Skills
Brickmason Skills & Tools
The technical skills, people skills and tools employers look for in brickmasons, and how to build and show them.
What skills do brickmasons need?
Brickmasons need technical skills such as laying brick and block, mortar mixing, and reading plans and layout, plus people skills like patience and precision and physical stamina. They also use tools such as Trowels, jointers and brushes and Levels, string lines and line blocks.
Technical (hard) skills
- Laying brick and block
- Mortar mixing
- Reading plans and layout
- Leveling and plumbing walls
- Joint tooling
- Masonry saw and scaffold safety
People (soft) skills
- Patience and precision
- Physical stamina
- Teamwork
- Pride in craftsmanship
Tools, equipment and technology
- Trowels, jointers and brushes
- Levels, string lines and line blocks
- Story poles and tape measures
- Mortar mixers
- Masonry saws with water or vacuum dust control
- Scaffolding
Skills in action: common tasks
These step-by-step guides show how brickmasons put their skills to work:
- How to lay a course of brick to the line
- How to mix mortar to the right consistency
- How to install flashing and weeps in brick veneer
How to show these skills on a resume
- Lead your skills section with the technical skills from the job posting, for example, “Laying brick and block” and “Mortar mixing.”
- Prove soft skills with results: instead of listing “patience and precision,” describe a situation where you used it.
- List credentials such as Apprenticeship completion near the top, with the issuing organization and date.
- Use the employer’s vocabulary. Our brickmason glossary covers the terms hiring managers expect.
How to build these skills
Formal training, supervised practice and certification are the most direct routes. Our Brickmason training introduces each of these skills with plain-language lessons, procedures and a final knowledge check: a strong foundation before hands-on training or your first day.