EXPOSED
The work is crawling under coaches, pulling water heaters and absorption fridges, chasing 12V/120V shorts through wall cavities, resealing roofs, and pressure-testing LP lines — none of which a language model or today's robots can touch. What AI does erode is the paperwork layer: diagnostic lookups, warranty claim drafting, parts identification, and customer estimate write-ups that currently pad the billable day. There is no license requirement in most states (RVIA/RVTAA certification is voluntary, though LP gas work is regulated in some jurisdictions), so the moat is physical rather than legal.
Tasks largely resist digitisation. Diagnosing why a slide-out room racks out of square, tracing a delamination back to a failed sidewall seam, or finding the one crimped butt-connector behind a dinette panel are tasks where the information you need does not exist until you physically open the wall — a 16 rather than 18 because the front half of your day (VIN lookup, service manual reference, warranty pre-authorization, estimate writing) is already being absorbed by software.
Hands-on in uncontrolled environments. Every hour is spent on a creeper under a chassis, on a ladder resealing a Dicor lap seam, kneeling in a wet bay pulling a Dometic absorption unit, or working inside a 95-degree coach with no shore power — a 19 because no two rig layouts are the same and the workspace is a customer's vehicle in a gravel lot, not a fixture on a line.
Certification preferred, not legally required. Nothing you hand back requires your signature under a state license in most jurisdictions; RVIA/RVTAA certification gets you a better hourly rate and warranty-authorized status with manufacturers, not legal standing — the 5 rather than 0 reflects LP-gas fitting and pressure-test rules that in some states do require a licensed gas fitter, and the fact that a bad propane test is one of the few things that can put your name in a liability chain.
Some relationship component. Full-timers and snowbirds come back to the tech who already knows their coach's history and will call before adding a $600 line to the estimate, which is real repeat business — but at 9 the relationship sits with the dealership or the mobile-service brand more than with you, and most work still arrives through warranty routing, campground referrals, or whoever can take the rig this week.
Meaningful discretion. You decide whether a soft floor is a $400 patch or a total subfloor replacement, whether a roof gets resealed or reskinned, and whether to condemn a fridge cooling unit on ammonia smell alone — an 11 because those calls carry real money and real safety weight, but manufacturer service bulletins, warranty schedules, and LP-test pass/fail thresholds set the boundaries you work inside.
Has AI actually changed your work?