Part of my old job was reading contractor proposals submitted with applications for work in the Wooster Square district. The good ones ran two or three pages. The bad ones were a line of text and a number, and about half of those turned into change orders or complaints before the job finished.
The seven lines a masonry estimate needs
1. Scope by elevation and area. Not “repoint the house.” Which walls, how many square feet each, what percentage of joints. A wall that needs 100 percent cut-and-point and one that needs 30 percent spot pointing are different jobs at different prices, and the difference should be visible.
2. Joint preparation method and depth. Hand chisel, guided saw, or grinder; cut to what depth. This single line is what separates real repointing from a skim coat smeared over the existing joints, and it is the first thing to look for when two prices are far apart.
3. Mortar specification. The mix by type or by proportion, the sand source, and how the mix was determined — matched to an analysis, matched to a visual sample, or specified by the designer. “Type N” alone is a specification. “Mortar” is not.
4. Unit replacement. How many units are assumed, the unit rate for additional ones, and where replacement material comes from. This is the most common source of change orders because nobody knows the real count until the scaffold is up.
5. Access. Scaffold, lift, or ladder; who erects it; how long it stands; whether sidewalk protection or a permit is included.
6. Mockup and approval. On any historic or visible work, a sample panel of at least a few square feet, left for approval before the crew proceeds.
7. Protection, cleanup and weather. Covering windows and landscaping, how fresh work will be protected and cured, and what happens to the schedule if the weather turns.
The things that should be unit rates, not lump sums
Anything whose quantity cannot be known until work starts should be priced per unit with an allowance:
- Brick or stone replacement, per unit
- Additional depth of joint cut-out where the mortar is unsound deeper than expected, per square foot
- Removal of previous cement pointing, per square foot
- Lintel repair, per opening
A proposal that lump-sums all of this has either padded it heavily or is planning to come back for a change order. Both are worse than an honest allowance.
The lines that should not be there
Two things I flagged repeatedly on submitted proposals. First, “clean and seal” tacked onto a repointing scope as an upsell — sealing a wall that has just been repointed traps the mortar’s curing moisture and is rarely appropriate on historic masonry at all. Second, allowances written as a dollar figure with no unit rate behind them, which tells you nothing about what happens when the allowance runs out.
What a fair price looks like
Regional ranges for residential work, ladder or light scaffold height: cut-and-point $14 to $35 per square foot; brick replacement $25 to $70 per unit; stone dutchman repairs $250 to $900 each; chimney repointing above the roofline $1,200 to $4,000; mortar analysis $150 to $400 per sample.
Access can double any of those. So can historic district requirements, which is a legitimate cost and should appear as its own line rather than being hidden in the rate. The National Association of Home Builders at nahb.org publishes general guidance on contract structure and allowances that applies here as well as anywhere.
Frequently asked questions
Should I expect a written contract for a small repair? For anything over a few thousand dollars, yes, and most states require one above a threshold. It does not need to be elaborate: scope, price, unit rates for extras, schedule, payment terms, and what happens if additional work is found.
How much deposit is normal? Ten to thirty percent is typical for masonry, more if materials are being custom sourced. A demand for half up front on a job that has not started is a warning sign, and several states cap residential deposits by statute.
Is the cheapest itemized bid usually the right one? Not by itself, but an itemized bid can be compared, which is the point. Once three proposals list the same scope in the same terms, the differences are real differences in method or margin rather than in what was assumed — and that comparison is the subject of getting quotes that are actually comparable.