# Most brick layed in a day on the job (that still sold)



## HgWhiz (Mar 13, 2009)

What is fasted layed brick or block that you have witnessed on the job ?
In a hour, before lunch or all day.


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## cleveman (Dec 28, 2007)

2000 modulars each by two on an apartment building. That was double normal.


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## jomama (Oct 25, 2008)

I got drug into (long story) laboring for one of my employees that was in the Bricklayer 500 at WOC a few years ago. He layed close to 600 brick in an hour (I think) but got DQ'ed. I did get to watch the winner tho, & he laid 792 in an hour, if I remember correctly. None of the walls were sellable IMO. Either way, in the real world, I would say a great mason at ideal heights laying mods with no detail could lay between 1500-2000 in a day, but be awfully tired . :notworthy


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## NJ Brickie (Jan 31, 2009)

1500-2000 a day? 8hr. day? I hope that wall can only be seen from a high speed train. I would think you would get sea sick looking down those bed joints. Couldn't spend much time striking and polishing those joints. Seems like the fastest guys only have speed and not much quality. Thats not to say the slow guys always have quality. Go as fast as you can and still produce nice work everyday.


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## Resta (Feb 11, 2009)

Quality and Quantity not all the times go together.


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## jomama (Oct 25, 2008)

I didn't say I ever did 1500-2000 per day, nor could I, because I'm too picky. But I know in ideal conditions, this mason could do it. Just do the math someday when your layin gfor an hour. If you are using poles on a large wall, no telephone or ordering guys around, long, straight wall, you may be suprised how many you can lay in an hour. Now imagine being on Hydro scaffold, always at ideal height, no bending over, no reaching for anything. BTW, what's an 8 hr. day?


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## Tscarborough (Feb 25, 2006)

If you estimate a job at 1000 brick a day per mason, even on a straight up flat wall, you will lose your ass. I hear brags about "laid per day", but realistically a sellable wall is 600 to 800 for a humping crew on an 8 hour shift.


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## stacker (Jan 31, 2006)

my cousin and i layed 3030 mods in one 8 hour day.we were on a straight run,with only control joints.scaffold was built and stocked,everything jelled perfect for us that day.

when i was working in liberal ks on a school,4 of us laid 25,000 mods in a week(40 1/2 hrs).same type setup,straight runs,scaffold built and stocked.the only down time was raising walk plank.


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## bobcaygeonjon (Aug 30, 2007)

I once laid 1750 in an 8 hour day but that was an unusual day when everything just fell into place. Never been able to do it since. A normal day on a straight wall would be 700 to 1000.


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## DQM (Mar 7, 2009)

When I work for this company years ago worked with a guy 1500 to 2000 a day his wall looked like a piece of swiss cheese. He would strike his head joints with a trowel of mortar in hand. I tell my guys all I want from them is 600 a day but they better be perfect.


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## HgWhiz (Mar 13, 2009)

On a Video Update (a wanna be Blockbuster Video) in Frisco ,Tx in the summer of 97', on a 75 ft wall wth me spreading a little less than 1\4 of each course , and handing brick to him, my brother-in-law (on a commercial job) layed, jointed, brushed, and rejointed 1375 modular brick in 2 1\2 hours. The only hole was the one that those poor 3 bricklayers got put in 6 courses deep around the corner. They couldn't get out and their section was only 30 ft. If it hadn't been for him having to rig the trig so that both, us and them could have a true line despite the drastic course difference my brother-in-law would have easily surpassed 1400 and been flirtin with 1500.


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## Waggz (Dec 29, 2008)

One summer when I was a teen, I worked as a laborer for a mason. Our crew was 2 masons and 2 laborers. We laid a 900+ block foundation in 8.5 hours. Don't remember if that was good, I just remember we finished the foundation in one day and that I was realllllllly tired.


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## Paul B (Mar 10, 2007)

HgWhiz said:


> , on a 75 ft wall wth me spreading a little less than 1\4 of each course , and handing brick to him, my brother-in-law (on a commercial job) layed, jointed, brushed, and rejointed 1375 modular brick in 2 1\2 hours.


 
Man that is moving, that's 9+ per minute, not calling you liar, but that is hard to believe. I would like that done.


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## HgWhiz (Mar 13, 2009)

Paul B said:


> Man that is moving, that's 9+ per minute, not calling you liar, but that is hard to believe. I would like that done.


 
Even though I believe the key is having a personal spreader that hands you brick so that you are laying on perfect mud the whole time nonstop, I still feel like I held my brother-in-law back because I just started spreading mud for the first time a couple of weeks before that day and I couldn't grab the brick for him fast enough, usually when someone hands brick to a bricklayer, as he or she lays the brickthere ther is a few seconds of holding the brick in front of them before they grab it. That day it was the other way around meaning he was waiting on me to get the brick in front of him.


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## Teetorbilt (Feb 12, 2004)

Back in the late 60's we hired this mason named Frank. He was in his early 80's He was a brick layin' fool, never did take a count on him.

On the flat, it took three young guys to mix mortar (in a boat) and hob to him. The higher we got the more guys we had to add to keep him busy.

I never saw a stringline and his old level would come out once in a while. Boy would he holler if those guys didn't keep up with him. I'll see if I can put up a few pics.


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## Tscarborough (Feb 25, 2006)

Teetor, he was probably trained in the Gabraith method.


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## Teetorbilt (Feb 12, 2004)

Here's Frank at about 82. About 1971 or 2.










Me, same period in front of our work. Frank did most of it, Dad built the forms and pitched in just because he liked it, I was just a spare hand but was taught well. There were about 30 of these storefronts and in places the old brick went up all 3 floors.










Just some entry's. There were 6 or 8 of these.










One of the 12 fountains. There were matching planters down the center of the walkways. You can see the planters in the far background and foreground.










Ol' Frank was hell on wheels.

To all that say one guy couldn't do all of this. 95% of all of the wrought iron work that was done one this job was done by Paul Pincus, in his late 60's. I lay claim to the remaining 5%, I really enjoyed blacksmithing.


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## lukachuki (Feb 11, 2005)

Thanks for sharing Teetor!!!


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## HazMat1969 (Apr 12, 2009)

Tscarborough said:


> If you estimate a job at 1000 brick a day per mason, even on a straight up flat wall, you will lose your ass. I hear brags about "laid per day", but realistically a sellable wall is 600 to 800 for a humping crew on an 8 hour shift.


That's 100% correct. Only in people's drink induced imaginations (down the pub) do bricklayers routinely lay 1000 bricks a day. For quality face work in half bond I wouldn't estimate beyond 60 bricks/hr - about 600 for a hard days work.

I *HAVE* lost my ass on the few occasions I have been tempted to go beyond this. I no longer believe in unicorns, goblins, fairies, or ****-faced bricklayers in the local pub on a Saturday night who brag to me about throwing up a 1000 good bricks a day.


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## robert77 (Apr 14, 2009)

the average bricklayer should be able to lay approx 80 bricks an hour averaged out to between 500-700 per day


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## stacker (Jan 31, 2006)

BCConstruction said:


> Where you from Stu? You almost sound english. Be the first time i heard anyone from US say Cafe or Pub lol
> 
> But talking of brick walls, there's a 4.5 mile long and about 8ft high brick wall that surrounds a manor house down the road from where i used to live in the UK. Would love to know how long that took to build.


week and a half if stuart did it.:whistling


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

stacker said:


> week and a half if stuart did it.:whistling


 
Dam he's fast


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## stuart45 (Oct 7, 2009)

BCConstruction said:


> But talking of brick walls, there's a 4.5 mile long and about 8ft high brick wall that surrounds a manor house down the road from where i used to live in the UK. Would love to know how long that took to build.


Was it in the West Country on the way to Longleat Safari Park? I remember that one well, I had to buy ten rolls of braided nylon and splice them together, and a box full of twigs. :laughing:
TBH I can't remember counting how many bricks I've laid, at the end of the day I just wanna clean and trowel and go home. I leave that to the foreman to count up and ***** at me for being too slow. On facework when you are building corners up to gauge, setting in the frames, fixing frame cramps and rubbing up to a decent standard I reckon most trowels would average about 600. You could easily double that on the inside work, especially on the 9 inch party walls.
I live in Somerset. 
BTW if I was cutting the rubbers for that niche I would still be on it at Christmas, probably the 2010 one.


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## jomama (Oct 25, 2008)

Welcome stuart. Glad to see you made it from the DIY site. I'm sure there are quite a few here who will take interest in how you do things in England.:notworthy


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## lukachuki (Feb 11, 2005)

stuart45 said:


> TBH I can't remember counting how many bricks I've laid, at the end of the day


TBH we liked you better before TBH.


Welcome to the forum of true "ahem" professionals.


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## stuart45 (Oct 7, 2009)

Thanks for the welcome guys. I thought I'd cut my teeth on DIY forums giving advice on how much washing liquid to put in the mud before stepping up to the Major League. 
how's it goin jomama, I didn't recognise you without the 45. Does it mean the same as mine, the number of bricks you can lay in 10 seconds:laughing:


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## harpomason (Oct 29, 2009)

You guys are funny. 750 bricks in 6 hours on rough in for fireplace, H/O's wife new nothing about how its done so i said it will look great after we paint it don't you think? Her reaction was priceless.


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## 6stringmason (May 20, 2005)

I put in my personal best today. 1000 in 3.5 hours. Straight run.


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## Framer53 (Feb 23, 2008)

BCConstruction said:


> Where you from Stu? You almost sound english. Be the first time i heard anyone from US say Cafe or Pub lol
> 
> But talking of brick walls, there's a 4.5 mile long and about 8ft high brick wall that surrounds a manor house down the road from where i used to live in the UK. Would love to know how long that took to build.


 
2 days at Stu's rate!:thumbsup:


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## NJ Brickie (Jan 31, 2009)

6stringmason said:


> I put in my personal best today. 1000 in 3.5 hours. Straight run.



4 and half to 5 brick a minute. That is really moving. Was it all struck and polished?


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## dakzaag (Jan 6, 2009)

We are going to need pic's to verify the accuracy of you claim.:thumbsup:

That's dropping them in pretty good for a cheese head.:laughing:


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## 6stringmason (May 20, 2005)

Ha dakzaag!!

I'll get some pics tomorrow. It was the side of a garage.

And no, the majority of it was not struck. We did that after lunch. It took another half hour.


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## 6stringmason (May 20, 2005)

Alright, heres the pictures. 

I did the right half of the wall. It was 960 brick in 3.5 hours. I did have some help for a little bit of it with mud spreading, but most of it I did myself.


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## dakzaag (Jan 6, 2009)

Nice work, what brick is that? Looks like Hansen Royal Oak, queen size maybe? 

Put a window in that jail cell will ya.


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## lukachuki (Feb 11, 2005)

6stringmason said:


> Alright, heres the pictures.
> 
> I did the right half of the wall. It was 960 brick in 3.5 hours. I did have some help for a little bit of it with mud spreading, but most of it I did myself.


I hate to be critical but all those lines run to one point....how can that be level?




Good work man....even brett favre couldn't do that.


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## 6stringmason (May 20, 2005)

LOL! A gnats hair.

It is a queen size, not sure of the name though. I didnt order the materials and it wasnt my job. I was just helping a guy out. Its not the prettiest work I've done, but I would say its sellable and we really slammed 'em in.


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## masonryworks (Dec 24, 2009)

Most 8x8x16 block up in 8 hrs with 2 hod tenders, it was a 12' high retaining wall with a bond beam and 2 #5 bar every 2 feet we had two 22.5 angles on it and was cutting those and all rebar with a manual cutter, we were able to get 550 block up that day. It might not be much to most of you, but it was a lot for me. I was wore out.

Thanks, www.masonryworktools.com


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## stacker (Jan 31, 2006)

the most 8 inch block i have laid in a day is 630,with one laborer.it was a foundation for a house that was moved in.the guy wanted it done in a day so he could set the house in a couple days.the bill came to $1260.00 and he threw a fit."12 hundred dollars for one days work!"i told him if it would have made him feel better i could have stretched it out over 2 or 3 but that you wanted it done today.


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## masonryworks (Dec 24, 2009)

Good Reply Man, people just don't realize an inexperienced mason would have taken 3 days, and the homeowner wouldn't have been upset, kinda strange.:thumbsup:

www.masonryworktools.com


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## todd8541 (Sep 14, 2009)

well im looking for masons if your counts and quality is that good pm me we need to talk. However, if you can't do it in reality ill send you home that same day haha


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