AI exposure: Home Appliance Repairers
Repair, adjust, or install all types of electric or gas household appliances, such as refrigerators, washers, dryers, and ovens.
Reading this score
computedAt 17.0% of weighted task load, Home Appliance Repairers sits at the 28th percentile, below the point where a job's centre of gravity has moved. 72.6% of what this role does is untouched, meaning current systems cannot produce that work at all, whatever the commercial incentive.
What holds the line here is embodiment. Across this occupation's 29 tasks it averages 2.50 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 Record maintenance and repair work performed on appliances, at 73.3%. The least is Assemble new or reconditioned appliances, at 0.0%. A gap of 73.3% 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 installation, maintenance and repair occupations, this one is more exposed than most. The median across the 50 roles in the group is 12.8%, and only 14 of them score higher than this. Occupational families are not uniform, and the spread inside them is often wider than the gap between them.
What would move this score. Of 29 tasks, 9 are currently banded exposed, 0 assisted and 20 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
judgedEvery 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.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 0.96 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 2.50 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.67 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 0.89 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.19 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 1.24 | 0-3 |
Task by task
29 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record maintenance and repair work performed on appliances. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 4.23 | exposed |
| Refer to schematic drawings, product manuals, and troubleshooting guides to diagnose and repair problems. | 55.0% | 20.0% | 25.0% | 4.40 | exposed |
| Bill customers for repair work, and collect payment. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 4.49 | exposed |
| Talk to customers or refer to work orders to establish the nature of appliance malfunctions. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.42 | exposed |
| Provide repair cost estimates, and recommend whether appliance repair or replacement is a better choice. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.33 | exposed |
| Instruct customers regarding operation and care of appliances, and provide information such as emergency service numbers. | 30.0% | 20.0% | 50.0% | 4.10 | exposed |
| Maintain stocks of parts used in on-site installation, maintenance, and repair of appliances. | 30.0% | 20.0% | 50.0% | 4.05 | exposed |
| Observe and examine appliances during operation to detect specific malfunctions such as loose parts or leaking fluid. | 26.7% | 23.3% | 50.0% | 4.45 | exposed |
| Contact supervisors or offices to receive repair assignments. | 26.7% | 23.3% | 50.0% | 4.05 | exposed |
| Observe and test operation of appliances following installation, and make any initial installation adjustments that are necessary. | 21.2% | 16.2% | 62.5% | 4.01 | untouched |
| Set appliance thermostats, and check to ensure that they are functioning properly. | 12.5% | 12.5% | 75.0% | 3.84 | untouched |
| Trace electrical circuits, following diagrams, and conduct tests with circuit testers and other equipment to locate shorts and grounds. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 4.39 | untouched |
| Reassemble units after repairs are made, making adjustments and cleaning and lubricating parts as needed. | 5.0% | 3.3% | 91.7% | 4.24 | untouched |
| Replace worn and defective parts such as switches, bearings, transmissions, belts, gears, circuit boards, or defective wiring. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.38 | untouched |
| Disassemble appliances so that problems can be diagnosed and repairs can be made. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.30 | untouched |
| Respond to emergency calls for problems such as gas leaks. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.28 | untouched |
| Service and repair domestic electrical or gas appliances, such as clothes washers, refrigerators, stoves, and dryers. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.28 | untouched |
| Test and examine gas pipelines and equipment to locate leaks and faulty connections, and to determine the pressure and flow of gas. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.21 | untouched |
| Light and adjust pilot lights on gas stoves, and examine valves and burners for gas leakage and specified flame. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.12 | untouched |
| Level refrigerators, adjust doors, and connect water lines to water pipes for ice makers and water dispensers, using hand tools. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.04 | untouched |
| Install appliances such as refrigerators, washing machines, and stoves. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.82 | untouched |
| Level washing machines and connect hoses to water pipes, using hand tools. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.79 | untouched |
| Clean and reinstall parts. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.62 | untouched |
| Clean, lubricate, and touch up minor defects on newly installed or repaired appliances. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.58 | untouched |
| Conserve, recover, and recycle refrigerants used in cooling systems. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.37 | untouched |
| Install gas pipes and water lines to connect appliances to existing gas lines or plumbing. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.00 | untouched |
| Take measurements to determine if appliances will fit in installation locations, performing minor carpentry work when necessary to ensure proper installation. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.63 | untouched |
| Measure, cut, and thread pipe, and connect it to feeder lines and equipment or appliances, using rules and hand tools. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.37 | untouched |
| Assemble new or reconditioned appliances. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.22 | untouched |
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.