How to Become a Bricklayer A Complete UK Guide
- Ricky Cohen
- 2 days ago
- 13 min read
If you want to become a bricklayer in the UK, the most common path is through a Level 2 apprenticeship or a college diploma. This sets you up with the hands-on experience you need to get fully qualified and, crucially, get your CSCS card – your passport to working on any UK construction site.
Your Blueprint for a Career in Bricklaying
There’s something special about building a career with your own two hands, and the demand for skilled bricklayers is as solid as the walls they build. This guide will give you a clear, no-nonsense roadmap to breaking into this respected trade.
It’s a job that takes precision, physical stamina, and a real understanding of how buildings come together. While it might look like just laying one brick on top of another, becoming a professional takes a lot of skill and dedication.
This isn't just about the physical graft, either. It’s about becoming a key player in the construction industry. A career in bricklaying opens up some fantastic opportunities:
Strong earning potential: Good brickies are always in demand and are well-paid for their skills.
Career stability: People will always need buildings, which means there's a steady stream of work.
Real chances to grow: You can move up to roles like site foreman, construction manager, or even go out on your own and start a business.
This infographic lays out the typical journey from your first day in training to becoming a seasoned pro.
As you can see, the path starts with getting the basics down, leads to getting your official qualifications, and then opens up a long-term career.
The best bricklayers I've met have a mix of natural talent and pure grit. A good eye helps, but it’s the determination to keep going in all weathers and on tough, physical days that really builds a reputation in this trade.
Whether you're just leaving school or fancy a complete career change, knowing the right steps is key. For a wider view of the industry, have a look at our detailed guide to careers in construction.
Right, let's get into the specific ways you can get started.
Choosing Your Entry Path: Qualifications and Courses
So, you want to become a bricklayer? Your first big decision is figuring out how you want to learn the trade. In the UK, there are two well-trodden paths, and each one offers a different blend of classroom theory and real-world, on-the-job experience. Getting your head around which one suits your style is the first real step toward building a solid career.
For many, the go-to option is an apprenticeship. This route gets you straight into the thick of it, working on a live construction site alongside seasoned pros. You'll be earning a wage from day one while learning the trade in a real-world setting. This hands-on work is then reinforced with part-time study at a local college, usually one day a week.
The other main route is to start with a full-time college course. This usually means enrolling in a Level 1 or Level 2 Diploma in Bricklaying. On this path, you'll build a strong foundation of knowledge in a controlled workshop, mastering the basics before you ever have to deal with the hustle and bustle of a busy site.
The College Route Explained
Opting for a college course gives you a really structured introduction to the craft. You’ll cover the crucial health and safety regulations, learn how to read technical drawings, and understand the science behind different mortar mixes. The practical sessions are all about building your confidence and precision in a low-pressure environment.
Focus on Fundamentals: You get plenty of time to perfect the core skills, from getting the perfect mortar consistency to laying a perfectly straight and level wall.
Structured Learning: The curriculum is designed to build your knowledge step-by-step, taking you from simple garden walls to more complex bonds and features.
Gaining Experience: Once you’ve earned your diploma, the next step is finding a job as a trainee or "improver" to get that all-important site experience that employers really value.
Understanding Apprenticeship Requirements
An apprenticeship is a brilliant way to learn the ropes while getting paid. Most employers will be looking for candidates who are at least 16 years old and have a few GCSEs under their belt. Maths and English at grades 9 to 3 (A to D) are surprisingly important – you’ll need them for everything from calculating materials to understanding plans and communicating clearly with the team.
To start an apprenticeship, you'll need to be employed in the construction industry. Once qualified, new bricklayers can expect to earn an annual salary between £20,000 and £32,000. If you're curious, you can find more detailed salary insights over on zynoff.co.uk.
Your passport to any UK construction site is the Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) card. Whether you’re an apprentice or fresh out of college, getting one is non-negotiable. It’s the industry-wide proof that you have the right training and qualifications for the job.
No matter which path you take, getting your CSCS card is a massive milestone. It's the standard that proves your competence and your understanding of site safety. For anyone ready to take that step, you can find out more about what’s involved in getting your CSCS Bricklayer card.
Finding and Securing a Bricklaying Apprenticeship
Apprenticeships are, without a doubt, the best way to get into bricklaying. You earn while you learn, splitting your time between hands-on site work and structured college courses. But let's be realistic—landing a good one takes effort. With the whole country crying out for skilled tradespeople, the competition for the best spots is fierce, so you’ll need to be smart about your approach.
The scale of the challenge is massive. Right now, for every single apprenticeship place offered in construction, there are roughly 100 job vacancies going unfilled. That’s a huge gap, leaving thousands of jobs empty in trades like bricklaying. If you want to dig into the numbers, a report from DART Tool Group breaks it down really well.
What this means for you is simple: you can’t just sit back and wait. You’ve got to be proactive and organised. Knowing where to look is half the battle.
Where to Find Apprenticeship Opportunities
The best strategy is to mix it up. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket; use a combination of online searches and old-fashioned direct contact to cover all your bases.
The Official Route: The gov.uk Find an apprenticeship service is your first port of call. It’s the main hub for vacancies in England, and you can set up alerts to get notified about new bricklaying roles near you.
Go to the Big Players: Major housebuilders like Barratt Developments, Persimmon, and Taylor Wimpey are always running their own schemes. Head straight to the careers pages on their websites.
Think Local: Don't overlook the smaller building firms in your town. A polite phone call or a well-crafted email asking if they’re taking on apprentices can work wonders. Many of the best opportunities aren't even advertised online.
Lean on Your College: Local colleges have deep roots in the community and great contacts with local employers. They can often help line you up with an apprenticeship as part of your course enrolment.
For aspiring bricklayers, there are two primary apprenticeship pathways in the UK. The one you choose will depend on your starting skill level and career ambitions.
UK Apprenticeship Routes into Bricklaying
This table gives you a quick comparison of the two main apprenticeship levels to help you decide which is the right starting point.
Whether you start at Level 2 and work your way up or have the experience to jump straight to Level 3, both routes provide a solid, industry-recognised qualification that will set you up for a long-term career.
Crafting a CV That Gets Noticed
Your CV is your first handshake, and even if you don't have much work experience, you can still make it impressive. It’s all about showing your enthusiasm and proving you have the right mindset for the job.
Instead of a boring list of past jobs, connect what you’ve done to the world of construction. Helped out with a DIY project at home? Talk about the measuring, cutting, or how you followed instructions. Been part of a sports team? That’s teamwork, discipline, and commitment right there.
An employer isn’t expecting you to turn up as a master bricklayer on day one. They’re looking for someone reliable, with a can-do attitude, who is ready to listen and genuinely wants to learn the trade. Your CV is your first opportunity to show them you’re that person.
Nailing the Interview Process
If you get called for an interview, the goal is to prove you understand what the job really involves. Employers want to see that you’re ready for the physical side of things and that you have a mature approach to health and safety.
Get ready to answer questions like:
Why bricklaying? Go beyond "I want a job." Talk about what genuinely interests you—the satisfaction of building something tangible, the appeal of working outdoors, or the pride in learning a proper skill.
What do you know about site safety? Even basic knowledge goes a long way. Mention the importance of wearing PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) and always being aware of what’s happening around you.
Tell us about a time you worked in a team. Think of an example, from school, sport, or a part-time job, where you pulled together with others to get something done.
The interview is your moment to show you’ve got the grit this job requires. Let them see you’re not scared of hard graft and that you’re serious about building a real career from the ground up.
Mastering the Craft: From Trowel Skills to Teamwork
Classroom learning gives you the theory, but you only truly become a bricklayer on site, with a trowel in your hand and mud on your boots. It’s a craft where feel and instinct are just as vital as technical knowledge. This is where you translate everything you’ve learned into real, tangible skills and get into the day-to-day rhythm of the trade.
It all starts with the basics, like mixing mortar. This isn't just a case of adding water to sand and cement; it’s about getting the consistency spot on for the weather and the type of brick you're using. Too wet and it’ll ooze out everywhere. Too dry and it won’t bond properly. You'll practise this endlessly until it becomes second nature.
From there, it’s all about the core of the job: laying to a line and getting to grips with different bonds. Every brickie starts here before tackling more intricate patterns.
Stretcher Bond: This is your bread and butter, the most common bond you’ll see on sites across the UK. It involves laying courses of bricks with the long side (the stretcher) showing, creating a strong, straightforward pattern that’s perfect for cavity walls.
Flemish Bond: A bit more decorative and a bigger test of your skills. This bond alternates stretchers and headers (the short end of the brick) in each course. It creates a really appealing finish, which is why it's often used for feature walls and high-end projects.
From Garden Walls to Grand Designs
You’ll build your skills through hands-on work. You might find yourself starting on a simple, single-skin garden wall, where the main challenge is keeping everything perfectly level and plumb. It's the ideal training ground for honing your trowel skills, learning to spread mortar evenly, and tapping each brick into place with precision.
As your confidence grows, so will the complexity of your tasks. Picture yourself building a decorative archway over a door. That requires more than just neat brickwork; you need to cut bricks to the perfect angle and understand the structural loads involved. Every job, big or small, adds another layer to your practical expertise.
The best bricklayers have grit. Natural talent helps, but it’s the perseverance to work accurately and efficiently, day in and day out, that truly builds a career. It’s about striving for excellence, not just perfection, in every single course you lay.
Developing Essential On-Site Skills
Being a great bricklayer isn't a solo performance; you’re a crucial part of a much larger team. Communication is everything. You'll need to coordinate clearly with the carpenters framing a window opening or the plumbers who need to run pipework through your wall. A simple misunderstanding can cause serious delays and expensive rework.
You’ll also get very good at reading and interpreting complex architectural drawings. These plans are the language of the construction site, telling you exactly what to build, where, and to what specification. With experience, you'll learn to anticipate problems, like spotting a potential clash between your brickwork and another trade's installation before it happens.
Finally, health and safety is threaded through everything you do. It’s more than just wearing a hard hat. It’s about keeping your workspace tidy to prevent trips, using lifting equipment correctly, and always being aware of what’s happening around you. To help you prepare, take a look at our essential tips for your first day at work in construction.
Advancing Your Career Beyond the Foundations
Getting your qualifications is a brilliant achievement, but in many ways, it’s just the starting line. A career in bricklaying isn’t just about being on the tools forever. Once you’ve mastered the trowel, you’ll find it opens up some surprising and rewarding paths for growth. With some experience under your belt, you can step up into leadership, master a specialist niche, or even become your own boss.
After a few years on site, you’ll have the grounding you need to aim for leadership roles. This is where you can move into positions like Site Foreman or Construction Supervisor. Your focus shifts from laying bricks yourself to managing teams, coordinating schedules, and ensuring the quality of the work.
In these roles, your hands-on experience is what makes you effective. You know what good work looks like, you can spot problems before they escalate, and you can guide your crew with genuine authority. It’s a different kind of challenge, demanding strong communication and organisational skills to keep a project on track, safely and to a high standard.
Specialising to Boost Your Value
Another great way to move your career forward is to become a specialist. While there will always be a demand for general bricklayers, developing a specific skill set can make you highly sought-after and give your earning potential a serious boost.
You could look into high-demand niches like these:
Heritage Restoration: This is fascinating work on historic and listed buildings. It involves using traditional materials and techniques, like lime mortar, and requires a huge amount of patience and precision. It’s about preserving history, one brick at a time.
Stonemasonry: For many, moving from brick to stone is a natural next step. This is a real craft, involving cutting, shaping, and setting natural stone for everything from stunning feature walls to detailed carvings.
Decorative Brickwork: If you have an artistic eye, you can build a reputation for creating complex features like ornate arches, decorative panels, and intricate bonds that really show off a high level of craftsmanship.
These specialisms elevate the trade to an art form, and because there are fewer people with these skills, the day rates are often much higher.
Taking the Leap into Self-Employment
If you've got that entrepreneurial spirit, the ultimate step is often starting your own business. Going self-employed means you’re in the driver’s seat—you choose the jobs you take on, set your own rates, and build your own reputation. It's a tough road, no doubt, and you'll need some business savvy alongside your trade skills. But the rewards, both financially and personally, can be immense.
The most respected bricklayers combine natural ability with sheer grit. While a good eye is useful, it’s the perseverance to maintain high standards day after day that builds a lasting reputation in this trade.
This move from employee to business owner is a well-trodden path in construction. That's why strong apprenticeship programmes are so vital—they build the pipeline of future talent. The Construction Industry Training Board estimates a need for 250,000 more skilled workers by 2030, which just shows how huge the demand is.
And with 85% of apprentices staying in employment after qualifying, it’s clear these schemes are building stable, long-term careers. You can find more UK apprenticeship statistics on standout-cv.com that back this up.
Whether your goal is to manage a site, become a master of a specific craft, or run your own company, the qualifications you earn at the start are the foundation for a career with genuine, long-lasting potential.
Common Questions About a Bricklaying Career
Thinking about a new career always brings up a lot of questions. Getting a clear picture of what the job is really like day-to-day helps you know if it's the right move and what to expect down the line.
Let's tackle some of the most common queries we hear from people looking to get into the trade.
How Long Does It Take to Qualify as a Bricklayer?
Becoming a fully qualified brickie is more of a marathon than a sprint. The most popular route, a Level 2 Intermediate Apprenticeship, generally takes about two years to finish. This time is split between learning the ropes on a real-world site and structured lessons at college.
If you push on for a Level 3 Advanced Apprenticeship, you can expect to add another year or so to your training. Even if you start with a full-time college course, you’ll still need to get plenty of hands-on site experience afterwards before you're considered a truly competent tradesperson.
Is Bricklaying a Physically Demanding Job?
Let's be blunt: yes, bricklaying is a physically tough job. There's no sugar-coating it.
You'll be working outdoors in all weathers, whether that's a freezing winter morning or a baking summer afternoon. The work demands constant physical effort—lifting heavy blocks, lugging bags of cement, and carrying buckets of mortar. You’ll spend the vast majority of your day on your feet, bending down and kneeling. Good physical fitness and stamina aren't just a bonus; they're essential for getting the job done right and for having a long, healthy career.
What Can an Experienced Bricklayer Earn?
The earning potential is one of the big draws of the trade, and it really ramps up with experience. A newly qualified bricklayer in the UK might start out earning between £20,000 and £32,000, but that’s just the starting block.
Once you’ve got a few years under your belt and a solid reputation, you can easily be earning over £40,000 a year. The real money, though, often comes from going self-employed. Top-tier, reliable bricklayers, particularly those with specialist skills like heritage restoration work, can command day rates of £200 or more, which adds up to a very healthy income.
The most respected bricklayers combine natural ability with sheer grit. While a good eye is useful, it’s the perseverance to maintain high standards day after day that builds a lasting reputation in this trade.
Will I Need to Buy My Own Tools as an Apprentice?
Not right away. When you first start your apprenticeship, your employer or college will usually provide the basic tools to get you going. This means you can focus on learning the skills without having to worry about the upfront cost of a full kit.
However, as you become more skilled and progress, the expectation is that you'll start investing in your own professional toolkit. Buying your own quality trowel, spirit level, tape measure, and other hand tools is a sign you're serious about the craft and a key step in becoming a proper tradesperson.
Ready to lay the foundations of your construction career? At Phoenix Gray Rec Ltd, we connect skilled tradespeople with leading employers across the UK. Explore our latest bricklaying vacancies and find your next opportunity today at https://www.phoenixgrayrec.com.
Comments