Find a mason near you
Blockwork, plastering, screeds, paving, boundary walls and the repairs that follow a leak.
Also called fundi wa mawe, bricklayer or plasterer.
Masonry covers the heavy, structural end of home work: laying blocks, plastering walls, casting screeds, building boundary walls, and putting right the damage a long-running leak leaves behind.
It is also the category where a clear description saves the most money. A mason quoting to plaster "a room" is guessing; a mason quoting to plaster a 4m by 3m bedroom with one window, walls currently bare block, is quoting.
Measure what you can before you post, even roughly. Length and height of a wall, or the rough floor area of a room, moves a quote from an estimate to a price.
What people post
Masonry jobs on Help24
Anything in this list can be posted as a single job — you do not need an ongoing arrangement to use Help24.
- Boundary and perimeter walls, with or without a gate opening
- Plastering new blockwork, and re-plastering where it has blown or cracked
- Floor screeds and levelling before tiling
- Paving, cabro laying and driveway repairs
- Blocking up or opening a doorway or window
- Foundations and footings for an extension or an outbuilding
- Making good after plumbing or electrical chasing
- Repairing water-damaged plaster and rising damp
- Septic tanks, soak pits and manholes
Writing the request
What to include so the offers come back usable
- Rough measurements — wall length and height, or floor area
- Photos of the area, ideally from far enough back to show the whole wall
- Whether materials are on your account or theirs
- Whether there is water and power on site
- How the site is reached — a lorry-accessible plot and a hand-carry plot are different jobs
What moves the price
Why two quotes for the same job differ
- Area to be covered, and the height it has to be worked at
- Whether scaffolding is needed
- Who supplies cement, sand, ballast and blocks
- Whether old plaster or an old slab has to be broken out and carried away first
- Site access for delivering materials
Help24 does not publish price ranges for masonry. Quotes come from the masons themselves, and the number you agree is the number the payment is held against.
Before work starts
What to check with a mason
- Agree in writing who buys materials, and whether the price you see includes them
- For any structural work — removing a wall, cutting an opening in a load-bearing wall, adding a floor — get a qualified engineer's opinion, not a quote
- Contractors taking on building works in Kenya are required to be registered with the NCA; ask for the registration for anything at that scale
- A NITA trade test certificate (Grade III is the artisan entry level, Grade I the highest) is the standard Kenyan proof of a trade. Plenty of excellent fundis work without one, so treat it as a bonus rather than a bar.
How Help24 works
Posting a masonry job
Describe the job
Say what needs doing and where you are. Posting is free, and you are not committing to anything by posting.
Nearby masons send offers
Providers near you quote their own price. Nobody is assigned to you — you see the offers and you choose.
Agree the price first
Nothing starts until you have accepted an offer. The number you agree is the number that gets held.
Pay by M-Pesa, released when it's done
Help24 holds the payment while the work happens. The provider can see it is there; neither side can move it until you confirm the job is finished.
More detail on how posting and offers work, and on how payment protection works.
Related services
Often needed alongside masonry
- ConstructionExtensions, renovations, roofing, new builds and the trades that have to be run together.
- PaintingInterior and exterior painting, preparation, filling, and the repaint between tenancies.
- PlumbingLeaks, blocked drains, taps, toilets, water tanks and pipework — the jobs that cannot wait until the weekend.
- General LabourLoading, digging, clearing, carrying and the jobs that need hands rather than a trade.
By city
Masonry near you
The app covers every Kenyan city and all 47 county headquarters. See where Help24 works.
Post your masonry job
Free to post. You see the offers, you agree the price, and the payment is held until the work is done.
Offer masonry services? Join Help24 as a mason.