laying blocks

[LSB]

Can someone tell me what to expect to pay for block laying and how it is charged, not including materials.

Is it a day rate, hourly rate, block rate etc.

And what can we expect as a day rate

 

Edited October 26, 2020 by LSB
new bit

[PeterW]

Depends !! I pay £13.50 /m or £1.35 each for standards and £15/m for 140mm blocks. Day rates vary wildly but again I pay around the £230 mark for brickie and labourer. 
 

 

[recoveringbuilder]

Hubby used to do it and it was a square metre price.

[nod]

Round here NW of England most sites are paying  £20 plus m2

[Buzz]

The first quote i have had back works out at £17.50 M2 (Norfolk) with a well respected builder.

[Oz07]

Doesn't sound bad. What about extras insulation, trays, lintels etc? Last lot I used even charge a quid a metre to roll out dpc! I offered to do it but can't pick and choose so just stuck to making tea!

[nod]

11 minutes ago, Oz07 said:

Doesn't sound bad. What about extras insulation, trays, lintels etc? Last lot I used even charge a quid a metre to roll out dpc! I offered to do it but can't pick and choose so just stuck to making tea!

All in 

[Oz07]

1 hour ago, nod said:

All in 

I meant op. Just so they're on the ball that there can be extras

[LSB]

12 hours ago, Oz07 said:

I meant op. Just so they're on the ball that there can be extras

I have been doing my calculations and as we are doing a 240m2 single story barn conversion where we have to build the 2nd skin for a cavity and replace some of the existing walls it turns out to be just short of 5,000 blocks.

When I told hubby he said, now much will it cost.  

I will have to work out the m2 of the walls to try and get a price.

We were planning on getting all the materials as hubby was going to do it himself, but has now realised that it will take a very long time.

 

how many m2 tends to be done per day.

 

[PeterW]

5000 blocks is 500sqm

 

 

[Gus Potter]

It's doable on you own.. but!

 

You can build a house just on your own and do say 95% of the work yourself, you can't do gas, and sign off on electrics unless you have the registrations nowadays. I did this a while back and it took me three years to do a 1 and a 1/2 storey house of a similar size.

 

Just on you own with a half bag Belle mixer, a good barrow, under cover, with not too many windows, tricky bits, and loading out the blocks each night for the next day, cleaning the mixer then with this amount of blocks I would go for 150 blocks a day (15m sq) if you are fit and tenatious. Expect this to drop off from time to time, well quite often, go for a hundered a day (10m sq) tops as you aslo need to order materials etc.

 

I'm developing a formula for just for this.

 

Variables so far are:

 

T = time ..how much of a life do you want

h = how old are you.. performance tends to drop with each decade (speaking very much from experience although this is not applicable to all)

i = how much is it worth to you for the independance of choosing the pace of the works

n = new.. will the work still look fresh and new when it's finished and .. will you too?

k = Keen? will you go off the idea halfway through, rush it so as you can get onto something more interesting?

 

[{(T * h * i * n * k) * (constant variables)] + (more variables)

 

A constant variable is a value that can be changed if you don't like the answer, unlike gravity say.

 

That said by building a house on my own I created a job for myself for a while and saved / made a good bit, tax free so don't be put off thinking about it, it may well suit some

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 27, 2020 by Gus Potter
More encouragement

[LSB]

40 minutes ago, Gus Potter said:

It's doable on you own.. but!

 

You can build a house just on your own and do say 95% of the work yourself, you can't do gas, and sign off on electrics unless you have the registrations nowadays. I did this a while back and it took me three years to do a 1 and a 1/2 storey house of a similar size.

 

Just on you own with a half bag Belle mixer, a good barrow, under cover, with not too many windows, tricky bits, and loading out the blocks each night for the next day, cleaning the mixer then with this amount of blocks I would go for 150 blocks a day (15m sq) if you are fit and tenatious. Expect this to drop off from time to time, well quite often, go for a hundered a day (10m sq) tops as you aslo need to order materials etc.

 

I'm developing a formula for just for this.

 

Variables so far are:

 

T = time ..how much of a life do you want

h = how old are you.. performance tends to drop with each decade (speaking very much from experience although this is not applicable to all)

i = how much is it worth to you for the independance of choosing the pace of the works

n = new.. will the work still look fresh and new when it's finished and .. will you too?

k = Keen? will you go off the idea halfway through, rush it so as you can get onto something more interesting?

 

[{(T * h * i * n * k) * (constant variables)] + (more variables)

 

A constant variable is a value that can be changed if you don't like the answer, unlike gravity say.

 

That said by building a house on my own I created a job for myself for a while and saved / made a good bit, tax free so don't be put off thinking about it, it may well suit some

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks, that sounds really sensible.

Like lots we are really budget constrained. 

Right now I'm still at the estimation stage so until I get all the costs I won't know the real situation and how far our savings will go.

We are also considering ICF as a quicker solution, but I need to understand more about it and the costs there.

 

 

 

[Declan52]

Do not under estimate the physical toll of carrying that amount of blocks and mortar will have on someone who has never done this type of work before. Your fingers will have little to no skin left on them. Your knees, back, elbows and wrists will be sore each and every day. 

Plus by the time you have the house built you might have become pretty decent at laying blocks and go and look at the first few walls you built and cringe at what way you left them.