Sector: bricklaying & masonry
Price work, gang hours and CIS for bricklayers
Bricklaying is priced by the measure rather than by the day, and that is the thing general job software gets wrong: it wants a quantity and a price when the trade wants a rate per thousand, per square metre, or per lift, applied to what was actually laid. Estimark holds coded rate sets with per-client uplifts and prices the work off them, books the gang’s hours to the job so the measured price can be checked against what it cost, and runs CIS across everybody on it.
What actually goes wrong
A rate agreed verbally and remembered differently
The rate per thousand was agreed in a yard in February and is disputed in May, with no record either way.
Nobody knows whether the price work made money
The measure was paid, the gang was paid, and the two numbers were never put next to each other.
Gang hours in a notebook
Four men, three weeks, and a payroll figure with no job attached to it.
CIS across a gang nobody verified
Each unverified man is deducted at 30%, and every one of them chases you for a statement in April.
Sector: how it works
How is price work quoted and billed?
The Schedule of Rates module holds coded rate sets with per-client uplifts, and works are priced against them rather than typed as a lump.
- A coded rate is a record: it can be quoted from, billed from and argued from, which a rate agreed in a yard cannot.
- Per-client uplifts mean the same rate set serves several contractors without three copies of it drifting apart.
- Schedule of Rates is priced on a quote.
NoteA rate set is only worth what the customer agreed to. The module records the rate; it does not negotiate it, and a rate nobody signed is still a rate nobody signed.
Did the price work actually make money?
Job Costing puts the measured value and the gang cost against each other: a frozen budget baseline, a cost code tree, six cost categories and a dated cost-to-complete forecast.
- Timesheets book hours to a job with a rate and compute the labour cost per entry, so the gang cost is a job number rather than a payroll number.
- The baseline is frozen, so a price that moved can be seen to have moved rather than quietly becoming the plan.
- Margin is reported over the sell price, and a line with no cost recorded is named as uncosted rather than treated as free.
- Job Costing is included from Core.
How is CIS handled across a gang?
Verification per subcontractor, the rate that verification produces, and a payment and deduction statement each tax month.
- An unverified man is 30% whatever status is recorded against him locally, and verifying is the contractor’s duty rather than his.
- The deduction is taken on the labour element only, and the CIS300 is recorded with both statutory declarations.
- A CIS tax month runs 6th to 5th, so a payment early in a calendar month usually belongs to the period before it.
- CIS Compliance is included from Solo.
Which plan does a bricklaying firm need?
Core at £129 a month +VAT for up to 5 users with no job limit, because Job Costing is what makes price work checkable.
- Solo at £39 a month +VAT covers 2 users and 20 open jobs, with CIS already included.
- Schedule of Rates is priced on a quote as a bolt-on.
- Payment Applications is included from Pro for subcontract valuations to a main contractor.
Bricklaying, in numbers
- Pricing
- Coded rate sets, per-client uplifts
- Gang hours
- Booked to the job, costed per entry
- Cost categories
- 6, on a frozen baseline
- Core
- £129/month +VAT
- Schedule of Rates
- priced on a quote
- CIS Compliance
- Included from Solo
Core
£129 +VAT/month
Core covers up to 5 users with no job limit and brings Job Costing, which is the part that tells you whether the measure paid for the gang.
What you get
- Job costing with a frozen baseline and cost-to-complete
- Timesheets with labour cost computed per entry
- CIS verification, deduction, statements and the CIS300
- Quotes, jobs, invoicing and the accounting push
Schedule of Rates is priced on a quote as a bolt-on. Solo is £39/month +VAT for 2 users and 20 open jobs, with CIS included.
Questions
Bricklayers: frequently asked
Can Estimark price bricklaying by measured rate?
Yes. The Schedule of Rates module holds coded rate sets with per-client uplifts, and works are priced against them rather than typed in as a lump sum. That makes a rate a record you can quote from, bill from and refer back to when it is disputed.
How do I tell whether price work made money?
Put the measured value and the gang cost side by side. Job Costing carries a frozen budget baseline, a cost code tree, six cost categories and a dated cost-to-complete forecast, and timesheets book gang hours to the job with the labour cost computed per entry.
Does it handle CIS for a gang of self-employed brickies?
Yes. Each subcontractor is verified with HMRC and deducted at the rate that verification produces, on the labour element only. A payment and deduction statement is issued per subcontractor per tax month, and the CIS300 is recorded with both statutory declarations.
How much is Estimark for a bricklaying firm?
Core is £129 a month +VAT for up to 5 users with no job limit, and Schedule of Rates is priced on a quote as a bolt-on. Solo is £39 a month +VAT for 2 users and 20 open jobs. Every plan has a 14-day free trial.
Related
For plasterers
Labour-only CIS, where the whole payment is the deduction base and verification is the margin.
Job costing & CVR
Actual, committed and forecast cost per job, with a cost value reconciliation pack.
CIS compliance
Labour-only deduction, 6th-to-5th tax months, HMRC verification, CIS300 recorded.
For builders & contractors
Pro at £299/month +VAT: payment applications, HR, plant and fleet, on top of job costing, CIS and site safety.
Try it on a real job.
14 days, full access, every plan. No implementation fee. All prices exclude VAT, added at 20% at checkout.