What to Consider When Choosing a Bricklayer, Brick Paver or Brick Pointer

You have decided you need a retaining wall in your garden or an insulated cavity wall for your loft. Or, maybe you want to brick pave your patio or driveway or walkway. Now, how do you go about finding suitable bricklayers and brick pavers that live close to you and that also have the skills required for your job? Follow our simple tips below and you are on your way to finding a qualified brickworker who has the right brickworking skills you need, and at the right brickwork prices.

What are the typical uses of brick?

Bricks are a versatile and durable building material, with excellent life cycle performance, energy efficiency, high thermal mass and responsible manufacturing. They are also low cost and efficient to use. Given these qualities, no wonder they are used across a variety of home applications. In simple terms, bricks are used for structural or engineering work (for e.g., while building a wall that supports the main structure of your house), cavity walls (to create insulation with 2 layers of brickwork with a space in between) or common brickwork (ranging from underfoot brickwork on your driveway to internal walls and decorative external facing brickwork).

There are thousands of different types of bricks that are used – most of them are made of clay and kiln-fired, and unlike material such as granite, marble and porcelain, are locally sourced:

• Facing Bricks: Quality, durable bricks with an attractive appearance for external use above ground.
• Wirecut facing bricks: Come in many variations in colour and texture. They are also relatively inexpensive.
• Stock: These are a bit irregular in shape and made from soft clay and then dried, so are not good for precise jobs, but look more authentic and traditional. Usually a bit more expensive than wirecuts.
• Handmade: Usually made on a bench, in a mould, much as described above for a stock brick. Desirable, prestigious and expensive, so you may want to buy these for an area of the house where it is visible!
• Fletton/London Bricks: A unique brick made in South East England. It contains some coal, which makes for very interesting patterns. You will see a lot of this in and around brickwork in London and Oxford.
• Engineering Bricks: These are a must for precise and hardwearing jobs. Resistant to water, wind, changes in temperature, they are good for retaining external walls, groundworks and drainage. They are expensive but deservedly so.
• Reclaimed: Old bricks, sorted. Make sure you source them from a reputable place, that way you can be sure they are not just charming but genuine. Good old bricks (which have lasted to date) will last quite a while. Get them laid by a good quality brickworker, who will know their idiosyncracies well, including their imperial sizes which are different from today’s metric sizes.

What’s the difference between a bricklayer and a brick paver or brick pointer?

You will come across three terms used frequently in brickwork – laying, paving and pointing. For a more detailed list of terminology used (and there are plenty of them!), go to the bottom of this article.

Brickpaving will involve laying and bonding bricks alongside each other on a flat surface, often on the ground – such as on a driveway or a walkway or a patio.

Bricklaying will often involve laying bricks on top of other bricks, and building structures up such as a brick solid wall, a brick cavity wall for fireplaces or free standing walls such as a barbecue wall.

Brickpointing is the art of applying a small amount of mortar into the face joint between bricks – repointing involves repairing pre-existing mortar joints which have been eroded.

Whether it is a conservatory you are building in London or a driveway in Kent, or indeed a garden wall in Essex, any qualified local brickworker should be able to lay or point or pave as the situation demands.

Choosing the right brickworker for you

Ok so you now know exactly what you want done. How do you now go about choosing your bricklayer in London, or brickpaver in Birmingham, or brick pointer in Edinburgh?

Finding brickworkers

There are many ways to find a list of local brickworkers – some easier than others.

• You could use search engines to get a list of local brickworkers. The risk here is that you have no real knowledge of how good they are or what skills they really possess and it can be time consuming calling numerous tradesmen, having to leave messages asking them to call you.
• Another option is to use the yellow pages but again you have the same issues as using a search engine.
• A recommendation – this is arguably a better option than using a search engine or yellow pages but you are unlikely to have more than one recommendation which makes comparisons difficult
• An easy, hassle free way of identifying local skilled bricklayers is to use the service of a site such as www.xpertfind.com. xpertfind.com has a database of skilled bricklayers along with rating and feedback provided by customers like yourself for all their bricklayers. You simply post details of your job on the site and wait for suitably skilled, local bricklayers interested in your work to contact you. It is a quick and easy way for customers to find local brickpavers for a whole range of jobs and the website has national coverage. So whether you are looking for emergency brickworkers in London, brick pointers in Devon or driveway bricklayer in Liverpool, you can post your bricklaying job online and let xpertfind.com do the hard work of finding 3 local quality brickworkers who can provide you with quotes. Who you go with is your decision.
  Once you have got 3 suitably skilled, local bricklayers how do you choose between them?

Ask for references

When hiring a bricklayer or brickpaver, don't be shy in asking for references on their work. You could even take the time to call these people and ask how the work went for them. It may even be wise to go and see the work that has been done. Seeing with your own eyes what the tradesman has accomplished is the best way to know what you are paying for.

Compare your quotes

Make sure you have a detailed quote from each of the bricklayers you have identified and compare estimates on the cost of the project and see how they differ – brickworking prices can vary a lot! The written quotation should list materials (area of brickwork (or bricks used), prices for bricks), labour and VAT (if appropriate). Ask for details of material used for bonding such as mortar, and the level of finishing they will do. Do not feel uncomfortable asking them in person why things cost the way they do and why they charge what they charge to do the job. If the bricklayer is honest, he or she will be open about the costs of materials and the profit they are trying to make.

It is fairly standard for the brickworker to ask for a deposit to cover the cost of the materials. However you should not be expected to pay the balance until the bricklaying work has been completed to your satisfaction.

Time to complete the job and where it will be completed

Be clear on how long will it take the bricklayer or brickpaver to complete the job. Finding a brickworker who can work efficiently and quickly is beneficial - they will cost less because the hours will be less. Even if the cost per hour is more, if they have the third of the hours of another, it will most likely be less money in the end.

Prior experience

It's all to do with experience! Ask what experience they have. Also, ask if they could bring a portfolio of photos with them so you can see the type of work they do. One sure way of assessing whether a brickworker is experienced is if he takes the trouble to come and look at the job to be done and advise you before giving a quotation.

Are they licensed or registered?

The Association of Bricklaying Contractors (www.brickworkcontractors.info) is formed by companies in the industry on a purely voluntary basis. There is also the Brick Development Association (www.brick.org.uk), which promotes the use of brick in architectural, structural and landscaping application – but this association is focused on brick makers (unlike bricklayers, brick pavers or brick pointers)

As there is no compulsory regulating or governing body for brickworkers, and no accreditation, you may want some written proof of the capacity of the person. You could look for people who have apprenticeships with the Associate Builders and Contractors, the Associated General Contractors and perhaps the National Association of Home Builders, or any of the associations mentioned above. Choosing a brickworker who is a member of a professional body may also help your peace of mind.

Click on this link to: Post a Bricklaying or Brick Paving Job with xpertfind.com

Some Brickwork terms to help you out

Brickpointing, bricklaying and brick paving can be very confusing. Some common terms your bricklayer may throw at you:

Brick Specifications:

The thickness of a brick wall is measured by the length of a brick, so a wall one brick thick will contain two layers of brick, one and a half bricks is three layers etc. A common metric coordinating size is 215 x 102.5 x 65mm, which is intended to work with a 10mm mortar joint: 75mm course height, 215mm wall thickness etc. This is based on the earlier inch sizes. There are many different standard brick sizes worldwide, most with some coordinating principle

Frog up/down:

 A frog is a recessed part of a surface of a brick. Pressed bricks are laid ‘frog up’ when maximum strength is required especially in engineering work. This method also increases the mass of a wall and decreases sound transmittance. Pressed bricks may be laid frog down; this method is favoured by the bricklayer since less mortar is required for bedding. There may also be a marginal increase in thermal insulation due to the entrapped air pockets. A disadvantage of this method is that with bricks having a very deep ‘V’ shaped frog there may be some difficulty in making reliable fixings to the wall when the fixing hits an air pocket.

Tiesor cavity ties:

These are used to tie layers of brickwork into one another, to form a structural whole. A common type is a figure-eight of twisted wire, generally stainless steel to avoid failure due to corrosion. The loop at either end is buried in the mortar bed as the wall is built up.

Mortar:

Is a mixture of sand, lime and Portland cement, mixed with water to a workable consistency. It is applied with a bricklayer's trowel, and sets solid in a few hours. There are many different mixes and admixtures used to make mortars with different performance characteristics.

There are several other terms that are used (bats, closers, headers, squints, plinths, cramps, joints, honeycombs, party walls, fire walls, extends) – but don’t be alarmed and just ask your bricklayer what the term means. They should be able to explain it to you in simple laymen terms – usually the mark of a good tradesman!