Cost of brick work?

[hunter27]

We have knocked down a tiny utility room tagged on the end of a my sons house completely to build a larger utility, dug the new foundations, bricked up to the damp proof course, insulated and concreted the floor inside and have just got a price for laying the bricks. It will be a cavity wall block internal with facing brick outside with not much keying in required to the existing house it's single story with a gable end roughly 2 x 6' walls with a window in one end and a door in the other and a 13' wall between. I thought a good bricky would do that in a couple of days, anyway the quoted was £1600 labour only. Sounds a bit steep to me Looks like I may be busy next week
What do you think?

 

[cumbriasteve]

Good brickies and I intentionally use the word good because of the number of cowboy firms around are in high demand, most of the year the main difficulty is getting one.

The result of kids being advised technology was the future, manual work and getting your hands dirty was a thing of the past.

Not sure how the price is but I would think not a million miles away for a tax paying insured tradesman with guaranteed work.

 

[gaz1]

Pay who you want or diy

OR find someone else to do the work

EAch trade has its own prices to pay some are up quickly others arnt

EVen I get a bricky in to do the brick work or know people who will do it at a price

 

[addjunkie]

Good brickies and I intentionally use the word good because of the number of cowboy firms around are in high demand, most of the year the main difficulty is getting one.

The result of kids being advised technology was the future, manual work and getting your hands dirty was a thing of the past.

Not sure how the price is but I would think not a million miles away for a tax paying insured tradesman with guaranteed work.

Wise words here, I too dont think that is a million miles away, dont forget, itll be a brickie and some one to mix and carry. Fixed price he has to allow for wet days when they are wasting their time. Erecting hops ups etc, waiting for it to go off after lintels are in etc.

Tieing in isnt done these days they use wall starter kits.

 

[Revs1972]

What could possibly go wrong

Bricklaying, bit like plastering......a good pro makes it look easy, however in my hands it would probably end up like this..........

 

[Revs1972]

Although it looks like the "pros" sometime get it wrong

Im guessing that new build was probably bought "off plan"

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

Brickies round here are pulling 350 a day. Plus labourer. Price doesnt seem farfetched for a good job.
40 odd sqm.
Thats £40 psqm

Story of my life this. Tradesman are looked down on as rip off merchants.
Weve got bills and outgoings.
Why should we work for less to give people a cheap price.

 

[fizzy]

Brickies round here are pulling 350 a day. Plus labourer. Price doesnt seem farfetched for a good job.
40 odd sqm.
Thats £40 psqm

Story of my life this. Tradesman are looked down on as rip off merchants.
Weve got bills and outgoings.
Why should we work for less to give people a cheap price.

I have yet to find a builder / tradesman who does a quality job. Even the so called experts do shoddy work.
I think the trouble is most of them take on a job - them farm it out to any cowboys they can find.
Seems to me most builders these days want to be project managers and not get their hands dirty!

 

[hunter27]

Brickies round here are pulling 350 a day. Plus labourer. Price doesnt seem farfetched for a good job.
40 odd sqm.
Thats £40 psqm

Story of my life this. Tradesman are looked down on as rip off merchants.
Weve got bills and outgoings.
Why should we work for less to give people a cheap price.

Whoa
I have been on the tools all my working life working as a registered gas installer working in and outside domestic buildings. This is not a post slagging off tradesmen by someone whose only ever worked in a warm office.
It just seems a lot more that I had expected. Ok calm again now
Pete

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

Whoa
I have been on the tools all my working life working as a registered gas installer working in and outside domestic buildings. This is not a post slagging off tradesmen by someone whose only ever worked in a warm office.
It just seems a lot more that I had expected. Ok calm again now
Pete

Sorry boss. Spent the last year and a half peed off by people expecting me to work for nothing.
Seem to have earnt less than being on the cards and worked harder. Recently made some changes.
Thankfully im in a position now to pick and choose what I do.
Its not you. Is the attitude towards decent tradesmen in this country.

@ fizzy if you were closer id do my best to change your misconceptions.
There are a lot of cowboys out there.
Thats because people want work done on the cheap and give them a market.
Increase your budget and get recommendations.
Ive never advertised. Made it hard initially but seems to pay off. Cant beat word of mouth.

 

[fizzy]

Sorry boss. Spent the last year and a half peed off by people expecting me to work for nothing.
Seem to have earnt less than being on the cards and worked harder. Recently made some changes.
Thankfully im in a position now to pick and choose what I do.
Its not you. Is the attitude towards decent tradesmen in this country.

@ fizzy if you were closer id do my best to change your misconceptions.
There are a lot of cowboys out there.
Thats because people want work done on the cheap and give them a market.
Increase your budget and get recommendations.
Ive never advertised. Made it hard initially but seems to pay off. Cant beat word of mouth.

I have no doubt your work is excellent. After all you are on this forum which shows you are always looking to learn new things.
Perhaps I just expect too much but I often look at things made by so called craftsmen and think how rough they are! I suppose being a model engineer I work in thou which isn't the standard for builders!

Which reminds me of a great joke I vaguely remember.

Irishman called Paddy laying some paving slabs. Snooty bloke walks past. He looks at Paddy's work and says "I am an engineer we have to build everything to a tolerance of a thousandth of an inch". Paddy says "You are lucky mate my boss will kill me if it isn't spot on"!

 

[cumbriasteve]

I have yet to find a builder / tradesman who does a quality job. Even the so called experts do shoddy work.

I understand your statement because unfortunately the trades have been invaded by hooks and crooks taking advantage of a shortfall of genuine and honest tradesmen.

The good one's are out there, I have a gas man, roof man and a builder, they are 100% genuine guys who take pride in their work, won't cut corners and totally honest, they bill me when the job is done.

If you find one keep them locked up, feed twice a day and don't lend them out...worth their weight in gold.

 

[li150ss]

£350 a day !!! i'm going to move to bedfordshire.

cash in hand price should be able to get around
£450 per/thousand (bricks)
£12 per/metre blocks

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

£350 a day !!! i'm going to move to bedfordshire.

cash in hand price should be able to get around
£450 per/thousand (bricks)
£12 per/metre blocks

Theres been a massive shortfall apparently.
With so many big estates going up demand exceeds supply.

 

[gaz1]

Its got to stage if your prepared to travel into another area you can earn a much better wage

ALways worked by word of mouth also keep some photos of previous jobs on phone
Its got to stage its nice to have a portfolio of the jobs you've done over the years

I QuIt it to look after children and yet ive gone back to it as I enjoy tje job

 

[gaz1]

Theres been a massive shortfall apparently.
With so many big estates going up demand exceeds supply.

NOt entirely true theyve changed what is needed on many of site work qualifications many just say why bother
There qualifications are recognised world wide but here in stupid uk a money spin on whats needed then declassified what many have got

 

[premmington]

Brickies round here are pulling 350 a day. Plus labourer. Price doesnt seem farfetched for a good job.
40 odd sqm.
Thats £40 psqm

Story of my life this. Tradesman are looked down on as rip off merchants.
Weve got bills and outgoings.
Why should we work for less to give people a cheap price.

£40 psqm does not sound too high at all.

If the standard of work is good - they clear up after themselves - sounds OK price wise.

I want £300 a day labour wise - why would a brick layer not want £350 a day (if there is a shortage of them in one area)....?

 

[fizzy]

£40 psqm does not sound too high at all.

If the standard of work is good - they clear up after themselves - sounds OK price wise.

I want £300 a day labour wise - why would a brick layer not want £350 a day (if there is a shortage of them in one area)....?

£300 a day works out at £72,000 for 48 week year! Not bad - better than airline pilots - train drivers - even junior doctors!

 

[Alan Reynolds]

I got asked by a neighbour to paint a ceiling in a rental house he has. That showed up the walls which then showed up the tile grout which then showed up the paint. You get the picture? Well it snowballed into a complete renovation, hanging doors, the lot. He called in a firm of 'professionals' to do the lounge/diner to help me finish the job more quickly. They used so much paint that the embossed wallpaper blistered, they splashed paint everywhere. One walked off the job and they ruined the varnished handrails and kitchen worktops that I had done. They had a 15 page snagging list too. I charged £10 per hour, took my time , had no snaggings and the place looked a picture compared to the seedy rental I started work on. But then I'm only an electronic engineer with C&G welding and bricklaying but will turn my hand to plumbing and electric as it'd not rocket science, you just use your head. There are good tradesmen but they can be hard to find as they're always in demand. The cowboys have to keep moving on. So many things are down to price these days and it's not the best way to get things done. Why should a good tradesman drop his prices to the level of cowboys. when he is just as likely to get the job of rectifying the bad job eventually. I get the impression that everyone on here takes pride in what they do. That's why I joined the forum

 

[knighty]

here in the north east, for weekend cash work it's about £150/day for a good bricky

reading here maybe that's a bit cheap.... he's really good/quick too!