How to Estimate Masonry Materials: Step by Step Guide

Estimating masonry materials means reading the wall elevations and the wall sections, pulling the unit type and bond pattern, and building a buy list that covers the block or brick, the mortar, the reinforcement, and the flashing. Masonry is a unit masonry trade, which means the material count starts with the wall area in square feet and a unit count per square foot. The rest follows from that number.

What You Are Counting

Pull the material list from the wall sections and the spec. Masonry scopes carry more ancillary material than most estimators expect on the first pass.

• Clay brick: modular, engineer, or utility brick, counted by the EA from the wall area and the bond pattern.
• Concrete masonry units (CMU): 8 inch, 10 inch, and 12 inch block, plus half block and corner block, counted by the EA.
• Mortar: Type N, S, or M mortar, figured by the cubic foot of mortar per square foot of wall, bought by the bag.
• Reinforcement: joint reinforcement, horizontal bond beams, and rebar, figured by the LF and the EA.
• Wall ties: corrugated or wire ties for veneer, counted by the EA from the tie spacing.
• Lintels and angles: steel lintels and shelf angles, counted by the EA or measured in LF.
• Flashing: through wall flashing and drip edges at sills, heads, and base of wall, measured in LF.
• Ancillaries: weep vents, control joint filler, sealant, and clean down chemicals, counted by the EA or LF.

Units and Waste Factors

Unit masonry lives and dies on the count per square foot. Get that number right and the rest follows.

• Brick: modular brick runs about 7 bricks per SF for a running bond, less for stack bond. Waste 5 percent for cuts and breakage, 10 percent for walls with many openings.
• CMU: 8 inch block runs about 1.125 units per SF of wall. Waste 5 percent for cuts, higher for walls with many corners and openings.
• Mortar: figure about 0.7 cubic feet of mortar per SF of brick wall, about 0.25 cubic feet per SF of CMU wall. One 80 lb bag yields roughly 0.7 cubic feet. Waste 10 percent.
• Joint reinforcement: LF of wall times courses per foot, plus 5 percent for laps. Bought in 10 foot lengths.
• Wall ties: one tie per 2.67 SF of veneer, or by the specified spacing. Waste 5 percent.
• Rebar: LF from the vertical and horizontal spacing in the cells, plus 10 percent for laps. Bought by the 20 foot stick.
• Flashing: LF at every sill, head, and base of wall, plus 10 percent for laps and corners.

Step by Step Material Takeoff

Work wall by wall, then sum by unit type.

• 1. List the walls: from the elevations and wall types, list each wall by type, length, and height. Note whether it is brick veneer, CMU, or composite.
• 2. Figure gross SF: multiply length by height for each wall.
• 3. Deduct openings: subtract windows, doors, and louvers. Keep the opening count for lintel and flashing takeoff.
• 4. Apply the unit count: multiply net SF by the brick or block count per SF for the bond pattern.
• 5. Add waste: 5 percent for brick, 5 percent for CMU, higher on walls with many openings.
• 6. Figure mortar: multiply net SF by the mortar cubic foot per SF, divide by bag yield, add 10 percent.
• 7. Take off reinforcement: count joint reinforcement in LF, rebar in LF from cell spacing, lintels and angles by the EA or LF.
• 8. Count wall ties and flashing: ties by EA from spacing, flashing by the LF at every sill, head, and base of wall.
• 9. Group by division: list unit masonry, mortar, reinforcement, ties, lintels, flashing, and sealants separately.

Where Estimators Miss

Masonry takeoffs miss when the count per SF is wrong or the ancillary material is overlooked.

• Wrong unit count per SF: stack bond uses more units per SF than running bond, and utility brick uses fewer than modular. Use the count for the actual bond and unit.
• Not deducting openings: every door and window comes out of the wall area. Skipping the deduction overcounts brick and block by 10 to 20 percent.
• Missing bond beams: horizontal bond beams show on the wall sections, not always on the elevation. They add block, rebar, and grout that easy to skip.
• Underestimating mortar: mortar fills the head joints, bed joints, and any voids in the block. The 0.25 cubic foot per SF figure is a baseline, not a ceiling.
• Forgetting lintels and angles: every opening needs a lintel, and veneer walls often need shelf angles at floor lines. Count them from the opening list.
• Skipping flashing and weeps: through wall flashing and weep vents at every head and sill keep water out of the wall. Leaving them out of the takeoff means a field buy and a waterproofing risk.

Worked Example

For a representative scope of a 1,200 SF 8 inch CMU wall with a few openings: assume 1,200 SF gross, 100 SF of openings, net 1,100 SF. At 1.125 units per SF, that is 1,237 block, plus 5 percent waste gives 1,300 block. Mortar at 0.25 cubic foot per SF times 1,100 SF equals 275 cubic feet, divided by 0.7 cubic foot per bag gives 393 bags, plus 10 percent gives about 60 bags after rounding to the bundle. Joint reinforcement at 3 courses per foot times 1,200 LF of wall gives 3,600 LF, plus 5 percent. Wall ties and flashing figure by the spacing and the opening count.

A typical direct cost breakdown for this scope is:

Numbers are illustrative and vary by region, project size, and material choice. Use them as a sanity check, not a bid.

Putting It Together

A tight masonry takeoff starts with the wall area and the unit count per square foot. Deduct the openings, apply the right count for the bond pattern, and add 5 percent for waste. Figure mortar by the cubic foot and convert to bags, take off the reinforcement and the lintels from the wall sections, and do not skip the flashing and weeps. List by division so the supplier can price the block, the mortar, the steel, and the accessories on separate lines, and your bid will land close to the real number.