Will AI replace Cost Estimators?
AI reaches a large part of this job’s work.
46/100
High exposure
More exposed to AI than 72% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 0% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 80% of the work
What the job involves
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.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Within reach(11)
- Analyze blueprints and other documentation to prepare time, cost, materials, and labor estimates.
- Collect historical cost data to estimate costs for current or future products.
- Consult with clients, vendors, personnel in other departments, or construction foremen to discuss and formulate estimates and resolve issues.
- Prepare estimates for use in selecting vendors or subcontractors.
- Assess cost effectiveness of products, projects or services, tracking actual costs relative to bids as the project develops.
and 6 more
Out of reach(3)
- Confer with engineers, architects, owners, contractors, and subcontractors on changes and adjustments to cost estimates.
- Review material and labor requirements to decide whether it is more cost-effective to produce or purchase components.
- Visit site and record information about access, drainage and topography, and availability of utility services.
Also called
Construction Estimator · Estimator · Electrical Estimator · Cost Analyst · Cost Engineer · Cost Estimator · Building Construction Estimator · Building Estimator
Related jobs
What these numbers mean
The score is the share of this job’s work, weighted by how important and frequent each task is, that AI could do in half the time: tasks an AI model could do alone count in full, tasks that need software built on AI count half.
“AI already used” is the share of the work in tasks where people are recorded using AI today. “As AI tools mature” counts every task AI could halve, with or without extra software.
The percentile compares the score with every job’s, weighted by how many people in the US do each one. Exposure means AI could change how the work is done, not that the job goes away. These are estimates for the typical job, not predictions.
Sources
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
- GPTs are GPTs: Labor market impact potential of LLMs (task labels), Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), OpenAI and University of Pennsylvania
- Anthropic Economic Index: labor market impacts (task penetration), Anthropic
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (national and metropolitan areas), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics