How Much Does it Cost to Build a Garden/Front Wall?

Job Costs

Job	Description	Labour
1	To build a 900mm high x 100mm (half brick) thick front garden wall. This will go right across the front, (5 metres), have a gap for a gate, a new concrete foundation and be built of face bricks with a “soldier” coping and 6 piers. With a new foundation, this will take 2 men 2.5 days.	£700
	Plus materials, tipping etc. for the above (a small will cost about £175)	£400
2	The same job but 230mm (1 brick) wide, with stock bricks. That’s 2 men 3 days work, plus upgraded materials	£1300
3	Build a 1.8m high, 100mm (half brick) thick, side garden wall with piers every 1.8m. This will be 35m long have a concrete foundation and be built from face bricks with concrete copings. This will take 2 men 10 days	£2750
	Plus materials, tipping etc. for the above	£2250
4	To keep your neighbour happy and build it 230mm (1 brick) wide from stock bricks add…	£2000

“Labour” at £175 a day (tradesman) £100 (labourer), includes incidental fixings etc. and tipping charges. “Materials” if mentioned, are larger things (a boiler) and stuff only you can choose (tiles etc). Also VAT must be added all round

Information Sheet on Building a Garden/Front Wall

What’s the problem? Drunks using your garden as a khasi. Litter blowing in. Fed up of the rotten fence? If you want a wall between you and your neighbours that’s high enough so you don’t have to nod to them every time you see them, it might be cheaper to move!

Height, thickness, type of bricks, what’s on top, holes for gates, pointing type. Those are the considerations.

Height is determined by your needs; do you need a simple (psychological) barrier or a screen to hide behind?

Height and position determines thickness. At the sides or back of the house, I suppose at a pinch, you can get away with a “half brick” wall (that’s 4” thick), as long as you have lots of piers to strengthen it. It really should be 9” thick though, it would be a heck of a lot stronger and won’t need piers but it will cost!

A front boundary wall has vandalism to contend with, no matter how small it is. Have it built 9” thick!

Keeping it simple, there are 3 types of bricks. “Face bricks” have only one good side and edge, which are designed to be on show. Garages get built from these, they look OK from the outside but the inside ain’t so pretty. “Common bricks” are well named, they have no good side or edge and are not really meant to be visible. “Stock bricks” have all 4 faces designed to be visible.

There are many variations, colours, textures and even shapes to choose from. Take a walk round the block, visit a builder’s merchants, or give it google. Don’t ask the builder what he would recommend, he couldn’t care less. Apart from white ones (where’s my crucifix)? a brick is a brick, it’s not his wall. You should make your decision before you get quotes though, so that every builder is quoting for the same thing.

What about the top? Brickwork shouldn’t just stop, it should be finished off. This can be done using the bricks themselves by putting them upright on top, (called a soldier course), or cutting them in half and putting those on edge on top. Another way is to lay a course of manufactured copings on top. These slope to shed water and are usually concrete colour. You should be able to see some on your “neighbourhood ramble”.

If you are having what’s known as a “half brick” wall built, that’s one about 4” thick and you are using face bricks, remember that they only have one “good” side. If the wall is at the side of your garden and you want the good side then your neighbour will face eternity looking at a horrid mess. He may not thank you for that. In this case you really should use “stock” bricks.

I’m assuming all pointing will be “bucket handle”

Ask the builder for his advice about height, thickness, pier spacing and foundations, though!