Skip to content

Arts & crafts

Stonemason Green Job

Stonemasons carve blocks of stone, and lay and fit stonework into place on construction projects.

Annual Salary

£15,000 to £35,000

Average UK salary in 2022 was £33,200
(source Office for National Statistics)

Working hours

43 to 45 a week

You could work: evenings / weekends; occasionally

1.1%
Future employment

There will be 1.1% fewer Stonemason jobs in 2027.

Day to day tasks

You’ll be working with materials like sandstone, limestone, slate, marble and granite. In your day-to-day duties you may:

  • build stone walls or fit cladding using mortar and specialist fixings
  • repair damaged stonework on old buildings and monuments
  • carve or repair statues or memorial headstones
  • make and fit stonework like window frames, archways and ornamental garden pieces

Working environment

You may need to wear safety clothing and use safety equipment.

You could work on a construction site or in a workshop.

Your working environment may be at height, outdoors some of the time, dusty, noisy and physically demanding.

You can get into this job through:

  • a college course
  • an apprenticeship
  • working towards this role
College

You could take a college course, which would teach you some of the skills needed to get a trainee job with a building company. Courses include:

  • Level 1 Certificate in Construction Skills
  • Level 2 Diploma in Craft Masonry
  • Level 3 Diploma in Stonemasonry - Banker (Construction)

Entry requirements

You may need:

  • 2 or fewer GCSEs at grades 3 to 1 (D to G), or equivalent, for a level 1 course
  • 2 or more GCSEs at grades 9 to 3 (A* to D), or equivalent, for a level 2 course
  • 4 or 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, for a level 3 course
For more information
Apprenticeship

You could do a stonemason intermediate apprenticeship.

This apprenticeship has pathways for different types of stonemasonry work, for example:

  • interior stone fixing, often used for floors, wet rooms and kitchens
  • memorial stonemasonry
  • exterior stone fixing on buildings and structures
  • heritage stonemasonry for conserving historic memorials and buildings

This typically takes 24 months to complete as a mix of workplace learning and off-the-job study.

Entry requirements

You'll usually need:

  • some GCSEs, usually including English and maths, or equivalent, for an intermediate apprenticeship
For more information
Work

You could start as a construction labourer and take further training with your employer to get a qualification in stonemasonry.

More information

Career tips

You can do specialist training courses if you're interested in heritage and conservation skills in stonemasonry.

Further information

You'll find more on careers in stonemasonry from Go Construct and the Stone Federation.

You can also get details about stonemasonry carving skills from the Crafts Council.

Showing jobs in:
View all vacancies in this region

With experience, you could progress to supervisory jobs like site supervisor or clerk of works.

You could also set up your own stonemasonry business.

You could also move into a related area, like estimating and construction management.

With further training, you could work as a stonemason or bricklaying instructor at a further education college or training centre.

Find out more about teaching in further education from Teach in further education.

You'll find more on careers in stonemasonry from Go Construct and the Stone Federation.

How does this job help to address the impacts of climate change and protect wildlife and nature in the West of England?

Stonemasons are needed to work on sustainable and low carbon building and construction projects in the West of England.

Examples of post-16 courses you could study at local schools or colleges

  • Level 1 Construction Skills at SGS College

Click here to find a local provider

Apprenticeships you may be able to take with local employers

  • Level 2 Stonemason

Click here to search for a local apprenticeship

For more information on the different routes you can take to get into working as a stonemason, take a look at the 'Routes into this job' section above. 

Click here for an explanation of the different course and apprenticeship levels.

Local employers 

  • Local building contractors
  • Conservation projects

For more local employment opportunities see the 'Live job vacancies by region' section above.

Video stories related to this job

Skills required and how your skills match up

What skills are required?

You'll need:

  • the ability to work well with your hands
  • knowledge of building and construction
  • the ability to use your initiative
  • knowledge of maths
  • physical skills like movement, coordination and dexterity
  • to be thorough and pay attention to detail
  • the ability to work well with others
  • ambition and a desire to succeed
  • persistence and determination
  • to be able to carry out basic tasks on a computer or hand-held device
My top 5 skills
Please sign in to compare your skills to this job. Sign in

To save or view your choices and results you must sign in or register (takes 1 minute).

Sign in Register