Maintain plumbing structures or fixtures
Little of this can be handed to software today.
This happens in the physical world, so software agents do not touch it. Automation here means robotics and machinery, which is a different market from the one mapped on this site, on a much slower clock.
| How automatable | Barely automatable |
|---|---|
| Kind of work | Physical, manual and inspection work |
| Jobs that do it | 6 occupations |
| Tool categories that apply | None |
| O*NET activity | Repairing and Maintaining Mechanical Equipment (4.A.3.b.4) |
What this looks like on the job
Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 6 occupations that perform it.
- Install or repair sanitary or stormwater sewer structures or pipe systems.
- Modify, clean, or maintain pipe systems, units, fittings, or related machines or equipment, using hand or power tools.
- Perform rough-ins, repair and replace fixtures and water heaters, and locate, repair, or remove leaking or broken pipes.
- Inspect, clean, and repair drainage systems, bridges, tunnels, and other structures.
- Clean and repair septic tanks, sewer lines, or related structures such as manholes, culverts, and catch basins.
- Empty aircraft lavatory systems or refill them with sanitizer fluid.
- Shut off steam, water, or other gases or liquids from pipe sections, using valve keys or wrenches.
- Clean and renew steam traps.
- Cut damaged sections of pipe with cutters, remove broken sections from ditches, and replace pipe sections, using pipe sleeves.
- Maintain or repair plumbing by replacing defective washers, replacing or mending broken pipes, or opening clogged drains.
What we would actually use
Nothing in our landscape addresses this work. That is the honest answer rather than a padded list: this activity needs a person present, or a machine rather than a software agent.
Nothing on this site applies. Automation here is robotics and machinery, a different market on a much slower clock, and no software subscription moves it.
Chosen for the cheapest thing that does the job, not the best funded. Nothing on this site is sponsored, and the full landscape is there when you want to disagree with us.
How people actually do it
No workflow names this activity yet, but these automate the same kind of work, with the prompts to paste and what to keep for yourself.
Who does this work
6 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Maintain facilities or equipment”. In practice they tend to be done by the same person, in the same sitting.
Method. The activity, its taxonomy placement and the occupations that perform it come straight from the public-domain O*NET 30.3 database. The automatability band is ours: we map each of O*NET’s 41 generalized work activities to how much of its output current software can produce, assuming a person still reviews and owns the result. It is a coarse three-way judgment on purpose. A precise-looking percentage here would be invented.