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Service and sales workers · code 5153

Building caretakers

AI can handle the tenant forms. Fixing the boiler on a Sunday is still the caretaker.

Filling in tenant registration forms is the one task AI could take a fair chunk of. Security patrols, cleaning and simple repairs it barely touches.

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

Building caretakers take care of apartment houses, hotels, offices, churches and other buildings and maintain them and associated grounds in a clean and orderly condition. They may supervise other workers and contractors depending on the size and nature of the building concerned. Tasks include - (a) supervising the work of cleaning, housekeeping and building maintenance staff and contractors; (b) participating in cleaning, simple repairs and maintenance of building interiors; (c) tending furnaces and boilers to ensure provision of heat and hot water; (d) regulating conduct of tenants and visitors in such matters as noise abatement or misuse of property; (e) providing small services to absent tenants such as accepting deliveries on their behalf or providing requested information to callers; (f) notifying management and owners of buildings of the need for major repairs; (g) patrolling buildings to ensure security is maintained; (h) filling out registration forms and providing tenants with copies of rules. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Caretaker - Concierge (building) - Janitor - Sexton

  • building caretaker

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

73 / 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

210 of 427 for holding up against AI

Why this score?

The ILO rated each of this job's 8 tasks for how much of it AI could do. They average 26.6 out of 100, so it holds up at 100 − 26.6 = 73.4.

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.

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

Pinch of salt: this number is probably too rosy

It only asks what AI software could do, and this job is 53 out of 100 hands-on. A chatbot can't do that part. A robot might, one day, and nobody measures how close that is.

Man v Bot · compare

Who holds up better?

Building caretakers 73

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.

  • Tenant registration and forms.
  • Deliveries and messages by app.
  • Repair reports.

Man

What people still do better

Judgement, trust and skilled hands. Hard to download.

  • Small repairs and maintenance.
  • Security patrols.
  • Dealing with tenants and problems.

Both

What's arriving

New work that only exists because the AI does.

  • Smart building systems.
  • Parcel lockers and access apps.
  • Energy efficiency monitoring.

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: Medium

43 could do without you

It could take over some of the work, and help with more. It could help with 60 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 32 out of 100. The higher it is, the longer the robot waits.

53 How
hands-on
32 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 35.7 · hand skill 34 · cramped spaces 25.5 · 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 58, against an average of 27. The bigger the gap, the more lopsided the job: some of it wide open to AI, some of it barely touched.

  1. 57

    Filling out registration forms and providing tenants with copies of rules.

    Medium
  2. 41

    Providing small services to absent tenants such as accepting deliveries on their behalf or providing requested information to callers

    Low
  3. 29

    Notifying management and owners of buildings of the need for major repairs

    Low
  4. 22

    Supervising the work of cleaning, housekeeping and building maintenance staff and contractors

    Very Low
  5. 20

    Tending furnaces and boilers to ensure provision of heat and hot water

    Very Low
  6. 20

    Regulating conduct of tenants and visitors in such matters as noise abatement or misuse of property

    Very Low
  7. 16

    Patrolling buildings to ensure security is maintained

    Very Low
  8. 9

    Participating in cleaning, simple repairs and maintenance of building interiors

    Very Low

8 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
60
AI does it for you
43

Sidekick wins, by 17 points.

How good a match is this?

One Australian job matches this one closely, so this is about as reliable as it gets here.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.8-observed-use matched to Australian jobs 8991

So, should building caretakers be worried?

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

The admin is moving. Registration forms are rated Medium, and deliveries and reporting repairs are Low; supervising, maintenance and patrols rate Very Low. Building apps take on the paperwork; the building still needs someone on site.

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 39 jobs in the “Service and sales workers” family, averaging 74. This one is below the family average.

Pit this against any other job →