Hello all: time to start thinking about bricks. Actually, cleaning old brick was the topic which brought me here in the first place. (By the way, the best method so far has been the good old hammer and 1″ wide chisel- does the best combination of quick work and minimal damage, but it sure is tough on the sanity!)
I’ve got 13’x12’6″ of bricking to be done, and need to have a rough guesstimate of what’s a fair rate for this work. On a job as small as this, I don’t want to bother too many people getting quotes to get an idea of going rates- I hate when others do that to me just to get a 2nd price. But unfortunately I have no idea what a fair rate is for this work- and previous experience has told me that this is a formula for potentially being ripped off. The wall is straight with a window with a simple arch and sill- nothing fancy- 750 to 800 bricks total.
Any ideas of rough per-brick costs to lay standard brick? Or of typical productivity for bricklayers in terms of bricks per day per crew etc.?
Thanks as always for your help- it’s been incredibly valuable to me so far on this project!
Replies
Well, no idea on Canada, and you'll have to translate my answer from USD to Canuck dollars, but here, if the builder is supplying the bricks and mortar (which is one phone call and a delivery truck) the labor is a buck a brick. Add ons for scaffolding, lintels, etc.
"Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things, I am tempted to think -- there are no little things" - Bruce Barton
Thanks for that- exactly the type of number I was looking for.
If he's supplying the brick, that means he'd be making a bit of mark-up on the brick which he wouldn't get in my case, so I'd have to allow him a bit more per brick on my job to get the same value for his day's work. Mortar, brickties etc. I can figure out reasonably well. Plus there's some factor for the work associated with keying into the existing brick, mixing/tinting the mortar to match the existing etc.
Any idea roughly how many bricks or how much square footage a two-man crew can do in average in a day?
I can convert from bucks to loonies easily enough, and these days it's only 10% difference. What a change from five years ago when it was $0.68 US per loonie or so!
yeah, I cant really help with the how fast part. Lots of facade work here, faces get brick and the rest gets plastic. I guess most of the time two guys on your average two story probably spend a week on site. And what I meant by builder supply - if the builder orders all the supplies and has it sitting on site and the brick sub just has to show up with tools, that's what I'm driving at. I guess if I do the math, going labor around here, they need to be doing at least $35 an hour to survive. Probably like everything else. The long flat runs go fast, its the windows and doors and lintels and sills and details that kill ya.
Kind of how a lot of new construction works here. Subs dont get to supply much of their own materials in some trades. The electricians and plumbers, yes, but not framers, roofers, trimmers, brick . . . I have to think on floor coverings. I think thats pretty split. Carpet the installer brings, the hardwood and tile usually have delivery service.
But arent you glad I didnt say $99K?"Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things, I am tempted to think -- there are no little things" - Bruce Barton
Hey Molten- did you ever try something like a bosch bulldog with a chisel bit for those bricks? It's what I've used to remove mortar from stones, but actually it wasn't mortar, it was concrete. It was a PITA for sure.
zak
"so it goes"
I've got one of those handheld pneumatic chisels which I figured would be just the ticket, but the survival rate for the bricks wasn't all that good. Too easy to chip a face, and these bricks have generally only one good face to start with. Not to mention those pneumatic chisels eat a tremendous amount of air and make a terrible racket. Maybe the Bulldog would be better, dunno, but suspect similar results. Some mortars are softer and some stick better than others- mine's a bit of a bear. The bricks are solid, though, which does make it a bit easier I guess.
Have you checked into the feasability of reusing old bricks? I thought I had heard that it is not such a hot idea as they loose some of the porrosness (is that a word?) after they've been used once. This causes a general lack of adhesion for the new morter and results in a less than ideal bond.Anyone know whether reusing old bricks is reccomended?Thanks,Julian
"(By the way, the best method so far has been the good old hammer and 1" wide chisel- does the best combination of quick work and minimal damage, but it sure is tough on the sanity!)"
I had to clean a few hundred bricks yesterday. I started using a mason's hammer, but that got old real fast! I switched to a cheapo ($15.00) air hammer with a 3/4" chisel. Slick.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA