Key Takeaways
- BLS median wage for brickmasons and blockmasons (SOC 47-2021) reached roughly $61,000 in May 2024, with cement masons and concrete finishers (SOC 47-2051) near $52,000 and experienced stonemasons and restoration specialists in high-demand metros earning $72,000 to $90,000
- Labor accounts for 50% to 70% of total installed masonry cost, since laying, tooling, and finishing brick, block, and stone is skilled hand work that no material saving can offset
- The US construction sector needed roughly 439,000 additional workers in 2025, and masonry trades report some of the deepest and most persistent crew shortages because the craft takes years to master
- Field crew turnover in masonry and related construction trades runs 45% to 60% annually, with replacement costs averaging 30% to 40% of a departed worker's yearly pay
- Virtual assistant support for estimating, scheduling, and customer service saves masonry contractors $24,000 to $48,000 per role each year versus in-house equivalents
Masonry industry staffing costs 2026: the full picture
Masonry is one of the oldest building trades and one of the most stubbornly manual. A pallet of block or a cube of brick is cheap next to the hours it takes a skilled mason to lay it plumb, tool the joints clean, and turn out a wall that lasts a century. That labor is the largest line in almost every masonry budget, and the wage a contractor must offer to keep a good bricklayer or cement mason on the crew sets the floor under every bid. This report gathers current wage data, cost breakdowns, and labor-market figures so masonry companies can see where their staffing dollars go and where the pressure is building.
Masonry industry staffing costs are rising faster than most contractors can recover in pricing. A national construction labor shortage, an aging craft workforce, high field turnover, and steady demand from commercial, institutional, and restoration work all push in the same direction. Knowing where those dollars go is the first step toward controlling them.
1. The trade shortage behind every masonry bid
Masonry contractors do not hire in a vacuum. They compete for the same masons, finishers, and laborers that concrete, hardscape, and general building crews are chasing, and that pool is shrinking.
The Associated Builders and Contractors estimated the US construction industry needed to attract roughly 439,000 additional workers in 2025 just to keep pace with demand, with the projected gap for 2026 landing somewhere between 350,000 and 499,000 net new workers depending on the forecast. As of mid-2025, construction carried more than 300,000 unfilled job openings nationally.
For masonry specifically, the squeeze is worse than the headline number suggests. Laying brick and block to a straight, plumb, tightly tooled standard is a craft that takes years to learn, and the masons who have mastered it are retiring faster than apprentices arrive. The Mason Contractors Association of America and other trade groups have flagged the graying of the masonry workforce for over a decade, and fewer young workers are entering the apprenticeship pipeline than the industry needs to replace those leaving. Restoration and historic-repair work compounds the gap, since it demands specialized skills in tuckpointing, stone repair, and matching old mortar that only a shrinking number of hands still carry.
The drivers are structural rather than cyclical. An aging workforce, accelerated retirements, fewer trade-school entrants, and the physical demands of the work all mean the shortage is likely to persist well past 2026. That makes every retention and productivity decision a cost decision.
2. Average wages by masonry role: 2026 data
The following ranges combine federal wage data with market rates masonry contractors report paying in 2026. Base wages sit at the lower end; loaded cost per seat, once payroll taxes, workers' compensation, and benefits are added, runs 25% to 40% higher.
Field crew roles
| Role | Typical annual base | Hourly range |
|---|---|---|
| Mason tender / hod carrier | $36,000 - $50,000 | $17 - $24 |
| Cement mason / concrete finisher | $46,000 - $64,000 | $22 - $31 |
| Brickmason / blockmason | $52,000 - $74,000 | $25 - $36 |
| Stonemason | $54,000 - $80,000 | $26 - $38 |
| Field foreman | $70,000 - $98,000 | $34 - $47 |
The BLS reported a median annual wage of roughly $61,000 for brickmasons and blockmasons (SOC 47-2021) as of May 2024, with cement masons and concrete finishers (SOC 47-2051) near $52,000, stonemasons (SOC 47-2022) around $53,000, and helpers for the masonry trades (SOC 47-3011) at a median close to $42,000. Experienced masons who can run a job start to finish, handle restoration or architectural work, and lead a small crew command a premium above those medians, particularly in high-cost metros and on commercial and institutional projects.
Estimating, sales, and project roles
| Role | Typical annual base | Hourly range |
|---|---|---|
| Masonry estimator | $54,000 - $78,000 | $26 - $38 |
| Sales / project consultant | $55,000 - $90,000 (plus commission) | varies |
| Project manager | $68,000 - $100,000 | $33 - $48 |
Administrative and office roles
| Role | Typical annual base | Hourly range |
|---|---|---|
| Office manager | $45,000 - $62,000 | $22 - $30 |
| Scheduling / dispatch coordinator | $38,000 - $52,000 | $18 - $25 |
| Customer service representative | $36,000 - $48,000 | $17 - $23 |
Geographic variation
Wages swing widely by market. Brickmasons and stonemasons in the Northeast, Pacific Coast, and high-growth Sun Belt metros such as Dallas, Phoenix, and Atlanta earn 20% to 35% more than the national median, tracking both cost of living and local building intensity. Union commercial and institutional work carries higher scale wages and benefit packages than residential piecework in most regions. Rural and lower-cost markets sit below the median, though the shortage narrows that gap every year.
3. Labor as a share of installed masonry cost
This is the number that defines the business. Installed brick veneer runs roughly $10 to $30 per square foot on typical work, and the brick or block itself often accounts for only a third to a half of that. Once you strip out material and overhead, direct labor consumes 50% to 70% of the installed cost on most masonry jobs, and even more on cut stone and restoration.
| Project element | Share of total cost |
|---|---|
| Direct labor (lay, tool, finish) | 50% - 70% |
| Materials (brick, block, stone, mortar) | 20% - 40% |
| Equipment, scaffolding, delivery | 5% - 12% |
| Overhead and misc. | 5% - 10% |
Job type shifts the split further. A running-bond block wall in a warehouse leans toward material and speed, while a hand-cut stone facade or a historic tuckpointing repair is almost entirely labor, requiring careful matching, tooling, and cleanup that no material saving can offset. That is why a single slow or unskilled crew day erodes masonry margin faster than any reasonable swing in brick pricing. Labor is the largest controllable cost, and the one that decides whether a job finishes profitable or underwater.
4. Productivity, piece work, and the true cost of skilled hands
Masonry pay structures reward output. A journeyman bricklayer is often measured by the number of brick laid per day, and a fast, accurate mason can lay several hundred to well over a thousand brick in a shift depending on the wall and the conditions. Because output scales so directly with skill, the effective cost per brick of an experienced crew can beat that of a cheaper but slower one, even at a higher hourly wage.
The catch is quality. Pushing speed too hard produces crooked courses, sloppy joints, and callbacks, and a callback on finished masonry is expensive to fix, often requiring tear-out and rework rather than a quick patch. Contractors weigh raw laying speed against tooling quality and consistency, and the masons who deliver both are the ones worth paying a premium to keep. Either way, the loaded cost of skilled masonry time keeps rising as the pool of capable hands shrinks.
5. Demand growth and wage pressure
Masonry demand tracks commercial, institutional, and residential construction along with a steady stream of repair and restoration work, and enough of it stays active to keep crews busy in most markets. Brick, block, and stone remain core materials for schools, hospitals, government buildings, and higher-end residential, and the durability that makes masonry attractive also creates ongoing restoration demand on the vast stock of existing masonry structures.
A steady or growing volume of work paired with a shrinking labor pool has one predictable result on wages. Contractors who staffed masons at $24 an hour a few years ago are now bidding $30 to $38 for the same skill in many markets, and the premium for a mason who can handle architectural or restoration work keeps widening. Commercial projects with tight schedules compound the pressure, since a general contractor's liquidated-damages clock does not stop because a masonry sub cannot field enough skilled bricklayers.
6. Turnover and the cost of replacing a crew member
High turnover is the quiet tax on masonry payroll. Field crew turnover in masonry and related construction trades runs 45% to 60% annually, in line with the broader construction sector where physical demands, project-to-project work, and competition for skilled hands drive frequent movement.
Replacement is not free. Standard workforce research puts the cost of replacing a departed worker at 30% to 40% of that person's annual pay once recruiting, onboarding, and lost productivity are counted, and higher for skilled masons who take hard-won craft knowledge with them.
| Departing role | Annual pay | Replacement cost (30-40%) |
|---|---|---|
| Mason tender | $44,000 | $13,200 - $17,600 |
| Cement mason | $56,000 | $16,800 - $22,400 |
| Brickmason / stonemason | $70,000 | $21,000 - $28,000 |
For a masonry company running two or three crews, even average turnover translates into tens of thousands of dollars a year in pure replacement cost, before counting the revenue lost when a job stalls because a crew is short a skilled mason.
7. The hidden cost center: estimating, scheduling, and CSR
Field labor is the cost every masonry contractor watches. The back office is the cost most underestimate. Takeoffs, bid follow-up, material ordering, crew scheduling, supplier coordination, scaffolding logistics, and customer communication all take hours, and when a foreman or the owner absorbs that work, the company is paying skilled-trade or executive wages for clerical tasks.
In-house administrative cost by role
A full-time office manager, scheduler, and CSR carry loaded costs of roughly $55,000 to $80,000, $48,000 to $65,000, and $45,000 to $60,000 respectively once benefits and payroll burden are included. For a small or mid-sized masonry operation, that is heavy fixed overhead to carry against a lumpy, project-driven revenue curve.
VA support and the savings math
This is where masonry contractors are increasingly turning to remote support. A trained virtual assistant handling takeoff administration, bid follow-up, appointment setting, supplier coordination, scheduling, and customer communication typically costs a fraction of an in-house hire, with no payroll tax, benefits, workers' compensation, or idle payroll attached during slow stretches.
The saving per role generally lands between $24,000 and $48,000 a year versus the in-house equivalent. Just as important for a project-driven trade, that capacity flexes with the workload, scaling up during heavy bidding season and easing back when the pipeline thins, without layoffs or rehiring. Stealth Agents virtual assistant services support exactly these functions for construction and masonry contractors, keeping the owner and foremen on billable work instead of paperwork.
8. Total workforce cost model: a two-crew masonry operation
The following model illustrates annual labor cost for a mid-sized masonry company running two field crews plus office support.
| Position | Count | Loaded annual cost each | Subtotal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Field foreman | 2 | $92,000 | $184,000 |
| Brickmason / stonemason | 2 | $76,000 | $152,000 |
| Cement mason | 2 | $62,000 | $124,000 |
| Mason tender | 3 | $50,000 | $150,000 |
| Estimator | 1 | $80,000 | $80,000 |
| Office manager | 1 | $68,000 | $68,000 |
| Scheduler / CSR | 1 | $58,000 | $58,000 |
| Total in-house | 12 | $816,000 |
Shifting the scheduler and CSR functions to virtual assistant support in this model replaces roughly $116,000 of in-house administrative cost with VA capacity at a fraction of the price, freeing $40,000 or more annually and removing the fixed overhead risk on those roles. The field crew stays in-house, where the work has to be, and the overhead flexes with the pipeline.
Key takeaways for masonry contractors in 2026
Masonry industry staffing costs are dominated by field labor, and skilled field labor is getting scarcer and more expensive. The mason shortage is structural, the craft workforce is aging, turnover is high, and demand stays steady, so the wage pressure is not easing. For most operators the controllable lever is overhead, not field pay. The market sets what a good bricklayer earns; the administrative cost stacked on top of that is where a company can actually move the number. Moving estimating support, scheduling, and customer service to flexible remote capacity protects margin without touching the crews that build the walls.
For related context on staffing cost trends in adjacent building trades, see the companion research at /research/construction-industry-staffing-costs-2026, /research/drywall-industry-staffing, and /research/roofing-industry-staffing-costs-2026. For the broader replacement-cost data referenced above, see /research/the-true-cost-of-employee-turnover-by-industry-in-2026. To see how remote support handles estimating, scheduling, and customer service for masonry operations, visit our virtual assistant services page.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the main staffing costs in the masonry industry?
The largest cost is field labor, brickmasons, blockmasons, cement masons, stonemasons, and tenders, which consumes 50% to 70% of a typical masonry job's installed cost. Beyond wages, contractors carry payroll taxes, workers' compensation, benefits, and the overhead of estimating, scheduling, and customer service staff. Loaded cost per field seat runs 25% to 40% above base wages once those items are added.
Why are masonry staffing costs rising in 2026?
Several forces push costs up at once. A national construction labor shortage, an aging craft workforce, and a thin apprenticeship pipeline have driven wages higher. Field turnover of 45% to 60% adds constant replacement cost. And steady demand from commercial, institutional, and restoration work keeps skilled masons in short supply, which sustains the wage pressure across most markets.
How can masonry companies reduce staffing costs without cutting quality?
The most effective move is to keep skilled masons on billable field work and shift administrative functions off their plates. Takeoff support, bid follow-up, scheduling, supplier coordination, and customer service can be handled by trained virtual assistants at $24,000 to $48,000 less per role than in-house staff, with the added benefit that the capacity flexes with the project pipeline rather than sitting as fixed overhead during slow stretches.