Going self-employed
Laying a clean course is the easy part: get pricing, quotes and payment terms organised before you take on garden walls, extensions and your first subbie jobs.
Instant digital downloads on currently available products · UK-focused templates and guides · Not a substitute for professional advice.
Laying a clean course is the easy part. Once you're on your own you're also pricing the work per thousand, per square metre or as a whole job, costing bricks, blocks, sand, cement and the muck-away, and deciding between a day rate and a project price. Then there's chasing a builder for the money while the weather pushes your schedule around. LaunchKit is a set of UK-focused, downloadable templates and guides to help you think through that setup side and get organised from the first wall. It's a practical starting point, not a substitute for professional advice.
What to sort first
Settle your day rate and how you'll quote per thousand, per square metre or as a whole project before your next job.
Have a clear way to cost bricks, blocks, sand, cement and waste removal so quotes actually cover what you spend.
Have consistent, professional documents to send so quoting homeowners and invoicing builders doesn't eat your evenings.
Decide deposits, stage payments and terms before you start, especially on subbie work where builders can pay slow.
Get a basic system for tracking what's coming in and going out across jobs so tax time isn't a scramble.
Sort your insurance as a prompt to look into, and look into what building control or building regulations a job may need for you or the builder to sort.
Plan how homeowners and repeat builders find you, with before-and-after photos and trade referrals doing the heavy lifting.
Recommended LaunchKit tools
Walks you through the practical first steps of setting up as a self-employed bricklayer so you're not guessing what to sort first.
See what’s inside Your paperworkReady-to-use service agreement, job sheet, materials specification and site survey templates for the paperwork you share with homeowners and builders.
See what’s inside Your pricingAn Excel workbook that works out a price as hours × your hourly rate, plus materials with a markup, plus a fixed fee such as a call-out or travel charge, with VAT added if you choose, and prints a quote.
See what’s inside Getting foundContent templates to help you show off before-and-after brickwork and get found by homeowners, not just builders.
See what’s inside Your wordsHelps you write clear quotes, job descriptions and follow-ups without staring at a blank screen after a long day on the wall.
See what’s inside Money adminA set of forms to help you keep deposits, stage payments and job costs organised across multiple jobs and slow-paying builders.
See what’s insideNot sure where to start? See everything for bricklayer or browse all LaunchKit products.
Suggested starter stack
The same tools, grouped in the order most people pick them up. You don’t need everything at once — start with the essentials, then add the rest as your business grows.
Common questions
Get the admin side organised so you can focus on the work. Browse the tools built for bricklayer businesses.
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