# Painters, Construction and Maintenance

> Paint walls, equipment, buildings, bridges, and other structural surfaces, using brushes, rollers, and spray guns. May remove old paint to prepare surface prior to painting. May mix colors or oils to obtain desired color or consistency.

- **SOC code:** 47-2141.00
- **Canonical URL:** https://singulariki.com/roles/role-47-2141-00
- **Also known as:** Building Trades Painter, Industrial Painter, Maintenance Painter, Painter, Commercial Painter, Facilities Painter, Highway Painter, House Painter
- **Frame:** "AI exposure" means task overlap (how codifiable the work is), not jobs lost or a forecast. Every figure below is traced to a named public dataset.

## What this work is

**Core tasks** (O*NET):
- Cover surfaces with dropcloths or masking tape and paper to protect surfaces during painting.
- Read work orders or receive instructions from supervisors or homeowners to determine work requirements.
- Apply paint, stain, varnish, enamel, or other finishes to equipment, buildings, bridges, or other structures, using brushes, spray guns, or rollers.
- Fill cracks, holes, or joints with caulk, putty, plaster, or other fillers, using caulking guns or putty knives.
- Smooth surfaces, using sandpaper, scrapers, brushes, steel wool, or sanding machines.
- Erect scaffolding or swing gates, or set up ladders, to work above ground level.
- Wash and treat surfaces with oil, turpentine, mildew remover, or other preparations, and sand rough spots to ensure that finishes will adhere properly.
- Apply primers or sealers to prepare new surfaces, such as bare wood or metal, for finish coats.
- Calculate amounts of required materials and estimate costs, based on surface measurements or work orders.
- Remove old finishes by stripping, sanding, wire brushing, burning, or using water or abrasive blasting.
- Remove fixtures such as pictures, door knobs, lamps, or electric switch covers prior to painting.
- Use special finishing techniques such as sponging, ragging, layering, or faux finishing.

**Emerging tasks** (O*NET):
- Clean tools and equipment, such as brushes and rollers.
- Hang wallpaper.

## Skills, tools, capabilities

**Knowledge, skills & abilities** (O*NET, highest importance first):
- Arm-Hand Steadiness _(ability)_
- Near Vision _(ability)_
- Customer and Personal Service _(knowledge)_
- Manual Dexterity _(ability)_
- Trunk Strength _(ability)_
- Building and Construction _(knowledge)_
- Active Listening _(essential_skill)_
- Critical Thinking _(essential_skill)_
- Time Management _(transferable_skill)_
- Oral Comprehension _(ability)_
- Written Comprehension _(ability)_
- Oral Expression _(ability)_

**Skills in demand:**
- Time Management _(Common Skill)_
- Microsoft Word _(Common Skill)_
- Microsoft Windows _(Common Skill)_
- Microsoft Excel _(Common Skill)_
- Deductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Critical Thinking _(Common Skill)_
- Active Listening _(Common Skill)_
- Visualization _(Specialized Skill)_
- Speech Recognition _(Specialized Skill)_
- Social Perceptiveness _(Common Skill)_
- Information Ordering _(Specialized Skill)_
- Finger Dexterity _(Common Skill)_

**Tools & technology:**
- Microsoft Excel _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Office software _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Windows _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Word _(hot technology)_
- Act!
- Corel Paint Shop Pro
- Corel Painter
- Evergreen Technology Eagle Bid Estimating
- Evergreen Technology Total Faux
- Insight Direct ServiceCEO
- On Center Quick Bid
- Turtle Creek Software Goldenseal

## AI exposure & outlook

- **AI task-overlap index:** 9th percentile (Low) across all occupations — composite of current-era exposure studies (ai-exposure-index-v1).
- **Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.):** 4th percentile (Low) — source: felten_aioe.
- **LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou):** 8th percentile (Low) — source: eloundou_gamma.
- **AI assistant applicability (Microsoft):** 28th percentile (Low) — source: microsoft_applicability.
- **Frey–Osborne (2013, historical computerization estimate):** 61st percentile — kept separate from current-era studies.
- **Remote-capable (Dingel–Neiman):** no — task structure, not who actually works remote.
- **Projected employment (BLS 2024–34):** 3.8% growth (About average); 28.1k annual openings; 342.2k → 355.2k jobs.
- **Pay & employment (BLS OEWS, May 2024):** median $48,660; 224,180 employed.

## Sources

- **O*NET** (30.3) — U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)** (May 2024) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS Employment Projections** (2024–2034) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **Anthropic Economic Index** (v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27)) — Anthropic. https://www.anthropic.com/economic-index
- **Microsoft “Working with AI”** (working-with-ai) — Microsoft Research. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/
- **“GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.)** (arXiv 2303.10130) — OpenAI / academic. https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130
- **AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE)** (Felten, Raj & Seamans) — academic. https://github.com/AIOE-Data/AIOE
- **Frey & Osborne (2013)** (frey-osborne-automation) — academic. https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/publications/the-future-of-employment/
- **Dingel & Neiman (2020)** (dingel-neiman-workathome) — academic. https://github.com/jdingel/DingelNeiman-workathome

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_Generated from Singulariki's joined dataset; data snapshot 2026-06-02T21:00:32.945303+00:00. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-47-2141-00_