Brick vs Concrete: Weight, Strength, and Cost Per Square Foot

I was standing in the masonry aisle doing math on my phone… and none of it lined up

I’m staring at pallets of brick on one side, stacks of CMU on the other, and a guy in a dusty hoodie tells me “brick’s heavier, but block’s stronger,” like that’s the whole story. I nodded like I understood. I didn’t.

So I did what I always do when something feels off on a job: I went back to basics, pulled out a tape measure, and started thinking in square feet, not vibes.

Because if you’re pricing a wall, or checking if a slab edge can handle the load, “kinda heavy” isn’t a number.

And yeah, people get this wrong all the time.

Weight per square foot: the part that sneaks up on you

You’ll hear “brick is heavy” and “concrete is heavy” and that’s true in the same way “a truck is big” is true. Helpful, but not helpful. The thing you actually need is weight per square foot of wall (or veneer), because that’s what ends up on your footing, your slab edge, your lintels, your anchors, all that stuff you don’t want to redo.

So here’s the mental shortcut I use: start with thickness and material type, then work back to what a square foot of finished wall weighs. If you’re doing brick veneer, you’re usually talking a single wythe (one brick thick, basically). If you’re doing CMU, you might be talking 8-inch block, grouted or not, maybe with rebar, maybe not. And that “maybe” is exactly why numbers swing.

And I’ll say it out loud: I had no idea what a “wythe” was the first time I heard it (I thought it was a brand of mortar or something like that). It’s just one layer of masonry. One brick thick. That’s it.

Now, densities vary. They just do. Brick can be all over the place depending on type and voids, and concrete masonry depends on whether it’s lightweight block, normal weight, how much grout you’re pumping in, and so on. So don’t tattoo these numbers on your forearm. But for ballpark takeoffs and sanity checks, this table gets you in the zone.

Assembly (typical)	Thickness	Rough density used	Rough weight per sq ft
Brick veneer (single wythe)	about 4 in	about 120 pcf	about 40 psf
Solid brick masonry (multi-wythe, older style)	about 8 in	about 120 pcf	about 80 psf
CMU wall (8 in block, ungrouted)	about 8 in	about 85 pcf	about 57 psf
CMU wall (8 in block, fully grouted)	about 8 in	about 140 pcf	about 93 psf

So yeah, a fully grouted block wall can actually outweigh a basic brick veneer wall by a lot. That’s the part that surprises people. They see “brick” and assume it’s automatically the heavyweight champ, and then they grout every cell in an 8-inch wall and wonder why the footing spec suddenly looks “excessive.”

One sentence reality check: grout is heavy.

If you want to sanity-check any of this fast, I built calculators for exactly this kind of thing. For area, start here:

. If you’re converting inches to feet because your brain’s fried (been there), use fraction to decimal and then just divide by 12.

Strength: what people mean vs what actually matters

But strength is where the conversation usually goes sideways, because “strong” can mean like five different things depending on what failed last on your job.

Brick units can have high compressive strength, and concrete units can too. Mortar matters. Grout matters. Reinforcement matters. And then the wall assembly as a system matters more than the brochure number on a single unit. If you’ve ever watched a wall crack right at a control joint (or where there should’ve been one), you know what I mean.

So if you’re choosing between brick and concrete for a wall, I usually frame it like this:

• Brick veneer is mostly a finish system. It’s not typically carrying your floor loads. It’s hanging there on ties, sitting on a ledge, doing its job looking good and taking weather.
• CMU is often structural. Not always, but often. It can be reinforced, grouted, and detailed to take real loads and resist lateral forces. That’s why it shows up in basements, retaining conditions, and commercial work all day long.
• Poured concrete (if that’s the “concrete” you mean) is its own animal. You’re building a monolithic wall, and if it’s formed and reinforced correctly, it’s tough as nails. If it’s not… well, you’ll find out when the forms start bulging.

Here’s the part I wish someone told me earlier: you don’t “buy strength,” you detail it. You can have a strong unit and a weak wall if the connections, reinforcement, and joints are wrong. And you can have a “weaker” unit in a wall that performs great because it’s actually designed like a system.

If you’re trying to compare assemblies, don’t just ask “which is stronger?” Ask: stronger at what—compression, shear, impact, lateral wind load, freeze-thaw durability, or just “will it crack when the soil moves a little”? Different answers.

Cost per square foot: the number everyone wants (and why it’s slippery)

Cost per square foot is the one homeowners love because it feels clean. And it can be clean, but only if you’re pricing the same thing: same wall thickness, same finish level, same site access, same height, same openings, same scaffold situation, same everything.

On a real job, it’s never the same everything.

I’ve seen a small backyard job where brick veneer cost way more per square foot than a bigger front elevation, just because access was awful and staging took forever and the homeowner wanted a specific brick that had a lead time and the mason had to baby it. And I’ve seen CMU walls look “cheap” on paper until you add rebar, grout, pump time, inspection delays, and then suddenly it’s not cheap, it’s just… honest.

So instead of throwing out one magic number, I like to break cost per square foot into buckets you can actually control during estimating. This is the stuff that decides whether you’re in the ballpark or you’re about to eat the difference.

Cost bucket	Brick veneer tends to…	CMU / concrete tends to…
Material	vary a lot by brick selection and matching	stay steadier unless you go heavy on grout/rebar
Labor	be labor-heavy (lots of units, lots of joints)	move faster per sq ft, but reinforcement adds steps
Scaffolding / access	spike fast on tall façades	also spikes, but schedule can be tighter
Details (lintels, flashing, ties)	need careful water management details	need structural detailing, especially at openings

Want a worked example? Here’s how I’d do it on the back of a tailgate.

Say you’ve got a wall that’s 30 ft long and 10 ft tall. Gross area is 300 sq ft. Two windows at 3 ft by 5 ft each is 30 sq ft of openings, so net is 270 sq ft. If your mason threw out a number like 6,750 for the installed veneer (including lintels and flashing, because that’s where the leaks come from), your cost per square foot is 6,750 ÷ 270 = 25 per sq ft.

And if your block guy prices the same net area at 5,400 but you still need to parge it, waterproof it, or fur it out inside, your “per square foot” comparison just changed again. That’s why it’s slippery.

For quick area math and opening deductions, use the

. If you’re converting a total job price into a unit price (or the other way around), the

is handy for markups and allowances.

And if you’re trying to estimate concrete quantities for slabs or footings that go with these walls, you’ll want: concrete calculator and gravel calculator. I also end up using rebar calculator more than I’d like to admit, because I never trust my first count when I’m tired.

So… which one should you pick?

If you’re a homeowner: pick based on what the wall needs to do. If it’s a structural basement wall, you’re probably not doing brick. If it’s curb appeal and you already have framing, brick veneer is a classic for a reason (and repairs don’t usually require ripping out your whole structure).

If you’re a contractor: pick based on schedule, crew availability, and details. Brick is slow and beautiful. CMU is fast and forgiving until it isn’t. Poured concrete is fast if your forming crew is sharp and your pour goes clean (big “if”).

But don’t ignore weight. Don’t ignore how water moves. And don’t ignore the fact that the cheapest square foot on paper can turn into the most expensive square foot once you’re fixing cracks, leaks, and callbacks.

That callback is the one that hurts.

FAQ

Is brick heavier than concrete?

Sometimes, but it depends what you mean by “concrete.” A single wythe brick veneer is often lighter than an 8-inch CMU wall that’s fully grouted. If you’re comparing solid masonry assemblies, the weights can get close fast, so run it as psf instead of guessing.

What’s a “square” in masonry—same as roofing?

Nope. Roofing uses “squares” (100 sq ft). Masonry and concrete estimating is usually just square feet of wall area and cubic yards of concrete. If someone says “a square of brick,” make them clarify what they mean so you’re not ordering the wrong amount.

How do I quickly estimate wall area minus windows and doors?

• Measure wall length × wall height for gross sq ft.
• Measure each opening (width × height) and add them up.
• Subtract openings from gross to get net.

If you want to speed it up, use the

and just plug in the numbers.