Vehicle Body Builder
What the work is
Manufactures and repairs prototype production units and purpose-built vehicle bodies, such as buses, trucks, fire engines and caravans.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Reads and interprets engineering drawings and specifications
- Fabricates and welds metal components to build vehicle bodies
- Constructs, assembles and installs vehicle body components such as doors, windows and panels
- Operates machinery and equipment such as cutting and bending machines
- Repairs and replaces damaged vehicle body parts
- Conducts quality checks and inspections on finished vehicle bodies
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in a small trim shop that restores and re-covers car seats, door cards and headlinings by hand. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- A worn-out seat that looked hopeless comes back like it just left the factory
- You cut a tricky pattern first go and the fabric sits perfectly flat
- A customer sits in their restored classic car and goes quiet for a moment
Hard days
- A fabric that cost a fortune to order is cut one centimetre wrong
- Working in a stuffy car on a hot day with glue fumes and a tight deadline
- A customer who wants it exactly like the photo, from a car that was made differently
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Work a mission
Step into a simulated workplace in this field, with a brief from your manager.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 351531, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.