Sheet Metal Worker Job Description: Duties, Template & Pay (2026)
A sheet metal worker fabricates and installs the ductwork, flashing and metal assemblies that most buildings depend on and nobody ever sees. This page has a sheet metal worker job description template you can copy, the shop-versus-field distinction that decides who applies, and what the work pays.
What a sheet metal worker does
The trade splits cleanly into two working lives, and a candidate decides which one they want long before they read your responsibilities list.
Shop fabrication. Working from drawings and cut lists to lay out, shear, brake, roll, punch, notch, weld and assemble duct fittings, plenums, transitions and custom metalwork. Plasma tables, coil lines, and increasingly CAM software driving the whole thing. Indoors, climate-controlled, predictable hours, no ladder.
Field installation. Hanging and connecting duct on site, setting equipment, running flashing and roof work, coordinating with the other trades for ceiling space, and making the drawing work when the building is not what the drawing said. Outdoors and up, variable hours, travel between sites.
Across both, the constants are reading shop drawings and submittals, precise layout, understanding gauge and material, welding and seaming, and enough maths to develop a transition that fits the first time.
A third branch is architectural and ornamental metal — standing seam roofing, panel systems, custom cladding — which is closer to finish carpentry in tolerance and temperament.
Sheet metal worker job description template
Copy this into your ATS or job board, replace the bracketed fields, and delete what does not apply. It is written for an HVAC sheet metal shop; the customization section covers field installation, architectural metal, roofing and industrial work.
Job title
Sheet Metal [Fabricator / Mechanic / Installer] — [Shop / Field] — [Company], [City, ST] — [$00.00–$00.00/hr]
Summary
[Company name] is hiring a sheet metal [fabricator] for our [00,000] sq ft shop in [city], fabricating [HVAC duct, fittings and custom metalwork] for [commercial and industrial] projects. You will work from shop drawings on [a plasma table, coil line, brakes and rolls] with a crew of [0]. Shift is [days and exact hours], [00] hours a week, [no weekends]. Pay is [$00.00–$00.00] an hour depending on experience. [We train — if you have fabrication, welding or machine experience from any industry, we will teach you the sheet metal side.]
Responsibilities
- Read and work from shop drawings, submittals and cut lists; verify dimensions before cutting
- Lay out, shear, brake, roll, punch and notch material to [SMACNA] standards
- Develop transitions, offsets and fittings and check they will assemble as drawn
- [Operate the plasma table / coil line and run nesting software]
- Weld, seam, rivet, screw and seal assemblies; apply sealant and gasket per spec
- Select correct gauge and material [galvanised, stainless, aluminium] for each application
- Label, stage and load fabricated work for delivery to the correct job and area
- Maintain machines, change blades and dies, and keep the shop clean and safe
- [Support field installation during peak periods]
Requirements
- [0]+ years sheet metal fabrication [or transferable fabrication, welding or machine shop experience]
- Able to read shop drawings and take accurate measurements
- Comfortable with shop maths — fractions, angles and layout
- Able to lift [50] lbs and stand for a full shift
- Able to pass a drug screen
Preferred
- [SMACNA standards knowledge]
- [Welding certification — TIG on stainless or aluminium]
- [CAM or nesting software — [name]]
- [Completed a sheet metal apprenticeship]
- [Architectural or standing-seam experience]
Pay and benefits
- [$00.00–$00.00] an hour based on experience, reviewed at [90] days
- [Day shift, no weekends, climate-controlled shop]
- [Health, dental and vision from day [00]], [401(k) with match], [PTO and paid holidays]
- [We pay for welding certification and [apprenticeship] tuition]
- [Overtime available but not mandatory]
- [Tools and PPE provided]
How to apply
[Apply here / text METAL to 00000 / come to [address] any weekday before [3pm] and ask for [name]]. We reply within [24] hours.
Requirements: what is required, what is preferred, and what costs you applicants
Sheet metal pays a $29.71 median, within a dollar of carpentry and ironwork, but the trade is small at 127,000 people and growing slowly. Most shops recruit as though the only candidates are other sheet metal workers, which in a given metro is a few hundred people who already have jobs.
| Requirement | What to know |
|---|---|
| Experience | Specify the kind rather than the years, and accept adjacent trades. Welders, machinists, fabricators and even auto body technicians bring most of what the shop side needs. Saying so explicitly multiplies your pool. |
| Shop or field | The biggest filter in the trade and the one most postings leave ambiguous. Shop work means indoors, day shift, no ladder and predictable hours — a real attraction for an experienced field hand whose knees or shoulders are done. Say which you are hiring. |
| Drawings and maths | A genuine requirement and a testable one. Put a drawing and a tape on the table in the interview rather than asking for years of experience with them. |
| Welding certification | Valuable, particularly TIG on stainless and aluminium, and best offered rather than demanded. Paying for certification with a stated raise converts fabricators from other industries. |
| SMACNA standards | Worth naming because candidates search on it and because it signals a shop that works to a standard. Not worth requiring of a candidate you will train. |
| Physical requirements | Shop work is lifting and standing; field work adds ladders, lifts, ceilings and roofs. Be specific about which, because they are different bodies. |
| Apprenticeship | If you sponsor one or take apprentices, say so in the first three lines. Against 10,600 openings a year in a slow-growing trade, growing your own is the only durable supply. |
| Shift and overtime | Day shift with no weekends is a genuine competitive advantage against field construction. If you have it, lead with it; if overtime is mandatory, say that too. |
Sheet metal worker duties, written for a posting
Describe the shop. Size, the equipment list, whether there is a plasma table or coil line, what software drives it, and the crew size. A fabricator reads the equipment list and knows exactly what the job is.
Say what you fabricate. Commercial HVAC duct, industrial ventilation, kitchen exhaust, architectural panel, custom one-offs — the mix decides how repetitive or varied the work is, and candidates care.
State the shift and whether overtime is mandatory. In a trade where the field side is unpredictable, a guaranteed day shift is the shop's strongest card and it is usually buried in the benefits list.
Keep the responsibilities to eight or nine lines and include the layout and development work. It is the skilled part and listing it tells a tradesman you understand the job.
How to customize it by setting
HVAC shop fabrication
The template above. Lead with the equipment, the day shift and the training offer.
Field installation
Hanging duct, setting equipment, coordinating ceiling space with the other trades, and site travel. Say the project types, the travel radius, whether there is per diem and what the lift equipment situation is. This role competes with HVAC technicians at a $29.33 median, so the comparison is worth knowing.
Architectural and standing seam
Panel systems, custom cladding, flashing and standing-seam roofing. Finish tolerances, more layout, more visible work. Pays a premium and attracts a craftsman; describe the buildings.
Industrial and stainless
Food plants, pharmaceutical, dust collection and process ventilation. TIG welding on stainless, tighter specs, often shutdown work with its own schedule. Say the welding requirement plainly and pay for it.
Roofing sheet metal
Flashing, gutters, copings and metal roofing — outdoors, at height, weather-dependent. Closer to the roofer job description in working conditions than to shop fabrication.
What it costs to reach sheet metal workers on social
Skilled trades are among the more expensive audiences we buy: in our 2026 Social Job Advertising Benchmark the skilled trades role family — 35 campaigns — ran a median cost per applicant of $14.14, a middle half of $7.58 to $21.49, a blended figure of $10.74 and a 15% apply rate. The wider Skilled Trades and Field Service sector, 335 campaigns, ran an $11.89 median at 18%.
The reason is structural: the people who can do the work are employed, and there are not many of them in any one area. Across all 891 campaigns the apply rate moves cost per applicant from $53.77 under 10% to $4.41 over 20%, a bigger swing than any bid change — and past three impressions a month the median cost roughly doubles in a small audience. Specificity in the offer beats budget. Because the trade is small, the winning campaign usually targets adjacent fabrication and welding audiences with a training offer rather than searching for sheet metal workers by name.
Hiring across the mechanical trades? See the HVAC technician, welder, ironworker and roofer job descriptions, plus HVAC technician recruiting.
Writing the ad version
The description is the document. The advertisement is read on a phone by somebody who has other options at a similar rate. It needs the rate, whether it is shop or field, the shift, and that you will train an adjacent trade — in the first three lines. Our campaign data puts the best-converting length at 201–400 words, and for a role like this the shorter end works.
Three or four questions on the form, then call the same day. Every extra field costs completions, and the fabricator you want has applied somewhere else this morning.
What sheet metal workers earn
Sheet metal workers had a median of $29.71 an hour, $61,800 a year in 2025, across about 127,000 people with roughly 10,600 openings a year and 1–2% projected growth — slower than average.
| Comparison role | Median pay (2025) | Openings per year |
|---|---|---|
| Structural iron and steel workers | $30.18/hr · $62,780 | ~5,500 |
| Sheet metal workers | $29.71/hr · $61,800 | ~10,600 |
| HVAC mechanics and installers | $29.33/hr · $61,010 | ~40,100 |
| Carpenters | $29.12/hr · $60,580 | ~74,100 |
| Cement masons and concrete finishers | $27.41/hr · $57,020 | ~14,300 |
| Extruding and drawing machine setters, metal and plastic | $22.94/hr · $47,720 | ~6,500 |
Sheet metal sits near the top of the trades band and within forty cents of HVAC installation, which is the comparison that matters most: the two trades compete directly for the same mechanically-minded candidate, and HVAC has four times the openings and much better name recognition.
The recruitable gap is the bottom row. A machine operator or fabricator at $22.94 is looking at nearly seven dollars an hour to move into sheet metal, and most of what they already know transfers. That is the audience worth buying — and the posting has to say the training offer out loud, because someone running an extrusion line does not think of themselves as a sheet metal candidate.
Frequently asked questions
What does a sheet metal worker do?
A sheet metal worker reads shop drawings and lays out, shears, brakes, rolls, punches, welds and assembles metal into ductwork, fittings, flashing and custom assemblies, working to standards such as SMACNA. Shop fabricators do this indoors on brakes, rolls and plasma tables; field installers hang and connect the work on site, set equipment, run flashing and coordinate ceiling space with the other trades.
How much do sheet metal workers make?
Sheet metal workers had a median of $29.71 an hour, or $61,800 a year, in 2025, across about 127,000 people with roughly 10,600 openings a year. That sits within forty cents of HVAC mechanics and installers and just below carpenters and ironworkers — near the top of the construction trades band.
What is the difference between shop and field sheet metal work?
Shop fabrication is indoors and climate-controlled, on a day shift with predictable hours, working from drawings on brakes, rolls and plasma tables. Field installation is on site: hanging duct, setting equipment, working at height and in ceilings, travelling between jobs with variable hours. They attract different people, and naming which one the job is belongs in the title rather than buried in the description.
What qualifications does a sheet metal worker need?
The ability to read shop drawings, take accurate measurements and handle layout maths — all testable in ten minutes with a drawing and a tape. Beyond that, most of what the shop side needs transfers from welding, machining, fabrication and even auto body work. Welding certification, particularly TIG on stainless and aluminium, carries a real premium and works better as something the employer pays for than as a filter.
What should a sheet metal worker job description include?
Whether it is shop or field in the title, the shop size and equipment list including whether there is a plasma table or coil line, what you fabricate, crew size, the exact shift and whether overtime is mandatory, the hourly rate, the physical demands, which certifications you pay for, and an explicit statement that you will train candidates from adjacent fabrication trades.
Why is it hard to hire sheet metal workers?
Because the trade has about 127,000 people nationally, grows slowly, and competes directly with HVAC installation, which has four times the openings and far better name recognition. Most shops also recruit only from within the trade, which in any metro means a few hundred already-employed people. The shops that fill recruit welders, machinists and fabricators and train them.
Is sheet metal work a good trade to get into?
It pays near the top of the construction trades at a $29.71 median, the shop side offers indoor day-shift work that most construction trades cannot, and the skills transfer in from welding and machining. The constraint is size: about 10,600 openings a year nationally, so opportunities are concentrated where commercial construction and industrial work are active.
What is SMACNA?
The Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors' National Association, whose duct construction standards are what most commercial HVAC sheet metal is fabricated to. Naming SMACNA in a posting is worth doing because candidates search on it and because it signals a shop that works to a recognised standard — but it is not worth requiring of a candidate you intend to train.
Other job description templates
Hiring sheet metal workers?
There are 127,000 in the country and they all have jobs. The welders and machinists nearby are the campaign.
Wage, employment, projection and task descriptions for sheet metal workers (SOC 47-2211) and the comparison occupations: O*NET OnLine and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook, May 2025 wage data and BLS employment projections. Cost-per-applicant and apply-rate figures: Boostpoint 2026 Social Job Advertising Benchmark, 891 campaigns and 1,334 campaign-months.