How Much to Charge for Tuckpointing — Priced From the Grinder Out
Tuckpointing prices look chaotic from outside — the same chimney draws $900 and $3,200 bids. The chaos is unstated scope. Price it from the method and your number defends itself; here's the build, worked on the classic job.
The formula
Price = (production hours × loaded rate) + staging + materials + repairs, ÷ (1 − target margin). Production hours come from area ÷ your grind-and-point rate for that condition tier — the one number worth tracking on every job you do.
Worked example: chimney above a 6/12 roof
- Area: 5×3 ft chimney, 12 ft exposed ≈ 190 sq ft of face.
- Production: full grind and repoint at 25 sq ft/day solo ≈ 7.5 days… staged. Call it 60 hours × $60 loaded = $3,600? No — this is why chimneys get walked away from. Realistic scope: joints are failed on the weather faces only ≈ 90 sq ft ≈ 28 hours = $1,680.
- Staging: roof brackets, planks, tie-off — setup and rental ≈ $340.
- Materials and match: mortar, pigment, sample panel ≈ $110.
- Crown seal + flashing check while staged ≈ $260 (the natural add-on).
- Direct ≈ $2,390. At 35% margin ÷ 0.65 ≈ $3,675.
Now the $900 bid is legible: it's a flick-and-smear on 30 square feet with a ladder. Your itemized quote — depth stated, faces named, staging shown — makes the customer choose between jobs, not numbers.
The two disciplines
Track your rate. Two jobs of honest hours gives you the only production number that prices your work. Divide, don't multiply. Cost × 1.35 is not a 35% margin — check it on the free margin calculator.
FieldSquire runs this method from a narrated walkthrough at your saved rates — the masonry estimating app is free for 14 days.
Try it on a real job: FieldSquire's Solo plan is free for 14 days with no credit card — unlimited manual estimates and AI-assisted drafts you review line by line. Start the free trial or see the masonry estimating app guide.