As part of many landscaping, driveways and patio projects, brickwork is an important add on.
Choosing the right kind of brickwork provider is important for a new build or renovation. However, many people make the mistake of choosing an inexperienced or cheaper bricklayer. Understandably, this can bring more than it’s fair share of issues.
Brickwork is one part of the home where compromising on quality isn’t acceptable. Structures which are made with shoddy brickwork may be weaker, unstable or not aesthetically attractive. Doing repair jobs or renovations for period buildings especially need proper repairs.
Bad brickwork will do a lot of harm, and often isn’t worth cutting costs. However, what are the considerations for bricklayers? How do you choose a professional or company that is right for your needs? Well, not to worry, because we’ll be looking at some of the things to judge providers by.
How Do They Operate?
The first and arguably most important consideration for a bricklayer is how they choose to operate. How do they approach jobs?
Ultimately, this does impact how long a job will take to complete, how well it is done, and the overall costs. In an ideal setting, your brickwork team will be a three-person unit. This is the most efficient option in the industry!
The unit is made up of two trained, capable bricklayers and a general labourer. The labourer will have the job of keeping the bricklayers with a steady supply of bricks, mortar and blocks. If they do their job correctly, then the bricklayers can focus on the important stuff – laying and finishing the brickwork properly.
How Long Does the Project Take?
Each project that you need to undertake has a specific timeframe to complete. It will vary from one task to the next, but it does play an important role in choosing a bricklayer and company for your needs.
If the weather conditions are favourable, then an efficient brickwork team can lay an average of 1200 bricks every day. However, it’s important to understand that there are many things which will influence the speed at which a bricklaying team can work.
Things like the type of wall that you want to create, the type of pointing involved, the brick bond, as well as openings and lintels can all cause delays to the project. These are not problems so much as challenges which require a proper solution to solve. After all, you want a bricklaying team to work out effective, safe solutions.
What Specs Do You Have?
Understanding what specifications you have is a good way to make sure that you inform the bricklaying team of your needs.
You need to have detailed specifications where you can, because this makes sure that they know exactly what you need regarding work. Furthermore, it helps to remove any delays in the project because they know exactly what needs to be done.
Checking Their Credentials
You need to make sure that you check the credentials of any bricklaying team that you need to work with. It would be a disaster if you hired a company, they arrived to complete the work, and immediately began acting in an unprofessional manner.
Thankfully, this is the Internet and modern methods of credential checking exist. Look for testimonials from other past customers, use websites like TrustPilot and Check-A-Trade, and you will be able to make smart decisions regarding the companies that you choose to work with.
Customer Service
Customer service is a vital part of any successful trade company, so it’s worth ringing and asking a bricklaying team about the kind of services they provide. The answers that you receive are important, but what is more important is the quality of the service that you get.
The right professionals will be polite, courteous, knowledgeable, and more than happy to explain things to you. you will definitely get a sense that they are happy to help, which makes a lot of difference.
Flexibility
Look, you are probably a person with a busy life. There’s a lot of things that you need to do with your time, and it’s important that you can arrange for people to come and perform a job at a time that is convenient to you.
A good way to work out which companies are going to be worth collaborating with is how flexible they are prepared to be. Flexibility is a key characteristic that we look for in tradespeople, and it is no different for bricklayers. The right bunch of professionals would be more than happy to arrange to come when it is convenient for you, not the other way around.
Choosing the right brickwork company is obviously an important thing. This is a project that you clearly have an investment in, whether it is a renovation, an existing repair job, or a new build. For that reason, you have to be quite ruthless when choosing a company, and hold people to the highest standards.
The best thing for you in this situation is to shop around. You need to try and look at the different kinds of professionals that are available and work with them to find the best results. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, and to come away from a company if they don’t meet your expectations.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with being ruthless when searching for a provider. Brickwork is one area where you can not afford to compromise. Further compounding the problem is the fact that when it comes to tradespeople, for every qualified expert there are several amateurs of dubious quality. These are, naturally, people you should avoid.
We provide brickwork services. We would be happy to help, and we love listening to people to get a proper understanding of their needs. We know how important it is to make the right decisions, so we are happy to talk to you about things. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us, and we will find out exactly what we can do. We’re here to help you.