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.
Most important skills
- Equipment Maintenance
- Repairing
- Troubleshooting
- Critical Thinking
- Active Learning
- Monitoring
- Complex Problem Solving
- Operations Monitoring
Key knowledge
- Mechanical
- English Language
- Building and Construction
- Mathematics
- Production and Processing
- Customer and Personal Service
- Public Safety and Security
- Engineering and Technology
What the work involves
- Assemble, install, or repair wiring, electrical or electronic components, pipe systems, plumbing, machinery, or equipment.
- Diagnose mechanical problems and determine how to correct them, checking blueprints, repair manuals, or parts catalogs, as necessary.
- Inspect, operate, or test machinery or equipment to diagnose machine malfunctions.
- Record type and cost of maintenance or repair work.
- Clean or lubricate shafts, bearings, gears, or other parts of machinery.
- Plan and lay out repair work, using diagrams, drawings, blueprints, maintenance manuals, or schematic diagrams.
- Adjust functional parts of devices or control instruments, using hand tools, levels, plumb bobs, or straightedges.
- Paint or repair roofs, windows, doors, floors, woodwork, plaster, drywall, or other parts of building structures.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Investigative.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Post-Secondary Certificate (63% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 2 years, up to and including 4 years (47.2%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months (31.4%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 3: Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Maintenance and Repair Workers, General is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | High | Higher on contact with others than 79% of occupations compared | 75% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Moderate | Higher on dealing with the public than 54% of occupations compared | 31% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Moderate | Higher on teamwork than 50% of occupations compared | 48% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Moderate | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 56% of occupations compared | 42% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Low | Lower on time pressure than 62% of occupations compared | 47% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Conflict situations | High | Higher on conflict situations than 62% of occupations compared | 38% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | High | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 76% of occupations compared | 34% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Consequence of error | Moderate | Higher on consequence of error than 59% of occupations compared | 27% of surveyed respondents chose “Fairly serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: low
- Conflict situations: high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: high
- Consequence of error: moderate
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0.03%
- Contact with others about half the time: 2.38%
- Contact with others most of the time: 22.3%
- Constant contact with others: 75.3%
n = 54, Incumbent 08/2021
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 15.54%
- Fairly important: 3.43%
- Important: 24.11%
- Very important: 25.87%
- Extremely important: 31.04%
n = 54, Incumbent 08/2021
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 5.46%
- Important: 6.46%
- Very important: 40.34%
- Extremely important: 47.74%
n = 54, Incumbent 08/2021
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 2.02%
- Very little freedom: 5.45%
- Limited freedom: 17.83%
- Some freedom: 32.91%
- A lot of freedom: 41.79%
n = 54, Incumbent 08/2021
Time pressure
- Never: 0.74%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 14.08%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 17.67%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 47.05%
- Every day: 20.46%
n = 54, Incumbent 08/2021
Conflict situations
- Never: 9.74%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 38.16%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 16.32%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 11.75%
- Every day: 24.03%
n = 53, Incumbent 08/2021
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 4.19%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 18.65%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 33.79%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 26.63%
- Every day: 16.73%
n = 54, Incumbent 08/2021
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 11.74%
- Fairly serious: 26.56%
- Serious: 17.26%
- Very serious: 21.31%
- Extremely serious: 23.13%
n = 54, Incumbent 08/2021
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O*NET-SOC 49-9071.00 · SOC 49-9071 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8