Contractors - Brick Steps Question

That is about what I was thinking...my builder wants to charge $4500 to upgrade to brick from the "standard package" wooden steps. I think that is a bit excessive.

fwiw, re-looking at this, for 6 steps you'll need 414 bricks TOTAL + 5% waste @ approx $500/thousand so say $250 for bricks, mortar would be about $7/bag x 1 bag per 70 brick so that's 7 bags or $50. so for brick and mortar we're at $300. i'm guessing $2/CMU x 120 CMU so that's another $240. probably $150 for a CY of concrete (including short load fee) pus rebar, say $50. So that's right at $700+-.

as far as labor, you can figure $35 for a bricklayer and about $20 for a helper per hour so lets say $55/hour (this includes OH). so if stretched (and i stress stretched) to two days it would be about $900. So, $1,600+- would be your "off the street" price and that's a fat price. ask your contractor if that price includes KY Jelly or if you supply your own?

eta: ALSO NOTE: the $4,500 you were quoted is on top of the fact that you were paying for wood steps so you can figure about a grand for those that you've already paid.

so you're paying $5,500 for a job that's probably costing him $1,000... : )

have a nice day.

Is it just steps or do they have a rails and some other aesthetics?

This is in New Orleans...Lakeview

If he's quoting $4500, I'd tell him to give you a credit for the wooden steps and you'll take care of the steps yourself. From your description, I'd say you're gonna pay $2500 - $3000 L & M for the brick steps.

thanks for the advice REDFISH