What it costs

Almost nobody in this trade publishes a price. We would rather you had some idea where you stand before you ring anyone. So here is how we price, and what moves it.

How we price

Day rate

£600 a day

The two of us, or £300 if it’s one of us.

Brickwork

from £60 a square metre

Blockwork

from £20 a square metre

Repointing

from £50 a square metre

Decorative, radius and intricate

from £600 a day

Priced by the day, because the detail sets the time and not the area. A curved wall takes around double the time of the same wall run straight, and a decorative bond is 30 to 50 per cent on top of plain facing work. Send us a photograph or a drawing and we’ll tell you how many days it’s likely to take.

The anatomy of a quote

Every price we write down comes in parts, so here is one drawn as the parts it is made of. This is a ten square metre garden wall in plain facing brick:

LAYING £600BRICKS £495

Laying, 600 bricks at £1
Bricks delivered, 600 × 75p, plus 10 per cent
Mortar, DPC and ties, plus 10 per cent: £132

That is £1,227 for the wall itself.

On top of that comes your site: the footing, the piers, the coping, how far the materials get barrowed. That is the part no website can price, so we do it with a tape measure. Ring us or send a photo.

What moves the price

The size of the job, and whether it is one wall or a whole garden.
Ground and access. What’s under the footing, how far the materials have to be carried, and whether a lorry can get to the gate. On a wall this is the biggest single variable there’s, and the one nobody can price from a photograph.
Height. Anything above a single storey usually means scaffolding or a tower, which is a real cost and not a line we pad.
How much has to be cut out and replaced, whether that’s raking joints out to a proper depth or replacing bricks that have blown.
The materials. A handmade or reclaimed brick costs several times a machine one, and stone more again.
Detail. Piers, copings, arches, curves and banding all take longer per brick than straight running wall, because every unit gets set out and often cut.
The mortar, if the mix has to be matched to an old wall and made in small batches.

What’s included, and what isn’t

Included on the laying rates: the labour, the setting out, the finishing, the clean-up, and the written price with the work broken down.
On the day rate: labour, tools and travel. Mortar and materials we buy are charged at cost plus 10 per cent.
Not included unless we say so: scaffolding, skips, and any hidden repair we find once the wall is opened up.
If we find something nobody could have known about, we stop and tell you before it costs you anything.