£1000/week.

I was a hod carrier in the 60s and earned 4shillings and 6pence an hour, that was much more than the ordinary labourers who earned 3s 9p an hour however there were no hoists maby 3 or 4 ladders and you also had to keep the brickies going with compo.
If you ask a Bricki for a quote and he or she has a lot on then they are going to chance their arm, on the other hand If they have nothing on they tend to be more reasonable.It is probaly better to buy the materials yourself and get quotes in writing otherwise if it is an old garden wall in the back, why not have a go at it yourself.

So it's partly a government decision on where and how to invest in education and let's face it, the Tories would much rather it was down to the individual to finance themselves and have distorted the education sector to fit this model and it's partly down to the changes in secondary education where academic prowess has been emphasized over and above manual trades of any kind.

The chap I heard from the college of FE strongly made the point that 2 years was not long enough to fully qualify and the building firm manager agreed.

Interestingly, I just found here www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/17282.html a full explanation of the Polish education system, including:

^upper secondary education takes place in one of four types of school described below:

3 Year general lyceum offering general education leading to the maturity certificate, a requirement for entry to Higher Education (HE);
3 year specialised lyceum leading to the maturity certificate but also offering a general vocational education in a chosen area;
4 year technical lyceum leading to the maturity certificate and vocational qualifications at technician level; and
2-3 year basic vocational school leading to skilled worker qualifications.
Both general and vocational education programmes seek to develop the 5 key competences of; planning, organising and self assessing of learning; communication; team work; problem-solving; and application of IT.

School based vocational education includes practical training in school, practical training centres, continuing education centres and employers’ premises and periods of placement with employers.

Complementary 2 year general and 3 year technical secondary schools offer routes to the maturity certificate and technician qualifications for students in basic vocational schools.

Post secondary schools enable general and specialised secondary school leavers to obtain vocational qualifications at skilled worker and technician level. ^

Wow, I wouldn't mind that for young British people. I do think there is something about attitude though, Polish people are keen and polite and thorough. A neighbour had an extension built this summer by a local British builder and his sons/labourers. My goodness, it was the classic, there one day, not the next, gone for weeks, knocking off early, mess everywhere, noise. At one point they started doing cement making at 8 .am. on a Sunday morning! I know who I preferred.

It depends how you want to look at the situation.

You could say our youths won't work hard and can't be bothered to do apprenticeships, unlike the hard-working and polite Eastern Europeans.

Or you could say the fact that there are Eastern Europeans, well trained in their own country, who will come over here to work because our wages are much better means that there has been no need to invest in training our own young people.

I go for the latter option, based on the experience of one of my GS. He very much wanted to be a plumber (like bricklaying, more skilled than you would think). He did a two year course at a local FE college, worked hard and passed the final exam. However, there was just no opportunity to do any of the necessary practical work, let alone a full apprenticeship. In fact, out of a group of about thirty boys only one managed to find a placement and that was through a relative.

Couple of people from the building industry plus one from college of FE said on radio 4 yesterday that college bricklaying courses have been cut to 2 years and that's not enough apparently. Owner of building firm said overseas bricklayers well qualified and good whereas newly qualified here needed a lot of supervision. It was also said that young British people didn't see bricklaying as a career plus there were few apprentices.

It was also said that the sum of £1000 a week was an exaggeration which is what I guessed, the British media appeals to the worst in everybody.

We needed to have quite a bit of work done on our roof this summer. British roofer plus 3 Polish labourers. The latter were polite and hardworking, helpful, grateful for a cup of tea. When I started sweeping some of the drive, one of them took the broom from my hand and insisted on doing it. It was an excellent job and they left the site spotless.

But I wish they did

And they have overheads - a van, insurance, office, tools -just absolute rubbish to talk of them earning a £1000 a week - apart from the fact that averaged out they don't anyway

It's under £30 an hour, at that rate, for a very skilled job. In all weathers and under pressure to be quick. I had some building work done a couple of years ago and it was lovely to watch. He made it look effortless but he was soaked with sweat and drank gallons - and it was October and cold. I didn't begrudge him a penny of his pay.

£1.000 per week for bricklayers when they are working out in all weathers is a reasonable wage and they do work hard for it,it's not just laying a brick on top of each other as per lego there is a lot of skill in bricklaying and a lot of knowledge learned about different types of brick so well done if they can achieve these kind of wages.
If building Companies are working to a schedule on a development bricklaying teams have always been able to negotiate their own rates if the Company wanted to reach their quarterly targets so working 7 days a week is not unheard off when the work is available,and if there are no local builders the Companies must look elsewhere to complete their order book.

(I daren't say that where I live we still have excellent apprenticeships which are highly respected- or I'll get told off )

Actually 'Giverment' would be a better name, needy people might get something! X

Sorry, 'Government ' slippy finger!

Before I retired I was part of a Givernment pilot called Foundation Learning aimed at 14+ year olds who would study the compulsory GCSEs and then spend the rest of the time studying Btec courses in construction trades, horticulture, caring services etc.
After 2 years of success, financed by the school - guess what no Government money to support it long term, so it was axed!

I wish someone in Government would wake up! X

Yes, I agree - we just don't have anything like the number apprenticeships in this country that we used to have. Employers say they can't afford it and I suppose it makes more economic sense for them to import a few trained workers if they win a big contract.

The whole tradition seems to be dying out, despite both this and the previous government offering incentives to firms to take on apprentices. Perhaps the take-up isn't good, or they don't stay the course?

One of the reasons Polish plumbers and electricians are so popular, and so well paid, is because they've had proper training within a good apprenticeship over 3 to 4 years (as well as the fact they are prepared to work very hard and long hours, etc)- as compared to a few NVQs over a few months at college.

Sorry Ana, never said you were. But the populist press is having a field day- and I feel getting the wrong end of the stick here.

I'm not blaming anyone, granjura.

So instead of 'blaming' the Portuguese brickies, shouldn't we ask why so many UK youngsters on the dole are not encouraged to train as bricklayers???

Because of the shortage of home-trained bricklayers, employers are having to recruit them from Portugal, apparently, and they expect to be paid £200 a day.

There's a big difference between £1000/week now, and £300/hour 12 years ago.

There are a shortage of bricklayers apparently.
Where there is a shortage, prices can go up.

£150+ per day is a reasonable rate for labour especially when you are in a trade that doesnt work all year round due to weather restrictions. Even assuming that a brickie can work 5 days a week with no time off for illness, no lay offs or zero hours weeks then 47 weeks ( 5 weeks hols) is £35,250 not a fortune. There is also a shortage of bricks at present so you wont get a wall's worth for £50 now!