay
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- Exposure score ?
- 0.0/10 Minimal 0.9/10 Minimal strict reading · with tools is 0.9/10 with-tools reading · strict is 0.0/10
- Wage exposure
- - -
Higher exposure than 5% of the 379 UK occupations we scored.
What this score means
Most of this role's work is still genuinely hard for AI to do. Physical presence, bodily skill, high-context judgment, direct human care - the things that don't translate to text.
If you're in this role, here's what to do now
You're not in the firing line today. But the frontier moves. Build enough AI fluency now that you can direct it for the parts of your work that could benefit. People in unexposed roles who understand AI become unusually valuable inside their organisations.
Most of this role's work is still genuinely hard for AI to do. Physical presence, bodily skill, high-context judgment, direct human care - the things that don't translate to text.
If you're in this role, here's what to do now
You're not in the firing line today. But the frontier moves. Build enough AI fluency now that you can direct it for the parts of your work that could benefit. People in unexposed roles who understand AI become unusually valuable inside their organisations.
Where a project with Alex usually starts for this role
This role's strict reading is low because its top tasks are judgment, not drafting. The three highest-stakes tasks below are still usually where we start — flip the toggle to 'With tools' to see what AI plus the right context can compress.
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Verify conformance of workpieces to specifications, using squares, rulers, and measuring tapes.
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Study engineering drawings and blueprints to determine materials requirements and task sequences.
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Position, align, fit, and weld parts to form complete units or subunits, following blueprints and layout specifications, and using jigs, welding torches, and hand tools.
Most roles have at least three wedges where AI plus the right tools removes real time. For this role the labelling doesn't surface obvious ones, so we'd start with the highest-stakes tasks below and figure out the AI angle in conversation.
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Verify conformance of workpieces to specifications, using squares, rulers, and measuring tapes.
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Study engineering drawings and blueprints to determine materials requirements and task sequences.
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Position, align, fit, and weld parts to form complete units or subunits, following blueprints and layout specifications, and using jigs, welding torches, and hand tools.
Every role has three or four wedges like these. Finding them takes an hour. Turning them into a workflow your team actually uses takes a few days. Talk to Alex about a project →
The full task breakdown
Every O*NET task for this occupation, split by what AI can already do unaided versus what still needs a human. Importance is O*NET's 1–5 rating of how central each task is to the role.
Tasks via O*NET "Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitters" (51-2041.00).
What AI can already do
0 of 23 tasks · unaided
No tasks here are labelled as something an LLM can do unaided. Switch to 'With tools' above to see what changes when AI is paired with the right context.
Where humans still hold the line
23 of 23 tasks
Verify conformance of workpieces to specifications, using squares, rulers, and measuring tapes.
Study engineering drawings and blueprints to determine materials requirements and task sequences.
Position, align, fit, and weld parts to form complete units or subunits, following blueprints and layout specifications, and using jigs, welding torches, and hand tools.
Lay out and examine metal stock or workpieces to be processed to ensure that specifications are met.
Tack-weld fitted parts together.
Move parts into position, manually or with hoists or cranes.
Set up and operate fabricating machines, such as brakes, rolls, shears, flame cutters, grinders, and drill presses, to bend, cut, form, punch, drill, or otherwise form and assemble metal components.
Mark reference points onto floors or face blocks and transpose them to workpieces, using measuring devices, squares, chalk, and soapstone.
Position or tighten braces, jacks, clamps, ropes, or bolt straps, or bolt parts in position for welding or riveting.
Lift or move materials and finished products, using large cranes.
Set up face blocks, jigs, and fixtures.
Align and fit parts according to specifications, using jacks, turnbuckles, wedges, drift pins, pry bars, and hammers.
Hammer, chip, and grind workpieces to cut, bend, and straighten metal.
Design and construct templates and fixtures, using hand tools.
Locate and mark workpiece bending and cutting lines, allowing for stock thickness, machine and welding shrinkage, and other component specifications.
Direct welders to build up low spots or short pieces with weld.
Remove high spots and cut bevels, using hand files, portable grinders, and cutting torches.
Heat-treat parts, using acetylene torches.
Straighten warped or bent parts, using sledges, hand torches, straightening presses, or bulldozers.
Smooth workpiece edges and fix taps, tubes, and valves.
Erect ladders and scaffolding to fit together large assemblies.
Preheat workpieces to make them malleable, using hand torches or furnaces.
Install boilers, containers, and other structures.
Tasks via O*NET "Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitters" (51-2041.00).
What AI can already do
1 of 23 tasks · with tools
Study engineering drawings and blueprints to determine materials requirements and task sequences.
Where humans still hold the line
22 of 23 tasks
Verify conformance of workpieces to specifications, using squares, rulers, and measuring tapes.
Position, align, fit, and weld parts to form complete units or subunits, following blueprints and layout specifications, and using jigs, welding torches, and hand tools.
Lay out and examine metal stock or workpieces to be processed to ensure that specifications are met.
Tack-weld fitted parts together.
Move parts into position, manually or with hoists or cranes.
Set up and operate fabricating machines, such as brakes, rolls, shears, flame cutters, grinders, and drill presses, to bend, cut, form, punch, drill, or otherwise form and assemble metal components.
Mark reference points onto floors or face blocks and transpose them to workpieces, using measuring devices, squares, chalk, and soapstone.
Position or tighten braces, jacks, clamps, ropes, or bolt straps, or bolt parts in position for welding or riveting.
Lift or move materials and finished products, using large cranes.
Set up face blocks, jigs, and fixtures.
Align and fit parts according to specifications, using jacks, turnbuckles, wedges, drift pins, pry bars, and hammers.
Hammer, chip, and grind workpieces to cut, bend, and straighten metal.
Design and construct templates and fixtures, using hand tools.
Locate and mark workpiece bending and cutting lines, allowing for stock thickness, machine and welding shrinkage, and other component specifications.
Direct welders to build up low spots or short pieces with weld.
Remove high spots and cut bevels, using hand files, portable grinders, and cutting torches.
Heat-treat parts, using acetylene torches.
Straighten warped or bent parts, using sledges, hand torches, straightening presses, or bulldozers.
Smooth workpiece edges and fix taps, tubes, and valves.
Erect ladders and scaffolding to fit together large assemblies.
Preheat workpieces to make them malleable, using hand torches or furnaces.
Install boilers, containers, and other structures.
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Methodology
This role's exposure score comes from Eloundou et al's 2023 GPT task labels, aggregated by O*NET importance within each O*NET-SOC code, then bridged to UK SOC 2020 via ISCO-08 (ONS Vol 2 coding index) and US SOC 2010 (BLS crosswalk). Employment and median pay come from ONS ASHE Table 14.7a, 2025 provisional. ASHE covers employees only, so self-employed workers are not counted.
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