Will plasterers be replaced by AI?
Updated
Plasterers score 14 of 100 for AI exposure. 92% of their task time still needs a person. AI speeds up the other 8%.
- 8% AI helps
- 92% Needs a person
Low exposure
Lower than 91% of the 923 occupations we scored.
Task by task
We graded 15 tasks, listed here from most to least exposed. AI can't do any of them end to end yet. It speeds up 1 and leaves 14 to people.
| Task | AI exposure |
|---|---|
| Determine materials needed to complete the job and place orders accordingly. AI can estimate quantities from plans and draft orders. | 58% AI helps |
| Mix mortar and plaster to desired consistency or direct workers who perform mixing. Hands-on mixing; AI only helps with ratio lookups. | 12% Needs a person |
| Mold or install ornamental plaster pieces, panels, or trim. Hands-on molding and fitting; AI can aid pattern design only. | 12% Needs a person |
| Clean job sites. Physical cleanup of debris and tools on site. | 10% Needs a person |
| Cover surfaces such as windows, doors, or sidewalks to protect from splashing. Physical covering of windows and doors on site. | 8% Needs a person |
| Cure freshly plastered surfaces. Physical misting and monitoring of curing plaster. | 8% Needs a person |
| Clean and prepare surfaces for applications of plaster, cement, stucco, or similar materials, such as by drywall taping. Physical surface prep, including taping, on job site. | 6% Needs a person |
| Apply coats of plaster or stucco to walls, ceilings, or partitions of buildings, using trowels, brushes, or spray guns. Physical trowel and spray application on walls and ceilings. | 5% Needs a person |
| Create decorative textures in finish coat, using brushes or trowels, sand, pebbles, or stones. Hand-finished textures with trowels, brushes, and aggregates. | 5% Needs a person |
| Spray acoustic materials or texture finish over walls or ceilings. Physical spraying of acoustic or texture finishes overhead. | 5% Needs a person |
Show the other 5 tasks
| Task | AI exposure |
|---|---|
| Apply weatherproof, decorative coverings to exterior surfaces of buildings, such as by troweling or spraying on coats of stucco. Physical troweling or spraying of exterior stucco coats. | 4% Needs a person |
| Apply insulation to building exteriors by installing prefabricated insulation systems over existing walls or by covering the outer wall with insulation board, reinforcing mesh, and a base coat. Physical installation of insulation boards and mesh on exteriors. | 4% Needs a person |
| Install guide wires on exterior surfaces of buildings to indicate thickness of plaster or stucco and nail wire mesh, lath, or similar materials to the outside surface to hold stucco in place. Physical installation of guide wires and lath on exteriors. | 4% Needs a person |
| Set up scaffolds. Physical scaffold assembly requires on-site hands-on work. | 3% Needs a person |
| Rough the undercoat surface with a scratcher so the finish coat will adhere. Restructured the sentence and replaced 'manually' with 'with hands'. | 3% Needs a person |
How plasterers compare
All occupations (923)
Construction and extraction (61)
Pay and outlook in the US
- Median pay
- $57,660 a year, May 2025
- People employed
- 19,310 in the US, May 2025
- Projected change in jobs
- +2.8% from 2024 to 2034
Skills to build
- Run material takeoffs in Construction Software Center EasyEst
- Check AI drafted purchase orders in Microsoft Excel
- Track job costs and labor hours in A-Systems JobView
- Price bids in cost estimating software before ordering
- Mold and fit ornamental plaster trim manually
- Apply scratch and brown coats with trowel and spray gun
Safer roles nearby
5 related occupations with lower scores.
Questions about plasterers and AI
Will AI replace plasterers?
Partly. About 1 in 10 working hours go to tasks AI can already do, mostly quantity takeoffs from plans and drafting material orders. Mixing, troweling, lathing, and curing stay with people because they need hands on the wall and on site.
Which tasks is AI taking over?
Materials takeoff is the main one, with an exposure score of 58, the highest in this job. AI can estimate quantities of plaster, cement, and stucco from plans and draft the purchase orders. Plasterers still check those counts against the site before ordering.
Which plastering tasks stay human?
Applying coats to walls and ceilings stays with people, with an exposure score of 5. Trowel and spray work changes with each surface, the weather, and the crew, so it needs a person on site. Scratching undercoats, at an exposure score of 3, is also done manually.
How can plasterers stay valuable?
Learn to run takeoffs and bids in EasyEst and cost estimating software, since that is where AI saves the most time. Check AI drafted orders in Excel against the plans. Keep hands-on skills in mixing and ornamental trim molding, which score 12 on exposure, and log labor in JobView.
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