Rates are UK national (non-London): central London and constrained urban sites typically run dearer — adjust the labour, plant and access lines in the build-up accordingly.
Facing brickwork, stretcher bond
per m² · supply & lay
£139 – £240 / m²
What is it
The supply and laying of a half-brick (102.5 mm) skin of standard machine-made facing brickwork in stretcher bond to a vertical wall, priced per m² of wall face. Facing bricks are the exposed outer leaf of a cavity wall, or the visible face of a solid wall — selected, laid to line and gauge, and pointed as the work proceeds. The rate carries two operations:
Laid — facing bricks bedded in mortar to a half-brick stretcher-bond skin, gauged, plumbed and levelled at roughly 60 bricks per m².
Pointed — joints struck and finished as the work proceeds (bucket-handle or weather-struck); a separate finishing pass is not required.
Rate range by wall complexity
Simple£139 – £179 / m²
Standard£158 – £204 / m²
Complex£186 – £240 / m²
Budget rate per m².
3 key cost drivers
Wall complexity
Openings, returns, piers and reveals slow the gang and add cutting waste. It is a key driver of the rate.
Brick type
This rate is for a standard machine-made wirecut facing. Handmade, imperial or reclaimed bricks cost several times more per thousand and are laid more slowly. It is a key driver of material cost.
Location
London and the South East typically add around 20% to labour.
Estimator
Budget rate generator
£158 – £204 / m²
Covers standard facing bricks, bedding mortar, the laying & pointing gang and O&P · excl. prelims, scaffold & VAT
Exclusions
Lifting & material distribution — telehandler / forklift, hoist and site-distribution labour (an attendance, in main-contractor prelims)
DPC, lintels, wall ties & cavity insulation, movement joints, weep vents & bed reinforcement
The inner leaf, cavity insulation & cavity closers
Scaffold supply (usually in preliminaries)
Preliminaries — main-contractor site set-up, management & welfare