Cost Estimators
Business and Financial Operations Occupations- O*NET-SOC code
- 13-1051.00
Prepare cost estimates for product manufacturing, construction projects, or services to aid management in bidding on or determining price of product or service. May specialize according to particular service performed or type of product manufactured.
- Data source: BLSPublished: 2026-08
High· relative
LowFour relative bandsVery highGroup-level value
Scale, basis and source
Four relative bands (Low / Moderate / High / Very high)
831 detailed occupations in the BLS Employment Projections table. Assigned per National Employment Matrix (NEM) code, so occupations sharing a NEM code carry the same band
- Data source: AnthropicPublished: 2026-03
0.000
0.000Range of values carried here0.745Scale, basis and source
Observed exposure index, 0–1 as published
Mapped onto O*NET tasks
Published per SOC 2018 occupation; every O*NET occupation with the same SOC 2018 code carries this value
- Data source: ILOPublished: 2025
0.44
0.09Range of values carried here0.70Group-level value
Scale, basis and source
Generative AI exposure index, 0–1 as published
Published per ISCO-08 unit group. Linked to this occupation, wholly or in part, by applying U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics crosswalks (ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC, 2010 SOC to 2018 SOC) as published
What kind of figure this source publishes
The BLS category is a relative rank, not an absolute level, and it is not a first-hand measurement: it groups an occupation's percentile ranks across several published studies into four bands. It is not an employment or wage forecast, not a probability of adoption, and it does not separate automation from augmentation.
Task-level exposure
Exposed tasks only14 rated tasks · 14 tasks with β ≥ 0.5 (100.0%)
β = direct exposure (E1) + 0.5 × exposure when tools are available (E2), per the source repository's definition.
- Source unit: O*NET 27.2 tasks → O*NET 31.0 occupation code
- All rated tasks are in the O*NET 31.0 task list.
- Source
- OpenAI "GPTs are GPTs" exposure rubric
- Release
- gh-main-0471612
- License
- MIT License, Copyright (c) 2024 OpenAI
| Task (O*NET 20.1) | Claude.aiRaw / share % | APIRaw / share % |
|---|---|---|
Consult with clients, vendors, personnel in other departments or construction foremen to discuss and formulate estimates and resolve issues.13-1051.00 | 0.010651.2 | —0 |
Assess cost effectiveness of products, projects or services, tracking actual costs relative to bids as the project develops.13-1051.00 | 0.004119.8 | 0.001626.7 |
Prepare and maintain a directory of suppliers, contractors and subcontractors.13-1051.00 | 0.003315.9 | 0.004473.3 |
Prepare estimates used by management for purposes such as planning, organizing, and scheduling work.13-1051.00 | 0.002713.0 | —0 |
| Not observed on any surface — 9 task(s) — These tasks have no row in the source for this release. The 0 in the share row is a display-stage composition ratio; absence is what the — in the raw row states. | ||
Analyze blueprints and other documentation to prepare time, cost, materials, and labor estimates. | —0 | —0 |
Confer with engineers, architects, owners, contractors and subcontractors on changes and adjustments to cost estimates. | —0 | —0 |
Prepare estimates for use in selecting vendors or subcontractors. | —0 | —0 |
Review material and labor requirements to decide whether it is more cost-effective to produce or purchase components. | —0 | —0 |
Prepare cost and expenditure statements and other necessary documentation at regular intervals for the duration of the project. | —0 | —0 |
Set up cost monitoring and reporting systems and procedures. | —0 | —0 |
Establish and maintain tendering process, and conduct negotiations. | —0 | —0 |
Conduct special studies to develop and establish standard hour and related cost data or to effect cost reduction. | —0 | —0 |
Visit site and record information about access, drainage and topography, and availability of services such as water and electricity. | —0 | —0 |
Values in this tab are predicted labels, not observations. Eloundou et al. (2023) published two rating regimes — human raters and GPT-4 — and the β shown here is derived from the GPT-4 rater basis alone; the same task can take a different value under the other regime. The unit and the meaning differ from the observed shares (%) in the other tabs, so do not place them on the same axis.
| Task (O*NET 27.2) | βE1 + 0.5 × E2 |
|---|---|
Analyze blueprints and other documentation to prepare time, cost, materials, and labor estimates.O*NET Task ID 80 | 0.5 |
Assess cost effectiveness of products, projects or services, tracking actual costs relative to bids as the project develops.O*NET Task ID 81 | 0.5 |
Consult with clients, vendors, personnel in other departments, or construction foremen to discuss and formulate estimates and resolve issues.O*NET Task ID 82 | 0.5 |
Confer with engineers, architects, owners, contractors, and subcontractors on changes and adjustments to cost estimates.O*NET Task ID 83 | 0.5 |
Prepare estimates used by management for purposes such as planning, organizing, and scheduling work.O*NET Task ID 84 | 0.5 |
Prepare estimates for use in selecting vendors or subcontractors.O*NET Task ID 85 | 0.5 |
Review material and labor requirements to decide whether it is more cost-effective to produce or purchase components.O*NET Task ID 86 | 0.5 |
Prepare cost and expenditure statements and other necessary documentation at regular intervals for the duration of the project.O*NET Task ID 87 | 0.5 |
Prepare and maintain a directory of suppliers, contractors and subcontractors.O*NET Task ID 88 | 0.5 |
Set up cost monitoring and reporting systems and procedures.O*NET Task ID 89 | 0.5 |
Establish and maintain tendering process, and conduct negotiations.O*NET Task ID 90 | 0.5 |
Conduct special studies to develop and establish standard hour and related cost data or to reduce cost.O*NET Task ID 91 | 0.5 |
Visit site and record information about access, drainage and topography, and availability of utility services.O*NET Task ID 92 | 0.5 |
Collect historical cost data to estimate costs for current or future products.O*NET Task ID 20846 | 0.5 |
β = E1 + 0.5 × E2 · E1 = tasks where direct LLM access alone cuts time by at least 50%, E2 = tasks where software built on top of an LLM cuts time by at least 50%. Values take only 0 / 0.5 / 1.0.
Data sources & licenses — O*NET®, Anthropic Economic Index, Eloundou et al. (2023): see full notices on the Credits page
All O*NET 31.0 task statements (14)
All O*NET 31.0 task statements for this occupation (English, as published; task type core or supplemental). Exposure values are not listed here; they are in the table above, next to each task statement as worded in the O*NET version each source used.
| Task (O*NET 31.0) | Type |
|---|---|
| Analyze blueprints and other documentation to prepare time, cost, materials, and labor estimates. | Core |
| Assess cost effectiveness of products, projects or services, tracking actual costs relative to bids as the project develops. | Core |
| Consult with clients, vendors, personnel in other departments, or construction foremen to discuss and formulate estimates and resolve issues. | Core |
| Confer with engineers, architects, owners, contractors, and subcontractors on changes and adjustments to cost estimates. | Core |
| Prepare estimates used by management for purposes such as planning, organizing, and scheduling work. | Core |
| Prepare estimates for use in selecting vendors or subcontractors. | Core |
| Review material and labor requirements to decide whether it is more cost-effective to produce or purchase components. | Core |
| Prepare cost and expenditure statements and other necessary documentation at regular intervals for the duration of the project. | Core |
| Prepare and maintain a directory of suppliers, contractors and subcontractors. | Core |
| Set up cost monitoring and reporting systems and procedures. | Core |
| Establish and maintain tendering process, and conduct negotiations. | Core |
| Conduct special studies to develop and establish standard hour and related cost data or to reduce cost. | Core |
| Visit site and record information about access, drainage and topography, and availability of utility services. | Core |
| Collect historical cost data to estimate costs for current or future products. | Core |
0.07/ 3· Robot exposure index
Scale, basis and source
Each physical task is graded 0–3 by the setting in which robots that have been deployed, sold or demonstrated could do it (0 none · 1 purpose-built robot settings such as a fenced machine cell or a bottling line · 2 structured facilities such as a hospital pharmacy or a container port · 3 unstructured settings such as a private home or a construction site), and the grades are averaged by share of working time
Physical tasks among this occupation's O*NET 29.3 tasks
Anthropic estimated the grades and time shares with Claude Opus 5 using web search, as of 2026.
The robot exposure index is a different measure from the AI exposure figures on this site and cannot be added to or compared with them. It does not measure actual adoption or cost, and 0 also covers occupations with no physical tasks.
Tier of each physical task
Robot environment tiers (E0–E3)
E0 noneDetails
Rated not doable by robots that have been deployed, sold or demonstrated, even in a purpose-built setting
E1 purpose-built robot settingsDetails
Rated doable in a setting built around the machine, such as a fenced machine cell or a bottling line
E2 structured facilitiesDetails
Rated doable in a human work facility that an institution keeps to a working standard, such as a hospital pharmacy or a container port
E3 unstructured settingsDetails
Rated doable in a setting that no institution keeps to a working standard, such as a private home or a construction site
Only tasks classified as physical are listed; other tasks have no tier in the source.
| Task (O*NET 29.3) | Robot environment tier |
|---|---|
| Visit site and record information about access, drainage and topography, and availability of utility services. | E2 structured facilities |
Occupation information
Employment outlook (BLS)
- Employment, 2025
- 226K
- Projected employment, 2035
- 220K
- Change (2025–35)
- -3.1%
- Median annual wage, 2025
- $78,740
- Typical education needed for entry
- Bachelor's degree
Korea classification links (KSCO)
Links from the current release of the Korea Occupation Direct Crosswalk v1.1, made by AI Changing Work. Relation values are read from the O*NET-SOC occupation side.
| KSCO code | KSCO title | Relation | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 23123 | 건축시공 기술자 | Related, not a match | confirmed |
| 23133 | 토목시공 기술자 | Related, not a match | confirmed |
| 23143 | 조경시공 기술자 | Related, not a match | confirmed |
Relation and status definitions(kr-direct v1.1)
ILO occupational description
AI Changing Work links the ISCO-08 unit groups below to this occupation by applying the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics crosswalks (2018 SOC to 2010 SOC, 2010 SOC to ISCO-08) as published, without case-by-case selection; each link may be whole or partial.
- ISCO-08 3339Business Services Agents Not Elsewhere Classified
The definition, tasks and examples below are the ILO's description of that unit group, not of this occupation.
This unit group covers business services agents not classified elsewhere in Minor Group 333: Business Services Agents. For instance, the group includes those who establish business contacts, sell business services such as advertising space in the media, arrange contracts for performances of athletes, entertainers and artists, for the publication of books, the production of plays, or the recording, performance and sale of music, sell property and goods by auction and who design and organize package and group tours.
Tasks
- In such cases tasks would include -
- (a) obtaining information about services to be sold and needs of prospective buyers;
- (b) negotiating contracts on behalf of seller or buyer and explaining terms of sale and payment to client;
- (c) signing agreements on behalf of seller or buyer and ensuring that contract is honoured;
- (d) making sure that the business service purchased is made available to the buyer in the agreed format at the agreed time;
- (e) selling by auction various kinds of property, cars, commodities, livestock, art, jewellery and other objects.
- (f) organizing group tours for business or vacation travel and making bulk travel and accommodation bookings.
Example occupations
Advertising salesperson · Auctioneer · Literary agent · Musical performance agent · Sports agent · Theatrical agent · Tour operator
Sources: ILO ISCO-08 — details: Credits
ESCO occupational vocabulary
Each entry below is matched to this occupation in the published ESCO-O*NET Crosswalk (version 1, 2022). The match types are that crosswalk's; the wording is AI Changing Work's.
- manufacturing cost estimatorESCO 2421.1.1This occupation is broader
Manufacturing cost estimators collect and analyse data to evaluate the money, materials, labour and time required for manufacturing processes. They conduct analyses to identify (alternative) cost effective technical designs and production processes. They develop and use methods and tools for cost planning, controlling and analysis. They also perform quantitative and qualitative risk analyses and report on the development of costs.
- cost analystESCO 2411.1.5Overlapping, not the same
Cost analysts prepare regular costs, budgeting analyses and reports in order to contribute to the overall cost planning and forecasting activities of a business. They review and reconcile key balance sheets and identify new opportunities to save costs.
- quantity surveyorESCO 2149.12Overlapping, not the same
Quantity surveyors have under their helm complete management of the cost involved in building and construction projects from the inception of the project until the delivery. They strive for an efficient use of the resources whilst keeping an eye on quality, quality standards, and client's requirements.
Source: European Commission, DG EMPL — ESCO API 2026-08-08 (bridge v1.2.1)
License: CC BY 4.0 (EU Reuse Notice)
ESCO reuse terms and the modification notice are in Credits.
France classification links (ROME)
AI Changing Work's links between this occupation and ROME 4.0 job profiles, judged with AI models. Relations are read from this occupation's side. Links marked “provisional” were adopted on the judgments of two judges from the same model family (Claude) alone, or by an operator rule applied to their judgments, so they rest on weaker evidence than confirmed links.
| ROME code | ROME title (French) | Relation |
|---|---|---|
| F1120 | Economiste de la construction | This occupation is broaderprovisional |
| F1108 | Métreur / Métreuse de la construction | Overlapping, not the sameprovisional |
| F1106 | Ingénieur / Ingénieure d'études de prix BTP | Related, not a matchprovisional |
| F1135 | Chargé / Chargée d'affaires BTP | Related, not a matchprovisional |
Source: France Travail — Répertoire Opérationnel des Métiers et des Emplois (ROME 4.0), version 61, last updated 15 June 2026 (https://www.data.gouv.fr/datasets/repertoire-operationnel-des-metiers-et-des-emplois-rome). Licence Ouverte 2.0.
ROME codes and titles are reproduced unchanged; the links to O*NET-SOC occupations are AI Changing Work's own judgment and are not a France Travail correspondence.
(AI Changing Work link release: fr-direct v1)
Spain classification links (CNO-11)
AI Changing Work's links between this occupation and CNO-11 occupations, judged with AI models. Relations are read from this occupation's side.
| CNO-11 code | CNO-11 title (Spanish) | Relation |
|---|---|---|
| 2611 | Especialistas en contabilidad | Overlapping, not the sameprovisional |
| 3129 | Otros técnicos de las ciencias físicas, químicas, medioambientales y de las ingenierías | Related, not a matchprovisional |
Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE), National Classification of Occupations 2011 (CNO-11, Royal Decree 1591/2010) — www.ine.es · Licensed CC BY 4.0. CNO-11 codes and Spanish titles are reproduced unchanged; the links to O*NET occupations are AI Changing Work's own judgment and are not an INE correspondence.
(AI Changing Work link release: es-direct v1)
Germany classification links (KldB)
AI Changing Work's links between this occupation and KldB occupations, judged with AI models. Relations are read from this occupation's side.
| KldB code | KldB title (German) | Relation |
|---|---|---|
| 31173 | Berufe in der Bauabrechnung und -kalkulation - komplexe Spezialistentätigkeiten | Overlapping, not the same |
| 72223 | Berufe in Kostenrechnung und Kalkulation - komplexe Spezialistentätigkeiten | Overlapping, not the same |
| 31174 | Berufe in der Bauabrechnung und -kalkulation - hoch komplexe Tätigkeiten | Related, not a matchprovisional |
Source: © Statistik der Bundesagentur für Arbeit — Klassifikation der Berufe 2010 – überarbeitete Fassung 2020, https://statistik.arbeitsagentur.de. KldB codes and titles are reproduced unchanged; the links to O*NET occupations are AI Changing Work's own mapping (eigene Zuordnung) and are not a Bundesagentur für Arbeit correspondence.
(AI Changing Work link release: de-direct v1)
Japan classification links (JSCO)
AI Changing Work's links between this occupation and JSCO occupations, judged with AI models. Relations are read from this occupation's side.
| JSCO code | JSCO title (Japanese) | Relation |
|---|---|---|
| 269 | その他の会計事務従事者 | Overlapping, not the sameprovisional |
| 091 | 建築技術者 | Related, not a match |
| 092 | 土木技術者 | Related, not a match |
Source: Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), Japan Standard Occupational Classification (Dec. 2009, MIC Notification No. 555). JSCO codes and Japanese titles are reproduced unchanged; the links to O*NET occupations are AI Changing Work's own judgment and are not a MIC correspondence.
(AI Changing Work link release: jp-direct v1)
Sources, licenses and AI Changing Work's modification and translation notices for this page: Credits & sources