Starting out as a bricklayer is one of the cheaper trades to kit out for — there is no van full of power tools to buy, just a focused set of good hand tools that will see you through your apprenticeship and well beyond. But that is exactly why it is worth getting right. A brickie’s tools are simple, they get used hard every single day, and the difference between a decent trowel and a cheap one shows up in your wrist by Friday afternoon. Buy well once and most of these tools will still be in your bucket in ten years.
This guide is for UK apprentices and career-changers kitting out for their first year on the bricks in 2026. We will go through what you actually need from day one, what can wait, and roughly what to budget — sticking to tools you can buy from UK merchants and suppliers like Screwfix, Toolstation, Travis Perkins, Jewson and the bricklaying specialists. Prices are approximate UK street prices and move with stock and promotions, so treat them as a guide. The aim is a kit that does the job without wasting your first-year wage on stuff you will not touch.
What you actually need on day one
Strip it back and a first-year brickie needs surprisingly little to start working: a brick trowel, a couple of spirit levels, a brick hammer and bolster for cutting, a tape and pencil, a line with pins or corner blocks, a jointer for finishing, and the PPE to keep you safe and comfortable. Get those and you can turn up to any site and be useful. Everything else — the second trowel, the speciality jointers, the nicer levels — is something you add as your hand gets in and your work demands it. Resist the urge to buy the big kit; buy these well instead.
The trowel
This is the tool you will hold all day, so it matters more than anything else in the bucket. Start with an 11-inch London pattern trowel — the standard UK shape — from a proper name like Marshalltown or Spear & Jackson Tyzack, with a soft grip handle. As an apprentice you can even start at 9 or 10 inches while your wrist builds the muscle, then move up. The one thing to insist on is a one-piece forged blade rather than a welded one: a forged trowel has no weak join at the neck to snap halfway up a lift, and it will outlast several cheap welded trowels. Budget £20–35 and treat it as a buy-once tool.
Levels — your most-used tools after the trowel
You need two levels to start: a long one and a short one. A 1200mm (48-inch) spirit level is the workhorse for building up corners and keeping courses true, and it is the level you will reach for most. Add a 600mm level for general levelling, plumbing perps and tighter spots where the big one will not fit. A small boat or torpedo level is a cheap, handy extra for awkward work. Buy levels you can trust — a level that has been dropped and knocked out of true is worse than useless because it lies to you — so go for a solid trade name and look after them. Budget £30–60 for the pair to begin with.
Hammers, bolsters and cutting tools
For cutting and dressing brick you want a brick hammer — a hammer with a flat face one end and a chisel-like blade the other — for trimming and lining up bricks. Pair it with a brick bolster (a wide-bladed cold chisel) and a lump hammer for clean cuts: score the brick with the bolster, then strike to split it. A standard cold chisel is worth having too for chasing and general work. These are not tools to overspend on, but buy decent ones that will hold an edge — a soft cheap bolster mushrooms and stops cutting cleanly. Budget £25–40 for the set.
Line, pins and corner blocks
Keeping courses straight is the whole game, and that means a brick line and a way to anchor it. A good braided nylon line is cheap and essential. To anchor it you have two options: line pins, which are metal pins you push into the bed joints at each end, or corner blocks, which clip onto the brickwork at each corner and let you run and raise the line quickly. Most brickies carry both and use whichever suits the job. Add a set of tingle plates for long runs to stop the line sagging in the middle. This is a few pounds of kit that makes the difference between straight work and a wavy mess — do not skimp on it.
Jointing and finishing tools
Once the bricks are laid, the joints need finishing, and the tool depends on the look the job calls for. A bucket-handle or rounded jointer gives the standard concave finish you see on most modern brickwork, and a jointing iron or churn brush helps tidy and brush back the joints. A pointing trowel — a small trowel for getting mortar into joints the big trowel cannot reach — is the other essential, useful for repointing, tight spots and neatening up. These are inexpensive and you will use them on nearly every job, so get a small selection early. Budget £15–30 to start.
Tape, pencil and the small stuff
The cheap bits you cannot work without: a decent tape measure (a 5m or 8m is plenty for brickwork), a builder’s pencil or marker, and a gauge rod or the knowledge to set your own gauge for course heights. A soft brush for cleaning down, a hawk or spot board for holding mortar, and a sturdy bucket or two round out the basics. None of this is expensive, but turning up without a working tape or something to carry mortar in marks you out as unprepared, so get the small stuff sorted alongside the headline tools.
PPE — do not treat this as an afterthought
Bricklaying is hard on the body, and the protective kit is not optional. Good knee pads are essential — you spend a lot of time kneeling on hard surfaces, and your knees will not thank you for saving twenty quid. Sturdy gloves protect your hands from sharp brick edges and the drying effect of cement, which genuinely damages skin over time. Safety boots, eye protection for cutting, and a dust mask for any cutting or mixing complete the set. Spend properly on the things that protect your body — boots and knee pads especially — because they are what keep you working comfortably for a full career rather than limping out of it early.
What to buy later
Once you are settled and earning, you can build the kit out: a second, bigger trowel for blockwork; a wider range of jointers for different finishes; a profile or corner-pole system for running corners faster; a longer level for setting out; and your own small mixer or tools for mixing if you start taking on your own bits of work. None of these are first-year purchases — they are upgrades you make when a specific job or your own pace demands them. Let the work tell you what you need next, rather than buying it all up front and finding half of it sitting unused in the shed.
Roughly what it costs to start
Done sensibly, a solid first-year bricklaying kit comes in around £150–250 for the lot — a forged trowel, a pair of trustworthy levels, hammers and bolsters, line and pins, jointers and a pointing trowel, plus the small consumables. Add good PPE on top, which is money well spent rather than a cost to trim. That is a modest outlay for tools that, looked after, will serve you for many years. The temptation as a first-year is to buy cheap to keep the total down, but with a trade this hand-tool focused, buying decent once is genuinely cheaper than buying twice — and a lot less frustrating on site.
Frequently asked questions
What size trowel should a beginner bricklayer use?
Start with an 11-inch London pattern, or even a 9–10 inch while your wrist builds strength, then move up as your hand gets in. The most important thing is that it is a one-piece forged blade from a proper name, not a cheap welded trowel that can snap at the neck. You can add a bigger trowel for blockwork later once you are established.
Do I need line pins or corner blocks?
Both are useful and most brickies carry both. Line pins push into the bed joints to anchor the line at each end, while corner blocks clip onto the brickwork and let you run and raise the line quickly at corners. Use whichever suits the job — pins for some situations, blocks for others — and add tingle plates to support the line on long runs.
How much should I spend on my first bricklaying kit?
Around £150–250 covers a solid set of hand tools done properly, plus good PPE on top. Spend the money on the trowel, the levels and your knee pads and boots, where quality genuinely matters, and you can be more modest on the hammers, bolsters and jointers. Buying decent once works out cheaper than replacing cheap tools that fail.
What is the most important tool for a bricklayer?
The trowel, without question — it is in your hand all day and its weight, balance and grip directly affect how tired you are by the end of a shift. A good forged trowel that suits your hand is the single best investment a first-year brickie can make, followed closely by a pair of spirit levels you can actually trust.
