Jump to content

Brick Flower Beds: In Search Mason, Advice


Recommended Posts

Hello All,

Wife and I are in search of a brick layer/mason to create a double thick brick flower bed and cut the brick in half so it's only half thick and tile the concrete patio outside the front door.

We have the matching brick which came from another home in the neighborhood. Flower bed is approx 25 feet about 5 bricks high. Would require a concrete footing to sit on.

We have recevied bids to do the job from $2,650 to $5,000+. When I ask how long it will take the standard answer is 2 days one guy said 3 days. So then I do the math from prior experience and the guy who bid the job will send over 2 maybe 3 guys for 2-3 days. So this works out to approx $60/hour upto $125/hour.

The bids have included the labor, concrete footing, and mortar. Am I just too cheap and a bid for $2,650 is not bad? Any prior experiance out there? I may start work on the concrete footing soon and then perhaps start trying to lay the brick myself but I would really like the job to be done right and I'm not sure this is the right project to start my brick laying know how.

Thanks,

Scharpe St Guy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Scharpe,

$2,650 to $5,000 isn't all that bad. I recently had a brick stair built as part of a project we did and the brick stair was $3,100.

I would venture that the footer required to support the brick is a big part of the price. If you could get the beam put in by yourself, the masons might give you a better price on the brick laying; that's really two different crafts anyway. That said, you will probably pay $800/1000 brick for a very small job like that. Maybe more since it requires cutting all the brick. ($800/thousand would include sand, morter, labor, etc.).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

JG and MidTown,

Thank you for your reply's. I'm going to measure the sqft and use the numbers provided to see if it is in the correct size ball park.

I have decided to do the footing myself so this should save a few dollars!

Thanks again and I love this new Section Editor.

Scharpe St Guy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Flipper,

I obtained a bid for $1,050 not including the concrete footer which I will do myself. So this is setting the bricks, slicing, cutting, etc... I intend on setting the footer this weekend if the weather will allow.

Flower bed will be two bricks wide and about 4-5 bricks high. The front porch will also be slightly extended and covered in bricks. Hopefully it really POPS. Wife and I placed an offer on a home near Tidwell and Donovan close to Garden Oaks yesterday, if that comes about then our home will be on the market soon.

Scharpe St Guy

Scharpe St Guy,

I hope your footing comes out well. How do you plan on building it?

Also, don't bother trying to figure out the $/hour. It'll just drive you nuts :)

flipper

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wife and I placed an offer on a home near Tidwell and Donovan close to Garden Oaks yesterday, if that comes about then our home will be on the market soon.

Would it be on a lane that starts with an S and has two words in it? A lane that has a house for sale on the corner, and then one further down the street?

Edited by jm1fd
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jm1fd,

No neither of those two homes on Sue Marie Ln. I am hoping to have confirmation on our offer today but nothing yet.

Scharpe St Guy

Would it be on a lane that starts with an S and has two words in it? A lane that has a house for sale on the corner, and then one further down the street?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • The title was changed to Brick Flower Beds: In Search Mason, Advice

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...