Getting into a mason apprenticeship

Mixing, carrying and keeping the bricklayers supplied, while learning to lay to a line. The first year is heavy work.

• 18 or older.
• High-school diploma or GED for formal apprenticeships.
• Basic math and measurement.
• Real physical capacity: sustained lifting, outdoors, in most weather.
• Drug screen and physical.

These are what most programs ask. Every sponsor sets its own, so check the program page before you rely on any of it.

Usually an interview and a practical trial rather than heavy written testing. Employers watch how you work.

Follows the building season closely in cold states, so spring hiring is common. Union locals run defined intakes.

We do not list application dates, because no registry publishes them and we will not invent one. Calling the training center and asking is the only reliable way, and it takes five minutes.

• Laboring for a masonry crew is the traditional way in, and it pays while you find out whether you like it.
• Get fit first. This trade is candid about the physical demand.
• Ask about restoration work if you want the craft end of it.

None of this disqualifies you permanently. Most of it is a few months of work.