Read an old book that said a bricklayer in 1900 could lay 500 bricks a day

Found a dusty trade manual from my grandpa's shed that had a whole section on expected daily output. It claimed a good mason should hit 500 bricks in a ten hour shift with no helper. I can barely manage 300 with modern tools and a spotter, so what changed to make the pace slower now?

2 comments

2 Comments

park.adam2mo ago

Totally get that, I mean I saw the same thing in an old house building guide. They were just built different back then, maybe it was the lack of safety rules so they took bigger risks for speed. Also, the bricks themselves were way more uniform in size by the 1900s, so less time spent fitting odd shapes. Now we have more codes about how things are done, which slows you down checking everything. Honestly, I bet they just expected people to work until they dropped without breaks.

nina_hall2mo ago

No breaks, just bricks.