Brick and block counts measured wall by wall off the elevations and the floor plan, with openings deducted properly, lintels scheduled and mortar and ties allowed for. Not a rate per square metre with a shrug attached.
Most brick quotes get done by taking a rough wall area and multiplying by fifty. It works until the job has a lot of openings, a feature course, or two different bricks on the same elevation — and then it does not work at all.
We measure each wall as its own line, deduct every window and door, split single skin from cavity and from block, and count the bricks that actually get laid. Your supply price and your rate per thousand go into the spreadsheet, and the labour follows the count rather than the guess.
The floor plan gives wall lengths and the elevations give heights, so each wall gets a measured area. Openings come out at their actual sizes rather than as an allowance, which matters most on the elevations that are mostly glass.
Brick counts follow from area at the coursing in the specification. Standard format at fifty bricks per square metre is the usual starting point, but a different brick size or a stack bond changes the count, and we work to the brick that is actually specified.
Everything that goes in with the bricks gets counted too: lintels scheduled by span and type, wall ties by spacing, control joints by linear metre, mortar by volume, and cleaning and sealing by area. Scaffold requirements are noted where wall height demands it.
Nothing here is an allowance. Each line is measured off your drawings in its own unit, so you can check it against the plan yourself.
| Item | How it is measured | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Wall areas | Each wall measured separately from plan length and elevation height | Averaging wall heights across a job with a raked gable understates the top courses |
| Openings | Every window and door deducted at its actual size | A blanket 10% deduction is generous on a solid wall and short on a glazed elevation |
| Brick count | Area converted at the coursing for the specified brick, plus waste | 50 per m² only holds for standard format — a different brick changes the number |
| Blockwork | Block count by size and type, with core fill and reo where specified | Core-filled block is a concrete order as well as a block order |
| Lintels | Scheduled by span, type and bearing off the opening schedule | Missed lintels stop the job and get bought at retail on the day |
| Ties and accessories | Wall ties at specified spacing, brick reinforcement, weep holes, DPC | Small unit cost, large count — and always the item left out of a quick price |
| Mortar | Volume from bed and perp joint thickness, converted to sand and cement | Joint thickness changes mortar volume more than most people expect |
| Clean down and sealing | Finished face area by treatment | On a face-brick job this is real labour, not a tidy-up |
| Item | Typical count | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Standard format brick | About 50 per m² of single skin | 230 × 110 × 76mm with 10mm joints |
| Standard core-filled block | About 12.5 per m² | 390 × 190 × 190mm with 10mm joints |
| Wall ties | Per the specification, commonly 4–5 per m² | Spacing tightens near openings and at edges |
| Mortar | Roughly 0.02–0.03 m³ per m² of single skin | Depends on joint thickness and brick absorption |
| Waste allowance | Typically 5% | Higher on cut-heavy work, feature bonds and raked gables |
| Scaffold trigger | Generally above about 2m working height | Noted as a separate item, not absorbed into the brick rate |
Feature bricks, a different brick to the return walls, or a rendered section behind a face-brick front all change the count and the rate. Blended into one square-metre figure they hide a loss on the expensive brick and make you look dear on the cheap one.
Same with bond. A stack bond or a stretcher bond with a feature soldier course above every opening adds cutting, adds waste and adds time. We count those courses rather than folding them into a percentage.
The same five steps on every job, whether it is a single slab or a full tender package.
Email the architectural and structural drawings, the specification and the scope of works in whatever format you have — PDF, DWG, or photos of a marked-up set. If something is missing we will tell you before we start, not after.
The floor plan gives wall lengths and the elevations give heights, so each wall gets a measured area. Openings come out at their actual sizes rather than as an allowance, which matters most on the elevations that are mostly glass.
Every measured item gets its own colour and legend entry on the drawing. When the takeoff comes back you can see exactly what was counted and what was not, so you are never asked to trust a number you cannot trace. This is the part clients tell us they did not know they needed until they had it.
The takeoff is delivered as a working spreadsheet, not a locked PDF. Your rates sit in their own column, so you can change a supply price or a labour rate and watch the total move. Plug in your own numbers and the sheet is yours to reuse on the next job.
Quantities are re-measured independently and cross-checked against the drawing before anything leaves here. You get the marked-up plans, the priced spreadsheet and a plain-English note on anything we flagged as unclear or excluded.
The takeoff arrives as a live Excel spreadsheet with the colour-coded marked-up plans beside it. Your rates go in your own column, so you can plug in your own supply and labour numbers and reuse the sheet on the next job. Nothing is locked.
First estimate free. After that the fee is confirmed in writing as a fixed amount before any work starts. No retainer, no subscription, no lock-in contract. Full pricing detail here →
A double storey job is not twice a single storey job. Once you are above working height there is scaffold to hire, material to lift and a slower laying rate, and all three belong in the estimate as their own lines.
We read the elevations for wall height and the site plan for access, then note where scaffold or a lift is required. If the site will not take a truck-mounted loader, the handling allowance goes up and we say so rather than leaving you to find out.
Quantities are measured against the standards and the specification for your job. Where a drawing and a standard disagree, we flag it rather than quietly picking one.
| Standard | Covers | Relevance |
|---|---|---|
| AS 3700 | Masonry structures | Design and construction of masonry |
| AS 4773 | Masonry in small buildings | Residential masonry construction |
| AS 2870 | Residential slabs and footings | Articulation and control joint requirements |
None of these are unusual. They are the things that get missed when a quote is put together at 9pm after a full day on the tools.
If your question is not here, email it through and you will get a straight answer, not a sales call.
Wall lengths come off the floor plan and heights off the elevations, giving a measured area for each wall. Every opening is deducted at its real size, then the remaining area is converted to a brick count at the coursing for the brick in the specification.
Every wall is its own line in the spreadsheet, so you can see where the bricks are and check the count against the drawing.
It is right for standard format brick — 230 by 110 by 76mm laid with 10mm joints — and that covers most Australian residential work. Change the brick size or the bond and the count changes, so we work to what the specification actually calls for rather than the rule of thumb.
Yes, as a visible line rather than a hidden loading. Around five per cent on straightforward work, more where there is heavy cutting, a feature bond or raked gables. If your own jobs run tighter than that, tell us your figure and we will use it.
Yes. Block counts by size and type, plus core fill volume and reinforcement where the engineer has called for it. Core-filled block generates a concrete order alongside the block order and both appear in the estimate.
All of them. Mortar comes back as a volume converted to sand and cement, ties are counted at the specified spacing, and lintels are scheduled by span and type off the opening schedule. These are the items that most often get left out of a fast quote and then get bought at retail mid-job.
Noted as its own item with the wall height it is triggered by, so you can price the hire and the duration properly. It never gets absorbed into a rate per thousand, because a rate per thousand does not stretch when the job runs two weeks longer than planned.
Most residential brickwork comes back within 24 hours of the plans arriving. A large commercial masonry package takes longer — we confirm the timing when we have seen the drawings.
Most jobs cross more than one trade. We can price the whole package in one spreadsheet.
Your first estimate is free. Email the drawings and the scope, and you will have a marked-up takeoff and a priced spreadsheet back within 24 hours on most residential jobs. Prefer to talk first? Reply with "KEEN" and your number.