Masonry estimating turns a set of drawings into a price. You measure net wall area and convert it into units of brick, block, mortar, grout and steel. Next, you add waste, price the material, and add labor hours from production rates. Then load the total with equipment, overhead, profit and escalation. The takeoff gives you quantities. The estimate gives you the cost. The bid is the final price you give to the client.
Bidding less because takeoffs take too long? Masonry estimating services handle the quantities, so you submit more bids without adding payroll.
What Does a Masonry Estimator Actually Do?
A masonry estimator prices scope, not just materials. Counting blocks is maybe 30% of the job. The rest is judgment about crew size, access, weather, waste and risk, then writing a scope letter that says exactly what is in and what is out.
The Mason Contractors Association of America (MCAA) publishes estimating and training resources for mason contractors, including the “manday cost” method most commercial masonry shops still use to price a tended, supervised mason instead of a bare wage.
What Are the Steps From Takeoff to Final Bid in Masonry Estimating?
There are eight steps, in this order. Skip one and the number is wrong.
| Step | What happens | Output |
| 1 | Review drawings and specs | Scope list, RFI list |
| 2 | Measure wall areas by type | Net square feet |
| 3 | Convert area to units | Brick, block, stone counts |
| 4 | Calculate mortar, grout, rebar, accessories | Bags, cubic yards, LF, EA |
| 5 | Apply waste factors | Order quantities |
| 6 | Price material with live supplier quotes | Material cost |
| 7 | Apply production rates and crew costs | Labor cost |
| 8 | Add equipment, overhead, profit, escalation | Bid number |
Steps 1 through 5 are the takeoff. Steps 6 through 8 are the estimate. Most losses come from step 7.
How Do You Take Off Quantities From the Drawings?
Start with the wall schedule, not the floor plan. A masonry takeoff is a measured list of every unit and accessory in the wall, sorted by wall type, so you can price material and labor separately for each type.
Do it in this order:
- List every wall type from the schedule. Note thickness, unit finish, grout spacing and rebar size.
- Measure gross length by height for each type, floor by floor.
- Deduct openings over 10 square feet only. Small openings cost more in cuts and jambs than the block they save.
- Count linear items separately like bond beams, lintels, control joints, flashing, sills, and caps.
- Count piece items such as anchors, ties, wall plates, weeps, and vents.
- Mark up the plans as you go so a second person can check your work.
Small shops run this in-house on Bluebeam or PlanSwift. Higher bid volume often moves to construction takeoff services that measure from plans and return quantity sheets on a per-project basis.
How Many Bricks, Blocks and Bags Do You Need Per 100 Square Feet?
Use these standard rates, then adjust for joint size and bond pattern.
| Item | Quantity per 100 SF of wall | Notes |
| Modular brick, 3/8″ joint | 675 units (6.75 per SF) | Per BIA Technical Note 10 |
| 8x8x16 CMU | 112.5 units (1.125 per SF) | Nominal face = 0.89 SF |
| Mortar, brick veneer | ~19 bags (80 lb premixed) | About 35 bricks per bag |
| Mortar, CMU | ~3.4 bags (80 lb premixed) | About 3 bags per 100 blocks |
| Grout, 8″ CMU, all cells solid | ~1.0 cubic yard | Verify with your block producer |
| Grout, 8″ CMU, cells at 32″ o.c. | ~0.3 cubic yard | Rebar cells only |
| Ladder/truss joint reinforcement at 16″ o.c. | 75 LF | 0.75 LF per SF of wall |
| Brick veneer ties | ~38 each | 1 tie per 2.67 SF (IRC R703.8.4.1) |
| Weep holes | 1 per 2.75 LF of base | 33″ maximum spacing (IRC) |
The Brick Industry Association’s Technical Note 10, Dimensioning and Estimating Brick Masonry is the reference table of nearly every U.S. brick manufacturer reprints.
Joint width changes everything. Tighten the joint to 1/4″, and modular coverage rises to 7.34 bricks per SF. Open it to 1/2″, and it drops to 6.40. That’s a 15% swing on the same wall.
A brick and block takeoff should always list units, mortar and accessories on separate lines. Bundling them hides errors and makes buyout impossible to check.
What Waste Factors Should You Add?
Add waste separately to each material. Do not use one waste percentage for the whole project.
| Material | Waste allowance | Why |
| Face brick | 5–10% | BIA lists 5% as the minimum added at the jobsite |
| CMU | 3–5% | Fewer cuts, heavier units, less breakage |
| Natural stone | 10–15% | Sorting, culling, color matching |
| Mortar | 15–25% | Board waste, mixer loss, cleanup |
| Grout | 5–10% | Pump loss, over-pour into cells |
| Rebar | 5–10% | Lap splices and cut lengths |
Mortar waste is the one people underestimate. BIA Technical Note 10 puts the normal allowance at 15% to 25%, separate from unit breakage. On a wall with many cuts, hard access, or a long haul from the mixer, use the top of every range.
How Do You Price Masonry Labor Without Guessing?
Labor is usually 40% to 60% of a masonry bid, so this is where bids are won and lost. Price it in units laid per mason per 8-hour day, then convert to crew days.
Typical commercial production rates per mason, per day:
| Work type | Units per mason-day |
| Modular brick veneer, straight running bond | 450–600 |
| Brick with soldier courses, arches, patterns | 200–350 |
| 8″ CMU, straight wall, light reinforcing | 150–200 |
| 8″ CMU, heavy reinforcing and bond beams | 90–130 |
| 12″ CMU | 100–140 |
| Split-face or ground-face block | 100–140 |
| Cut stone / architectural veneer | 35–70 |
The mason is not the whole crew. A commercial crew runs one tender per two or three masons, plus a forklift operator and a working foreman. Tenders mix mortar, stock the wall, build and move the scaffold, and grout. Price only the mason and you underbid labor by roughly a third.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual wage of $56,600 for masonry workers as of May 2024, across about 294,300 jobs. That’s roughly $27.21 per hour. Add 40% labor burden, including payroll taxes, workers’ comp, liability, benefits, and a mason costs about $38 per hour. Construction laborers run a $46,050 median, or about $31 per hour.
Note: The $56,600 figure covers brickmasons, blockmasons, and stonemasons combined, so it may slightly understate labor costs for CMU block work, where brickmasons and blockmasons have a higher median wage.
A crew of 3 masons and 2 tenders therefore costs about $176 per hour, or $1,408 per 8-hour day. Union scale and high-cost metros run well above this. Use your own certified payroll when you have it.
Worked Example: Pricing a 4,000 SF Reinforced 8″ CMU Wall
Here is the full arithmetic on a straight commercial wall, cells grouted at 32″ on center. On a CMU takeoff, grout and rebar always sit on their own lines, never buried in the block price. Prices below are sample supplier quotes; replace them with your own.
Quantities
| Line | Math | Order quantity |
| Block | 4,000 SF × 1.125 = 4,500 + 4% waste | 4,680 units |
| Mortar | 4,500 ÷ 100 × 3 bags = 135 + 20% waste | 162 bags |
| Grout | 4,000 ÷ 100 × 0.3 CY = 12 + 5% waste | 12.6 CY |
| Joint reinforcement | 4,000 × 0.75 LF | 3,000 LF |
Material Cost
| Item | Quantity | Unit price | Total |
| 8x8x16 CMU | 4,680 | $2.60 | $12,168 |
| Mortar, 80 lb | 162 | $9.00 | $1,458 |
| Grout, CY | 12.6 | $200 | $2,520 |
| Joint reinforcement, LF | 3,000 | $0.55 | $1,650 |
| Material subtotal | $17,796 | ||
Labor Cost
- 4,500 block ÷ 175 per mason-day = 25.7 mason-days
- 25.7 ÷ 3 masons = 8.6 crew days
- 8.6 days × $1,408 per crew day = $12,109
- Labor per square foot = $3.03
Bid Build-Up
| Line | Amount |
| Material | $17,796 |
| Labor (masons + tenders) | $12,109 |
| Forklift, scaffold, saw, mixer (9 days) | $4,200 |
| Direct cost | $34,105 |
| Overhead at 10% | $3,411 |
| Profit at 10% | $3,752 |
| Escalation at 3% | $534 |
| Bid total | $41,802 (~$10.45 per SF) |
Note what happens if you drop the production rate from 175 to 140 blocks per mason-day, realistic on a wall with heavy rebar. Crew days rise to 10.7, labor climbs to $15,065, and the bid moves about $3,600. That single assumption is worth more than any material discount you’ll negotiate.
How Do You Turn the Estimate into a Final Bid?
Add markups in a fixed order, then write the scope letter. Changing the order changes the number.
| Markup | Typical range | Applied to |
| Labor burden | 30–55% | Base wages |
| Small tools and consumables | 2–3% | Labor |
| General conditions | Job-specific | Direct cost |
| Overhead | 8–12% | Direct cost |
| Profit | 5–15% | Cost + overhead |
| Escalation | 2–5% | Material |
| Contingency | 2–5% | Total, on risky scope |
| Bond | 1–1.5% | Contract value |
Escalation is not optional in this market. Associated Builders and Contractors’ analysis of BLS Producer Price Index data found construction input prices rose 2.6% in May 2026 alone and were 9.6% higher year over year. A quote you hold for 90 days without an escalation clause is a bet against that trend.
Your scope letter should state:
- What is included, by CSI Division 04 section
- Exclusions in plain language (no caulking, no cutting for other trades)
- Unit prices for adds and deducts, and quote validity (usually 30 days)
- An escalation clause tied to a published index
- Assumptions on access, staging area, power, water and schedule
The Bottom Line
Good masonry estimating should follow the same process every time. Review the wall schedule, use the correct waste factors, apply realistic production rates, and check all possible costs. Accuracy does not come from having a better calculator. It comes from learning from your past projects.
Track what your crews actually install, update your production rates regularly, and always include the tender and support crew costs along with the mason. If you follow this process consistently for several projects, your bid prices will become more accurate and less based on guesswork.
