Skilled Trades Workers Want AI to Reduce Callbacks and Rework, Bourne AI Survey Finds

SALT LAKE CITY — Nearly half (49%) of tradespeople see their work sent back for a callback or rework at least sometimes, and that's the No. 1 thing they'd want AI to fix on the job, according to new survey from Bourne AI, a platform that provides  AI-powered visual and voice guidance for frontline and field tasks.

The survey of 1,000 skilled-trade workers in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and France found that 49% say jobs in their field require callbacks or rework at least sometimes. Workers ranked reducing mistakes and callbacks as the No. 1 use case for AI, ahead of code and specification lookups, documentation and new-hire training.

The report, Fewer Callbacks, Faster Jobs: How AI Closes the Guidance Gap in Skilled Trades, also found that 72% of respondents believe an AI-guided task app would reduce the time spent searching for answers on the job, while 66% said AI would make them more effective at completing job tasks.

"This survey shows where AI can help tradespeople most on the job, and reducing mistakes and callbacks comes out at the very top," said Dave Dickson, founder of Bourne AI. "When workers can get reliable answers in the moment, they spend less time searching, avoid costly mistakes and reach productivity faster."

The findings come as skilled industries face mounting workforce challenges. According to the survey, 47% of new hires take seven months or longer to reach full productivity. Workers also reported that asking a colleague or supervisor remains the most common way to solve problems on the job, with more than half saying information lookups take at least 16 minutes.

Bourne AI surveyed 1,000 skilled-trade workers between May 28 and June 14, 2026. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. Download the entire survey.