A masonry bid feels like it should come down to straightforward tonnage and square-footage math off the wall types — block sizes, bond patterns, veneer extents, all sitting right there on the architectural drawings. The real risk isn't in that read. It's in a document most estimators check once and move past: the structural general notes, which carry grouting and reinforcing requirements the architectural wall types don't repeat, plus a scatter of supply-versus-install splits at every interface with steel and the building envelope.
This is a working list of where masonry scope actually gets decided, built from what shows up across real Canadian ICI tenders. Not a materials catalogue — a list of the specific questions worth resolving before the number leaves the office.
What's reliably yours
- Unit masonry complete — CMU and brick veneer supply and installation per the wall types: block sizes and strengths, bond patterns, veneer extents, parapets and shaft walls.
- Mortar and grout — mortar types per location, grout strengths, and the block-core grouting called up on the structural general notes. Grouted cells are a real quantity driver, and the plans rarely total them for you.
- Masonry reinforcement placement — joint reinforcement, vertical bars in grouted cells and bond beams, placed per the structural notes. Extract rebar supply as its own separate who-carries fact, since placement and supply aren't always the same trade even on the same wall.
- Ties, anchors and accessories — veneer ties and their spacing, seismic clips, weep vents, control-joint gaskets and compressible fill.
- Scaffolding for own work — supply, erection and dismantle of scaffold and hoisting for masonry's own work. Real cost against real height and duration, not a GC-provided freebie unless the tender explicitly says so.
Where the fight actually happens
Cast stone and specialty units
Cast stone bands, sills and caps, glass block, and acoustic or burnished units all get extracted as standard items — but the supply route needs a name attached to it. Who fabricates a cast stone unit changes the lead time and the cost structure entirely from a standard CMU order, and treating it as just another masonry line item is how a long-lead specialty unit ends up ordered late.
Winter work
Heating, hoarding and admixture requirements for cold-weather masonry are a genuine cost centre on a winter schedule, not a footnote. Extract the trigger temperature and confirm who supplies the heat and the enclosure — a winter schedule can turn a straightforward wall into a heated-tent operation, and the tender needs to say whose tent it is before the wall goes up, not after the first cold snap.
The other half: what isn't yours, even when it looks close
- Loose lintels and shelf angles — supply is typically the steel or misc-metals trade; masonry installs the loose lintels. Extract the supply-versus-install split as written, because it's a classic gap where both trades quietly assume the other one is buying the steel.
- Through-wall flashing membranes where by envelope trade — record who supplies and who builds it in. Masonry usually builds in what another trade supplies, and every set assigns this split differently, so it can't be carried forward from the last job.
- Sealants at control joints — caulking of masonry control and expansion joints is usually the sealant trade's. The joint spacing and the joint itself are still masonry's to lay out and price; only the caulk that finishes it belongs to someone else.
Five things the structural general notes decide, not the wall types
- Structural general notes on masonry. The S-series notes carry grouting, reinforcing and prism-strength requirements that never appear on the architectural wall types. Skip this document and a careful wall-type read still under-prices the job.
- Control joint locations and spacing. Spacing rules or explicit locations, each one real labour and material — and missing them at bid time means saw-cutting them in later, at cost, instead of laying them out from the start.
- Sample panels and mockups. Mockup sizes, acceptance rules, and whether the approved panel gets to stay as part of the finished work or has to come down once approval's granted.
- Cleaning and efflorescence control. Specified cleaners, restricted methods — an acid wash prohibited on certain units, for example — and final-clean timing tied to the overall schedule.
- Hot and cold weather limits. Temperature thresholds, protection periods and admixture restrictions that apply on both ends of the thermometer, beyond the dedicated winter-work item above.
Who you're actually sharing the wall with
| Trade | What to reconcile before you price |
|---|---|
| Steel trade | Loose lintels, shelf angles, embed plates and anchor bolts — supply-versus-install at every interface, checked individually rather than assumed uniform. |
| Waterproofing trade | Through-wall flashing tie-ins, dampproofing at grade, and cavity drainage. |
| Concrete trade | Dowels out of foundations, bond-beam bearing, and grout supply if it's coming from ready-mix rather than site-mixed. |
| General contractor | Scaffold sequencing against other envelope trades, weather protection, and hoisting windows. |
The pass that catches most of this
Read the wall types for the product, then read the S-series structural general notes specifically for grouting, reinforcing and prism-strength requirements before pricing a single course. The wall types tell you what the wall looks like; the structural notes and the supply-versus-install splits scattered across steel and the envelope trades are what turn a correct-looking quantity takeoff into a bid that doesn't get disputed once the scaffold comes down.