Bricklayer laying clay bricks on a Perth residential construction site

Bricklaying and Blockwork Estimating Perth

Course counts, mortar volumes, wall ties and labour rates for single-skin and double-brick Perth construction, plus besser block retaining walls and feature panels. Quantities you can put straight to a bricklayer.

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18+ years experience
First estimate free
24hr turnaround
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Perth Builds in Brick

Perth builds in brick. Double-brick is the dominant residential construction method here, and bricklaying is consistently one of the top three trade costs on a house build.

Get the quantities right and apply a real Perth labour rate, and you tender competitively. Get either one wrong and you either lose the job or win it with your margin already spent.

We estimate bricklaying and blockwork for Perth builders and bricklaying subbies. Course counts, mortar, ties, window sills, arches, feature panels and labour rates for every brick type common to WA construction.

Brick wall elevation drawing showing coursing lines and window openings, with a scale rule, dividers and a clay brick

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What We Cover in a Bricklaying Estimate

Element	How We Measure It	Notes
Brick quantities	Wall areas m2 x laying pattern, less openings	Opening deductions applied by lintel specification
Course counts	Wall height / course height (72mm + mortar)	Varies by brick format and mortar joint spec
Mortar	Calculated by joint volume per m2 of brickwork	WA cement and sand mix ratios applied
Wall ties	Ties per m2 by cavity width and tie specification	Standard and cyclone ties differentiated
Lintels	Length and type per opening from structural drawings	Brick arches priced separately
Sills and copings	Linear metres by profile type	Includes mortar and pointing labour
Feature brickwork	Soldier courses, corbels and arches by LM or item	Higher labour rate applied
Raked or bag finish	m2 by finish specification	Separate labour rate from standard laying

Bricklaying takeoff elements. Retaining walls in besser block or split-face block use the same methodology with different unit rates.

Why Perth Bricklaying Rates Differ

Perth bricklaying labour rates are among the highest in Australia. Strong demand from the volume home building market, combined with limited trade migration into WA, has kept rates elevated. An estimate using national average bricklaying labour will under-price a Perth job. We apply current local market rates.

Double-Brick vs Single-Skin vs Cavity Brick

Most Perth homes are double-brick, two leaves of brickwork with a 50mm cavity between them. The outer and inner leaves are measured separately because they carry different mortar and tie quantities.

Single-skin brickwork for fencing, boundary walls and commercial infill panels is a different calculation again. So is block, which lays faster per square metre but carries reinforcement and core fill the brick jobs do not.

What We Price It On

Double-brick residential with outer and inner skin quantified separately
Single-skin external walls for infill, boundary and fence panels
Cavity brick with insulation batts in the cavity
Besser block in 190 and 390 series for retaining and commercial
Split-face block for feature retaining walls and commercial facades
Hebel AAC block where the structural engineer specifies it
Rendered brick with render quantities added separately to the estimate
Brick fencing, piers and letterbox work on residential jobs

Brick wall being laid to a stringline on a Perth residential site with fresh mortar along the top course — Two leaves, one cavity. That is two separate wall areas, two mortar volumes and a tie count that moves with cavity width, which is why a single lump-sum brick rate never lands on a Perth house.

Wall areas measured

Less all openings

Perth labour rates

Not east-coast averages

24hr

Turnaround

Residential jobs

Free

First estimate

No obligation

Perth double-brick house at brickwork stage with scaffolding, brick packs and a mortar station on the sand pad

A Perth House Is Counted In Courses

A standard Perth house runs somewhere near twenty thousand bricks before a roof frame goes on. Every one of them is a brick supplied, a brick handled and a brick laid.

At that volume a small error compounds fast. Ten percent out on wall area is thousands of bricks and a week of labour nobody costed.

We measure it off the elevations course by course, opening by opening, so the number you hand a bricklayer is the number the wall actually takes.

Blockwork and Feature Brickwork

Retaining walls in besser block are a constant on Perth residential sites. The sloping blocks through the hills suburbs and the sand pad construction along the coast both throw up retaining work on jobs that were never sold as retaining jobs.

We quantify block counts, mortar, reinforcement, core fill and any starter bars as one package, not as a line item bolted on at the end.

Feature Work Is Not Standard Laying

Soldier courses above windows, brick arches and corbelled eaves attract a much higher labour rate than a straight run of wall. They are slow, they need setting out, and a good bricklayer prices them accordingly.

We measure feature brickwork separately and rate it separately. Lumping it into the main square metre rate is one of the easiest ways to under-price a detailed architectural job.

Send Us The Elevations, Not Just The Floor Plan

Wall areas come off the elevations, not the floor plan. Without elevations we are estimating wall heights, which means we are guessing at course counts. If you have a bricklaying schedule or a window schedule, send those too and the estimate tightens further.

01
Architectural Plans Received
Elevations and floor plan for wall area calculation, structural drawings for lintel and tie specifications.
02
Wall Areas Calculated
Gross wall area measured, openings deducted, feature elements identified and measured separately.
03
Quantities Compiled
Brick quantities by type, mortar volumes, tie counts, lintel schedule and sundries compiled into a schedule.
04
Rates Applied
Current Perth supply rates applied to material quantities. Labour rates differentiated by work type across standard laying, feature brickwork and blockwork.
05
Estimate Delivered
Structured priced document with quantities and costs. Ready for subcontractor comparison or direct submission.

Common Questions

Straight answers on how we price bricklaying and blockwork estimating in Perth. If yours is not here, send your plans and just ask.

Openings (windows, doors, garage doors) are deducted from the gross wall area. We also add back the time for cutting, neatening reveals and installing lintels over each opening. The bricklayer does not save as much time on openings as the area deduction suggests.

Yes. Mortar is included as a material cost, with cement, lime and sand quantities calculated by mix ratio from the mortar joint volume per m2. If a pre-bagged mortar product is specified, we price to that product's current Perth supply cost.

Yes. Repointing and tuckpointing on existing brickwork is priced by m2 of affected area, with labour rates reflecting the more labour-intensive nature of raking and re-pointing versus new construction.

Yes. A wastage allowance is applied on top of the net brick count to cover cuts, breakages and handling losses. Feature brickwork and heavily cut elevations carry a higher allowance than a straight run of wall, and we note the allowance on the estimate so you can adjust it if your bricklayer works to a different figure.

Yes. If you have already selected a brick, send us the product and we price the supply to that brick at its current Perth rate. If the brick is not selected yet, we price to a standard face brick and flag the line so you can swap the rate once the client chooses.

Yes. On a house build we frequently estimate brickwork, concrete and plastering together. Each trade is priced separately so subcontractor quotes can be compared directly.

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