What do you know about the masonry trade?
For example, I'm looking around at the prices of reclaimed stones; caps, quoins, coping, general ornamental architectural stone. And it seems to be very high, for example the pictures cap stones cost 650£ per pair, and are dimensioned at 70*70 cm bases roughly and 45cm in height. Now these are old and carved stones, so that's a fair bit of money.
However if any of you know about this, what is the value based on? For example, it's clear to me that cut stone is far more valuable than cast concrete, is that the main thing that affects price? Because modern cast concrete stones are multiple and far cheaper than reclaimed cut stones. But I wonder if somebody was cutting these stones from raw stone instead of casting them from concrete, would they still be worth £650 or is that value mostly in their age?
Also does anybody have any idea about the prices and the trade in purely architectural stone, cut wall, roof, chimney fluted and classical shaped style stone????
Posted this on /biz/ as well, but since they're all NEETs masterbating over alt-coins I didn't think they'd be very knowledgable about it, and here's likely to be more masons.
Some stone around here goes for a huge premium because the quarry it it was sourced from has closed so there's no other way to get the exact same stone for historical restorations.
>>1009614
it's not cheap because it's almost all hand made and lasts thousands of years.
>>1009623
Cotswolds?
>>1009627
Well what I'm asking is, is it the hand made-ness, or the antiquity that gives it it's value? For example, if I were to carve something like pic related in OP, could I ask £650 for it, or would the fact it's not salvaged stone make it worth less. As a further question, if I carved it using modern powertools, would it be worth less because it's not 'hand made' per se, or would it still be worth £650?
>>1009634
I can't talk about pricing because I do not know, but what I do know is that builders do not care how new stone is carved as long as the price/quality is right, old stone is pricey because it's in limited supply and it's hard to fake real age on stone, I have seen people paint new stone with a mix of yogurt and compost to speed up the ageing process but there is no substitute for real age.
>>1009643
Sure, thanks for the post, I wonder how much the aged look affect the price.
>>1009634
The material and the hand making most likely. The age my account for some bit or it may not.
Either way it's primarily that it's made of stone not concrete and is handmade which is very time consuming unlike casting concrete.
That is where the cost comes from.
>>1009614
This probably won't help, but in the States in rural areas a lot of this stuff comes from creeks or rivers, and other than the work of dragging them home they're free. A rock hammer, a sledge, some wedges and masonry drill bits, and you can have some pretty nice stuff.
>>1009614
Some reclamation yards are just really expensive try to find one that's a bit more rough they will have the same shit but cheaper. There's a few near me in Somerset that are pretty cheap might be a bit far for you though.
cont. from >>1009689 the reason they are expensive is because of the age and the craftsmanship that went into them these reclamation yards market stuff like antiques.
>>1009671
So say the same things were made using CAM would that make them less valuable than hand cut stones, although both would look the same?
>>1009683
In england they tax you for the air you breath so if something costs 200 pounds it is considered "free"
>>1009614
New carved stones will be more.
You're not just paying for the stone, your paying a guy for his time and the time it took him to learn the craft.
With cast you are paying for the concret and the time for guy to poor it in to mould.
>>1009723
Right, and if you buy stones manufactured with CAM, then they would cost the same as hand cut. Because that's what I'm thinking.
>>1009700
ornamental stone is bling and the pricing follows bling logic rather than commodity logic.
footballers who commision a miniature parthenon as a carport and a marble fountain with a champagne-pissing cherub honestly wouldn't be able to tell a chisel mark from a bird dropping.
>>1009759
That's what I'm thinking ;)
But also in reality I'm thinking about architectural stone which is bought by builders and stonemasons for building works so they know their stuff.
Sorry OP, I work in speculative masonry only.
