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A very rookie question about bricklaying. How do I get into the trade?


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Hello, I would like to work in construction, mainly interested in bricklaying however I don't know how I should go about it and I don't know anyone in the trade to ask so I decided to try and ask here. I thought of taking a "intensive 5/ 10 day course" from a training provider or college which costs around £500- £1000 to get my foot in the door kind of, but I'm not sure if that would have any relevance to potential employers. Also when I search job websites I notice most bricklaying jobs are temporary/ work for a certain time on some projects, they are not full time jobs, which is understandable and I would like to get qualified and work on sites on my days off from my full time job. Basically I want to combine bricklaying with the full time job that I have after educating myself and being able to do the job although to a basic level at the beginning.

 

Thank you to anyone who red this, any input and advice is appreciated.

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As I see it, you need either quaifications followed by credible experience, or lots and lots of experience.

 

Then you need to find the jobs, usually starting simply or at the bottom.

 

The impression I get is that training can be through Apprenticeship or a course at an FE College.

 

When I did my "bit of everything" 9 month evening class abck in 2012 ish, at my local college they were teaching it as a skill.

 

That will not help you find a way in, but there seems to be demand at present.

 

I will say that imo being good is the thing to aim for, even if it takes longer. And I expect  that the investment needs to be at least as much time as money - and then it will be to your advantage to specialise in a niche or several niches.

 

HTH.

 

Ferdinand

 

Edited by Ferdinand
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First thing to do is get yourself a site safety certificate, they tend to be cheap to get, sometimes even free.

Then just approach small companies and explain what you want to do.

Once you have done a year of it, then look into proper college courses.

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It is worth mentioning the City & Guides qualification in bricklaying, I think it sits between a formal apprenticeship and a two week experience course. I wonder if the status of C&G could lead to someone else paying the tuition fees at least in the short term.

 

https://www.cityandguilds.com/qualifications-and-apprenticeships/construction/trades/6705-bricklaying#tab=information

 

Thinking longer term there are opposing economic factors to consider:

  1. Modern construction techniques will surely lead to a reduction or complete elimination of bricks and blocks used in a new build's construction.
  2. Conversely I think there is a demographic bulge of UK citizens about to retire form the building industry, so the short-term supply/demand imbalance is good for a new entrant.
  3. House building will never get outsourced to a call center in India or an AI algorithm running in a cloud computer server in Seattle.
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A simpler method would be to start on site as a brickies labourer. It will give you a feel of what goes on and how hard a job it is. You can earn a very good wage but you earn every penny. 

First thing you need will be your site safety certificate. In NI it's called the construction skills register,CSR, and is a single day course that covers all the basics. No one has ever failed it but you can't work on a site without it.

Once you have the card then you can call into various sites and see if they are looking anyone. I'm not sure you will be able to combine it with your present job though as they will want some one available everyday. 

We had lots of apprentices that went to tech for 3 years and could do all the fancy arches and useless things they teach them but couldn't build a corner or run a few blocks along a line.

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24 minutes ago, Declan52 said:

First thing you need will be your site safety certificate. In NI it's called the construction skills register,CSR, and is a single day course that covers all the basics. No one has ever failed it but you can't work on a site without it.

Once you have the card then you can call into various sites and see if they are looking anyone.

In England/Wales it is called the Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) https://www.cscs.uk.com/ (it's purely a H&S scheme)

All large properly-run building sites in England & Wales require you to show your CSCS card before they will let you on site. Some now also require you to prove that you've had asbestos awareness training. This one is simple to do as the training is on-line and only takes approx 3 hours.

Edited by Ian
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Approach the Citb They run a six months course then will place you with a local company Normally eight weeks then back to them for a week This will normally be a thee year course 

With your wages payed directly by the CITB 

Taken from all contractors and subcontractors 

Good luck

Probably five years before you see the big bucks 

 

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I agree with this wholeheartedly with what @Declan52 said. 

 

I have been building little walls and structures fairly successfully for 20-25 years, and last year when we kicked off the building works with the garage I approached a brickie and got him to work - he worked FT for a firm so did it for me on weekends on his own (my whole build has been like this - he was good, very good so I was happy for it to take significantly longer) so the deal was I would labour for him. I told him just to order me about and I would get on with it. Most of the time my setup time only took an hour or so with a top up every couple of hours so not too bad.

 

On day one I was clearly versed on how to best setup block and brick for the brickie and how to make a really nice mortar by the mixer load more or less by eye. Not rocket science but how he wanted the site setup made a lot of sense to a pro doing a large structure and meant he only had to move a foot or two to grab block and lay it. The mortar was also laid out on boards spread along the wall - I have always used a bucket or barrow and end up moving it along with me which actually just costs time and hassle. 

 

Then the actual brick/block laying, I watched him lay 1000's of blocks and when doing lintels and things I helped. I learnt so much just by watching, little tricks to lift a block up above your head and place it in square and level by basically balancing an edge on your thumbnail and holding the other end with your hand - daft things like that.

 

About a week after he left I needed to build a small wall maybe 5 blocks high, I kid you not, I was so impressed with my work I didn't want to have it dry dashed and was sad to see it all covered up. It was the straightest, most level block work I have ever done and I can attribute the vast improvement to watching and learning on the job and that was only over about a 12 months period when he has been on and off our site. I would honestly happily build a garage now - the cost would be the time for me, it would take me much much longer.

 

Imagine what you could learn doing it constantly. 

 

 

Edited by Carrerahill
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Can I ask ‘why bricklaying?’

If it’s because you like the great outdoors,I’d check just how much you like it by standing outside for 8 hours when it’s +4degreesthis winter! 

Very hard on the body after time too-I’m on my second set of hips & have a John Hurt tribute act for a stomach after numerous hernia repairs,and I’m not 50 for a couple of years yet. 
As others have said,the trend now is to design out expensive labour elements of the build,and if this continues it will have a major impact on our trade. 
With that in mind,& the fact that they aren’t weather dependant,have you considered plumbing or electrics? 
 

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36 minutes ago, Brickie said:

Can I ask ‘why bricklaying?’

If it’s because you like the great outdoors,I’d check just how much you like it by standing outside for 8 hours when it’s +4degreesthis winter! 

Very hard on the body after time too-I’m on my second set of hips & have a John Hurt tribute act for a stomach after numerous hernia repairs,and I’m not 50 for a couple of years yet. 
As others have said,the trend now is to design out expensive labour elements of the build,and if this continues it will have a major impact on our trade. 
With that in mind,& the fact that they aren’t weather dependant,have you considered plumbing or electrics? 
 

give it another 10years an HSE will have them building a scaffolding tent around you  .LOL

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1 hour ago, scottishjohn said:

give it another 10years an HSE will have them building a scaffolding tent around you  .LOL

That’s what they do in Canada I believe. 
Over here,the more costs which are added into a Masonry pacakage option,the more tempting alternative  systems will become. 

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@Brickie bricklaying seems interesting to me, and I think I would like it, like any other job ofcourse it has some cons.

 

Could you tell me are bricklayers mostly self employed? If you don't have a full time job you would have to jump from contract to contract on different sites/ jobs all the time which would be ok for me as long as there is enough work all year round.

 

Most jobs I see are for a few weeks or months, that would mean that you need to search for jobs rather often throughout the year.

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In the South,Id say over 90% are self employed. 
What tends to happen when you’re in the first say 5-10 years of your tradeis,you get a start somewhere (through an advert,hearing through contacts or just walking on site) and,if you’re happy & the brickwork firm are happy with you,they’ll offer you work on another job once the one you’re on is completed or close to being so. 
 

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