The Task Exposure Indexv2026.Q3
Occupation · SOC 47-3016.00 · Job Zone 2

AI exposure: Helpers--Roofers

Help roofers by performing duties requiring less skill. Duties include using, supplying, or holding materials or tools, and cleaning work area and equipment.

Reading this score

computed

Helpers--Roofers is among the least exposed occupations measured, at 1.3% of weighted task load, rank 909 of 923. 96.8% of this job is work current AI systems cannot produce at all. That is not a statement about skill or value. It is a statement about what these systems can and cannot do.

What holds the line here is embodiment. Across this occupation's 18 tasks it averages 3.00 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, the work has to happen in physical space. A language model cannot move matter. Until the robotics to do this work is both good enough and cheap enough to deploy widely, capability in software does not reach it.

The most exposed thing this job does is Locate worn or torn areas in roofs, at 11.7%. The least is Place tiles, nail them to roof boards, and cover nailheads with roofing cement, at 0.0%. A gap of 11.7% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.

Within construction and extraction occupations, this one is less exposed than the median of 5.1% across the group's 61 roles, with 52 scoring higher. Being in an exposed family does not make a particular job exposed, and the reverse holds too.

What would move this score. Of 18 tasks, 0 are currently banded exposed, 0 assisted and 18 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take robotics cheap and reliable enough to deploy at scale, not a better language model. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.

Where the score comes from

judged

Every task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.

DimensionMeanScale
Capability0.110-4
Embodiment3.000-3
Presence0.220-3
Accountability0.560-3
Context0.920-3
Verification cost1.030-3

Task by task

18 tasks, O*NET 31.0
TaskExposedAssistedUntouchedImportanceBand
Locate worn or torn areas in roofs.11.7%13.3%75.0%4.22untouched
Check to ensure that completed roofs are watertight.8.3%16.7%75.0%4.51untouched
Set ladders, scaffolds, and hoists in place for taking supplies to roofs.0.0%0.0%100.0%4.37untouched
Clean work areas and equipment.0.0%0.0%100.0%4.34untouched
Maintain tools and equipment.0.0%0.0%100.0%4.28untouched
Provide assistance to skilled roofers installing and repairing roofs, flashings, and surfaces.0.0%0.0%100.0%4.24untouched
Sweep and clean roofs to prepare them for the application of new roofing materials.0.0%0.0%100.0%4.14untouched
Remove old roofing materials.0.0%0.0%100.0%4.12untouched
Perform emergency leak repairs and general maintenance for a variety of roof types.0.0%0.0%100.0%4.08untouched
Unload materials and tools from work trucks, and unroll roofing as directed.0.0%0.0%100.0%3.98untouched
Hoist tar and roofing materials to roofs, using ropes and pulleys, or carry materials up ladders.0.0%0.0%100.0%3.91untouched
Clear drains and downspouts and clean gutters.0.0%0.0%100.0%3.89untouched
Cover roofs with layers of roofing felt or asphalt strips before installing tile, slate, or composition materials.0.0%0.0%100.0%3.84untouched
Attach sheets of metal to roof boards or building frameworks when installing metal roofs.0.0%0.0%100.0%3.71untouched
Apply shingles, gravel, or asphalt over the top layer of tar to protect the roofing material.0.0%0.0%100.0%3.62untouched
Chop tar into small pieces, and heat chopped tar in kettles.0.0%0.0%100.0%3.36untouched
Attach roofing paper and composition shingles, using nails.0.0%0.0%100.0%3.24untouched
Place tiles, nail them to roof boards, and cover nailheads with roofing cement.0.0%0.0%100.0%3.53untouched

Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.

Occupations either side of this one

The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.

Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.

What this means in practice

Most of this work is not reachable by current systems, so the immediate pressure is on the administrative edges of the role rather than its core: the scheduling, the reporting, the written records. That is where time is recovered.