Masonry is paid by the measured quantity and carried out by gangs led by a master mason. Here is how to run the people side so the work stays steady.
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Share your requirementsA masonry contractor builds and repairs brick, block and stone work: walls, boundary work, retaining structures, plastering, chimneys and flues, and restoration of older buildings. Most work is done by gangs of masons and helpers led by a head mason, often paid by measured quantity or per piece, with the head mason paying the gang. The owner may hold a handful of skilled masons and rely on the head mason's network for the rest. Work runs from site to site, at height, and is hard on bodies, so fatigue and injury are real concerns. Chimney and restoration work needs patient, specialist skill. The common strain is that the true employer of many workers is unclear, and so are pay, safety and records. See also HR for construction and real estate.
These are the places the people side of this kind of business tends to give way. The rest of this page works through them.
HR here has to work for each of these groups, not only the office. The set-up below is written with all of them in mind.
Workers follow a head mason more than the company, so when he moves or is poached the gang goes with him.
When pay depends on measurement, disagreements over quantity, quality rejections and rework leave workers unpaid or resentful.
Helpers are hired and paid by the head mason, so the company has little record of who is on site or what they earn.
Chimney and restoration work on roofs and old walls is done with improvised support, and injuries are rarely recorded properly.
A young helper becomes a mason by watching, with no recognised step and no pay change, so many leave for other trades.
Idle days when bricks, cement or rain interrupt work are neither paid nor planned, and people drift to other contractors.
Start with the topics that matter most here: Compensation, Payroll and Benefits; Health, Safety and Wellbeing; Retention and Attrition Management. Then work through the rest. Each topic is written for construction and real estate, not in general.
Salary structure, payroll inputs and a month that closes on time.
Induction, records, incident reporting and follow-through.
Who leaves, when, why — and which of them mattered.
How many people, in which roles, by when — and what they will cost.
Structure, reporting lines and who is allowed to decide what.
Requisition to joining, the same way every time.
A first day that is the same for the fifth joiner as the first.
Records, attendance, leave and the day-to-day HR that must simply work.
Goals, reviews and ratings that hold up in a conversation.
Training planned from need rather than from the calendar.
Named backups for the roles that cannot be vacant.
Communication, recognition and the conditions people actually work in.
Two routes — one for complaints, one for conduct — kept separate.
Policies a manager can apply, and obligations with owners and dates.
Resignation to relieving letter, in a defined order.
Records that survive people, and approvals that do not queue.
A short monthly pack management actually reads.
An HR function that runs the same way every month.
The pieces a masonry and chimney contractors business puts in place, in an order that makes each easier. Open any card for the detail.
Rates, measurement method, rework rules, payment dates and who is on the gang, so the company knows who works for it.
What this coversHideRates, measurement method, rework rules, payment dates and who is on the gang, so the company knows who works for it. The HR documentation process supplies simple formats.
A daily list of masons and helpers by gang, tied to the measurement and the payment, whether the person is on your payroll or paid through the head mason.
What this coversHideA daily list of masons and helpers by gang, tied to the measurement and the payment, whether the person is on your payroll or paid through the head mason.
Joint measurement at set intervals, a clear quality standard and a quick way to resolve rejection, so disputes are settled while the work is fresh.
What this coversHideJoint measurement at set intervals, a clear quality standard and a quick way to resolve rejection, so disputes are settled while the work is fresh.
A recognised step with a skill check and a pay change, so capable helpers have a reason to stay.
What this coversHideA recognised step with a skill check and a pay change, so capable helpers have a reason to stay. See compensation and rewards.
A short briefing on support, harness use and roof access before each job, with an incident log.
What this coversHideA short briefing on support, harness use and roof access before each job, with an incident log. The health, safety and wellbeing work covers the routine.
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These checks take an afternoon and tell you which of the topics above to start with.
Share your requirementsConfirm with a qualified professional. What applies to you depends on your business, your state and your arrangements, and it changes. This page describes practice. It does not state a legal position.
The services below fit this kind of business best. Each starts by recording where you stand, and every later report compares against that. We do not promise outcomes.
Simple written terms with head masons and gang members, so nobody is guessing.
Piece-rate and day-rate logic that is fair, understood and tied to quality.
A practical routine for height, scaffold and chimney work with a record of incidents.
A look at why skilled hands and helpers drift to other contractors.
Start with a free conversation, or see the paid HR Diagnostic.
Understand the business, its workforce, current processes and HR challenges.
Find the missing, weak, inconsistent or person-dependent processes.
Create the structure, processes, policies, SOPs, dashboards and systems needed.
Help HR and department managers actually adopt the new system.
Digitise repetitive and approval-based workflows where it is worth doing.
Track hiring, attendance, employee cost, performance, training and attrition.
Strengthen the people-management system continuously, not once.
From the GullyHR blog: one on HR in construction and real estate, and one on each of the topics this page points to.
Site engineers, supervisors, crews and sales teams leave for different reasons. How to ask what shaped their decision and act on it between projects.
8 min readRead article
Most salary structures grew one negotiation at a time. How to build grades and bands from what you already pay, without repricing everybody at once.
8 min readRead article
A laminated notice, an annual drill, and an incident register with three entries in two years. What workplace health and safety looks like when it is real.
7 min readRead article
How to spot an unmanageable workload before it becomes an exit or an error, what to look at, how to talk about it and what to change, without guessing.
5 min readRead articleMore on the GullyHR blog.
That depends on the facts and the paperwork, and the answer matters. Confirm the position with a qualified professional, and keep your own list of everyone working under your contract.
Agree the measurement method before work starts, measure jointly at fixed intervals and settle quality rejections quickly. Keep signed measurement sheets.
Pay on time, give steady work, be fair on measurement and recognise his role. Also build relationships with a second mason so you are not dependent on one person.
Set a clear skill check, give supervised practice on simple work and link the step to better pay. People stay when they can see the next rung.
A briefing before each job, proper support and harness for height, and a record of any injury or near miss. Follow advice from a qualified safety professional.
We would discuss the terms with your head mason, whether everyone on site appears on one record, and how measured quantities are agreed and reworked. A reasonable first piece of work is a written arrangement with the head mason plus a helper-to-mason path. Scope is confirmed in writing afterwards, so both you and the gang leader know where things stand.
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