Hard Times For Brickies!

The Recession officially came into being last week and as if we needed telling the general public are tightening their belts and cutting back on everything but essentials, so the poor old bricklayer is once again sidelined and finding it hard to get enough work to survive. When I logged into Mybuilder.co.uk it was brought home to me how much competition there is now for work and for some of the jobs posted there, there were about 30 tradesmen tendering, as compared to 3 or 4 this time last year.. A lot of younger married brickies with big mortgages are going into steadier jobs(if they`re lucky) with the old reliables such as London Transport and British Rail hoping to ride out the recession and return to the building sites again when times are better. So how can we increase our chances of getting work?



1..Use the internet to your advantage by putting up a simple website and optimizing it
for the search engines. This is not as complicated as it sounds and will be of enormous help
to you in the coming months and years ahead.

2. Be very professional in all your dealings with customers and always turn up on time.

3. Again remember to use all the free advertising on the internet to get your message out there
All it takes is a little time and patience.

4. If you have any qualifications such as City and Guilds etc make sure it is firmly stated on
your website.This tends to inspire confidence in you as a tradesman.

5.Ring up your local newspaper and haggle with them for a rock bottom price on your advertising or any special deals they might have. Get friendly with them and you will save a fortune.

Remember even in recessions there will still be work for people who are willing to up their game and put some extra work into marketing themselves.It will mean going outside your comfort zone but the rewards will be well worth it.
While these simple steps will not guarantee that you will become a millionaire while everyone else goes under it may just dramatically increase your chances of getting steady work in these difficult times.

Chimney Breast Removal

Chimney Breast Removal is something nearly every householder thinks about at one time or another. It has enormous advantages including making a room look larger and it also provides much needed free wall space for the insertion of a row of units or fitted wardrobes. Apart from being quite a messy job it is not that difficult to do and it is well worth the effort because of the benefits.The thing to remember is that gallows brackets have to be installed in the loft to support the stack.These are triangular steel supports which are bolted on to the wall on either side of the stack on top of which a wide steel plate or concrete lintel is placed to carry the weight of the upper stack. Prior to carrying out chimney breast removal you must always inform the local authorities and also the next door neighbour who shares the party wall with you.

During the chimney breast removal great care is needed because too much vibration could cause damage to the fixtures and fittings next door so a softly softly approach should be adopted. It is also advisable to hose down with water as the demolition of the breast is in progress so that dust is kept to a minimum. After the breast and hearth is removed the ceiling joists can be extended where the old trimmer used to be and the floorboards can be put in place and the ceiling areas can be plasterboarded ready for skimming. A couple of coats of unibond to the walls is neccessary here so that the render adheres to the brickwork.The skirting boards can now be fixed and also the coving and care should be taken here to ensure that a perfect match is achieved. The plaster should now be left to dry for about a week and it can then be decorated so that it seamlessly blends in with its surroundings.

How to Build a Brick Arch

To day I had to build a brick archway over a gate by the side of a house in Barnet. It was not a job I come across very often so I quite enjoyed doing something different. I first had to make a segmental arch former to support the brickwork.
Using a jigsaw to cut out the shape of the arch from a piece of plywood.I then cut out another piece exactly the same size and joined them together with pieces of 2x2 so that I had a former the exact size and width of the opening.I supported the arch former with a4x2 frame which would be taken away later when the brickwork had gone off. I then built up the brick corners and went to have a pint of beer with my trusted Polish assistant Piotr.
With the arch former in place I laid the bricks on top making sure I had an uneven number (there must always be an uneven number of bricks in an arch) I then put up my line from corner to corner and ran the rest of the brickwork making sure to cut the bricks at the arch very carefully.
Two courses of creasing tiles with brick on edge on top made for a very classy finish and all in all it looked a treat.Time for another pint I think :-)

Welcome to the bricklayer in london blog

I have been a bricklayer in london for over twenty years. I did my apprenticeship and got my City and Guilds qualifications and headed out to seek my fortune in the capitols building sites. I went on to get my Advanced City and Guilds because I thought about going to Canada and those were the requirements to get in at that time.I worked in Germany(just on the other side of the bridge on the right next to Cologne Cathedral) for a few years and also Ireland.When I returned from Germany I worked the building sites where I had a lot of fun but I longed to be my own boss so I went out on my own doing house extensions,garden walls brick paving,brick re pointing and brick driveways.The economy which has been pretty buoyant for the last 15 years is now experiencing a downturn which means that the number of businesses going into liquidation has increased manifold and house repossessions are taking place on a daily basis.People are reluctant to spend money on anything other than the bare essentials and even the weekly shop is costing much more than this time last year because of sky high oil prices and the now all too infamous credit crunch.