r/stonemasonry:

u/BrimstoneOmega

If someone has to ask if they can do this, the answer is no.
u/BrimstoneOmega

Tar paper and lathe, make sure to hit studs, use heavy-duty screws and washers on the heads. Better they put a cement backer board up instead of drywall though.
u/BrimstoneOmega

This one might have been better.
u/BrimstoneOmega

Yeah, I can get behind agreeing to disagree. I understand wanting to save money. I’m all for it. I just don’t think it will save them money in the long run. But that may also be long past a time they care about it or even live there. Shit takes a while to get bad. Anything is probably better than what’s here.
u/BrimstoneOmega

Back in the day we did this a lot. Hell, I still do from time to time depending on people’s budgets. To my knowledge (which is limited) none of them experienced this issue. Agreed though, that it is not the right way.
u/BrimstoneOmega

The machine work should be billed out separately, in my opinion. I can see where the advice comes from, and there is logic in it, but there also logic in billing for it, especially on a square footage bid. If it was a full job bid, then yeah, the machine is part of the job. But by the foot is basically t&m but not as unprofessional looking. That machine is time, and time is money, let alone maintenance, rental fees, or paying someone with a big ass trailer to transport it. I would charge for it. But I’m not you. I know you feel you should, or you wouldn’t be asking here, but if you feel like it’s a bad idea, or may hurt your name in the long run just call it a cost of doing business and ignore it on the bid.
u/BrimstoneOmega

Then just put it on as what it’s going to cost you. You shouldn’t be eating that $500. If you’re worried it’s going to cost you the job, maybe, but I’ve dropped my prices too many times and been burnt because of it.
u/BrimstoneOmega

Do it as hourly, with a minimum. Machine work at $125 an hour with a minimum 4 fours. $500 bucks to you, and no worries about wierd line items. Though I would just put it in there anyway, who’s to tell you how to write invoices?
u/BrimstoneOmega

I stand corrected.
u/BrimstoneOmega

The kind of bricks that are made by shaping stone. These aren’t clay fired brick. Look into dimensional cut stone.