How much does a brickie charge per day then?

[Franalogue]

Can I have some advice please? We have a half finished self build that we have literally self built (ie no builders). We have the bedroom floors in and signed off by BC but we don't think we can do any more on it ourselves for various reasons.
I have had a builder look at it with a view to giving me a price. He reckoned it would take two weeks to get it to wall plate and another month to put the roof on it, eight weeks total max. I got the impression it was just going to be him doing the bricklaying and his mate labouring.
It's big but the upstairs is smaller than the downstairs although the two single storey bits have to have roofs put on them.
How much does a brickie charge per day please and how much does a labourer cost to assist him please. I can't work out if I had underestimated the cost of getting it finished, if they have priced it high because they don't want the job or if what they have quoted is about right?
Any advice greatly received. I could probably work out on the back of a fag packet how many square meters of actual masonry there is if necessary.

 

[Doggit]

What a brickie and a labourer charge per day, is only relevant if they are charging on a day rate; his figures may well include a profit margin as well. but wait till the figures come in. And get a few other quotes as well and then compare them.

 

[Franalogue]

Hi Doggit, thanks for replying. He has given us a price but it is almost half again as much as I expected. It was a labour only price as we have all the materials here and those that aren't we would source. I am waiting on other prices from two other builders but this guy really seemed to get what I am after.

 

[Doggit]

so it's six weeks work for (you assume) 2 men; how much did he quote.

 

[Notch7]

8 weeks work, say about £12k -£14k

It will be day rate plus a bit of contingency and then some profit.

There is a real shortage of bricklayers, so prices will be high in some areas of the UK.

 

[Ian H]

I was going to guess £10,000, £750 for the bricky, £500 for the labourer.

 

[Doggit]

Ouch; to put it mildly. How long did it take to get your roof on Ian; a month seems a long time to me.

 

[Franalogue]

Thanks for the replies guys. Try nearly 40k ! It's a walk in, do the job, go home sort of site too. It will have been freshly scaffolded at the point of trowel wetting and it's all boarded out ready to walk about on and go. All the bricks are clean and randomised ready to lay etc etc. etc. I'm mystified!

 

[garyo]

When I've done this in the past I've always got the brickie in on day rate rather than a job rate, otherwise you're bound to pay a risk /profit premium. Where I am you can pay anything from 160/day upwards for a bricklayer.

Regardless, sounds like he didn't want the job for whatever reason.

 

[Ian H]

Ouch; to put it mildly. How long did it take to get your roof on Ian; a month seems a long time to me.

5 weeks including a day to tile my kitchen floor.

 

[Franalogue]

So how do I find brickies? I signed up for MyBuilder and heard nothing. I have messaged three via either their own websites or FB and not heard a dicky bird. I have now messaged four new ones that are a bit out of my area. I get that they are busy but I have not said when we want the work done so it's not like I have asked for it to be done before Easter We would be nice to work for. Lots of tea and biscuits. Perhaps I'm expecting too much too soon? I think if I was a builder I would prefer a job where the customer isn't around too much but I don't think we will be too much of a PITA to be honest.

 

[^woody^]

My take is this.

Up to 20-30 years ago there were lots of builders and brickies and they would generally want the work and would competitively quote. And there was the work for them. As always there were good bad and ugly builders, but pricing was within a known range - always.

Nowadays after years of lack of training and lack of skills, diy programmes where everyone can become a builder, and a migrant influx (controversial but true) there is lots of work but lots of crap people looking for it. So the skilled builders are getting on with their work and are busy, and the dross are picking and choosing certain work based on what they can screw out of the client (just high paying jobs) and based on their limited skill set (only quick and easy jobs).

The up shot is that clients will generally struggle to get quality people within a reasonable time and at reasonable cost . The "good ones are busy" is even more relevant nowadays.

As to rates, £150-200 a day. If the job last a few weeks then either a reduced rate or you make sure you get a good day's work from them.

 

[Notch7]

So how do I find brickies? I signed up for MyBuilder and heard nothing. I have messaged three via either their own websites or FB and not heard a dicky bird. I have now messaged four new ones that are a bit out of my area. I get that they are busy but I have not said when we want the work done so it's not like I have asked for it to be done before Easter We would be nice to work for. Lots of tea and biscuits. Perhaps I'm expecting too much too soon? I think if I was a builder I would prefer a job where the customer isn't around too much but I don't think we will be too much of a PITA to be honest.

Drive around your area, find some extension or other work being done, go in and ask. Builder know other builders know bricklayers. They also know the good and bad ones in your area.

Call into your local builders merchants, ask the guy behind the counter for some names. The guys that work in the merchants build up a good rapport with their customers and probably have a bit of banter with them.

Its a networking game, you will find that builders, chippies, electricians, plumbers, plasterers etc etc will all have names and numbers of brickies in the contacts on their phone.

It wont take you long to get a few names together.

Dont use the internet, you want local information.

 

[Doggit]

Good suggestions Notch; anyone on the internet is the dodgy end of the business, because the good ones always have too much work.

If the Builder has suggested it'll take 6 weeks, and we allow him 7, then that's just over £1000 a day, and with even 4 guys doing the job, that's a lot of profit and contingency, so I suspect he thinks you're desperate enough to pay whatever he want, so I whilst he might get what you want, I'd be inclined to pass him by. Now I know you'd like the job done by Easter, but if you can ignore any deadlines (apart from Christmas) then you've a better chance of finding a good brickie/builder at a reasonable price.

 

[garyo]

My last one was a local lad thatd done a btec, then four years on big sites for wimpey etc. Disillusioned he'd then just tried starting up on his own, so advertised on gumtree etc.