To hire for masonry & concrete well, My Trade Talent's Masonry & Concrete hiring kit takes all 2 roles we recruit in order: what each seat is and what it pays, the technical questions that test it, the 4 credentials to verify, and what can kill the offer between acceptance and the first day.
2 roles: Bricklayer / Mason, Concrete Finisher. Free, with nothing to fill in.
If you would rather a recruiter ran the search, that is the Masonry & Concrete recruiting page.
What each masonry & concrete seat is, and what it pays.
Each band is labelled with where it comes from. A My Trade Talent band is mid-experience, built from our own engagement history, and moves with experience and region. A BLS band is the federal 10th to 90th percentile, national and unadjusted, used where we have not closed enough searches in the trade to publish our own.
Masonry & Concrete roles, pay bands and credentials
BLS 10th to 90th percentileEvery bar is drawn on one scale, $35,000 to $110,000.
Lays brick, block and stone to line and level: layout and coursing, mortar selection and mixing, reinforcement and ties, flashing and weeps in a cavity wall, and the joint finish that will be looked at for the building's life.
Pay band$44,820 to $100,010$35k$110k Federal figures: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, national, SOC 47-2021. The range is the 10th to 90th percentile and the median is $62,120. It is not adjusted for experience or region, and it is not a My Trade Talent band.
Credentials that move an offerNone that reliably moves an offer
Places, screeds, floats and finishes concrete flatwork: judging the set, bull floating, edging and jointing, power trowelling to the specified finish, and curing.
Pay band$39,190 to $85,480$35k$110k Federal figures: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, national, SOC 47-2051. The range is the 10th to 90th percentile and the median is $57,020. It is not adjusted for experience or region, and it is not a My Trade Talent band.
Credentials that move an offerNone that reliably moves an offer
We publish no masonry & concrete median of our own yet, so this is the all-trades figure: My Trade Talent's median commercial trades hire took 21 days across 88 searches closed in 2026 year to date, counted as calendar days from our first contact with the candidate to the hire. The full distribution is in the Hiring Index.
How to interview for each masonry & concrete role.
Everyone who applies will claim the experience. These are the questions that test it, the signals that separate a strong candidate from a plausible one, and the mistake each seat invites.
Bricklayer / Mason
BLS 10th to 90th percentile
Lays brick, block and stone to line and level: layout and coursing, mortar selection and mixing, reinforcement and ties, flashing and weeps in a cavity wall, and the joint finish that will be looked at for the building's life. Works off scaffold for most of it.
Questions that find out
How do you set out a wall so the coursing lands correctly at the openings?
Which mortar type for a structural CMU wall, and why not the one you use on veneer?
Walk me through flashing and weeps at the base of a cavity wall.
What a strong candidate shows
Coursing and layout described as the part that cannot be fixed later
Knows mortar types and where each is required rather than using one everywhere
Understands flashing, weeps and air gaps as the wall's drainage system
The mistake
The mistake this seat invites. Hiring on units laid per day. Layout and water management decide whether the wall is right; speed only matters after that.
Places, screeds, floats and finishes concrete flatwork: judging the set, bull floating, edging and jointing, power trowelling to the specified finish, and curing. The whole job happens inside a window the weather decides.
Questions that find out
How do you know when the slab is ready to float, and what happens if you start early?
Where do your control joints go on a slab with columns, and why there?
The forecast says rain in two hours and the truck is on site. What do you do?
What a strong candidate shows
Reads the set rather than working to a clock
Knows what jointing is for and where the joints have to land
Has finished to a flatness specification and knows how it was measured
The mistake
The mistake this seat invites. Screening on general construction labour history. Finishing is a timing judgement under weather pressure, and a slab finished wrong cannot be redone.
What can kill a masonry & concrete offer before day one.
The things that end an accepted offer between the yes and the start date, specific to this trade and each sourced.
Silica medical surveillance arrives weeks after the start date
Surveillance becomes mandatory once someone must wear a respirator 30 or more days a year, with the initial exam inside 30 days of assignment and including a chest X-ray, a pulmonary function test and TB screening. Candidates accept a cutting role and then face tests they did not expect, which produces both withdrawals and genuine restrictions after the crew is staffed.
ACI Concrete Flatwork Finisher needs 1,500 hours of finishing experience evidenced, plus the performance exam. Finishers who worked cash, as 1099s, or for contractors since gone under often cannot prove the hours. If the job was sold on spec language requiring certified finishers, a capable candidate is unusable on that job.
BLS notes masons work mostly outdoors and that inclement weather affects their schedules. Candidates arriving from indoor or year-round hourly work accept, then leave when the first rain-out or cold snap cuts a week. It is the most common trade-specific reason a masonry offer is accepted and then abandoned inside two months.
Powered industrial truck certification is issued by the employing organisation, and previous training counts only where the new employer can demonstrate it applies to their equipment and site. A mason tender hired partly for lift capability cannot be used that way on day one.
Add up the whole offer, not just the base, in the offer calculator.
Step 5 · Onboard
Credentials to verify before the first day.
Each names the body that issues it and links to the issuer's own page or a .gov page. Researched 2026-09-23; re-read the source before relying on an entry.
ACI Concrete Flatwork Finisher, with Associate below it and Advanced Finisher above
American Concrete Institute (ACI)
The national flatwork credential specifiers name. Finisher requires 1,500 hours of actual on-the-job finishing experience, roughly a year full time, plus a performance exam covering placing, consolidating, finishing, edging, jointing, curing and initial protection. Valid five years. Note the renaming: Associate was Technician and Finisher was Tradesman, so older resumes carry the old names.
What allows someone to sign off field acceptance testing on most commercial pours, covering seven ASTM methods including slump, air content, density and field specimens. Written and performance exams, valid five years, with recertification by retaking both.
NCCER masonry curriculum and journey-level Mason assessment
National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER)
The main portable non-union masonry credential, a three-level curriculum NCCER states complies with US Department of Labor apprenticeship standards, plus a journey-level assessment. Credentials are employer-verifiable and travel between metros, which matters in a trade that follows the work.
Silica competent person designation under OSHA 29 CFR 1926.1153
Designated by the employer under the OSHA respirable crystalline silica construction standard
Every cutting, grinding, mixing and tuckpointing crew needs a written exposure control plan and a designated competent person able to identify hazards, authorised to correct them and inspecting frequently. Being that named person is a distinct and pay-relevant role.
State licensing for 39 states (Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin) is in the credential check, each with the agency and its source. Open the credential check for Masonry & Concrete.
Step 6 · Retain
Where each role goes next.
Candidates ask about the next step in the first conversation, and an employer who can answer it keeps the people who had other options. Say it on day one, too.
Bricklayer / Mason
Masons move to lead, foreman and superintendent; restoration and stone work pay above production block.
Concrete Finisher
Finishers move to lead finisher and foreman, and decorative and polished work extends the career.
Take it with you
The Masonry & Concrete guides.
The full interview guide, salary guide and whitepaper for the trade. Each download asks for your email; nothing on this page does.
What interview questions should I ask when hiring for masonry & concrete?
My Trade Talent's Masonry & Concrete hiring kit carries three technical questions for each of its 2 roles. For the Bricklayer / Mason, the first is: "How do you set out a wall so the coursing lands correctly at the openings?" The full set, with the signals that separate a strong answer, is on this page and in the interview question bank.
What credentials should I verify when hiring in masonry & concrete?
The Masonry & Concrete kit lists 4, each with its issuing body and a primary source: ACI Concrete Flatwork Finisher, with Associate below it and Advanced Finisher above, ACI Concrete Field Testing Technician, Grade I, NCCER masonry curriculum and journey-level Mason assessment and Silica competent person designation under OSHA 29 CFR 1926.1153.
What can kill a masonry & concrete job offer before the start date?
The Masonry & Concrete kit names 4, each sourced: Silica medical surveillance arrives weeks after the start date, The 1,500 hours cannot be documented, Weather decides the paycheque and The telehandler card does not transfer.
What do masonry & concrete roles pay?
Bricklayer / Mason: $44,820 to $100,010 (BLS 10th to 90th percentile); Concrete Finisher: $39,190 to $85,480 (BLS 10th to 90th percentile). My Trade Talent bands are mid-experience and move with experience and region; BLS figures are national and unadjusted.
How long does it take to hire in masonry & concrete?
We publish no masonry & concrete median of our own yet, so this is the all-trades figure: My Trade Talent's median commercial trades hire took 21 days across 88 searches closed in 2026 year to date, counted as calendar days from our first contact with the candidate to the hire.
Trade TalkA monthly hiring brief for commercial trades employers
What changed in your trade this month, and what to do about it.
One email a month, and only one. We write a separate issue for every trade we recruit in, so you get
yours - not a round-up with your trade buried in paragraph nine. Every issue is written for the
person actually doing the hiring.
Where wages moved in your trade, by market, and what that does to your next offer
How long roles like yours are taking to fill, and where it is getting worse
Interview and screening tactics that are landing candidates this month
What contractors competing for the same people are doing differently
Built on federal wage data, our own closed searches, and what we hear on the desk every week. Written for
employers, not candidates. No pitch, no filler, one click to leave.
Pick your trade. That is the one issue you get, once a month.
You're on the list. The next issue for your trade goes out at the start of the month.
That did not go through. Try again, or email us and we will add you by hand.
One email a month. Your trade and your address, nothing else - we do not sell either, and you can unsubscribe
from the bottom of any issue. Read this month's issue for your trade first →
AI video guide. Your voice is processed by Tavus to run this conversation and is not recorded; we never use your camera. Calls end after 5 minutes. Privacy
