# Bricklaying – what to charge in 2026 (UK)
This guide is for UK bricklayers (brick and block) doing domestic and small commercial work. It covers realistic 2026 day rates, common bricklaying jobs, how price work actually works, and how materials and margins usually look.
Quick rule of thumb: in 2026, most self‑employed bricklayers are around £240–£320/day on day rate, or on price work per 1,000 bricks / per m² if they're on site.
1. Day rates – 2026
These are labour‑only bands, pre‑VAT, based on 2026 cost guides and earnings surveys.
Current sources say:
- Checkatrade's builder/bricklayer guide shows a bricklayer day rate of £240–£320/day, with many brickies working in that band in 2026.
- Other guides quote £150–£200/day as a lower‑end "average day rate", but that sits closer to small domestic jobs and less experienced bricklayers.
Newly qualified / first year self‑employed
- London & South East: £160–£200/day
- Midlands: £140–£180/day
- North of England: £130–£170/day
- Scotland / Wales / rural: £130–£170/day
Experienced (around 3–5 years on your own)
- London & South East: £220–£280/day
- Midlands: £180–£230/day
- North of England: £170–£220/day
- Scotland / Wales / rural: £170–£220/day
Highly experienced / fast / specialist
Running gangs, complex details, very tidy domestic work, good speed.
- London & South East: £260–£340/day
- Midlands: £220–£300/day
- North of England: £210–£280/day
- Scotland / Wales / rural: £200–£270/day
A 2026 earnings guide for bricklayers shows self‑employed sole traders around £300/day and limited‑company owners at £320/day, with annual incomes in the mid‑50s to £60k before tax for busy brickies. That lines up with the experienced and specialist bands above.
2. Common bricklaying jobs and 2026 price ranges
These are typical labour + standard materials prices where relevant, based on brick cost guides and wall cost breakdowns.
Garden wall (1m high x 4m long, single skin)
- Typical price: roughly £600–£1,200 depending on bricks and foundations.
- Includes: Basic footing (if needed), laying bricks, simple capping, pointing.
- Price goes up if: Decorative bricks, piers, fancy caps, poor access or deeper foundations.
Garden wall (1m high x 12m long)
- Typical price: £1,140–£2,160 depending on brick type and spec (from Checkatrade's wall cost breakdown).
- As a rough m² rate, that's around £95–£180/m² for straightforward garden walls in 2026 once you include labour and materials.
Brick steps
- Bricklayer day rate: around £265–£305/day (average £280/day)
- Labourer: around £145–£175/day (average £160/day)
- Typical small set of steps (simple 3–4 tread flight) ends up around £500–£1,000+ all‑in, depending on brick type, foundations and design.
Retaining wall (low, garden use)
- Typical price: £150–£300/m² depending on design and engineering (not full civil‑grade retaining).
- Includes: Excavation, footing, brick or blockwork, backfilling.
- Price goes up if: Extra reinforcement, drainage, access issues.
New facing brickwork to extension (domestic)
- Brick cost: common facing bricks £650–£1,500 per 1,000 for supply, depending on type.
- Labour is often priced per 1,000 bricks or per m²; total "per m²" rates (labour + materials) commonly sit around £120–£200/m² for standard domestic facing brickwork in 2026.
Blockwork inner leaf / garage / outbuilding
- Typical price: around £50–£120/m² (labour + materials) depending on thickness and finish.
- Labour‑only rates on price work for blockwork have been around £15–£20/m² in recent years on bigger sites, depending on region and conditions.
Repointing brickwork (domestic)
- Typical price: £30–£60/m² for standard access repointing, more for awkward heights or lime work.
- Includes: Raking out joints, repointing, clean down.
- Price goes up if: Scaffolding needed, heritage work, poor existing mortar.
Labour‑only bricklaying (for a builder)
- Per 1,000 bricks: Roughly £600–£1,000 per 1,000 bricks for labour, depending on region, complexity and volume.
- Per m² of facing brickwork: Roughly £40–£80/m² labour‑only on small domestic jobs, often lower on big runs.
- Day rate: £240–£320/day for a bricklayer, with a two‑brickie gang plus a labourer often pricing around £560–£720/day total labour.
Those numbers shift a lot with local demand and how efficient the gang is, but they're what homeowners and small builders are seeing in 2026 guides.
3. What bricklayers actually earn (2026)
Use ONS to sanity‑check, then layer in trade surveys.
- Employee earnings: ASHE groups bricklayers under "Construction and building trades", with median employee pay in the high‑£20,000s to low‑£30,000s depending on exact role and region.
A 2026 bricklaying earnings guide breaks it down like this:
- Newly qualified bricklayer (employed): around £32,000/year pre‑tax.
- Experienced bricklayer (1–5 years): around £40,000/year pre‑tax.
- Self‑employed sole trader: around £300/day and £56,000+/year pre‑tax if busy.
- Limited‑company owner: around £320/day and £60,000+/year pre‑tax.
Reality check:
Those self‑employed figures assume steady work and realistic price‑work or day rates. Your real take‑home drops once you factor in van, fuel, tools, insurance, downtime, and under‑priced jobs.
New brickies employed are around low‑30s. A self‑employed bricklayer on decent price‑work or day rates can push mid‑50s and above – but only if they watch their rates and don't fund builders and merchants out of their own pockets.
4. What's usually NOT included in bricklaying quotes
These are classic brickwork assumptions that cause rows:
Foundations and groundworks Extra excavation, removal of unexpected rubbish, deeper or wider footings than assumed. Often priced separately if ground conditions are unknown.
Scaffolding and access Scaffolds, towers, hoists – often by the main contractor or as a separate line, not in the bricklayer's basic rate.
Materials beyond basic bricks and mortar Lintels, cavity trays, insulation, wall ties, weeps, damp‑proof courses – sometimes supplied by the main contractor rather than the brickie, especially on site.
Making good and finishing Decorating, landscaping, extra paving, cleaning down beyond standard wash‑off. Acid cleaning and specialist cleaning may be separate.
Design changes mid‑job Extra piers, raised heights, changes in brick type, decorative panels – these should be variations, not freebies.
5. Day rate vs price work – what's normal in bricklaying?
Bricklaying is one of the trades most likely to be on price work.
Domestic work
Small domestic jobs (garden walls, small extensions, steps) are often priced as fixed quotes, but built in the background either from:
- A day rate (£240–£320/day for the brickie), or
- A price per 1,000 bricks or per m² that the bricklayer knows works for them.
Customers normally just see one fixed price, not your internal rate.
Site and commercial work
Larger jobs and new‑build sites are often price work:
- £X per 1,000 bricks
- £X per m² of blockwork
- £X per plot on housebuilding sites
Brickies might also do day rate work for snagging, tricky detailing, or when the builder doesn't want to run price work on small packages.
Domestic: mostly fixed price, with the bricklayer using price‑work logic in the background. Site/commercial: price work is king, with day rates used for odd bits and pieces.
6. Materials and markup for bricklayers (2026)
Bricklayers are usually more labour‑than‑materials, but there's still room – and need – for margin.
- Brick cost guides put common machine‑made bricks at around £650–£1,500 per 1,000 for supply to private customers in 2026, with facing bricks and handmade bricks much higher.
- If you're supplying bricks yourself, a modest markup of 10–15% on bricks and 10–20% on sundries (sand, cement, ties, trays, weeps) is normal to cover ordering, storage and waste.
- On more involved jobs where you're managing more of the package (foundations plus brickwork plus waste), overall gross margins on materials and labour combined in the 15–25% range are common for small domestic builders in 2026.
As with other trades, you don't have to spell "markup" out line by line. If asked:
"There's a small margin on materials to cover my time ordering, storing and dealing with waste. You still benefit from my builder's merchant prices – if you bought small quantities yourself, you'd usually pay more."
What to do next
- Read: 14.1 – Day rate vs price work vs quoted (bricklaying is the classic price‑work trade)
- Read: 14.2 – How to price your first job without underselling yourself
- Read: 14.9 – How to price extras and variations without losing the customer
- Read: 14.3 – When to raise your prices
- Download: Payment schedule and deposit terms template
- Use: Late Payment Calculator – to see how slow‑paying builders are really hitting your day rate
Sources (UK, 2026‑relevant)
- ONS – Employee earnings in the UK (ASHE) – construction and building trades, including bricklayers.
- Checkatrade – "Bricklaying cost breakdown 2026", "Cost to build a brick wall", "Brick steps cost", "How much do tradespeople cost?" – day rates, cost per 1,000 bricks, m² rates.
- MyJobQuote – "How Much Do Bricklayers Make in the UK? [2026 Guide]" – day rates and annual earnings for different seniority levels.
- Travis Perkins / merchant and brick cost guides – typical brick prices per 1,000 by type.
- Contractor and builder markup resources – common materials and gross margin ranges for small construction firms.
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