Maintenance and Repair Workers, General
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair
The day mixes preventive checks—drives, motors, belts, fluid levels, filters—with diagnosing machines that have stopped working as they should. Repairs can mean wiring, pipework, HVAC, or carpentry on floors and stairs, using hand tools, hoists, saws, or electrical testers. Blueprints, repair manuals, and parts catalogs help decide what is wrong and what to order. New equipment sometimes gets designed to make later maintenance easier, and installations need to be aligned and balanced. Suits people who like varied hands-on problem-solving and keeping a whole site in working order.
Typical education: Post-Secondary Certificate (vocational/technical)
Annual Median Wage in Field (2025)
$49'590
Median Wage Market Position
$49'590
What you might do
- Inspect motors, belts, and fluid levels
- Diagnose why a machine has failed
- Repair machines, equipment, and building structures
- Adjust parts with levels and hand tools
- Install wiring, pipes, or new equipment
- Order replacement parts from supplier catalogs
Skills that matter
- Preventive checks on motors, belts, and filters
- Machine diagnosis from blueprints and manuals
- Hands-on repair of equipment and buildings
- Installation of wiring, pipes, and machinery
- Alignment with levels, plumb bobs, and straightedges
- Applying new methods from repair manuals
AI & the future of this role
Unpredictable building and equipment failures call for on-site problem-solving across trades that robots rarely cover well. Scheduling apps might streamline tickets, yet physical variety and local presence are likely to keep prospects strong.
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Includes O*NET® 30.3 Database information by USDOL/ETA under CC BY 4.0; modified by LostInCareer. Wage/outlook from BLS. Attribution details