First-year bricklaying apprentice tool list

What you actually need in year one

Keep it simple. A first-year kit is small hand tools you can carry in one bag. This is the core list most gangs and TAFE courses expect you to turn up with.

• •Brick trowel (a London pattern around 11 inch is standard; some start a touch smaller while the wrist builds up)
• •Pointing trowel and a jointer or jointing iron for finishing joints
• •Spirit levels: a 600mm and a 1200mm, plus a small boat level for tight spots
• •Brick hammer (scutch or comb hammer) for trimming and cutting
• •100mm bolster chisel and a club or lump hammer for clean cuts
• •Builder's line, line pins and line blocks (corner blocks) for keeping courses straight
• •8m tape measure and a gauge rod for checking your courses
• •Soft brush, a spot board or hawk, a pointing trowel and a bucket
• •A tough tool bag or bucket, plus a marker and pencil
• •Your own PPE: safety glasses, work gloves, steel-cap boots, hi-vis, knee pads and sun protection

Budget vs good vs premium

You get what you pay for with brickie tools, but a first-year does not need top-shelf everything. A smart mix is a mid-range trowel and a quality level, with cheaper consumables.

• •Budget: hardware-store trowel, entry hammer and bolster, basic line and pins. Fine to learn on, but a cheap trowel can be heavy and tiring, and cheap levels drift out of true.
• •Good (the sweet spot for year one): a forged one-piece trowel from a known brand, a decent aluminium level, a solid brick hammer and a proper line set. This is where most apprentices should sit.
• •Premium: German-made levels (well regarded for holding accuracy), soft-grip forged trowels and pro jointers. Worth it once your technique settles and you know your grip and hand size.
• •Buy your level once and buy it well. It is the one tool where cheap really shows in your work.

What the employer supplies vs what you buy

As a rule, you buy the hand tools you hold; the business supplies the plant, power tools and heavy gear. Confirm with your boss before your first day, because it varies by firm.

• •Employer usually supplies: cement mixer, wheelbarrows, mortar and spot boards, scaffolding and hop-ups, brick saw and angle grinder, masonry discs, lasers, ladders, generators and the on-tool water or vacuum for silica dust control.
• •You usually buy: trowels, levels, hammers, bolster, line and pins, jointer, tape, brush and your PPE.
• •Site-specific PPE (hard hat, sometimes hi-vis) is often provided or required by the site, but your own boots, glasses and gloves are on you.
• •Ask early. Some employers hand new apprentices a starter kit or reimburse tools, and many suppliers do a discounted apprentice pack with proof of enrolment.

What NOT to buy yet

First-years lose money buying gear they do not use or cannot yet look after. Hold off on the big-ticket and specialist items until you know the work and what your gang runs.

• •Brick saws, bench saws and angle grinders: the boss supplies these and you are not cutting solo in year one.
• •Laser levels and self-levelling lasers: nice, but not a first-year purchase.
• •Cement mixer, barrows and scaffolding: plant, not personal kit.
• •A full set of premium trowels in every size: buy one good trowel, add sizes later.
• •Anything engraved or flashy before you can mind it. Tools walk on busy sites.
• •Wait until you have laid a few jobs, then buy to suit your hands and the brick or block you work with most.

Tool allowance, insurance and tax deductions

If you supply your own hand tools, there is money in it two ways: the award allowance and your tax return. Do not leave either on the table.

Under the Building and Construction General On-site Award (MA000020), tradespersons who provide their own tools are paid a tool allowance, and apprentices receive it at a proportion of the tradesperson rate. It is an all-purpose allowance, so it counts toward things like overtime. Many enterprise agreements (EBAs) handle tools differently, so check your own agreement. Amounts are reviewed each year, so confirm the current figure on the Fair Work pay guide rather than relying on an old number.

• •Tool insurance: tools are a theft target on site and out of the ute. Look at a tools of trade or tradie contents policy, mark and photograph your gear, and keep a list with serial numbers. Premiums for insuring work tools can also be deductible.
• •ATO deductions: if you get a tool allowance you declare it as income, then claim the tools you actually buy for work. Tools costing $300 or less can be claimed in full that year; over $300 you claim the decline in value (depreciation) over several years.
• •Watch the sets rule: if items form a set costing over $300 total, you depreciate the set even if each piece is under $300.
• •You can also claim repairs, insuring your tools and the cost of a tool box. Apportion out any private use.
• •Keep every receipt. Photograph them or use the myDeductions tool in the ATO app so nothing goes missing before tax time.

How the kit changes: residential, commercial and industrial

The trade splits three ways, and the tools shift with the work. Most first-years start in residential.

• •Residential (houses, extensions, brick veneer): mostly clay face brick, so pointing and jointing tools earn their keep. Lots of cutting and trimming, wall ties and lintels, smaller sites. A neat trowel, a sharp brick hammer and good jointers matter most.
• •Commercial (units, schools, retail, warehouses): far more concrete blockwork (besser and core-filled block), taller scaffold and bigger levels. You lift heavier, work to engineer specs and use block splitters and sometimes block grabs. Expect reo and core filling in the walls.
• •Industrial and specialist (heavy structural block, refractory and firebrick lining in furnaces and kilns, acid-resistant brick): specialised mortars, tools and heavier PPE like respirators. It is niche work and most first-years will not touch it, so do not tool up for it yet.
• •Whatever stream you land in, silica dust is the big health risk when cutting masonry. Use the on-tool water or extraction and wear a proper P2 mask; that PPE is not optional.