15 May 2026
Brickwork is one of the bigger trades on a new build, and it lands on your budget as either a supplier's allowance or a bricklayer's quote. Either way it pays to know what moves the number, because two homes of the same floor size can price very differently. Here it is in plain terms, from the trade that lays it.
Most new homes in Melbourne are brick veneer: a single skin of brick tied to a timber or steel frame, with the frame doing the structural work. It is the faster, cheaper path and it is what the majority of project and estate homes are built in. Double brick, two full skins, uses far more brick, ties and labour, and is usually a deliberate choice on a custom home. Which one your plans call for is the single biggest thing that sets the price.
The headline figure is the total wall area to be bricked, taken off the elevations, not a rate per square of floor. A long, spread-out single storey can carry more brick than a tall, compact double storey. Big windows reduce brick but add labour around every opening.
A second storey means scaffold, and it means every brick and every bucket of mortar is laid at height, which is slower. The jump from single to double storey is one of the clearer steps up in a brick quote.
This is the part you control. Commons (the plain bricks that get rendered or sit out of sight) are cheapest, face bricks you see every day cost more, and the premium, recycled and heritage ranges cost more again, sometimes a lot more. On a new build the brick is often a PC sum, a provisional allowance in your building contract. If you fall for a dearer brick at the display centre, that is exactly where the budget moves, so ask what the allowance is before you pick.
Straight runs are quick. Arches, soldier courses, feature panels, raked or coloured joints and lots of corners all add time. New homes also need their articulation joints (the control joints that let the wall move without cracking) and weep holes set out properly. A good bricklayer builds those in as a matter of course, not as an extra.
On a new home the brickwork does not happen in isolation. The slab and frame are done by others, the scaffold has to suit, and we lay in with the builder's program so windows, roof and the other trades all land in the right order. A tidy, well-run site bricks up faster than a cramped one with three trades on top of each other. Estate covenants can also dictate the brick or the colour, so it is worth checking early.
Every plan is different, and the brick choice alone can swing the figure. A firm price comes from the working drawings, the elevations and the brick schedule, not a rate you read somewhere.
Send us the plans, or the elevations and your brick allowance, along with your suburb, and we will give you a proper quote, tell you where the money is going, and show you where you can save without cutting the corners that cost you later.