Career Explorer Construction and trades
Human edge, steady
Sheet metal workers
Fabricate, assemble, install, and repair sheet metal products and equipment, such as ducts, control boxes, drainpipes, and furnace casings. Work may involve any of the following: setting up and operating fabricating machines to cut, bend, and straighten sheet metal; shaping metal over anvils, blocks, or forms using hammer; operating soldering and welding equipment to join sheet metal parts; or inspecting, assembling, and smoothing seams and joints of burred surfaces. Includes sheet metal duct installers who install prefabricated sheet metal ducts used for heating, air conditioning, or other purposes.
More resilient than most: more resilient than 79% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is very low (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it low), and US jobs are projected to change by +2.5% by 2035, slower than average. The work leans on physical dexterity and emotional intelligence.
AI struggles with much of this work. Hiring is expected to grow slower than average, or to shrink.
- Median pay (2025)
- $61,800
- Job growth to 2035
- +2.5%
- Openings a year
- 9,800
- People doing it (2025)
- 131,000
- Usual route in
- High school diploma, then an apprenticeship
Where people already use AI for this work
- Select materials or equipment for operations or projects
- Read documents or materials to inform work processes
- Measure physical characteristics of materials, products, or equipment
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Fabricate devices or components
- Position materials or components for assembly
- Join parts using soldering, welding, or brazing techniques
What the work looks like
- Inspect individual parts, assemblies, or installations, using measuring instruments, such as calipers, scales, or micrometers.
- Maintain equipment, making repairs or modifications when necessary.
- Fabricate ducts for high efficiency heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems to maximize efficiency of systems.
- Fasten seams or joints together with welds, bolts, cement, rivets, solder, caulks, metal drive clips, or bonds to assemble components into products or to repair sheet metal items.
- Transport prefabricated parts to construction sites for assembly and installation.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects
- Fewer of these jobs, as the use of prefabricated duct systems will reduce the need for sheet metal workers on residential construction sites.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Miscellaneous construction and related workersHuman edge, growing, Index 80, +3.9%
- Helpers--electriciansHuman edge, steady, Index 81, +0.6%
- BarbersHuman edge, steady, Index 80, +3.3%
- Massage therapistsHuman edge, growing, Index 98, +15.3%
Also known as: HVAC Sheet Metal Installer (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning Sheet Metal Installer), Sheet Metal Fabricator, Sheet Metal Mechanic, Sheet Metal Worker, Commercial Sheet Metal Service Installer, Field Installer, HVAC Sheet Metal Specialist (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning Sheet Metal Specialist), Sheet Metal Installer.
Is this career on your child's list?
Build a free Career Playbook matched to your child, or get a 90-day Action Plan with dated next steps, written for your child by name.
Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.