Bricklayer Job Description: Duties, Template & Pay (2026)
A bricklayer builds and repairs walls from brick, concrete block and other masonry units, laid in mortar to a line, level and plumb, usually outdoors and on scaffolding. This page has a bricklayer job description template you can copy, the duties list, how the four kinds of mason differ, what the role pays, and the one line most postings leave out.
What a bricklayer does
A bricklayer builds and repairs walls and structures from brick, concrete block and other masonry units, set in mortar to a line, level and plumb. The work runs from laying out the first course off the drawings to building corners, running courses between them, cutting units to fit, tooling the joints and cleaning the finished face. On commercial jobs that often means concrete block backup walls with brick veneer; on residential and restoration work it can mean chimneys, steps, repointing and repairs.
Federal statistics call the job brickmasons and blockmasons (SOC 47-2021). O*NET lists Bricklayer, Brick Mason, Block Mason and Mason among the reported job titles, and describes the occupation as workers who “lay and bind building materials, such as brick, structural tile, concrete block, cinder block, glass block, and terra-cotta block, with mortar and other substances, to construct or repair walls, partitions, arches, sewers, and other structures.” The pay, employment and work-context figures on this page are for that occupation unless they say otherwise.
Bricklayer duties
O*NET’s task list for brickmasons and blockmasons, in order of importance:
- Measure distance from reference points and mark guidelines to lay out work, using plumb bobs and levels
- Construct corners, then fill in between them using a line from corner to corner to guide each course
- Apply and smooth mortar over the work surface
- Calculate angles and courses and determine vertical and horizontal alignment
- Break or cut bricks, tiles or blocks to size, using a trowel edge, hammer or power saw
- Interpret blueprints and drawings to determine specifications and calculate the materials required
- Remove excess mortar and finish mortar joints with jointing tools
- Fasten brick or other material to the structure with wire clamps, anchors or cement
- Clean the working surface and examine brickwork to determine repair needs
On most crews the list also includes reading and following the wall-tie, flashing and weep details the architect specified, setting up and working from scaffolding, and directing a mason tender who mixes mortar and stocks the wall. A refractory bricklayer adds furnace, kiln and boiler linings, which O*NET lists among the same occupation’s tasks.
| Working conditions (brickmasons and blockmasons) | Share reporting it |
|---|---|
| Wear common protective or safety equipment | 100% every day |
| Outdoors, exposed to all weather | 97% every day |
| Standing | 86% continually or almost continually |
| Exposed to hazardous equipment | 85% every day |
| Very hot or cold temperatures | 58% every day |
| Climbing ladders, scaffolds or poles | 57% continually or almost continually |
| A standard 40-hour week | 74% |
This is outdoor work in every season, mostly on scaffolding, and your posting should say how you handle weather: whether crews are paid for rain days, whether you tent and heat in winter, and what a slow month looks like. BLS notes that “masons work mostly outdoors, so inclement weather may affect their schedules.” Experienced bricklayers ask about this before they ask about anything else except the rate.
Mason job description: brick, block, stone or cement?
“Mason” covers four different occupations in federal data, and they are not interchangeable. Before you post a “mason” job, decide which one you mean, because the candidates and the pay differ. BLS publishes all four in its masonry workers entry.
| Occupation (SOC) | Works with | Median annual wage (May 2025) | Employed, 2025 | Projected change, 2025–35 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brickmasons and blockmasons (47-2021) | Brick, concrete block, structural tile, glass block | $62,120 | 62,400 | +1% |
| Stonemasons (47-2022) | Natural and manufactured stone | $57,390 | 9,300 | −5% |
| Cement masons and concrete finishers (47-2051) | Poured concrete: slabs, walls, curbs, flatwork | $57,020 | 204,800 | +2% |
| Terrazzo workers and finishers (47-2053) | Terrazzo floors and surfaces | $76,170 | 1,200 | −13% |
Three practical points follow. A “mason” posting without a qualifier attracts concrete finishers as often as bricklayers, because there are more than three times as many of them (204,800 against 62,400). A stonemason is a narrower specialty with fewer candidates. And a mason tender or helper is a separate occupation again (helpers of brickmasons, blockmasons, stonemasons and tile and marble setters, 47-3011) with a different pay level and no expectation of laying units. If you need a concrete crew instead, use the concrete finisher job description.
Bricklayer job description template
Copy this into your ATS or job board, replace the bracketed fields and delete what does not apply. It is written for a masonry contractor hiring a journey-level bricklayer; notes below cover apprentices, block-only crews and restoration.
Job title
Bricklayer [/ Brick and Block Mason / Journeyman Bricklayer], [Company name], [City or region, ST]
Summary
[Company name] is a [commercial / residential / restoration] masonry contractor hiring a bricklayer for [type of projects] across [area]. You will lay brick and block to line and level from drawings, build corners, set ties and flashing to spec, and leave a clean, tooled wall. [Union / open shop]. [Crew size and who you report to].
[Hours and start time]. [Pay range]. [How weather days are handled]. [Travel or per diem, if any].
What you will do
• Lay out walls from drawings and reference points, and build corners and leads
• Lay brick, concrete block and [stone veneer / glass block / structural tile] to line, level and plumb
• Cut units to fit using a trowel, hammer or masonry saw
• Install wall ties, reinforcement, flashing and weeps as specified
• Tool joints and clean masonry faces
• Work safely from [frame / mast-climbing] scaffolding
• Direct and work with mason tenders
• [Repoint, repair and rebuild existing masonry]
What you need
• [Number] years laying brick and block, or a completed masonry apprenticeship
• Able to read drawings and lay out work from them
• Able to work outdoors in all seasons, on scaffolding, and lift [weight] block repeatedly
• Your own hand tools: trowels, levels, jointers, line and blocks [we supply saws and scaffolding]
• Reliable transportation to job sites [valid driver’s license if you will drive a company vehicle]
• [OSHA 10 or willingness to complete it]
Nice to have
• Restoration, stone veneer or refractory experience
• Scaffold user or competent-person training
• Experience running a small crew
What we offer
• [Pay range, by skill level]
• [Weather-day policy, overtime and how much winter work there is]
• [Benefits and when they start; union benefits if applicable]
• [Tool allowance, truck, per diem]
• [Path to foreman]
How to apply
[One step. Name, phone and years laying brick is enough to start. We will ask for photos of your work at the interview.]
Requirements: what to ask for, and what to drop
| Requirement | What to know |
|---|---|
| Experience | Ask for it for journey-level roles, but say what you mean in years or projects. For apprentices, drop it entirely; BLS says masons typically learn the trade through apprenticeships and on the job. |
| Education | High school diploma or equivalent is the typical entry-level education. On O*NET, 70 percent of respondents said a new hire needs one; 13 percent said less than that. |
| Apprenticeship | Accept a completed apprenticeship in place of years of experience. Registered apprenticeship titles exist for bricklayers; see apprenticeship recruiting if you want to build your own pipeline. |
| License | There is no general federal license for bricklayers. Some states or cities license masonry contractors; that is usually the company’s license, not the worker’s. Check your state before listing one. |
| Tools | State which hand tools the bricklayer brings and what you supply. It is a common question and a common reason for turnover in the first month. |
| Physical and weather | Name the block weight and the scaffold work. Name the weather policy. Vague physical requirements screen out nobody and lose you candidates later. |
Customizing it by setting
Commercial block and brick
Masonry contractors employ 19 percent of masonry workers and pay the highest median in BLS’s industry table at $61,110. Name the building types, whether it is block-heavy, and the scaffold system. Prevailing-wage projects should say so; see prevailing wage by state.
Residential
Veneer, steps, chimneys and fireplaces. More variety, smaller crews and more driving. Say how many jobs a week and whether the bricklayer works alone.
Restoration and repointing
Matching old mortar, cutting out joints, rebuilding parapets. Ask for photos of previous work, and say whether the job involves historic or high-rise buildings.
Apprentice bricklayer
Drop the experience requirement, name the training (in-house, union or registered program) and the pay steps. Mason tenders already on your crew are the obvious first candidates.
What bricklayers earn
Brickmasons and blockmasons had a median wage of $62,120 a year, or $29.87 an hour, in May 2025. Across all masonry workers the median was $58,270 ($28.02 an hour), with the lowest 10 percent under $39,670 and the highest 10 percent over $91,350. BLS publishes the industry breakdown for masonry workers as a whole rather than for bricklayers alone:
| Industry | Median annual wage, masonry workers (May 2025) | Share of masonry workers |
|---|---|---|
| Masonry contractors | $61,110 | 19% |
| Construction of buildings | $61,030 | 12% |
| Other specialty trade contractors | $58,870 | 12% |
| Poured concrete foundation and structure contractors | $55,690 | 31% |
| Heavy and civil engineering construction | $55,560 | 8% |
There were 62,400 brickmasons and blockmasons in 2025, projected to reach 63,100 by 2035, a rise of 1 percent. Across all four masonry occupations BLS projects about 18,400 openings a year, most of them to replace workers who retire or leave the trade.
What it costs to reach a bricklayer
Bricklayers sit in the skilled trades role family of our benchmark. Across our managed Meta campaigns that family ran a median cost per applicant of $14.14, with the middle half of campaigns between $7.58 and $21.49, a blended figure of $10.74 and a 15 percent apply rate, close to the $13.88 median across all roles.
The apply rate is the lever. Across the whole benchmark, applicant conversion explains 70 percent of the variation in cost per applicant. Bricklayers apply from a phone at the end of a day on the wall; a short form that asks for years laying brick and a phone number beats a resume upload. Cost per applicant is not cost per hire; see the full benchmark.
Building out the rest of the crew? See the concrete finisher, construction laborer, carpenter, ironworker and roofer job descriptions, and how to recruit construction workers for the hiring side.
The job description is not the job ad
The template is the document for your ATS and your safety file. The ad has to stop an experienced bricklayer who already has a job.
- First line: the rate, the kind of work and the area. “$32–$38/hr, commercial block and brick, Lancaster County” says it all.
- Say the weather policy and the winter plan.
- Say what tools you supply and whether there is travel.
- One-step application. Ask for photos of work later, not in the form.
More on writing the ad is on job ad copywriting, and the construction labor shortage covers the wider market.
Frequently asked questions
What does a bricklayer do?
A bricklayer lays and binds brick, concrete block, structural tile and similar units with mortar to build or repair walls, partitions, arches, chimneys and other structures. The work includes laying out from drawings, building corners, running courses to a line, cutting units to size, installing ties and flashing, tooling joints and cleaning the finished masonry, usually from scaffolding and outdoors.
What are the main bricklayer duties?
Measuring and marking layout lines, building corners and leads, spreading mortar, laying brick and block to line and level, cutting units to fit, reading blueprints to calculate materials, setting wall ties and reinforcement, tooling joints, cleaning the work and inspecting existing masonry for repair. Many bricklayers also direct a mason tender who mixes mortar and stocks the wall.
Is a bricklayer the same as a mason?
A bricklayer is one kind of mason. Federal data splits masons into brickmasons and blockmasons (47-2021), stonemasons (47-2022), cement masons and concrete finishers (47-2051) and terrazzo workers (47-2053). Bricklayer, brick mason and block mason are all reported titles for 47-2021. A posting that just says mason will draw applicants from all of these.
What is a mason job description?
A mason job description should first say which kind of mason: brick and block, stone or cement and concrete. Then it lists the materials, the type of construction, layout and blueprint-reading duties, the scaffold and weather conditions, the tools supplied, the pay range and the experience or apprenticeship expected. The template on this page is written for a brick and block mason.
How much do bricklayers make?
Brickmasons and blockmasons had a median wage of $29.87 an hour, or $62,120 a year, in May 2025. Across all masonry workers the median was $58,270, with the top 10 percent above $91,350. By industry, masonry contractors paid masonry workers a median of $61,110 and construction of buildings $61,030.
Do bricklayers need a license?
There is no general federal license for individual bricklayers. Some states and cities license masonry or building contractors, which usually applies to the company rather than to each worker. Check your state and local licensing rules before listing a license requirement, and say in the posting whether you expect an apprenticeship certificate or OSHA training instead.
What should I ask in a bricklayer interview?
Ask how they lay out and build a corner, how they keep a wall plumb and on line over a long run, what they do when the courses will not work out to the opening heights on the drawing, how they handle mortar in hot or cold weather, and to show photos of recent work. Good answers are specific and practical, and experienced masons will talk you through the order they do things in.
How long does it take to become a bricklayer?
BLS says masons typically learn the trade through apprenticeships and on the job, working with experienced masons. Unions and contractor associations sponsor apprenticeship programs, and registered apprenticeship titles exist for bricklayers. Program length varies by sponsor, so if you run or support one, state its length and pay steps in the posting.
How much does it cost to recruit a bricklayer?
In our 2026 Social Job Advertising Benchmark the skilled trades role family, which covers bricklayers, ran a median cost per applicant of $14.14 on Meta, with the middle half of campaigns between $7.58 and $21.49 and a 15 percent apply rate. That is close to the $13.88 all-role median. Cost per applicant is not cost per hire.
Related job descriptions
Hiring bricklayers?
The description is the document. Getting it in front of masons who already have a job is the part we do.
Pay, employment, projection and industry data for brickmasons and blockmasons (SOC 47-2021) and the other masonry occupations: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook, masonry workers, last modified 27 August 2026; hourly median, task, work-context, education and apprenticeship data from O*NET OnLine 47-2021.00. Wage figures are May 2025 OEWS. Read at source 24 September 2026. Cost-per-applicant and apply-rate figures: Boostpoint 2026 Social Job Advertising Benchmark, 891 managed campaigns and 1,334 campaign-months.