In residential construction, a “brick recipe” is much more than a simple material list. It is a repeatable formula that combines brick type, mortar mix, labour hours, equipment and waste factors into one data-rich item you can drop into any estimate. With CountBricks voice-driven estimating, you can call up a brick recipe on site, tweak quantities in real time and instantly see costs update against live supplier pricing. The result: tighter margins, fewer overruns and faster approvals.
• Brick specification: clay facing, engineering or reclaimed units with dimensions and compressive strength
• Mortar blend: sand, cement, lime and plasticiser ratios plus colour additives for architectural matches
• Labour allocation: bricklayers, hod carriers, apprentices and site supervision hours per 1000 bricks
• Equipment: scaffolding bays, brick elevators, mixers and cutting tools with hire durations
• Waste allowances: breakage, cutting losses and setup waste expressed as a percentage or fixed count
• Ancillaries: wall ties, DPC courses, insulation batts, cavity closures and weep vents
1. Speak the wall dimensions into your mobile device.
2. CountBricks AI calculates brick numbers, adjusts for bond pattern and corner returns.
3. The platform pulls the latest regional brick, sand and cement prices.
4. Your saved labour rates are layered onto the recipe.
5. A complete line item drops into the estimate, ready for client issue.
Wall Height & Thickness: Switch from a 102.5 mm single skin to a 215 mm solid wall and watch mortar volume double automatically.
Bond Patterns: Flemish bond uses 10-12 % more bricks than stretcher bond. CountBricks recipes account for this at the click of a dropdown.
Exposure Zones: Coastal jobs trigger sulphate-resistant cement substitutions inside the recipe library, maintaining code compliance without manual recalculation.
• Tag each recipe with project type: extensions, new builds, garden walls or party walls
• Insert local wastage percentages based on historic CountBricks project data in your area
• Attach photo references of completed brickwork inside the recipe card to speed client approvals
• Set trigger alerts so if brick lead times exceed two weeks, CountBricks flags alternative suppliers
• Bundle accessories such as lintels and cavity trays into a “super recipe” for storey-height panels
CountBricks partnered with Ridgeview Homes on a 12-plot development requiring 180,000 heritage bricks. By deploying a unified brick recipe:
• Estimating time dropped from three days to three hours
• Procurement savings hit 7 % after live price comparisons
• On-site waste fell by 4,500 units thanks to precise cutting allowances
Explore more success stories at CountBricks.com/portfolio.
The CountBricks AI takeoff engine reads PDF elevations and tags every wall assembly. Your saved recipes are auto-matched, creating a bill of quantities seconds after upload. Simply review, approve and push the data straight into an invoice or procurement schedule.
Supplier APIs: CountBricks is continually adding merchant integrations so your brick prices stay current without manual updates.
Version Control: Each time you tweak a recipe CountBricks stores the variant, allowing you to roll back or compare performance across builds.
Team Permissions: Share recipes company-wide while locking down margin data for senior management only.
Once the brickwork is completed, CountBricks converts the original recipe quantities into an invoice draft, adjusting for any on-site variations recorded in the app. This single-source data flow slashes administrative time and increases transparency for your clients.
Sign up for a live demo at CountBricks.com/services and see how fast accurate recipes can transform your residential projects.
Labour often makes up 40-50 % of brickwork cost, yet many contractors still rely on rough allowances. CountBricks changes the game by embedding real crew performance data into every recipe.
• Import historic time-sheet data from previous projects into CountBricks.
• The platform calculates bricks laid per person per hour, split by wall type and height.
• These benchmarks automatically populate new estimates, giving you pinpoint labour forecasts.
1. Enter the agreed day rate for bricklayers and hod carriers.
2. Select overtime rules or weekend uplifts.
3. CountBricks recalculates total labour cost inside the recipe, reflecting true site conditions.
When Cedar Grove’s schedule compressed by two weeks, CountBricks modelled a two-shift pattern and instantaneously displayed the additional labour spend. The client approved the change order within the hour because the numbers were transparent and traceable back to the original brick recipe.
• Log daily brick counts via voice on the CountBricks mobile app.
• The system compares planned versus actual productivity and flags variance early.
• Recipes are auto-refined so future projects start with even tighter labour assumptions.
Visit CountBricks.com/consultation to import your current brick recipes and unlock data-driven labour planning that keeps your residential builds on schedule and on budget.
