Price three masonry safety controls as separate bid lines before crew hours: a limited access zone, eye protection for cutting, and guarded masonry saws.
Key takeaways
- Price a limited access zone for every wall, scheduled before the wall starts.
- Price eye protection for every person who cuts or chips, including spares and a daily check.
- Price the saw guard, setup, water, cleanup, and operator time on the saw line, not in the laying rate.
- Check the rules that apply in your own state before you copy any of these lines.
Most masonry bids are built around the wall. You count the block or brick, the mortar, the reinforcing, the lift heights, and the hours it takes a mason and a helper to lay each course. The safety setup usually comes later, if it shows up at all, as a lump sum called "safety" or as a line that somebody adds at the end because the superintendent asked for it. That habit creates two problems. The first is that the crew hours are underpriced, because the time spent setting up controls is real labor that nobody scheduled. The second is that the setup often lands in the middle of the job, when the crew is already behind and the cheapest move looks like skipping it.
This post covers three safety controls that belong on the bid line before you get to crew hours. They are the limited access zone around a wall under construction, eye protection for the people who cut and chip masonry, and guarded and operated masonry saws. Each one has a rule behind it, a labor component that takes time, and a material component that has to be bought or rented. If you price them as part of the wall, you can show the client what they cost and schedule them before the first course goes down.
The rules quoted here come from Washington State's safety rules for masonry construction, because the official text is public and specific enough to quote. If you bid work in another state, your rules may differ in wording, numbers, or scope. Check your own jurisdiction before you copy any of this into a proposal. The point carries over, though: a control that the rules require is a cost of doing the wall, and it should be estimated like one.
Why the safety setup belongs on the bid line
Unit-rate estimates take the quantity, apply a productivity rate, and multiply by a crew rate. They are less good at pricing the work that surrounds production, such as setting up barriers, staging tools, moving equipment, and stopping for a briefing. When that surrounding work is not on the bid line, it either gets absorbed into the productivity rate, which hides it, or it gets paid for out of contingency, which quietly consumes the margin.
A cleaner approach is to list the safety controls as their own line items, each with its own labor hours and materials. That makes the scope visible to the client, gives you a schedule item that has to happen before a specific task, and creates a record that matches how job costs are tracked after the work is done.
A service business, for example, keeps track of the direct labor and overhead costs it incurs while it completes each job in progress, whether or not it carries inventory. OpenStax describes this job-order approach in its managerial accounting material. For a masonry contractor, the lesson is simple. If the safety setup hours are not on the job from the start, they will not show up in the job cost report in a way that helps you the next time you bid a similar wall.
Control 1: Set up a limited access zone around every wall
The first control is the limited access zone. Washington's masonry rules say you must establish a limited access zone whenever a masonry wall is being constructed. The rule attaches to the wall being built, so the estimating lesson is to plan a zone for every wall you price. The size and layout will differ from job to job, but the line item should appear on every masonry bid where walls are going up.
The rule also says when the zone has to be ready. You must establish the limited access zone before construction of the wall starts. That timing matters for two reasons. It puts the zone setup at the front of the wall's task list, ahead of the first lift of block or brick, so the zone is a predecessor task in your schedule rather than a side task that happens when there is spare time. It also changes what the crew can do on day one. If the zone is not ready, the wall cannot start. Any estimate that assumes the crew can begin laying on the first morning, without a zone, has a hole in it.
A third element concerns who may be inside the zone. You must restrict entry into the limited access zone to only employees actively engaged in constructing the wall. This is a labor requirement as much as a physical one. Someone has to be responsible for the entry, whether that means a designated person at the access point, a clear and maintained boundary, or a regular check on who is going in and out. How you control entry is part of your site plan, but the time for that control is real. If the zone exists to keep people out, somebody has to keep it closed, and that somebody is a crew hour.
When you price the zone, break it into the parts you will actually do. Start with setup: laying out the boundary, placing whatever marks or barriers your plan calls for, and posting the information that tells people what the zone is. Then count the moves. Your walls may not all sit in one place. Finally, count the takedown.
For the bid line itself, a clear description helps. Something like "limited access zone, established before wall construction, moved as needed, and removed at completion" tells the client what they are paying for. A description like "safety" does not. The more specific the line, the easier it is to defend the hours, and the less likely it is that someone will cut the zone to save money on a job where the rule still applies.
Control 2: Price eye protection for cutting and chipping
The second control is eye protection for the people who cut and chip masonry. Washington's masonry rules say that employees engaged in cutting or chipping must wear suitable eye protection in accordance with WAC 296-155-215. That section sets out the details, so read it when you are developing your safety plan. Your bid should reflect the requirement, and your foreman should know what the cross-referenced section expects.
Eye protection is a small material cost per person, but it is not a small labor issue. Every cutting or chipping task brings a person into an area where a fragment or a splash could reach the eyes. The protection has to be on the person before the work starts, not after the first chip hits. If a helper is handed a grinder or a chisel with no eye protection, the bid has already failed, regardless of what the labor rate says.
Stone cutters have a more specific rule: they must wear goggles while trimming stone or cutting holes. Trimming stone and cutting holes are two tasks a masonry crew does often, especially around openings and penetrations for mechanical or electrical work. If your bid includes stone trimming or hole cutting, the goggles belong on that line, not hidden in a general supply budget.
Here is how to price this in practice. Start with a list of the tasks on the wall that involve cutting or chipping. Some are obvious, like cutting block or trimming stone to fit. Others are easy to miss, like chipping mortar off a face, cutting a hole for a pipe or conduit, or removing a damaged unit. Then write down who does each task and how long it takes. That list tells you how many people need eye protection, which types they need, and when they need it.
Next, count the protection you will need for the whole job. Include a spare for each person, because lenses scratch, straps break, and people lose items. Include replacements for the length of the job, since a long job uses more protection than a short one.
Labor is part of this too. Putting on eye protection takes seconds, but checking that everyone has it, replacing damaged units, and enforcing the rule when someone forgets takes foreman time. If you want the bid to be accurate, put that check on the foreman's line, or make it part of the daily safety briefing, and count the minutes.
Control 3: Guard and operate masonry saws to the rules
The third control covers masonry saws. Washington's masonry rules say you must construct, guard, and operate masonry saws in accordance with WAC 296-155-367, subsections (1) through (4). As with eye protection, the masonry rule points to more detailed requirements, covering how the saw is built, how it is guarded, and how it is run. You cannot price a saw correctly without knowing what the guarding requires, and you cannot price the operation without knowing how the rule expects the work to be done.
Saws are a good example of a control that is both a material cost and a labor cost. The material side includes the saw itself, which may be owned, rented, or leased, along with blades, water supply, and any guards or enclosures the rule requires. The labor side includes setup, checks, and the time spent running the saw in a manner that meets the rule. If the saw must be set up in a specific location, or guards must be in place before it runs, that setup adds time at the start of each cutting session and each time the saw is moved.
Many estimators handle saws by putting a rental rate on the bid and calling it done. That approach misses the guarding and operation requirements. A guard that must be fitted and checked is not free. Neither is the time to explain the operating rules to a new helper or to confirm that the saw is set up correctly after it has been moved. Price the guard as a material item, price the setup as a labor item, and price the checks as part of the daily routine.
Water is a common part of masonry saw operation, and it is a cost people tend to underestimate. Water for cutting may come from a hose connection, a storage tank, or a truck. Each source has a cost, and each requires someone to keep it supplied and to manage the runoff. If the saw is wet, the cutting area needs cleanup, and the cleanup is a crew hour. Put that on the line as well.
Finally, think about the operator. If one mason cuts for the whole day, the rest of the crew loses that mason's laying time, and the bid should account for it. If cutting is rotated among crew members, the training and supervision time goes up. Either way, the saw has a labor cost that goes beyond the rental rate.
Comparing the three controls side by side
The table below puts the three controls next to each other. The middle column lists only what the cited rules say. The right-hand column is the bid-line consequence you should consider, not a rule.
Building the crew-hour line items
Once you know the three controls and what they require, build the crew-hour line items. The goal is a short list of safety lines that appear before the production lines in the bid. Each line should name the control, the crew members involved, the hours, and the trigger that starts the work. A line that reads "zone setup, mason foreman and one helper, before first lift" is far more useful than a line that reads "safety, lump sum."
Start with the zone. Estimate the setup hours for the first wall, then estimate the hours for each move. The number of moves depends on the sequence you plan to follow: each section you build may need another move. Then add the takedown. Group those hours on the zone line so anyone reading the bid can see the total.
Next, the eye protection. Count the people who cut or chip and multiply by the protection you plan to buy or rent. Add the spares, then add the daily check. Keep this separate from the zone line, because the cost drivers are different. The zone is driven by the number of walls and moves. The eye protection is driven by the number of cutters and the duration of the job.
Then the stone cutter goggles. This line can sit inside the eye protection line, but if your bid includes a large amount of stone trimming or hole cutting, show it separately so the client can see which parts of the wall carry the stone-specific requirement.
Last, the saw. Price the rental or ownership cost, the guard, the water, the cleanup, and the operator's time. Put the operator's time on the saw line, not in the laying production rate. If the same mason cuts and lays, split the time between the two lines so the production rate is not overstated and the saw cost stays visible.
Illustrative example: pricing zones for 5 walls
Illustrative figures only. Suppose a job has 5 walls, and each limited access zone takes 2 hours to set up and 1 hour to take down. Without any moves, the zone line is 15 hours of mason and helper time, scheduled before each wall starts. Add one move for each wall at 1 hour each, and the line grows to 20 hours.
Sequencing the work so the controls do not stall the crew
A bid that prices the controls but does not sequence them will still fail in the field. The zone has to be ready before the wall starts. The eye protection has to be on the crew before the first cut. The saw has to be set up and guarded before it runs. If the sequence is wrong, the crew waits, and waiting is the most expensive labor you have.
Think about the first day on the wall. The foreman walks the site and confirms the wall location. The zone is established and checked. The eye protection is issued and checked against the day's cutting list. The saw is positioned, guarded, and tested. Then the crew starts laying. This sequence takes time, and the time belongs in the bid. If the crew has to set up all of this before the first course, first-day productivity will be lower than your normal rate, and the bid should reflect that.
Sequencing also depends on the other trades. If the general contractor schedules a crane lift over the wall line, the zone may need to be closed during the lift, and the crew may have to stop laying. If an electrical sub needs openings cut through the wall, the cutting may need to happen at a specific time, and the eye protection and goggles must be on the people doing that cutting. Coordinate these events early. A missed coordination often costs more than the safety line it affects.
Writing the bid narrative
Most clients also read a narrative that explains the scope and the assumptions. This is where you explain why the safety lines exist and what they cover. It does not need to be long, but it should be specific enough that a reader can see how the controls were priced.
Start with a short statement that the bid includes the safety controls required for masonry wall construction, followed by the three controls. For each one, state the rule, the work included, and the assumptions behind the hours. You might say that the zone is set up before the first lift, moved as the wall is built, and removed when the wall is complete. You might say that eye protection is provided for each person who cuts or chips, and that stone cutters are equipped with goggles for trimming and hole cutting. For the saw, say what is provided, what the operator's time covers, and where the water comes from.
The narrative should also say what is not included. If the client or the general contractor is responsible for site-wide barricades or for controlling access outside the masonry zone, say so. If the bid assumes the client will provide water, power, or a staging area, say so. Exclusions protect both sides. They tell the client what to plan for and keep you from absorbing costs that belong to someone else.
A short checklist before you submit the bid
Before you send the bid, check the following. Every masonry wall in the scope has a limited access zone line, and the zone is scheduled before the wall starts. The zone line includes setup, moves, and takedown. Entry control is priced as a labor item, with a named person or method. Every cutting and chipping task has eye protection on the line, including spares and daily checks. Stone trimming and hole cutting have goggles on the line. The saw line includes the guard, the setup, the water, the cleanup, and the operator's time. The sequence shows the controls before the first production task. The narrative explains what is included and what is excluded. The rules cited in the bid match the sources you have checked for your own state.
If any of these items is missing, the bid is probably underpriced. Fixing it before submission is much cheaper than fixing it on the job. A safety line added after the crew has started usually competes with production time and often arrives as a change order the client does not want to approve.
Closing thoughts
Masonry safety controls are not a separate world from the wall. They are part of what it takes to build the wall, and they cost time and money like everything else on the job. Each one has a rule, a labor component, and a material component, and each belongs on the bid line before crew hours, so the client sees the cost and the crew sees the schedule.
Price them as lines, not as a lump sum. Sequence them before production. Check the rules that apply in your own state, because the rules here come from one jurisdiction and your bid may fall under another. If you do those things, the controls stop being an afterthought and become part of an estimate you can defend.
Your next step is simple: today, open your current masonry bid and check that each wall has a zone line, that each cutting task has eye protection on its line, and that the saw line covers the guard, setup, water, cleanup, and operator time.
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Frequently asked questions
Where should the limited access zone go on the bid?
Give it its own line item, scheduled before the wall starts, with setup, moves, and takedown counted.
How should I price eye protection?
Price protection for every person who cuts or chips, add spares, and put the daily check on the foreman's line.
Should I price the saw as a rental only?
No, price the guard, setup, water, cleanup, and operator time on the saw line too.