Building things that weren't there
Masonry & Concrete
You build with the material that outlasts everything else on the site. Block, brick, stone, flatwork, foundations. What you set today will be standing after the people who hired you are gone, and it will be visible the whole time.
A day in it
- Early start — concrete does not wait and neither does the heat.
- Set line and level, mix mud, start laying at the corners.
- Corners are the whole job. Get them right and the wall builds itself.
- Course after course through the morning, checking level constantly.
- Lunch, then strike the joints while the mud is right.
- Flatwork crew is pouring next door and they'll finish long after dark if they have to.
- Clean the tools. Always clean the tools.
What it pays
- Starting out
- $41,330
- Median
- $60,800
- Experienced
- $95,560
Two occupations feed this trade. The figures above are brickmasons and blockmasons (SOC 47-2021). Cement masons and concrete finishers (SOC 47-2051) run $38,290 starting out, $54,660 median, $87,620 experienced.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2024 (national). Starting out = 10th percentile. Median = 50th. Experienced = 90th. Annual. Georgia figures to be added alongside national. SOC 47-2021. Real numbers only — never estimated, never rounded up.
How you get in
- —Start as a laborer or a tender. Almost everyone does.
- —Three-to-four-year apprenticeships through the union pay from day one.
- —Technical college programs run under a year.
- —The Mustard Seed covers tuition and your first trowels and levels.
What you need before you start
- —This is physical work and it is honest about that. Block is heavy.
- —Early mornings and weather that dictates the schedule.
- —An eye for straight. You either develop it or you don't stay.
Someone doing it
Photograph, first name, age, and three or four sentences in their own words — to be supplied.
What it turns into
Foreman, then your own crew. Restoration and historic masonry is specialized, well paid, and there are almost no young people in it.
Want to talk to somebody doing this?
Two fields. A person reads it and texts you back.