Prepare surfaces for finishing
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 | 12 occupations |
| Tool categories that apply | None |
| O*NET activity | Performing General Physical Activities (4.A.3.a.1) |
What this looks like on the job
Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 12 occupations that perform it.
- Inspect the surface to be covered to determine its condition, and correct any imperfections that might show through carpet or cause carpet to wear unevenly.
- Sweep, scrape, sand, or chip dirt and irregularities to clean base surfaces, correcting imperfections that may show through the covering.
- Wet surface to prepare for bonding, fill holes and cracks with grout or slurry, and smooth, using trowel.
- Wet surface to prepare for bonding, fill holes and cracks with grout or slurry, and smooth with a trowel.
- Apply texturizing compounds or primers to walls or ceilings before final finishing, using trowels, brushes, rollers, or spray guns.
- Prepare surfaces for insulation application by brushing or spreading on adhesives, cement, or asphalt, or by attaching metal pins to surfaces.
- Apply primers or sealers to prepare new surfaces, such as bare wood or metal, for finish coats.
- Apply sizing to seal surfaces and maximize adhesion of coverings to surfaces.
- Clean and prepare surfaces for applications of plaster, cement, stucco, or similar materials, such as by drywall taping.
- Remove damaged tile, brick, or mortar, and clean or prepare surfaces, using pliers, hammers, chisels, drills, wire brushes, or metal wire anchors.
- Remove grease, dirt, paint, or rust from surfaces in preparation for paint application, using abrasives, solvents, brushes, blowtorches, washing tanks, or sandblasters.
- Form a smooth foundation by stapling plywood or Masonite over the floor or by brushing waterproof compound onto surface and filling cracks with plaster, putty, or grout to seal pores.
- Wash and treat surfaces with oil, turpentine, mildew remover, or other preparations, and sand rough spots to ensure that finishes will adhere properly.
- Rough the undercoat surface with a scratcher so the finish coat will adhere.
- Sand and apply sealer to properly dried finish.
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
12 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
- Carpet Installers
- Cement Masons and Concrete Finishers
- Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Floor Layers, Except Carpet, Wood, and Hard Tiles
- Helpers--Brickmasons, Blockmasons, Stonemasons, and Tile and Marble Setters
- Insulation Workers, Floor, Ceiling, and Wall
- Insulation Workers, Mechanical
- Painters, Construction and Maintenance
- Paperhangers
- Plasterers and Stucco Masons
- Tapers
- Terrazzo Workers and Finishers
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Perform general construction or extraction activities”. 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.