brick veneer cost

Last Updated: Wednesday, January 12, 2022

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How Much Does it Cost to Install Brick Siding on Your House?

	Low $10.35 – $12.10/sq. ft.	Average Cost $12.15 – $16.00/sq. ft.	High $16.05 – $18.80/sq. ft.
Material Cost	$7.50 – $9.00/sq. ft.	$8.35 – $12.00	$11.50 – $16.00
DIY	No	No	No
Quality	Average	Average to Good	Good to Excellent
Difficulty	Easy	Moderate	Moderate to Difficult
Remove Old Siding	No	Yes or No	Yes
Local Cost of Living	Low to Average	Low to High	Average to High

Sections: Overview | Product Costs | Installation Cost | DIY or Pro

Overview of Brick Veneer or Faux Brick Siding

Thin brick veneer siding offers an immediate visual upgrade to any home. Once installed, brick veneer looks exactly like full brick siding, but at cost savings over 30% to 40%.

Most homeowners use faux brick as an accent siding to complement wood, vinyl or aluminum siding. Another popular approach is to use brick veneer siding on the entire front of a home and cover the other sides with a less-expensive siding material. It can also be installed inside, surrounding a fireplace or providing an attractive accent wall in any room.

This brick veneer siding cost estimate includes retail costs for materials needed plus the labor cost of pro installation. We compare brick veneer siding costs with other reliable estimate sites. And there is a place for homeowner-submitted siding costs below. We’d love to have you return to Business Finance News when your faux brick siding project is complete to share your cost for the benefit of other readers.

Product and Installation Supplies Cost Details

Brick Veneer Siding Price Factors

There are a few project factors that determine where in the cost range your project will fall. These should give you a better idea of what to expect when getting brick veneer siding estimates from local contractors.

• Individual Bricks or Brick Panels – Panels of veneer bricks, explained below, cost more per square foot for the material. But total job cost is lower when professionally installed because the work goes faster.
• Brick Quality – There isn’t much cheap brick veneer, but some premium lines cost more than standard bricks and panels.
• Removing Old Siding – Some types of siding in good condition can remain in place, with the brick veneer installed over it. Your siding contractor will evaluate what’s there to determine if it can stay. Expect job estimates up to $2.50 per square foot higher when old siding must be removed.
• Job Difficulty – Labor cost rises with home complexity such as 6+ corners, multiple stories, adding brick veneer to font columns, etc.
• Who Installs the Veneer – Labor accounts for 30% to 40% of job cost, so there is money to be saved. However, for reasons explained below in DIY or Hire a Pro, we recommend professional installation by a siding contractor with a proven success installing faux brick veneer siding systems.

Cost of Installation and Supplies

You can determine square footage of thin brick veneer needed by multiplying the width x the height of sections to be covered. Use the formula for the area of a triangle for gables – the area = the width x the height divided by 2.

Here are retail costs for materials needed, which include more than bricks and mortar.

• $6.85 – $8.75 per sq. ft. | Individual Veneer Bricks
• $10.50 – $12.25 per sq. ft. | Brick Veneer Panels
• $2.15 – $3.00 each | Brick Corner Pieces
• $1.45 – $2.30 per sq. ft. | Water-resistive Barrier and Drainage Mat
• $0.90 – $1.75 per linear foot | Installation Accessories (Weep Edge, Door/Window Drip Edge)
• $0.50 – $1.25 per sq. ft. | Mortar – Premixed Costs More than Unmixed
• $12 – $30 | Trowels
• $1.10 – $1.65 per sq. ft. | Wire Lath (Thick Set Installation)
• $0.85 – $1.25 per sq. ft. | Cement Backer Board (Thin Set Installation

About Brick Veneer Siding

Brick veneer siding, also called faux brick, thin brick and brick flats, is produced in the same lengths and heights as standard brick, but it is just .5 to .65 inches thick. It is available in a wide range of color and color blends, just like full brick. Most is formed as veneer; A few companies take full bricks and slice them into veneer. Polyurethane faux brick is also available.

Brick veneer can be bought two ways – individual thin bricks and panels of bricks attached to a mesh back.

The individual bricks cost less per square foot but take more time to install. The increased labor can make the total project cost higher with professional installation.

According to the Brick Industry Association (BIA), the area the brick will cover must be first covered in two layers of water-resistant barrier or a drainage mat material and the barrier. Two-in-one barrier and mat products are available, or they can be installed separately. If you plan to DIY, we recommend reading this Technical Bulletin from the BIA with vital installation information that can mean the difference between a job that looks and performs like it should and one that requires a do-over.

There are many ways to install faux brick. Some products have propriety systems for controlling moisture or adding insulation. A few use a system where the bricks are snapped into a metal grid using clips. In snap-in applications, mortar is only used to fill space between the veneer bricks.

Most brick veneer is installed using a traditional method called thick set. Wire lath is fastened to the house framing or existing siding, if suitable. A layer of mortar called a scratch layer is spread over the lath. The bricks or brick panels are spread, or “buttered,” with mortar and pressed into the scratch coat.

Another popular method, called thin set, is to install cement backer board without lath, spread the mortar over it and press the brick veneer into each.

Mortar is used to fill the spaces between bricks in either method.

Brick Siding Return on Investment

Thin brick veneer siding is similar to stone veneer siding which brings a return on investment of nearly 95%, according to the most recent Cost to Value analysis from Remodeling Magazine. A project that costs $10,000 will boost the home’s value by about $9,500. That’s one of the highest ROIs of any interior renovations or exterior upgrades a homeowner can make.

Pro Tip: Adding brick veneer will produce a 90%-plus return only when other homes in the neighborhood or immediate area feature it. Where it is out of place, for example on a street of vinyl-sided bungalows, the return will be significantly less.

Top Brick Veneer Brands

The majority of brick veneer is sold in home improvement stores and direct to contractors by local wholesalers. It is available online, but expect high shipping costs due to the weight of the material.

As you shop for faux brick, you’ll see some of these popular brands:

• Antico panels
• Brick It panels
• Flexi-Brick individual pieces
• Koni Brick individual pieces
• NextStone polyurethane panels
• Novabrik snap-in pieces
• Old Mill individual pieces
• Superior Building Supplies
• Urestone polyurethane panels
• Z-Brick individual pieces

Permits, Inspection, Related Costs and Installation Time

Permits and Inspection Cost

• $0 | No permit is required for adding brick veneer siding inside or on the outside of the home.

Related Costs and Installation Time

Brick veneer installation cost is based on time and materials used.

Material costs were covered above. Expect labor costs in these ranges based on the cost factors above:

• $2.60 – $3.35 per square foot | Single-story Easy Installation
• $3.00 – $4.75 per square foot | Single-story Moderate to Complex Installation
• $3.85 – $5.25 per square foot | Two-story Installation
• $4.50 – $5.75 per square foot | Installation with Special Considerations (Pillars, Dormers, Porches & Stoops)

A typical home using brick veneer as a complementary feature on the front of the house will have about 250 square feet of veneer. Here’s is an approximate time frame for a crew of two to install the veneer.

• Half Day | Remove Old Siding (if needed)
• 1 Day | Install the Moisture Barrier and Necessary Substrate (Lath or Cement Board, e.g.)
• 1 – 1.5 Days | Install 200 – 300 square feet of faux brick siding

DIY or Hire a Pro?

I consider my skills above average. Two years ago, I installed brick veneer around a basement fireplace, covering about 12’ wide and 5’ high except for the 3’x3’ fireplace. Wire lath and thickset installation. Frankly, the results were so-so, and I put a couple weekends into the project. Next time, I’d hire a pro.

Installing brick veneer outside is moderately challenging to difficult depending on the scope of the project. We recommend professional installation for these reasons:

• Moisture Control: Getting the water barrier, drainage and weep system properly installed is crucial. Failure to use the right materials and correctly install them will lead to poor drainage and the water damage that will follow.
• Installation Skills: Mixing and spreading mortar, buttering veneer pieces and panels, setting them in straight rows and neatly adding mortar to the spaces between them are all skills that take experience. Without skill, the job might look amateurish. (True indoors too).

We recommend investing the 30% to 40% labor cost in hiring a pro with a portfolio of great-looking installations. But it’s always good to hear from readers, many who are experienced pro or DIY remodelers.