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Brickwork costs less than competing cladding materials

– and that’s official*

An investigation by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) found that, against a line-up of popular finishes for the external skin, installed brickwork beat just about all of them on price.

The findings are especially valuable at the present time, given that contractors are experiencing soaring costs and longer lead times for many competing cladding materials.

There is a popular misconception, fuelled by the off-site lobby that brickwork is an expensive external finish, but the RICS study clearly concludes that brick is a competitive option for the external skin.”

Brick has long been a favourite amongst architects, developers and the public. It’s warm and humanising character brings buildings to life. An external brick wall adds scale, colour and texture. Then there’s the choice – 1200 different varieties of brick are produced in the UK alone – and it blends so easily and naturally with its surroundings.

What the RICS investigation showed is that you can have such qualities, without paying over-the-top prices. It analysed a wide range of data, from major price books to bills of quantities for live projects submitted to them in 2007. The projects, which covered a selection from across the UK, ranged in value from £356,000 to £10.5 million.

The study compared the installed cost per square metre for brickwork against a string of rival external finishes. These included simple fibre cement sheets, different types of rendered blockwork, timber weatherboard, PVC cladding, plain tile cladding, ashlar stonework, and, at the top end of the price range, curtain walling and patent glazing.

Some of the highlights were:

• Facing brick came in at £59 m² (less than some sheeting, pebbledash and proprietary render systems)
• Two thirds the price of timber weatherboarding.
• Barely one third the price of ashlar stonework.
• Curtain walling is nearly eight times more expensive, patent glazing nearly nine times.

According to the RICS, the materials that came in for less than brickwork included options with a lower life expectancy or high life cycle costs, such as single fibre cement sheeting and painted render. In its conclusion, the RICS notes: ‘Brick is a competitive option for the external skin. Most of the options that are less expensive in the study fall within the range of available facing bricks.’

Compare that with, say the price for timber, which rose nearly one third for softwood last year, thanks to surging demand in Asia, or glazed cladding, which has been hit by soaring costs for glass, aluminium and stainless steel.

Moreover, brick scores on ‘cost in use.’ With reasonable maintenance a brick wall will last indefinitely. Repointing might be necessary after 70 years but apart from that no regular maintenance is required. Moreover brickwork weathers gracefully and mellows with age.

Brick also wins high marks for its environmental cost – an increasingly influential part of building design. The BRE’s Green Guide scores external walls containing brickwork A+ - the best rating. A square metre of brickwork produces just 28 kg of carbon dioxide by the time it is delivered to site. That equates to 0.000233 tonnes per square metre a year, over 120 years, making a very small footprint.

The study, entitled ‘The Cost of Comparative Cladding Materials’ was produced in December 2007 by the RICS Building Cost Information Service (BCIS). Each of the agreed specifications was priced from current price books – Spon’s, Laxtons and Wessex – using standard assumptions as to quantity, location and site conditions. Data was then collected from 26 live projects, using Bills of Quantities. The following data was abstracted for the report: type of building, value of project, location, floor area, specifications of external cladding systems, unit rates for cladding systems, and identifiable ancillary costs.

_{* Source: Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Study}