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Job Description | Duties | Working Conditions
Educational Requirements | Outlook | Salary
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Architecture and Construction
Job Description: An apprenticeship is a formal method of training in a skilled occupation or trade. For general information about apprenticeships, training, and partnerships with business, visit the United States Department of Labor Office of Apprenticeship Training, Employer and Labor Services (OATELS). OATELS is the Federal program that administers the National Registered Apprenticeship System (NRAS).
Apprentice brickmasons are paid trainees who learn to use masonry materials to build walls, fireplaces, or other structures under the direction of experienced craftsworkers. Brickmasons may use bricks, stones, glass, or cement blocks in building structures.
Duties: Apprentice brickmasons may perform some or all of the following duties:
- Study blueprints
- Measure and lay out the job
- Gather tools
- Lay horizontal rows of brick, stone, glass, or cement with mortar beginning at the corner
- String a line or use masonry guides
- Spread some mortar with a trowel, place a brick in it, and tap the brick into the desired position
- Scrape away the excess mortar and finish the mortar between the masonry with the point of a trowel or a jointer
- Break bricks needed for small spaces with a hammer or mark it for cutting on a power saw
Working Conditions: Apprentice brickmasons usually work outdoors. They stand, kneel, bend, and lift over long periods of time. Sometimes they must work on scaffolds above the ground.
Educational Requirements: Apprenticeships for brickmasons are sponsored by local contractors or local trade unions. To become an apprentice, applicants must be between the ages of 18 and 25 and a member of the sponsoring trade organization. Apprentices often begin by working with laborers, carrying materials, mixing mortar, and building scaffolds. This period generally lasts about a month. Next, they learn to lay, align, and join bricks. A formal program generally requires 4 years of training. Most programs require 144 classroom hours and 4800 hours of on-the-job training. Attendance at night school may be required. For related information and recommended courses to prepare for this occupation, Tennessee high school students may visit the Trade and Industrial Education Standards, Competency Profiles, and Resource Links online.
Outlook: Job opportunities for skilled brickmasons are expected to be good as the growth in demand will continue as population and business growth will create a need for new homes, factories, schools, hospitals, offices, and other structures. The estimated number of brickmasons and blockmasons in Tennessee is 2,460. It is projected there will be an increase of 23 percent in this occupation through the year 2012 with 90 job openings annually. For additional information on this occupation, visit the nationally recognized Occupational Outlook Handbook online.
| 10% | 25% | Median- 50% | 75% | 90% | |
| TN Annual | $23,460 | $30,930 | $39,360 | $45,400 | $51,110 |
| US Annual | $25,470 | $33,190 | $42,980 | $54,610 | $67,450 |
*Some salaries are listed at an hourly rate. Those that include a single dollar amount are considered hourly wage.
Wage and salary data provided by:
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Tennessee Department of Labor website
- TN Department of Labor & Workforce Development website
- Bureau of Economic Analysis website
For an explanation of salary data please visit acinet.org
Last updated on: January 23, 2008