Installation, Maintenance, and Repair · Holland code RCI

Maintenance and Repair Workers, General

Perform work involving the skills of two or more maintenance or craft occupations to keep machines, mechanical equipment, or the structure of a building in repair. Duties may involve pipe fitting; HVAC maintenance; insulating; welding; machining; carpentry; repairing electrical or mechanical equipment; installing, aligning, and balancing new equipment; and repairing buildings, floors, or stairs.

Also called: Facilities Technician, Maintenance Engineer, Maintenance Mechanic, Maintenance Technician, Building Mechanic, Equipment Engineering Technician, Maintenance Journeyman, Maintenance Man.

O*NET 49-9071.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $49,590; Middle half earn $40,840 to $62,620. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Most common education: Post-Secondary Certificate; 63% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
Preparation needed: Job Zone 3 of 5; Medium preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.
US employment outlook, 2024 to 2034: +4% · As fast as average; 1,629,700 jobs in 2024, projected 1,692,100. BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, which groups this with similar roles as "General maintenance and repair workers".

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

Perform routine maintenance, such as inspecting drives, motors, or belts, checking fluid levels, replacing filters, or doing other preventive maintenance actions.
Inspect, operate, or test machinery or equipment to diagnose machine malfunctions.
Adjust functional parts of devices or control instruments, using hand tools, levels, plumb bobs, or straightedges.
Repair machines, equipment, or structures, using tools such as hammers, hoists, saws, drills, wrenches, or equipment such as precision measuring instruments or electrical or electronic testing devices.
Order parts, supplies, or equipment from catalogs or suppliers.
Perform routine maintenance on boilers, such as replacing burners or hoses, installing replacement parts, or reinforcing structural weaknesses to ensure optimal boiler efficiency.
Diagnose mechanical problems and determine how to correct them, checking blueprints, repair manuals, or parts catalogs, as necessary.
Design new equipment to aid in the repair or maintenance of machines, mechanical equipment, or building structures.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Critical Thinking3.3 / 5
Active Learning3.1 / 5
Monitoring3.1 / 5
Reading Comprehension3.0 / 5
Active Listening3.0 / 5
Speaking3.0 / 5

Knowledge areas

Mechanical4.0 / 5
English Language3.7 / 5
Building and Construction3.7 / 5
Mathematics3.4 / 5
Production and Processing3.1 / 5
Customer and Personal Service2.9 / 5

Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.

Who tends to enjoy it

How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.

Realistic100
Investigative25
Artistic3
Social13
Enterprising9
Conventional53

The same work abroad

Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.

European occupation titles (ESCO)

conservator · DE Konservator/Konservatorin · FR conservateur/conservatrice
art restorer · DE Kunstrestaurator/Kunstrestauratorin · FR restaurateur d’objets d’art/restauratrice d’objets d’art
airport maintenance technician · DE Instandhaltungstechniker/Instandhaltungstechnikerin Flughafen · FR technicien de maintenance aéroportuaire/technicienne de maintenance aéroportuaire
building caretaker · DE Hauswart/Hauswartin · FR concierge
rotating equipment mechanic · DE Industriemechaniker für Rotating Equipment/Industriemechanikerin für Rotating Equipment · FR mécanicien sur engins rotatifs/mécanicienne sur engins rotatifs
book restorer · DE Buchbinder für Restaurierungsarbeiten/Buchbinderin für Restaurierungsarbeiten · FR restaurateur de livres/restauratrice de livres

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Hospital porters (9262)25,200 employed
Caretakers (6232)53,500 employed
Quality assurance technicians (3115)36,100 employed

Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.

Pay across Europe, for the whole group

Median annual earnings of all employees in “Elementary occupations”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.

Median annual earnings, Elementary occupations, by country
Country	Median pay
Belgium	€29,579
Sweden	€28,305
Austria	€27,215
Netherlands	€24,577
Ireland	€24,331
Germany	€22,430
Italy	€22,101
France	€21,664
Spain	€17,502
Portugal	€9,424
Poland	€7,534

Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.

Exposure to AI

This occupation sits in the lower third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of -1.01. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.

Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.

Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (49-9071).

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

Take the career interests test