Price for bricklayer to lay block work

sogs

Hi

Can anyone help we are building a garage and looking for a rough price for a bricklayer to lay 4" block on it's flat for approx 150 m2 the dimensions of the garage are 10m x 7m x 4m high with a pitched roof we live in Angus, Scotland and are looking for a labour only price.

Advice would be appreciated.

thanks

Furts

Hi sogs
Not a direct answer because I do not know Scottish rates.

On a daywork rate where I am trades start at £80 per day. I have known brickies ask for £100-£120.

Do not automatically dismiss daywork. The reason being your blocks are laid flat. Brickies love this on price work - they can build at vast speed without much levelling and plumbing up. Often a lower rate is not given for blocks flat, or if it is then it can be nominal.

If you get an overall price make sure it is for blocks laid flat.

For a guide rate per metre squared ask in the pub, or call in on a building site before 8.00 whilst the brickies are still in their vans, be polite and ask them. Remember this could be work for them - so they will not tell you to clear off!

tony6403

Furts wrote: »

Hi sog

Do not automatically dismiss daywork. The reason being your blocks are laid flat. Brickies love this on price work - they can build at vast speed without much levelling and plumbing up. Often a lower rate is not given for blocks flat, or if it is then it can be nominal.

If you get an overall price make sure it is for blocks laid flat.
QUOTE]

A quote from elsewhere on day work:-

being paid by the hour, or “day work” as it is known in the construction industry, can be a sure-fire way of guaranteeing that work expands – a phenomenon humorously described as Parkinson’s Law in 1955.
My advice would be always to get a fixed price.
I am baffled by your comments about when laying blocks flat there needs to be less attention paid to being level and plumb.
I have laid many thousands of bricks and blocks and the principles are the same for any construction which is to be accurately finished.

cyclonebri1

As above, get it on a fixed rate.
£100/day is the rate around here too, just need to pin them down on the MAX cost/time.;);)

Furts

tony6403 wrote: »

Furts wrote: »

Hi sog

Do not automatically dismiss daywork. The reason being your blocks are laid flat. Brickies love this on price work - they can build at vast speed without much levelling and plumbing up. Often a lower rate is not given for blocks flat, or if it is then it can be nominal.

If you get an overall price make sure it is for blocks laid flat.
QUOTE]

A quote from elsewhere on day work:-

being paid by the hour, or “day work” as it is known in the construction industry, can be a sure-fire way of guaranteeing that work expands – a phenomenon humorously described as Parkinson’s Law in 1955.
My advice would be always to get a fixed price.
I am baffled by your comments about when laying blocks flat there needs to be less attention paid to being level and plumb.
I have laid many thousands of bricks and blocks and the principles are the same for any construction which is to be accurately finished.

I had bricklayers and groundworkers working for me on daywork . All would arrive well before 7.30 . They would work like demons all day long and could still be with me at 6.00. They only asked for 8 hours pay and undercut pricework enormously.

I have a carpenter who works for me on daywork, He arrives at 8.30 and frequently works until 6.00 or later. He never takes tea breaks or lunch breaks. He goes outside for a quick smoke a number of times a day and works like a demon. He is a first rate tradesman. He asks for £80 per day. He undercuts any pricework.

The carpenter recently fitted a customers kitchen. Three days work. The customer wanted a price, so £550 was agreed. Had this been daywork the price would have been £240. Even if the carpenter dragged the job out for a day (which he would not) the price would only be £320. This undercuts the pricework.

People need to be aware pricework is not always the answer.

There are others problems with pricework, namely profits, risks, and quality. These could be a separate post!

john.h

[QUOTE=Furts;

I had bricklayers and groundworkers working for me on daywork . All would arrive well before 7.30 . They would work like demons all day long and could still be with me at 6.00. They only asked for 8 hours pay and undercut pricework enormously.

I have a carpenter who works for me on daywork, He arrives at 8.30 and frequently works until 6.00 or later. He never takes tea breaks or lunch breaks. He goes outside for a quick smoke a number of times a day and works like a demon. He is a first rate tradesman. He asks for £80 per day. He undercuts any pricework.

The carpenter recently fitted a customers kitchen. Three days work. The customer wanted a price, so £550 was agreed. Had this been daywork the price would have been £240. Even if the carpenter dragged the job out for a day (which he would not) the price would only be £320. This undercuts the pricework.

People need to be aware pricework is not always the answer.

There are others problems with pricework, namely profits, risks, and quality. These could be a separate post![/QUOTE]

They must be desperate for work.. The carpenter works for what? £8.40 an hour self employed (9.5 hrs for £80)
Fitting a kitchen for £240?? With all his overheads he would be better off with a minimum wage job.

John...

leveller2911

Around here qualified chippys charge between £150-200 a day and a good bricky with be the same.

£80-00 a day? and he has to take his tax,NI, holiday,insurances,van costs etc out of that.

The only "carpenters" and I use that term loosely that I know of and work 9.5 hrs a day ,self employed for £80 a day were Eastern European and were not tradesmen. Lived 6 in a house and split the living expenses between them.

tony6403

The highlighted text in post 6 attributed to me is not mine.
Referring to it , I agree with leveller.
Why aren't the carpenter's pricework charges calculated on the £80 per day rate? You imply integrity by saying that the carpenter would not drag out the work for an extra day but he quoted £310 more than was necessary for labour. Some contingency needed but the extra £310 exceeded his daywork price for the entire job.
It is certainly not my real experience that daywork arrangements work out to the benefit of those who pay the bill.

john.h

tony6403 wrote: »

The highlighted text in post 6 attributed to me is not mine.
Referring to it , I agree with leveller.
Why aren't the carpenter's pricework charges calculated on the £80 per day rate? You imply integrity by saying that the carpenter would not drag out the work for an extra day but he quoted £310 more than was necessary for labour. Some contingency needed but the extra £310 exceeded his daywork price for the entire job.
It is certainly not my real experience that daywork arrangements work out to the benefit of those who pay the bill.

Sorry, i dont know why your name came on the quote.. I have removed it.

John..

cyclonebri1

leveller2911 wrote: »

Around here qualified chippys charge between £150-200 a day and a good bricky with be the same.

.

Shining example of why post asking prices should always be qualified with area, ;), and just one of the advantages of living "up north";);)


The demand for skills is less so the incomers aren't so common, plus your £150-200 = £100-120, mind you do get paid twice as much as us so I suppose it all flattens out.
Heck of a lot of our trade chaps migrate south for the week for that very reason;);)

Furts

leveller2911 wrote: »

Around here qualified chippys charge between £150-200 a day and a good bricky with be the same.

£80-00 a day? and he has to take his tax,NI, holiday,insurances,van costs etc out of that.

The only "carpenters" and I use that term loosely that I know of and work 9.5 hrs a day ,self employed for £80 a day were Eastern European and were not tradesmen. Lived 6 in a house and split the living expenses between them.

The trades are UK labour with overheads, families and mortgages. There is very little Eastern European labour here- they probably are tempted towards the money elsewhere. And this is not Up North. London and South East England may be OK but many areas below, say, Birmingham have been hit hard by the recession.