Steel erectors
Steel erectors fit and erect structural metal framework for buildings and other structures such as metal chimneys.
- Employees (UK)
- -
- Median annual pay
- -
- 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 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.
-
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.
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.
-
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.
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 "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.
What still needs a person
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.
What still needs a person
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.
Stay on top of this.
An email when there is something worth reading: what is real in AI at work, what is noise, and what operators are doing about it.
Free. Unsubscribe any time.
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