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Managers · code 1323

Construction managers

AI can build the programme and the bid. Keeping the job on time and budget is still a manager's fight.

All eleven tasks are mostly out of AI's reach, from preparing tenders and running the site programme to negotiating with owners, developers and subcontractors.

What they actually do (and what else they get called)

Construction managers plan, direct and coordinate the construction of civil engineering projects, buildings and dwellings, either as the manager of a department or as the general manager of an enterprise or organization that does not have a hierarchy of managers. Tasks include - (a) interpreting architectural drawings and specifications; (b) coordinating labour resources and procurement and delivery of materials, plant and equipment; (c) negotiating with building owners, property developers and subcontractors involved in the construction process to ensure projects are completed on time and within budget; (d) preparing tenders and contract bids; (e) operating and implementing coordinated work programmes for sites; (f) ensuring adherence to building legislation and standards of performance, quality, cost and safety; (g) arranging submission of plans to local authorities; (h) building under contract, or subcontracting specialized building services; (i) arranging building inspections by relevant authorities; (j) establishing and managing budgets, controlling expenditure and ensuring the efficient use of resources; (k) overseeing the selection, training and performance of staff and subcontractors. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Civil engineering project manager - Construction project manager - Project builder Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Building construction supervisor - 3123 - House builder - 7111

  • construction manager

Job titles from the EU's ESCO list. Search for any of them on the jobs page and you'll end up here.

66 / 100

Mostly holds up against AI

AI can take a few chores off your plate, but most of the day is still yours.

Not the odds you keep your job. It's how much of the everyday work still needs a person, out of 100.

← Robot's turf Human's turf →

The ILO's official verdict: Minimal Exposure

265 of 427 for holding up against AI

Why this score?

The ILO rated each of this job's 11 tasks for how much of it AI could do. They average 33.8 out of 100, so it holds up at 100 − 33.8 = 66.2.

That's the whole sum. No black box, no secret sauce: you can check it against the ILO's study. ILO group “Minimal Exposure”: A few tasks are affected, but the heart of the job isn't.

This job rates 53.1 out of 100 for how hands-on it is. The score above only looks at AI tools, not robots, and for work like this robots are the bigger question.

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.8-observed-use

Man v Bot · compare

Who holds up better?

Construction managers 66

v

Go on, try your partner's job. Or your sibling's. We won't tell.

Man v Bot

Where the bot helps, and where the human wins

Bot

What AI takes

The routine stuff. You may not miss it.

  • Tenders and bids.
  • Programmes and budgets.
  • Procurement and planning paperwork.

Man

What people still do better

Judgement, trust and skilled hands. Hard to download.

  • Negotiating with clients and subcontractors.
  • Leading teams on site.
  • Taking responsibility for safety and quality.

Both

What's arriving

New work that only exists because the AI does.

  • Digital twins and site data.
  • Modular and offsite construction.
  • Building safety regulation.

Written by a human, from the ILO's task ratings below. Yes, we see the irony. Read it as one person's take.

Meet your two rivals

They're not the same machine. AI software can only reach the parts of a job done on a screen or in words. A chatbot can't climb a ladder. A robot might, one day, if it doesn't fall off.

The AI

Lives in a screen. Never had to fix a boiler.

Threat level: Low

33 could do without you

It could take over very little of the work on its own. It could help with 70 of 100.

The robot

The wildcard. Has hands, still working out stairs.

How much it matters here: Some

53 how hands-on

A fair part of this job is hands-on, so robots would be needed for that part, not just software.

So could a robot do the physical part?

Less fine handwork and fewer cramped spaces than a typical hands-on job. That clears one hurdle for machines. It doesn't mean machines are doing this work yet.

Robots hate fiddly work in awkward spaces. On that measure, this job scores 24 out of 100. The higher it is, the longer the robot waits.

53 How
hands-on
24 How fiddly
and cramped

Kind of hands-on work Hands-on, less fiddly work

The small print

They aren't a robot score, and nothing on this page is. Nobody measures how far robots have got well enough to put a number on it. These are the closest thing we have: how hands-on the job is, and how much fiddly, cramped work it takes, which is what Frey and Osborne found hardest for machines.

From O*NET, matched to one US job .

finger skill 21.4 · hand skill 17.9 · cramped spaces 32.5 · averaged · rule: hands-on 50+ · fiddly under 39.4

estimated O*NET 31.0 BLS occupational crosswalk chain ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC (Aug 2012, rev. Jun 2015); 2010 to 2018 SOC (Nov 2017); O*NET-SOC 2019 taxonomy data 0.8-observed-use measures chosen by Frey & Osborne (2017) · the grouping is a sorting, not a measurement

The job, task by task

Every job is really a bundle of tasks. Here's this one unpacked, with how much of each AI could do, out of 100. The score is the average, and averages can hide a lot.

AI's favourite task here scores 46, against an average of 34. The bigger the gap, the more lopsided the job: some of it wide open to AI, some of it barely touched.

  1. 46

    Preparing tenders and contract bids

    Low
  2. 39

    Operating and implementing coordinated work programmes for sites

    Low
  3. 39

    Establishing and managing budgets, controlling expenditure and ensuring the efficient use of resources

    Low
  4. 37

    Interpreting architectural drawings and specifications

    Low
  5. 36

    Coordinating labour resources and procurement and delivery of materials, plant and equipment

    Low
  6. 34

    Arranging submission of plans to local authorities

    Low
  7. 32

    Arranging building inspections by relevant authorities

    Low
  8. 29

    Ensuring adherence to building legislation and standards of performance, quality, cost and safety

    Low
  9. 28

    Overseeing the selection, training and performance of staff and subcontractors

    Low
  10. 28

    Negotiating with building owners, property developers and subcontractors involved in the construction process to ensure projects are completed on time and within budget

    Low
  11. 26

    Building under contract, or subcontracting specialized building services

    Low

11 tasks · the High to Very Low labels are the ILO's

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.8-observed-use

Sidekick or replacement?

A tool that makes you faster is a very different thing from one that does the task while you watch. Jobs and Skills Australia measured the two separately, which is handy.

AI helps you
70
AI does it for you
33

Sidekick wins, by 37 points.

How good a match is this?

One Australian job matches, but only partly: not everyone in it does this job. Treat the numbers as a rough guide.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.8-observed-use matched to Australian jobs 1331

Meanwhile, in real life…

Everything else here is about what AI could do. This is what people actually did. When they asked Claude for help with this kind of work, did they hand the whole task over, or roll their sleeves up and work through it together?

Tiny sample alert This job makes up 0.01% of all the conversations: a tiny slice, mostly the paperwork rather than the work. People using AI for a job isn't the same as AI being able to do it.

Out of every 100 conversations

50
50

worked through it together handed it over

The small print

Anthropic publishes this about its own product, and it doesn't feed into any score here. These are people who use Claude, not workers in general, so little use here doesn't mean AI can't reach the job.

These two add up to 100. The bars elsewhere on the page don't, because each is scored on its own, so we don't put them side by side.

observed use Anthropic Economic Index release 2026-06-26, period beginning 2026-05-01 data 0.8-observed-use 2026-05-01 · Anthropic, about its own product

So, should construction managers be worried?

Short answer: not much. Some of the chores will change, and good riddance.

Parts of the job are changing. Tenders, programmes, budgets, drawings, procurement, planning submissions, inspections, compliance, staffing and negotiation are all Low. AI will speed up bids and planning; running sites and relationships stays human.

Worth remembering: we score tasks, not jobs. When AI takes on a task, the job usually reshuffles around it rather than vanishing.

Where this job could lead

None of the new jobs we've written up start from here yet. Could be you're the first. See the jobs AI is creating →

How are the neighbours doing?

There are 30 jobs in the “Managers” family, averaging 64. This one is above the family average.

Pit this against any other job →