Bricklaying apprenticeship pathway

The qualification you are working towards

The trade qualification is CPC33020 Certificate III in Bricklaying and Blocklaying. This is the nationally recognised qualification listed on training.gov.au, and it covers bricklaying, blocklaying and paving across residential, commercial and industrial work, on both new builds and existing structures.

On training.gov.au the qualification has a nominal duration of 36 months full time, and it is made up of 28 units of competency (20 core and 8 elective). In practice, an apprenticeship pathway usually runs about four years, because the timing is tied to your work as much as your study.

How you get in

The core of an apprenticeship is a training contract: you need an employer willing to take you on for the length of the apprenticeship. There are two common ways to land that.

You can go direct, where a bricklaying business or builder hires you as their apprentice. Or you can go through a Group Training Organisation (GTO). A GTO employs you, handles your pay, super and paperwork, and places you with host employers. If one host runs out of work, the GTO can move you to another, so you keep working and see a wider range of jobs.

Two feeders help you get a start. A pre-apprenticeship (often a Certificate II in Building and Construction with a brick and block stream) gives you basic skills and shows employers you are serious. A school-based apprenticeship lets you begin while still in Years 10 to 12, banking hours and credit early. Before you can work on any site, you also need a general construction induction card, the white card, from the course CPCWHS1001 Prepare to work safely in the construction industry.

What TAFE and on the job training look like

An apprenticeship has two halves that run side by side. Most of your time is paid work with your employer, laying bricks and blocks under a qualified tradie who shows you the ropes: setting out, mixing and spreading mortar, laying to line and level, building corners and leads, and cleaning up as you go.

The rest is structured training with TAFE or a registered training organisation, usually done in blocks or one day a week. There you cover the theory and practice behind the trade: reading plans, setting out, working out quantities, and the safety and quality standards. Your on-site work and your training are meant to match up, so what you learn in class you put straight into the wall.

Licensing and registration: it is state based

There is no single national bricklaying licence, and the rules genuinely vary by state and territory. As an apprentice or a wage-earning tradesperson working under someone else, you generally do not need an occupational licence to lay bricks. Where licensing bites is when you want to contract for yourself or run jobs.

Queensland is the clearest example. The Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC) issues a specific bricklaying and blocklaying licence, and you must hold the right licence to carry out or contract for building work valued over a set threshold (currently $3,300 including labour and materials). Your Certificate III is the usual technical qualification behind that licence.

Other states regulate through their building or home-building licensing systems rather than a standalone bricklaying licence, and the threshold at which a licence is required also differs (for example, in New South Wales a contractor licence is needed for residential building or trade work valued at more than $5,000 in labour and materials). The relevant authority differs by state: for example Building Commission NSW and NSW Fair Trading, the Victorian Building Authority, Building and Energy in Western Australia, and Consumer and Business Services in South Australia. The takeaway: finish your apprenticeship first, then check your own state or territory regulator before you contract on your own account.

Where the work is and demand

Bricklaying sits inside a large and busy construction workforce, and demand for qualified brickies has been strong on the back of housing need and infrastructure work. Industry surveys have repeatedly flagged trouble finding enough skilled tradespeople, which is good news if you are coming through now.

Most bricklayers work full time, a higher share than the workforce average, and the work is spread right across the country. Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia hold the largest shares of bricklayers, and Western Australia in particular leans heavily on brick and block construction. There is also steady demand in regional areas and on the growing fringes of the capital cities where new estates go up.

Residential, commercial and industrial: how the work differs

The trade is the same, but the day looks different depending on the sector. Residential is where many apprentices start: houses, extensions, garages, fences and retaining walls, often face brickwork where the finish is on show and neatness matters. It can mean smaller crews and more variety day to day.

Commercial work covers larger builds like schools, shops and multi-storey jobs. Expect bigger blockwork, more scaffold and structural masonry, tighter programs, and working alongside other trades on a managed site.

Industrial and specialist work includes things like refractory bricklaying (heat-resistant brick in furnaces and kilns) and heavy structural blockwork. It is more technical and less common, but it is part of the same qualification and can open up well-paid niche work down the track.

Honest first-year expectations

Year one is physical, and there is no way around that. You will be carting bricks, mixing and barrowing mortar, loading out the wall for the tradesmen, and cleaning bricks and site. A lot of it is labouring while you earn the right to lay. Early starts, all weather, and sore hands and back are normal until your body hardens up.

As a first year you are on apprentice wages, which step up as you progress through the years, so the pay grows with your skill. Turn up on time, look after your tools, keep your area tidy, and watch how the good tradies work. Get your basics solid (line and level, clean joints, a straight course) and the speed comes later. Stick it out and by the end you have a nationally recognised trade you can take anywhere in the country.