Bidfident for brickwork subcontractors
Estimating software for bricklayers
Bricklaying contractors price facing brick and blockwork by the square metre in Bidfident, with labourer attendance as its own line at the labourer's rate. The mast climber is charged for its own hours, not the bricklayers', and wall ties, stone cills and cavity trays sit on their own lines. Winter working goes in by the week, and the brick cleaning quotes sit side by side.
- Electrical
- Plumbing and mechanical
- HVAC and ductwork
- Dry lining
- Roofing
- Painting and decorating
- Flooring
- Brickwork and blockwork
- Concrete
Enter your email and Bidfident sends you a sign-in link. New companies start with a starter rate library. Who runs Bidfident, and what it keeps about you.
Sound familiar?
Attendance buried in the bricklayer's rate
Labourers mixing and loading out for the bricklayers cost less per hour, but a gang rate hides it. In Bidfident attendance is its own line at the labourer's rate, beside the brickwork at the bricklayer's.
The mast climber priced for every hour
The mast climber doesn't run for every hour the gang lays brick. In Bidfident the plant on a line can have its own hours per unit, so it's charged for the time it runs.
Winter working guessed as a lump
Heaters and sheeting run for the cold weeks, not the whole programme, and a lump guess is rarely right. In Bidfident preliminaries go in by the week, month, lump sum or each, so winter working is priced for the weeks it's needed.
How Bidfident fits your work
The mast climber for its own hours
Give the mast climber on the brickwork line its own hours per square metre and it's charged for that time, not every hour the bricklayers are on the wall.
Bricklayers and labourers at their own rates
Price the brickwork at the bricklayer's rate and the attendance at the labourer's. Each line takes its trade's rate from the library, and a line can carry its own rate when it needs one.
Winter working by the week
Heaters and sheeting by the week for the cold weeks, and supervision by the week, linked to the job duration so a longer programme is priced longer.
Square metres of wall, metres of cill
Brickwork and ties by the square metre, cills and cavity trays by the metre. Each line takes a quantity, hours per unit, a material price with a waste percentage, and plant by the hour.
Cleaning quotes side by side
Enter each quote for brickwork cleaning and sealing, see the lowest flagged, and carry it or the one you pick.
Elevation by elevation
Tag each line with an area, such as the north elevation or the courtyard, and group the sheet by it with a subtotal for each.
Worked example: facing brickwork for a three-storey care home
A made-up job, priced in Bidfident: 35 lines of your own work, 3 subcontract packages and 6 preliminaries items over a 14-week programme. The 5 lines this page talks about are listed one by one, and the rest are added up in one row. It's the same job you can open as an example project in Bidfident, so every figure below matches it.
To open this job in Bidfident: sign in and set up your company in the UK, then on the Projects screen, under Example project, pick "Specialist subcontractors" and "Brickwork and blockwork" and press Add example project.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
Facing brickwork, half-brick skin, stretcher bond, 520 m2
| £46,228.00 |
Labourer attendance on bricklayers, 520 m2
| £6,292.00 |
Wall ties and bed joint reinforcement, 520 m2
| £2,652.00 |
Reconstituted stone cills, 44 m
| £2,824.80 |
Cavity trays and DPC, 130 m
| £1,794.00 |
30 more lines of your own work
| £180,163.73 |
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
Brickwork cleaning and sealing
| £6,800.00 |
Scaffolding to courtyard and entrance canopy
| £8,140.00 |
Reconstituted stone entrance surround, allowance
| £3,600.00 |
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
Supervision, site supervisor
| £11,200.00 |
Winter working, heaters and sheeting
| £9,000.00 |
Contracts manager, part time
| £4,264.62 |
Small tools, masonry saws and blades
| £2,002.00 |
Inductions, RAMS and PPE
| £732.20 |
Skips for broken brick and mortar
| £992.00 |
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
Own work
| £239,954.53 |
| Excluded lines, not counted | £17,168.00 |
| Subcontractors | £18,540.00 |
Preliminaries
| £28,190.82 |
Direct cost
| £286,685.35 |
Contingency
| £11,467.41 |
Overheads and profit
| £29,815.28 |
| Subtotal before the bond | £327,968.04 |
Bond
| £3,279.68 |
Insurance
| £1,639.84 |
Tender total
| £332,887.56 |
VAT, for reference
| £66,577.51 |
See it in Bidfident
Coming soon Ask your estimate anything. Claude first, ChatGPT to follow. See how it will work
Questions
Can attendance be priced at a labourer's rate?
Yes. Put attendance on its own line with the labourer's trade, and it takes the labourer's rate while the brickwork takes the bricklayer's.
Can I price brickwork per square metre or per thousand?
Yes. Units are free text, so m², m, thousand and nr all work. Bidfident doesn't convert between units, so price each line in the unit its rate is in.
Can winter working be priced for only part of the programme?
Yes. Add it as a weekly preliminaries item with the number of weeks you need. Items linked to the job duration follow it instead.
Can the mast climber run fewer hours than the gang?
Yes. Give the line's plant its own hours per unit. Leave it blank and it runs for the gang's hours.
Does it measure wall areas from the drawings?
No. Bidfident doesn't read quantities from drawings. Type your areas in, net of openings, or paste them from a spreadsheet.
Can wall ties and cavity trays go on their own lines?
Yes. Price ties and bed joint reinforcement by the square metre of wall, and cavity trays, DPC and cills by the metre, each with its own hours and material.
Does Bidfident work with Claude or ChatGPT?
Not yet, but it's coming. You'll be able to connect Bidfident to your own Claude or ChatGPT account and ask about your estimates in plain English. The answers will come from Bidfident's own figures, so they match the estimate. It will use the account you already have: Claude first, ChatGPT to follow.
Price your next brickwork tender in Bidfident
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