Terms and conditions for a bricklayer

A bricklaying business needs terms that deal with the things that actually cost you money: the scaffold that was not ready, the bricks the customer supplied and got wrong, the main contractor who pays when he gets paid, and the homeowner who says the mortar colour has gone patchy. I draft those terms around your business for a fixed fee of £995, delivered in five working days.

Who this is for

Bricklaying gangs, labour-only and supply-and-fix subcontractors, and firms doing private brickwork such as garden walls, extensions, repointing and chimney work, across England and Wales. Most bricklayers sell to two very different buyers: main contractors and developers, who sign nothing until the job is half done, and homeowners, who have statutory rights you cannot draft away.

What matters in a bricklayer's terms

Subcontract work and getting paid by the main contractor

Work for a builder or developer on walls and structures forming part of the land falls within the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, which gives you a right to adjudication, requires staged payments on contracts of 45 days or more, imposes payment notice rules and bans pay-when-paid. Your terms should set your application dates, your due dates and your right to suspend, and should say what you will accept on retention. Where the customer is a business and nothing else is agreed, the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 lets you claim interest and fixed compensation on each overdue invoice.

Measure, rates and extras

Brickwork is priced in more ways than most trades: per thousand laid, by the square metre, by the lift, or on day rate for cutting, arches, corbels, plinths and feature bonds. Disputes come from the work that was never in the rate. The terms should state what the rate includes, that setting out, levels and damp proof courses provided by others are taken as correct, and that variations, additional courses, changed brick sizes and out of sequence returns to site are charged as extras, agreed in writing before you carry on.

Bricks, mortar and who supplied them

Where the customer free-issues bricks, blocks and mortar, your terms should put shortages, breakages, wrong specification and delayed deliveries on them, and let you charge standing time. Where you supply, say that clay products vary between batches and blends, that samples and panels are a guide rather than an exact match, and that price rises between quotation and delivery are passed on. Efflorescence and lime bloom are normal weathering on new brickwork rather than defects, and the terms should say so before the customer decides otherwise.

Weather, frost and standing time

Mortar will not tolerate frost and you cannot lay in driving rain. The terms should treat completion dates as estimates, exclude liability for weather delay, and say who is responsible for covering and protecting new work overnight and in cold spells. If the scaffold is not up, the lift not struck, materials not landed or the previous trade not finished, you are being kept on site at your own cost. A standing time rate and a right to demobilise after a stated period turns that from a grievance into a charge.

Scaffolding, access and site conditions

Scaffold, edge protection, loading out, water, power and welfare are usually someone else's obligation, and your terms should say which. Make clear that you rely on the scaffold being inspected and handed over fit to work from, that you are not liable for defects in foundations, ties, lintels or design provided by others, and that ground conditions and existing structures are as found. If you cart rubble or spoil away, you must be registered as a waste carrier with the Environment Agency, and your terms should confirm who disposes of what.

Homeowners: garden walls, repointing and extensions

Private jobs agreed at the customer's house or over email and phone fall within the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, giving the customer fourteen days to cancel, extending by up to twelve months if the cancellation information is missing. Start inside that window without the customer's express request and you may not be paid. The Consumer Rights Act 2015 requires reasonable care and skill and will not let you cut down those rights. The terms should also make neighbour permissions and any building control notification under the Building Regulations the customer's responsibility, not a surprise at the end.

What it costs

Customer or supplier terms and conditions, £995. One set of terms, customer-facing or supplier-facing, drafted around your business. Five working days.

Review of your existing terms, £495. You already have terms and want to know how much of a problem they are. Returned marked up with my amendments and an explanation of the changes. Three working days.

Buying online forms the engagement on payment. The scope is what the terms and conditions drafting page describes, you accept the Terms of Service at checkout, and I email you within four working hours to get started. If you would rather ask something first, email me.

What you get

• A full set of terms drafted around your business, not a template with your name inserted
• A covering note in plain English explaining every commercial choice I made and why, so you can defend the terms in a negotiation without ringing me
• Liability, payment, termination and IP provisions set at a level that will survive a procurement review
• Consumer-facing wording drafted to be enforceable where you sell to consumers
• Guidance on how to incorporate the terms properly, which is where most businesses actually fail
• One round of amendments after you have read them

What is not included

• Negotiating your terms with individual customers
• Sector-specific regulatory compliance beyond the contract terms themselves
• Website privacy notice and cookie compliance, which I quote separately
• Terms governed by the law of another country

Questions I am often asked

The main contractor has sent me his own subcontract. Do my terms still count?

Usually his do, because the last set of terms sent and acted on tends to govern. That is why incorporation matters more than drafting. I cover how to get your terms in early, and if you have been handed a subcontract you cannot make sense of, my Review of your existing terms at £495 covers a marked-up read of what you are signing.

Can I charge the customer when the bricks turn up late or wrong?

You can, if the terms say so. The clause should give you a standing time rate, a right to reprogramme and a right to recover the cost of a gang stood down, and should make clear that delivery, specification and quantity are the customer's risk where the customer buys the materials.

Am I liable if the wall cracks later?

That depends on what caused it and what you agreed to be responsible for. Terms drafted properly separate your workmanship from foundations, movement joints, ties and design decisions made by others, cap your liability to business customers at a stated figure, and exclude consequential loss. Liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence cannot be excluded from anyone.

Related guidance and services

• Terms and conditions drafting, £995, the service this page describes
• Contract review, £495
• Ask Caesar, £495 a month
• Terms and conditions for a builder doing commercial work
• Terms and conditions for a builder doing domestic work

This page is general guidance for businesses in England and Wales, not advice on your own circumstances. Last reviewed: September 2026. Email geoffrey@caesar.co.uk.