Will stonemasons be replaced by AI?
Updated
Stonemasons score 10 of 100 for AI exposure. 93% of their task time still needs a person. AI speeds up the other 7%.
- 7% AI helps
- 93% Needs a person
Low exposure
Lower than 97% of the 923 occupations we scored.
Task by task
We graded 16 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 15 to people.
| Task | AI exposure |
|---|---|
| Lay out wall patterns or foundations, using straight edge, rule, or staked lines. AI helps read plans and compute offsets; staking stays manual. | 20% AI helps |
| Shape, trim, face and cut marble or stone preparatory to setting, using power saws, cutting equipment, and hand tools. Power cutting and shaping stone is physical, skilled work. | 14% Needs a person |
| Construct and install prefabricated masonry units. Installing prefab units is mostly handling and fitting on site. | 13% Needs a person |
| Smooth, polish, and bevel surfaces, using hand tools and power tools. Hand and power polishing of stone is physical, skilled finishing. | 12% Needs a person |
| Repair cracked or chipped areas of stone or marble, using blowtorch and mastic, and remove rough or defective spots from concrete, using power grinder or chisel and hammer. Torch and chisel repair of stone is manual skilled work. | 11% Needs a person |
| Mix mortar or grout and pour or spread mortar or grout on marble slabs, stone, or foundation. Mixing and spreading mortar is physical, repetitive site work. | 10% Needs a person |
| Position mold along guidelines of wall, press mold in place, and remove mold and paper from wall. Pressing molds onto walls is manual site work. | 9% Needs a person |
| Clean excess mortar or grout from surface of marble, stone, or monument, using sponge, brush, water, or acid. Manual surface cleaning with brush, sponge, water and acid. | 8% Needs a person |
| Lay brick to build shells of chimneys and smokestacks or to line or reline industrial furnaces, kilns, boilers and similar installations. Laying firebrick in chimneys and furnaces is skilled physical work. | 8% Needs a person |
| Drill holes in marble or ornamental stone and anchor brackets in holes. Drilling stone and setting anchors is physical site work. | 8% Needs a person |
Show the other 6 tasks
| Task | AI exposure |
|---|---|
| Replace broken or missing masonry units in walls or floors. Swapping broken units in place requires physical access and skill. | 7% Needs a person |
| Set vertical and horizontal alignment of structures, using plumb bob, gauge line, and level. Hands-on plumbing and leveling of built structures on site. | 6% Needs a person |
| Remove wedges, fill joints between stones, finish joints between stones, using a trowel, and smooth the mortar to an attractive finish, using a tuck pointer. Trowel jointing and tuck pointing are manual finishing skills. | 6% Needs a person |
| Set stone or marble in place, according to layout or pattern. Heavy stone placement needs physical handling on site. | 5% Needs a person |
| Remove sections of monument from truck bed, and guide stone onto foundation, using skids, hoist, or truck crane. Crane and hoist moves of heavy monuments need trained crews. | 4% Needs a person |
| Dig trench for foundation of monument, using pick and shovel. Pick and shovel trenching is outdoor manual labor. | 4% Needs a person |
How stonemasons compare
All occupations (923)
Construction and extraction (61)
Pay and outlook in the US
- Median pay
- $57,390 a year, May 2025
- People employed
- 7,820 in the US, May 2025
- Projected change in jobs
- -5.4% from 2024 to 2034
Skills to build
- Estimate masonry jobs in CPR Visual Estimator
- Stake foundation lines with straight edge, rule and level
- Repair chipped stone with blowtorch and mastic
- Set heavy stone to layout with plumb bob and gauge line
- Track job costs and invoices in Intuit QuickBooks
- Read structural drawings in RISA-3D for wall and foundation loads
Safer roles nearby
5 related occupations with lower scores.
Questions about stonemasons and AI
Will AI replace stonemasons?
Partly. About 1 in 10 working hours go to tasks AI can already do, mostly reading plans and laying out wall patterns and foundations. Staking lines, setting stone, and handling heavy monuments stay with stonemasons because they need hands and judgment on a live site.
Which stonemason tasks is AI taking over?
Layout work is the main one, with an exposure score of 20, the highest in the job. AI can read drawings and compute offsets for wall patterns and foundations, which cuts the time spent on paper before a mason reaches the site. The stonemason still stakes the lines manually.
Which stonemason tasks stay human?
Setting stone, digging monument trenches, and crane moves stay human, with exposure scores of 4 to 6. Setting stone needs physical handling on site, and trench digging with pick and shovel is outdoor manual labor. Replacing broken units in walls also needs physical access and skill.
How can stonemasons stay valuable?
Pair hand skills with the software clients and estimators already use. Estimate jobs in CPR Visual Estimator, keep job costs in Microsoft Excel, and read structural drawings in RISA-3D so layout and load questions get answered before the crew arrives. Keep chisel, torch and trowel work sharp, since that stays human.
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