Commercial and industrial bricklaying in Melbourne: a builder’s guide

Commercial and industrial brickwork is a different animal to a home. The standards are written down, the program is tight, and the work has to pass inspection. Here is what builders and developers should look for, and how a brickwork package stays on track.

What commercial brickwork involves

• Block and face brick at scale. Warehouses, factory units, retail and commercial fit-outs, often core-filled and reinforced blockwork that gets rendered or clad.
• Engineered to spec. Bond, reinforcement, control joints and tie spacing are not a judgement call on site, they follow the engineer and the drawings.
• Compliance. Brickwork on a commercial job has to meet the relevant Australian Standards and survive inspection, so the detailing matters as much as the laying.

Keeping it on program

The brickwork rarely sits on its own. It works in with the slab, the steel, the services and the cladding that follow. A commercial bricklayer who can read a program, turn up with the crew the job needs, and hit the dates is worth more than the lowest square-metre rate, because a blown brickwork date pushes every trade behind it.

What builders should look for

• A crew that scales to the job, not one that overpromises
• Clean control and articulation joints, set out to the drawings
• Proper reinforcement and core filling where the engineer calls for it
• Tidy sites and safe access, scaffold and edge protection sorted
• Someone who flags a problem early instead of building it in

Why detail wins

On a commercial job the cheapest quote can become the most expensive one if the work fails inspection or has to be pulled down and redone. Getting the set-out, the joints and the reinforcement right the first time keeps the whole build moving.

If you have a commercial or industrial package coming up, send through the drawings and the program, and we will tell you how we would resource it and where the risks are.