About Us:
We are a small family run business based in South Manchester, working in and around the Manchester / Stockport area we cover all aspects of brickwork to a high standard some of the work we carry out are extensions, structural openings, garden walls, lintels, bricking up doors / windows, repointing and pretty much anything else to do with bricklaying so if you'd like a quote or just some advice please get in touch.
History:
I've been bricklaying for around 15 years now I work along side my father who is also a bricklayer with many years of experience between us we've worked for some of the major bricklaying contractors in the North West on numerous projects from large new builds to small maintenance jobs now I'm just concentrating on building up my own business specialising in brickwork and general maintenance working locally in the Manchester area I believe that I've got a lot to offer in this sector.
Answers:
I'd consult a structural engineer before taking any walls out and if the wall is load bearing they will provide you with a drawing on the correct way to support it, what size rsj to use then a builder can properly quote you for the job.
you might have a wall on the ground floor that doesn't carry on up through the first floor so that might seem like it's not load bearing but it could have timber joists sitting on it which is really difficult to know so just keep that in mind and i hope this helps.
Some companies do offer that service so they'll get the drawings and put in for planning permission if it's required for you but the majority of the time you'd do this yourself then once you've got them in place your builder can use the drawings / plans you've provided to price the job.
That's the million dollar question which i'm afraid can't be answered there is a lot of work going on at the moment so builders are really busy but it's still foolish to let your customers down as any good business would want customers to come back to them and to be recommended, i would like to just point out i've turned up to do a job and when there was no answer at the door i called the customer only to be told she'd completely forgotten i was booked in and had taken a short break which meant i lost out on two days wages so it does happen to the genuine builders as well.
I've seen walls built on timber joists in old buildings so yes is the answer to your question but no your not allowed to use timber to support anything load bearing what you would need is a steel rsj you also need to get a structural engineer in before removing any load bearing wall.
It's really hard to give you a rough estimate without knowing the size of the area that needs repointing and what brick it is also if your an end terrace is it a pavement / road next to you because these things do matter but as a ballpark figure i'd say just under 2k, i'm from manchester so if you take some photos and put it up as a job i'd be able to see it because it's in my area then i could give you a more accurate price this website works on a subscription fee so it doesn't cost me anything extra to view job leads. i hope this helps