Plasterers
Plasterers apply dry linings, plaster and cement mixtures to walls and ceilings, fix fibrous sheets and cast and fix ornamental plasterwork to the interior or exterior of buildings.
- Employees (UK)
- 7k
- Median annual pay
- £33,789
- Exposure score ?
- 0.2/10 Minimal 0.5/10 Minimal strict reading, with tools is 0.5/10 with-tools reading, strict is 0.2/10
- Wage exposure
- £5m £12m
Higher exposure than 15% of the 379 UK occupations we scored.
What this score means.
Most of this role's work is still hard for AI: physical presence, practised skill, judgement in context and direct care, the things that do not turn into text.
If you are in this role
Nothing here is under pressure today, but the frontier moves. Learn enough to direct AI at the paperwork around the job. People in hands-on roles who can do that become unusually useful inside their organisations.
Most of this role's work is still hard for AI: physical presence, practised skill, judgement in context and direct care, the things that do not turn into text.
If you are in this role
Nothing here is under pressure today, but the frontier moves. Learn enough to direct AI at the paperwork around the job. People in hands-on roles who can do that become unusually useful inside their organisations.
Where the work usually starts.
This role's strict reading is low because its top tasks are judgement, not drafting. The three highest-stakes tasks below are still usually where the work starts. Switch to With tools to see what AI plus the right context can take on.
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Read blueprints or other specifications to determine methods of installation, work procedures, or material or tool requirements.
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Measure and mark surfaces to lay out work, according to blueprints or drawings, using tape measures, straightedges or squares, and marking devices.
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Fit and fasten wallboard or drywall into position on wood or metal frameworks, using glue, nails, or screws.
For this role the labels do not surface obvious candidates, so the work would start with the highest-stakes tasks below and find the AI angle in conversation.
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Read blueprints or other specifications to determine methods of installation, work procedures, or material or tool requirements.
-
Measure and mark surfaces to lay out work, according to blueprints or drawings, using tape measures, straightedges or squares, and marking devices.
-
Fit and fasten wallboard or drywall into position on wood or metal frameworks, using glue, nails, or screws.
Every role has three or four places like these. Finding them takes an hour. Turning them into a workflow your team actually uses takes a few days.
Every task in the role.
Every O*NET task for this occupation, split by what AI can do unaided and what still needs a person. Importance is O*NET's 1 to 5 rating of how central each task is.
Tasks via O*NET "Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installers" (47-2081.00).
What AI can already do
0 of 26 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.
What still needs a person
26 of 26 tasks
Read blueprints or other specifications to determine methods of installation, work procedures, or material or tool requirements.
Measure and mark surfaces to lay out work, according to blueprints or drawings, using tape measures, straightedges or squares, and marking devices.
Fit and fasten wallboard or drywall into position on wood or metal frameworks, using glue, nails, or screws.
Measure and cut openings in panels or tiles for electrical outlets, windows, vents, plumbing, or other fixtures, using keyhole saws or other cutting tools.
Assemble or install metal framing or decorative trim for windows, doorways, or vents.
Cut metal or wood framing and trim to size, using cutting tools.
Inspect furrings, mechanical mountings, or masonry surfaces for plumbness and level, using spirit or water levels.
Cut fixture or border tiles to size, using keyhole saws, and insert them into surrounding frameworks.
Cut and screw together metal channels to make floor or ceiling frames, according to plans for the location of rooms or hallways.
Hang drywall panels on metal frameworks of walls and ceilings in offices, schools, or other large buildings, using lifts or hoists to adjust panel heights, when necessary.
Trim rough edges from wallboard to maintain even joints, using knives.
Suspend angle iron grids or channel irons from ceilings, using wire.
Coordinate work with drywall finishers who cover the seams between drywall panels.
Install horizontal and vertical metal or wooden studs to frames so that wallboard can be attached to interior walls.
Scribe and cut edges of tile to fit walls where wall molding is not specified.
Hang dry lines to wall moldings to guide positioning of main runners.
Fasten metal or rockboard lath to the structural framework of walls, ceilings, or partitions of buildings, using nails, screws, staples, or wire-ties.
Install blanket insulation between studs and tack plastic moisture barriers over insulation.
Seal joints between ceiling tiles and walls.
Remove existing plaster, drywall, or paneling, using crowbars and hammers.
Apply or mount acoustical tile or blocks, strips, or sheets of shock-absorbing materials to ceilings or walls of buildings to reduce reflection of sound or to decorate rooms.
Mount tile, using adhesives, or by nailing, screwing, stapling, or wire-tying lath directly to structural frameworks.
Nail channels or wood furring strips to surfaces to provide mounting for tile.
Install metal lath where plaster applications will be exposed to weather or water, or for curved or irregular surfaces.
Apply cement to backs of tiles and press tiles into place, aligning them with layout marks or joints of previously laid tile.
Wash concrete surfaces before mounting tile to increase adhesive qualities of surfaces, using washing soda and zinc sulfate solution.
Tasks via O*NET "Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installers" (47-2081.00).
What AI can already do
2 of 26 tasks, with tools
Read blueprints or other specifications to determine methods of installation, work procedures, or material or tool requirements.
Measure and mark surfaces to lay out work, according to blueprints or drawings, using tape measures, straightedges or squares, and marking devices.
What still needs a person
24 of 26 tasks
Fit and fasten wallboard or drywall into position on wood or metal frameworks, using glue, nails, or screws.
Measure and cut openings in panels or tiles for electrical outlets, windows, vents, plumbing, or other fixtures, using keyhole saws or other cutting tools.
Assemble or install metal framing or decorative trim for windows, doorways, or vents.
Cut metal or wood framing and trim to size, using cutting tools.
Inspect furrings, mechanical mountings, or masonry surfaces for plumbness and level, using spirit or water levels.
Cut fixture or border tiles to size, using keyhole saws, and insert them into surrounding frameworks.
Cut and screw together metal channels to make floor or ceiling frames, according to plans for the location of rooms or hallways.
Hang drywall panels on metal frameworks of walls and ceilings in offices, schools, or other large buildings, using lifts or hoists to adjust panel heights, when necessary.
Trim rough edges from wallboard to maintain even joints, using knives.
Suspend angle iron grids or channel irons from ceilings, using wire.
Coordinate work with drywall finishers who cover the seams between drywall panels.
Install horizontal and vertical metal or wooden studs to frames so that wallboard can be attached to interior walls.
Scribe and cut edges of tile to fit walls where wall molding is not specified.
Hang dry lines to wall moldings to guide positioning of main runners.
Fasten metal or rockboard lath to the structural framework of walls, ceilings, or partitions of buildings, using nails, screws, staples, or wire-ties.
Install blanket insulation between studs and tack plastic moisture barriers over insulation.
Seal joints between ceiling tiles and walls.
Remove existing plaster, drywall, or paneling, using crowbars and hammers.
Apply or mount acoustical tile or blocks, strips, or sheets of shock-absorbing materials to ceilings or walls of buildings to reduce reflection of sound or to decorate rooms.
Mount tile, using adhesives, or by nailing, screwing, stapling, or wire-tying lath directly to structural frameworks.
Nail channels or wood furring strips to surfaces to provide mounting for tile.
Install metal lath where plaster applications will be exposed to weather or water, or for curved or irregular surfaces.
Apply cement to backs of tiles and press tiles into place, aligning them with layout marks or joints of previously laid tile.
Wash concrete surfaces before mounting tile to increase adhesive qualities of surfaces, using washing soda and zinc sulfate solution.
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Related occupations.
Other roles in Skilled trades occupations, and roles close by exposure.
What it means for your sector.
This role's score comes from Eloundou et al's 2023 task labels, weighted by O*NET importance within each O*NET-SOC code, then bridged to UK SOC 2020 through ISCO-08 (the ONS coding index) and US SOC 2010 (the BLS crosswalk). Employment and median pay come from ONS ASHE Table 14.7a, 2025 provisional, which covers employees only.
Back to the mapMethodologySources (PDF)Built 29 April 2026
Pictures
- "Census pantograph and 1930s keypunches" by U.S. Census Bureau employees, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Shepard Barclay, St. Louis lawyer, in his office" by Missouri Historical Society via DPLA, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Accountant's Office LCCN2016824374" by National Photo Company Collection, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Employment service in Oulu in the spring 1931" by Finnish Heritage Agency (Museovirasto), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons