Brickwork & Masonry
Brickwork & Masonry
in Bishop's Stortford & Hertfordshire
Garden walls, piers, arches, structural brickwork and matching repairs — built to look right today and still look right in twenty years' time.
Overview
Brickwork That Reads Right
Good brickwork is invisible — coursing reads cleanly, joints are tight and consistent, and corners line up plumb. Bad brickwork screams from across the street. We take brickwork seriously because we have to live with our work in the area we serve.
Our brickwork scope covers new garden walls, piers and gateposts, structural brickwork as part of larger building projects (extensions, knock-throughs, openings), and matching repairs to existing walls — including matching brick colour, weathered finish, and historic mortar mix on older properties.
Why It Matters
Why Cheap Brickwork Always Looks Cheap
The visible failure modes on bad brickwork are wandering coursing (joints that drift up or down across the wall), inconsistent perp joints, mortar smeared on the brick faces, and corners out of plumb. Every one of these comes from rushing the build — usually because the bricklayer was paid by the square metre, not by the standard.
The structural failure modes are worse: insufficient or wrong-spec foundations causing the wall to crack in two years, no expansion joints causing thermal cracking, wrong mortar mix on soft brick causing brick face spalling. We don't cut corners on any of these.
Our Process
How We Deliver Brickwork & Masonry
Survey & Quote
Site visit, dimensions, brick and mortar matching where required, fixed itemised quote.
Foundations
Proper concrete strip foundations to depth, never compromised — every wall starts here.
Brick Build
Plumb corners, consistent coursing, tight joints, expansion provisions where needed.
Pointing & Coping
Joints struck cleanly, brick faces wiped, copings or capping bricks fitted to weather the wall.
Final Inspection
Final clean-down, walkthrough, written workmanship guarantee on all brickwork.
Benefits
What You Get with J&Co
Plumb Corners
Every corner laser-checked for plumb on the build — corners that look right from any angle.
Consistent Coursing
Joints stay flat across the run — no wandering, no drift.
Proper Foundations
Concrete strip foundations to appropriate depth — never skimped to save a day.
Brick Matching
Reclaimed and stock brick matching for repairs to existing walls and historic properties.
Technical Detail
New Walls, Repairs and Matching Old Brickwork
New garden walls and piers are the most common job. Built off proper concrete strip foundations (typically 600mm wide × 300mm deep for a 1.2m–1.8m wall), in a 1:1:6 cement-lime-sand mortar, with expansion joints at appropriate centres on longer runs, and finished with capping bricks or coping stones to weather the top course.
Structural brickwork as part of larger projects — closing up doorways, forming new openings, building cavity wall returns on extensions, rebuilding garden wall returns where extensions meet existing boundaries. Always coordinated with structural engineer specifications where load-bearing.
Matching repairs to existing walls require careful brick and mortar selection. Older Hertfordshire properties often use locally-fired stock bricks no longer available off the shelf — we source reclaimed bricks from architectural salvage where needed, and match mortar mix and joint profile to the existing. Done well, the repair is invisible after weathering. Done badly, it screams.
For chimney brickwork specifically see chimney repairs and repointing. For external rendering finishes see plastering and rendering.
Honest Pricing
How Much Does Brickwork Cost in Hertfordshire?
Brickwork is usually priced by the square metre of face area plus material and foundation cost. Honest guide ranges below.
Garden wall (1.2m high)
£250–£400 per m run
Including foundations, brick build, copings — standard stock brick in cement-lime mortar.
Brick piers / gateposts
£600–£1,400 each
Including foundation, build to 1.5–1.8m, capping. Pair pricing typically slightly more efficient.
Matching repair
£400–£2,500
Wide range — depends on damage extent, brick sourcing difficulty and access.
What affects the price
- Wall height and length
- Brick type (stock, engineering, reclaimed)
- Mortar mix specification
- Foundation depth required
- Access for materials and waste
- Coping or capping specification
Service Area
Areas We Cover for Brickwork & Masonry
We deliver this service across our full Hertfordshire and Essex catchment. Regular projects in Bishop's Stortford, Sawbridgeworth, Harlow, Saffron Walden, Stansted Mountfitchet, Great Dunmow, Epping, Ware, Hoddesdon, Broxbourne, Cheshunt, Welwyn Garden City and Stevenage.
Outside this list? Call us with your postcode — we frequently work the wider London fringe and across the rest of Hertfordshire.
Recent Work
Recent Brickwork & Masonry Projects
FAQs
Brickwork & Masonry — Frequently Asked Questions
Get a Free Brickwork Quote
Owner-led survey, itemised quote, brick and mortar matched properly. Across Hertfordshire and Essex.
Page last updated: May 2026 · J&Co Builders Ltd · 1 Ugley Hall Cottages, Bishop's Stortford CM22 6JB