Extras · 1 of 4

A typical day

Start at 7am. Set up scaffold and mortar boards, check the line and level, then lay brick or block course after course, corners first, for most of the day. A labourer keeps you supplied. On a restoration, you cut out crumbling mortar and repoint joints on a building older than your grandparents. Clean tools, cover the work against rain or frost, done by 3:30pm.