How to price a facade or chimney as a bricklayer

A facade or chimney is rarely mispriced on the bricklaying itself. It gets mispriced on what surrounds the wall: the scaffolding, the flashing, the frost-free foundation and the preparation. Get a grip on the consumption figures and the fixed line items, and the quote holds - even when rain shows up in the middle of a pointing week. Here are the items you must include, and the norm figures that make the calculation robust.

The base figure is how many bricks go into a square metre. With standard Danish format and an ordinary stretcher bond (half-brick wall), reckon on about 68 soft-moulded bricks per m². The figure shifts with format and bond: Danish standard format typically sits at 60-68 bricks/m², while a larger format or a different bond (for example header or cross bond) changes both brick count and mortar consumption. Always calculate on the specific format you have chosen from the supplier.

Mortar consumption is tied to brick count and joint width. For a half-brick wall in standard format, consumption typically lands at 40-55 litres of ready-mixed mortar per m², depending on joint and brick. On a chimney the share of joint and flashing per m² is higher than on a flat facade, because there are more corners, cappings and penetrations.

The mortar type is not a detail - it is a durability decision. A chimney and an exposed gable stand in far harsher weather than a sheltered south-facing facade. Use a functional mortar chosen by exposure class, and keep the strength matched to the brick (too strong a mortar on a soft brick cracks the brick, not the joint).

• Facade in normal exposure: functional mortar matched to the brick, typically a lime-cement mortar
• Chimney and exposed gables: higher demands on frost and water resistance, a tighter joint
• Joint type priced separately: raking out and repointing is its own work stage, not just an add-on to the bricklaying

Suppliers such as Randers Tegl and Wienerberger state brick format and bond data per product, and Weber has mortar and functional-mortar ranges with consumption per m². Use their data sheets as the source - not a round figure from memory.

The single item most often underestimated is the scaffolding. It is not just the rental - it is erection and dismantling, anchoring, any covering, and the time the scaffold stands while the mortar cures and the weather plays up. On a chimney, roof access, fall protection and roof covering come on top.

• Rental per week or month - remember the wall must cure, so the rental period is longer than the pure working time
• Erection and dismantling as a fixed item, separate from the rental
• Covering for a weatherproof finish or winter work
• Roof access and fall protection on chimney work

Break the scaffolding out as its own line in the quote. It makes the item visible to the customer and protects your margin if the rental period overruns.

A wall that does not lead water away cracks from the inside at the first frost. On a chimney, the flashing at the roof surface, the capping on top and the correct fall are what determine the lifespan - and it is rarely the bricklayer's cheapest square metre. Price flashing, capping stone or plate and moisture barrier as concrete items, not as a lump in the bricklaying. For new masonry, support and load-bearing must be in place to the standards, and new walls must be founded frost-free so the base is not heaved by frost.

Add typically around 5 % waste on top of bricks and mortar for breakage, cutting and shrinkage. On complex chimneys with many corners, waste can run higher. Build the quote up in clear line items so you can defend every line to the customer:

• Scaffolding: rental + erection and dismantling + any covering
• Demolition and preparation: cleaning, raking out, support
• Bricklaying: bricks including waste + working time
• Joints: raking out and repointing as their own work stage
• Flashing and finish: capping, fall, moisture barrier, frost-free foundation for new masonry

Calco takes the m² area of the facade or chimney and converts it to a brick count based on the chosen format and bond, adds mortar consumption and waste on top, and builds the quote in exactly those line items - with scaffolding and flashing as visible lines, so you do not lose them. You get a fully calculated quote where the figures come from the suppliers' data sheets and not from a loose estimate. Try it on your next facade: /tilbud-murer.