Bricklayer invoice template UK (2026): brickwork, blockwork, CIS and VAT

A bricklayer invoice in the UK is not one document. A garden wall for the householder who WhatsApped you, a cavity-wall package on a contractor’s new-build plots, and a side-return extension on a lived-in semi all use the same trowel — and they are not the same bill.

Get the customer type wrong and the rest follows. CIS does not sit on a private householder. Reverse charge does not sit on a customer who is not VAT-registered. “Brickwork as discussed” is how a dispute starts. Bricks, blocks, lintels and labour in one line is how a contractor deducts 20% of the facing bricks. Zero-rating a garden wall because new-build plots can be 0% is how you invent a VAT rate HMRC did not write. Zero-rating a house extension because “it’s construction” is the same mistake: VAT Notice 708 (last updated 26 August 2026) treats work to an existing building as normally standard-rated.

This is the 2026 bricklayer template: copy-paste fields, labour versus bricks and blocks, footings versus DPC versus wall plate, CIS when a contractor pays you for building work, VAT under Notice 708 without made-up 0% on extensions, the tax point on a deposit, late-payment wording, and why NHBC, party wall awards and Building Control completions are not this PDF. InvoiceAdept does not file CIS300, VAT returns or MTD updates to HMRC, and it does not decide CIS or VAT status.

Rules from GOV.UK. Figures are worked examples, not a price list. General information only, not tax, legal, Building Regulations, Party Wall Act or warranty advice. InvoiceAdept is from Tech Me Today Ltd, Companies House 15917255, ICO ZB944663. Free: five invoices a month. Pro £7.99. Pro+ £12.99 (CIS). WhatsApp send on Pro. No platform fee on Stripe.

Sister pages: bathroom fitter, tiler, builder, plumber, carpenter. Walkthrough: how to invoice a UK client as a tradesperson. Deposits: deposit invoice template UK. CIS: invoicing subcontractors CIS UK. Reverse charge: domestic reverse charge invoice UK.

In short

Decide who you are billing. Homeowner: normal invoice, VAT only if registered, at the rate that actually applies to this job. A garden wall, a rebuild of a bay, or a side-return extension on a lived-in private house is usually standard-rated 20% if you are VAT-registered. Brickwork in the course of constructing a new qualifying dwelling can be 0%. An empty-home renovation (empty two years) or a qualifying residential conversion can be 5%. Check the notice. Do not guess. Do not copy 0% onto an extension because the footings are new.

Contractor: labour/materials split, UTR, CIS at 0%, 20% or 30% on labour when the work is a construction operation. Bricklaying, blockwork and stonework on a building are building work — construction, alteration, repair or extension of buildings under CISR14100 (FA04/S74(2)(a)). Both VAT-registered and reverse charge applies: show the VAT, do not add it to what they pay. Never reverse-charge a private householder. Never reverse-charge 0-rated work.

Name the address, the elevation or wall, the brick/block type, and the stage (footings, DPC, wall plate, completion). Invoice the deposit when you take it — especially before a facing-brick order. Call-out and pointing time are labour. Merchant tickets are materials. Free-issue bricks from the main contractor are not yours. Retention is not a deposit. A party wall award is not a VAT relief. An NHBC sticker is not this invoice.

First invoice: invoice generator. Free is five a month — deposit plus footings plus DPC plus wall plate plus final can burn the cap on one extension.

Three jobs, three invoices

Most “bricklayer invoice template UK” pages treat every customer as a name and a total. On site they are not.

A contractor working for a homeowner is still a contractor. No reverse charge on a private customer — that does not make the contractor an end user for the bricklayer who bills them. See HMRC’s reverse charge supplier page. Homeowners only: skip CIS and reverse charge, still read stages, the tax point, and Notice 708.

What must be on a UK bricklayer invoice

GOV.UK is narrower than most blogs. You must give an invoice by law when both you and the customer are VAT-registered. If you are not, keep numbered records of what you charged — that is also how you get paid. What the invoice must include:

• a unique identification number

• your name (or company name), address and contact information

• the customer’s name and address

• a clear description of what you are charging for

• the date the goods or service were provided (supply date)

• the date of the invoice

• the amount being charged

• VAT amount if applicable

• the total amount owed

Sole trader with a trading name: show your own name and a serviceable address. Limited company: registered name, company number, registered office.

VAT-registered: VAT number, rate, net, VAT in sterling. Threshold £90,000 — register for VAT if you have gone over, or will. For a bricklayer, “clear description” is what gets you paid.

Weak versus usable descriptions

A setting-out drawing or brick specials schedule can sit as an attachment. InvoiceAdept does not issue Building Control, NHBC, competent-person or party wall documents. Do not print a scheme you are not on.

Checklist you can tick in the van

Copy-paste bricklayer invoice fields

Delete the lines that do not apply. Do not leave “N/A” hanging on a domestic bill.

Invoice number / date / supply date / due date
Your legal name, address (company number + registered office if limited)
VAT number only if registered · UTR only if this invoice is under CIS
Customer legal name and address · site / plot / PO
Description a stranger can identify · elevation/wall · brick/block type · length × height or m² · stage (footings / DPC / wall plate / completion) · variation refs (V01…)
Labour (setting out, footings attend, brick/block laying, wall ties, lintels, pointing, snagging, hours/days, rate)
Materials this job only (bricks, blocks, mortar materials, wall ties, DPC, lintels, wall starters you paid — merchant tickets) · hire ticket if passed through
Net · VAT rate actually used (20% / 5% empty-home or conversion / 0% new dwelling) or reverse-charge wording · CIS deduction if contractor · amount payable now
Bank details or card link · retention withheld + release date
Guarantee / manufacturer warranty / NHBC or Building Control — attached, not this PDF

Labour versus materials: bricks, blocks, mortar, ties, DPC, lintels

On a homeowner invoice the split is courtesy. On a contractor invoice it is the CIS calculation.

HMRC’s contractor rules: start with the gross, take off VAT, consumable stores, fuel (not travelling), plant hired for that job, manufacturing or prefabricating materials, and materials you paid for directly. No receipts? They estimate. What is left is the CIS base at 20%, 30% or 0%. Same list from the subbie side: what does not count as CIS pay.

Materials = bricks, blocks, sand, cement, lime, wall ties, DPC, cavity closers, lintels, wall-starter kits and similar you paid for this job (merchant tickets on file). Mark-up stays in the labour base. Free-issue facing bricks from the main contractor are not yours, and neither is a pack the customer bought from a builders’ merchant and asked you to lay. Setting-out time, ranging, cutting, pointing and snagging are labour, not a materials line and not a way to shrink CIS.

Two habits that cost money: one lump “brickwork £8,400” (20% of the facing bricks as well), and stuffing mark-up into materials so CIS looks smaller.

Van stock used on the job can sit in materials if you can show what it cost. Guessing a round figure is how a contractor estimates against you. Allowable expenses (tools, van, CSCS) are a Self Assessment question, not an invoice line.

Supply-only pallets. If you only deliver bricks and nobody from your firm lays them, that is generally not CIS — GOV.UK lists delivering materials, and making materials, as outside. Labour-only bricklaying for a contractor is CIS. Supply-and-fix is usually CIS because of the laying. CISR14020 / mixed contracts: if any part of the contract is construction operations, payments under that contract can all sit in the scheme. Splitting the invoice into “bricks” and “labour” does not split the contract.

Scaffold. Hire of scaffolding with no labour is out of CIS. Erecting or dismantling scaffold is in as a preparatory / finishing operation (CISR14240). If you pass through an independent scaffold ticket, keep it as hire, not as a fake materials pad.

Sample line items: garden wall, new-build leaf, extension, pointing

Worked figures below are illustrative round numbers, not a price list. Your quote will differ. They assume 14 Oak Lane unless the row says otherwise.

Garden wall (supply and lay, private householder)

Name the length and height. “Garden wall” on a house with three boundaries is how the wrong elevation gets argued.

New-build inner leaf (contractor, labour and your blocks)

Facing bricks free-issued by the main contractor do not appear as your materials. If they also want the outer leaf from you, that is another labour line (and only materials you actually bought).

Rear extension, lived-in house (bricklayer package to wall plate)

This is an existing lived-in dwelling. If you are VAT-registered it is usually 20%, not 0%. The carpenter’s wall plate is their invoice unless you supplied it.

Repointing (labour-led)

Repairs to a lived-in house are still usually 20% if you are registered. Listed-building “approved alteration” zero-rating was withdrawn from 1 October 2012 (Notice 708 s.2.1) — do not resurrect it on a pointing invoice.

Deposits, stage payments and retention

A Saturday pier is one invoice. An extension you have to order facing brick for is not. Name the stage on every bill. Illustrative labels only — match your quote:

1. Deposit — before you order the facing bricks or specials. Invoice when you take it. State the percentage. See deposit invoice template UK.

2. Footings / foundation attend — you are there for the pour or you built the footings if that was your package. Labour this stage and materials this stage.

3. DPC — first lift, DPC bedded, ready for inspection if they asked for one. Do not bill “to wall plate” when you stopped at DPC.

4. Wall plate / practical completion — walls up, openings formed, ready for the carpenter or the next trade. Balance less any agreed retention, plus variations they approved in writing.

Retention is not a deposit. Deposit = money you take before or during. Retention = money held after completion against snagging. Show full value, retention withheld, and release date, then invoice retention when due. Stage percentages in the quote, not a voice note.

If you are VAT-registered, a deposit you actually receive is usually a tax point for that amount on the day it lands, even if the bricks are still at the merchant. A card payment on completion is usually a tax point that day. Notice 708 also has special time-of-supply rules for builders (VAT Regulations 89 and 93). InvoiceAdept will date the invoice you raise. It will not decide the tax point and it will not put the figure on your VAT return.

Free (5/month) burns on deposit + stages + final. Pro removes the cap.

Sole trader versus limited company

The invoice has to show the legal person who is charging.

Sole trader. Your own name, plus a trading name if you use one, and an address where documents can be delivered. CIS, if it applies, is in your name and UTR. GOV.UK on sole traders.

Limited company. Registered company name, company number, registered office. A trading style (“Oak Lane Brickwork”) is not enough on its own. CIS for a company is the company’s UTR, not the director’s personal one. GOV.UK on limited companies. InvoiceAdept does not file confirmation statements or accounts.

Do not mix them mid-job. If the quote was in the company name, the invoices are in the company name.

CIS when a contractor pays you for brickwork

CIS covers most construction work to buildings. You invoice the contractor the gross. They withhold from labour as an advance on your tax and NI.

Bricklaying sits in the core of the scheme. CISR14100 records that construction, alteration, repair, extension, demolition or dismantling of buildings or structures is within FA04/S74(2)(a). The public guide lists building work, alterations and repairs as covered — GOV.UK CIS. Laying bricks, blocks or stone on a building, rebuilding a wall, forming an opening, building an extension package for a contractor: typically in.

From those pages, in plain terms:

• In, when a contractor pays you: labour-only bricklaying; supply-and-fix brick/block packages; repairs and alterations to brickwork; extension packages; plot cavity walls; mixed contracts that include any construction operations (CISR14020 — if any part relates to construction operations, payments under the contract can all be in).

• Generally out: scaffolding hire with no labour; delivering materials; making materials (the brick factory); architecture and surveying; running a canteen. Supply-only pallets with no laying from you: generally not CIS. Do not use a supply-only invoice to hide laying that was in the same contract.

• Private householder: no CIS line. An ordinary occupier commissioning a garden wall on their own home is not a CIS contractor. The income is still taxable. You still raise a numbered invoice.

• Landlords and agents: do not blindly print CIS. Most individual landlords are not construction contractors. A business can be a “deemed contractor” if it has spent more than £3 million on construction in the 12 months since the first payment — who is covered by CIS. That is not a typical buy-to-let garden wall. InvoiceAdept does not decide CIS status.

Subcontractor rates: 20% verified; 30% unverified or wrong name; 0% gross payment status. Use the legal name and UTR you registered with.

Show UTR, labour, materials, rate, deduction, net payable. That printout is not a CIS300. The contractor files. InvoiceAdept does not file CIS300. CIS is on Pro+ £12.99 only. Feature: CIS invoices. More on billing as a subbie: invoicing subcontractors CIS UK.

CIS applies because a contractor pays you for construction operations in the UK, not because you own a mixer. A private garden wall you sold on WhatsApp: no CIS line. Construction in the Republic of Ireland, Isle of Man or Channel Islands: no UK CIS (CISR14070).

VAT on brickwork: Notice 708, honestly

If you are not VAT-registered, do not charge VAT. Threshold £90,000 — when to register.

If you are registered, the rate is not “brickwork = 0%” and it is not “extensions = 5%”. Read VAT Notice 708, last updated 26 August 2026. InvoiceAdept will not decide the rate.

Notice 708 section 2.1 is the starting point: the construction of a new building and work to an existing building is normally standard-rated. The exceptions are listed. A garden wall, a rebuild of a bay, or a typical house extension on a lived-in house is not, by itself, a listed exception.

The common cases, in one table

If you are unsure, say so on the quote, charge the standard rate until the person who files your return has read the notice, or get advice. Do not invent a 5% “home improvement” rate for Great Britain — that reduced rate is an Isle of Man rule in Notice 708 s.2.1, not a mainland brickwork discount.

Party wall and Building Regulations are not VAT reliefs. A party wall award under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 is a neighbour process. A Building Control notice is a safety process. Neither one moves 20% to 0%. NHBC or a warranty provider signing off a plot is not a VAT certificate either.

Reverse charge

Domestic reverse charge when all of these hold: both VAT-registered, payment reported within CIS, supply standard- or reduced-rated, not an employment business supplying staff, and no written end-user notice. Show VAT, do not add it to payable. Use the words reverse charge (for example “Reverse charge: VAT Act 1994 Section 55A applies”).

0-rated work is not reverse charge. Reverse charge is for standard- and reduced-rated construction. Qualifying new-build brickwork at 0% does not go through RC even if a contractor pays you under CIS. CIS withholding is separate from VAT: you can have 0% VAT and still have 20% CIS on labour.

RC usually sits on the full net supply-and-fix value; CIS ignores materials you paid for. Keep lines split. Never reverse-charge a private householder. Walkthrough: domestic reverse charge invoice UK.

The VAT tax point on deposits

If you are VAT-registered, the tax point is when the supply is treated as taking place for VAT. It is not always the day you strike the last joint. In outline — check GOV.UK’s VAT time-of-supply rules, or the person who files, before you rely on a date:

• A deposit you actually receive is usually a tax point for that amount on the day it lands, even if the facing bricks are still at the merchant.

• A card payment on completion is usually a tax point that day.

• An invoice you issue can create a tax point for the amount invoiced.

• The basic tax point for services is often when the work is completed; for goods, when they are delivered or made available.

Notice 708 also has special time-of-supply rules for builders. If you use stage invoices, do not assume the software has applied those regulations for you.

If you take a 30% brickwork deposit in August and complete in September, August’s VAT period needs that deposit. InvoiceAdept will date the invoice you raise. It will not decide the tax point.

Quoting versus invoicing, and variations

A quote is an offer. An invoice is the bill for what you actually did. Do not paste the quote PDF into InvoiceAdept and call it an invoice. Number them separately. When the job changes, the invoice has to reconcile to the quote plus numbered variations — not to a memory of a WhatsApp voice note.

Confirm extras in writing (chat is fine). Price labour and materials separately. Code them V01, V02. Put each on the next stage as own lines, or raise a variation invoice the same day. Never bury an extra pier, a soldier course, a change of facing brick, or an extra opening inside an inflated brickwork lump.

Typical brickwork variations that need their own lines:

• facing-brick upgrade or a change of specials

• extra height, an extra pier, or a longer run

• soldier course, dentil, or feature band

• additional opening, or a lintel the drawing missed

• making good beyond the new work (tying into an existing elevation)

If the variation changes a deposit you already took, show original package, extra, new total, already paid.

The general walkthrough is how to invoice a UK client as a tradesperson.

Late payment: B2B versus consumer

Put a due date on every invoice. “Payment due on receipt” is vague. “Due 8 September 2026” is a date. Seven days is common on domestic brickwork once the wall is up. Contractor accounts are often 14 or 30 days, or whatever the subcontract says.

Domestic homeowners are consumers. The Late Payment of Commercial Debts rules are a business-to-business regime — GOV.UK on late commercial payments. Statutory interest is B2B, not consumer garden-wall invoices. Do not print “statutory interest at 8% over base” on a private wall invoice as if it automatically applies to a householder.

Contractor invoices are different. If both sides are acting in the course of a business, statutory interest can apply when a qualifying debt is late, unless the contract has a different substantial remedy. Bank of England Bank Rate 3.75% (held 30 July 2026, next meeting 17 September 2026) plus 8% = 11.75%, plus compensation £40 / £70 / £100 by debt size. Interest walkthrough: how to calculate late payment interest UK and late payment rights UK tradespeople.

A reminder is not a new invoice. Do not raise a second live number for the same wall because they have not paid. InvoiceAdept Pro can send reminders. That is a chase, not a filing to HMRC.

Worked example: the same brickwork, four invoices

A sole-trader bricklayer supplies and lays a rear-extension brick/block package at 14 Oak Lane, a lived-in house. Labour is £2,400 (footings attend, DPC, cavity to wall plate, openings, pointing). Materials the bricklayer bought for this job (facing brick, block, ties, DPC, lintels, mortar — merchant tickets on file) came to £1,800. Gross before VAT: £4,200.

Worked example only — not a price list. Illustrative round figures. Your quote will differ. This is an existing lived-in dwelling, ordinary enlargement: VAT 20% if you are registered, per Notice 708 s.2.1. It is not 5% empty-home, not 0% new build, not 0% “because it is an extension”.

CIS on examples C and D assumes a contractor is paying you for construction operations (building work under CISR14100). InvoiceAdept does not decide. If CIS does not apply, drop the deduction lines.

A — Homeowner, you are not VAT-registered (no CIS, no reverse charge)

No VAT line. No UTR. No CIS. Due date and a sort code or pay link.

B — Homeowner, you are VAT-registered, standard-rated existing dwelling

Same job. Lived-in house. Not empty two years. Not a conversion. Not a new qualifying dwelling. Not a new flat created wholly in the extension.

You account for £840 output tax. Still no CIS. If you already invoiced a £1,260 deposit (30%), that deposit already had a tax point. The final invoice is the balance.

C — VAT-registered contractor, CIS-verified at 20%, reverse charge applies

Same labour and materials, billed to a main contractor. Both VAT-registered. No written end-user notice. Payment reported under CIS. Supply standard-rated, so reverse charge can apply.

Wording: Reverse charge: VAT Act 1994 Section 55A applies. Customer to pay the VAT to HMRC. Contractor pays you £3,720 and remits £480 CIS. You do not receive the £840 VAT. A one-line £4,200 bill is how they deduct 20% of the facing bricks.

D — Same contractor, not CIS-registered (30%)

That extra £240 stays out of your account until Self Assessment. CIS registration is free.

Short empty-home contrast (illustrative)

Same £4,200 package, but 14 Oak Lane has not been lived in for two years and you hold an Empty Property Officer letter. If Notice 708 s.8 conditions are met: VAT 5%. VAT-registered homeowner path: net £4,200, VAT £210, they pay £4,410. Still no CIS on a private owner. If the house was used as a second home in those two years, you are back on 20%.

Short new-build contrast (illustrative)

Same labour and materials, but billed as plot brickwork in the course of constructing a new qualifying dwelling, and Notice 708 s.3 actually applies: VAT 0%. Show VAT at 0%, VAT amount £0.00. Not reverse charge if 0% applies. CIS may still apply to labour if a contractor is paying you for brickwork. Subcontractor to a contractor on a 0% new-build: the VAT rate follows the work; CIS withholding is separate.

Do not copy this 0% onto examples A–D. A lived-in extension is not “in the course of construction” of a new dwelling.

Short garden-wall contrast (illustrative)

Private householder, 8.4 m garden wall, net £1,600 as in the sample. Not VAT-registered: they pay £1,600, no CIS. VAT-registered: usually 20%, they pay £1,920. Still no CIS. Do not zero-rate it because a new-build plot down the road is 0%.

Short stage sketch (domestic, not VAT-registered)

Same £4,200 package. Illustrative stages only.

When 28 September arrives, raise INV-0404 for the retention. Do not leave it as a chat reminder.

What the invoice is not

The invoice is the bill. Certificates, awards and warranties are separate PDFs.

• Building Control — structural work, foundations, new walls, openings. The local authority or an approved inspector issues the completion. InvoiceAdept does not notify Building Control. Printing “Building Regs certified” on the invoice is not a notice.

• Party wall — the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 is a neighbour process. An award is not a VAT rate and not a line that makes an extension 0%.

• NHBC / warranty — plot sign-off, insurance-backed warranty, or a builder’s warranty pack. Attach it if you actually issue one. The invoice footer is not NHBC.

• Workmanship guarantee — period and what is covered. Attach it. The invoice footer is not the guarantee.

• Manufacturer warranties — brick and lintel warranties stay with the customer and the brand.

• Structural engineer / architect certificates — their PDFs, not yours, unless you are that person.

Do not write “NHBC certified” as a substitute for a registration you do not hold. Do not bill a garden wall as if the PDF in InvoiceAdept is the party wall award.

Making Tax Digital: records, not filing

If your qualifying income is over £50,000 for 2024–25, Making Tax Digital for Income Tax applies from 6 April 2026. The line drops to £30,000 from April 2027 (2025–26 income) and £20,000 from April 2028 (2026–27 income). Check GOV.UK on MTD for Income Tax.

InvoiceAdept keeps digital invoice records you can export for an accountant or HMRC-recognised filing software. It does not submit quarterly Income Tax updates, the Self Assessment return, your VAT return, or CIS300. Records are not filing. MTD for UK trades.

Keep the numbered invoices, the merchant tickets that support your materials lines, the quote and variation thread, and — if you used 0% or 5% — the empty-property evidence or main-contractor position. HMRC’s VAT record-keeping is not the same as “the WhatsApp chat still loads”.

How to send it, and how InvoiceAdept actually fits

Domestic jobs sold in WhatsApp: put the invoice in that thread. Native send is Pro; Free users attach the PDF. WhatsApp invoicing UK. Contractors: email accounts with the PO.

Bank details on every invoice. No InvoiceAdept platform fee on Stripe. Published Stripe UK cards 1.5% + 20p (2.5% + 20p international) on pricing. InvoiceFree adds 1% on its payment links plus Stripe — honest difference, not a sneer. InvoiceFree: unlimited free + CIS on free. InvoiceAdept: five free invoices/month; CIS on Pro+. Vs InvoiceFree.

Try Free, WhatsApp on Pro, CIS on Pro+, card without the extra 1%. InvoiceFree if you want unlimited free + CIS and mostly take bank transfer. Annual plans on InvoiceAdept are advertised at 20% off; 14-day trial on paid. Pricing.

An extension with a deposit, a footings stage, a DPC stage, a wall-plate final, a variation and a retention invoice is six documents. That is over the Free cap on one job. Pro is the honest next step if you stage-bill.

Mistakes that delay a bricklayer invoice

• “Brickwork” with no address, no wall, no length/height and no stage.

• One lump sum on a CIS job, so 20% comes off the facing bricks and the lintels.

• Charging VAT to a VAT-registered contractor when reverse charge applies, or putting reverse charge wording on a homeowner invoice.

• Reverse-charging a 0% new-build brickwork package.

• Printing 0% VAT on a lived-in garden wall or house extension because new-build plots can be 0% in other cases.

• Telling a lived-in rebuild it is 5% without the two-year empty test, or calling an extension a “conversion”.

• Copying a housing association’s 0% onto your subcontractor invoice (Notice 708 para 2.1.3).

• Treating a party wall award, a Building Control notice, or NHBC as a VAT relief.

• No UTR, or a trading name that does not match CIS registration.

• Printing CIS on a private householder because “bricklaying is construction”.

• Printing CIS on a supply-only pallet that had no labour and was not mixed into a laying contract — or the opposite: hiding laying inside “supply only”.

• Calling retention a deposit, or never invoicing the retention when it falls due.

• Taking a brick deposit and never raising a numbered invoice for it, then missing the VAT tax point.

• Listing free-issue facing bricks as your materials.

• Treating scaffold hire with no labour as CIS labour, or stuffing mark-up into the merchant total.

• Burying a soldier course or an extra opening inside the lump so the final account cannot be reconciled to the quote.

• Using a stale VAT threshold. It is £90,000.

• Assuming the invoicing app files CIS300, the VAT return, or MTD. Neither InvoiceAdept nor InvoiceFree does.

Frequently asked questions

What should a UK bricklayer invoice include?

Legal names and addresses, unique number, dates, a description that names the address, the wall or elevation, brick/block type, length × height or m² and stage, quantities and rates, due date, and a way to pay. Split labour and materials. VAT only if registered and reverse charge does not apply. UTR and CIS only under a contractor, and only when CIS actually applies. GOV.UK invoice list.

Do bricklayers need a CIS invoice?

Only when a contractor is paying you for construction operations. Bricklaying, blockwork and repairs to buildings are in under CISR14100 and the public CIS guide. A homeowner job you sold yourself: no CIS. Supply-only materials with no labour: generally no CIS. InvoiceAdept does not decide. Skip registration and they deduct 30% instead of 20% when CIS does apply.

How do CIS deductions work on bricks, blocks and labour?

CIS is on labour only, including setting out, laying, pointing and snagging. The bricks, blocks, ties, DPC and lintels you paid for come off the gross if the contractor is satisfied you paid for them. A mark-up is not a material. Free-issue is not your material. A customer-supplied pack is not your material. HMRC deduction steps.

Is a private garden wall subject to CIS?

No. An ordinary householder is not a CIS contractor. You still invoice them, you still pay tax on the income through Self Assessment, and you still charge VAT if you are registered. CIS is about the payer, not the fact that bricklaying is construction. Deemed contractor is more than £3 million of construction spend in the 12 months since the first payment — not a neighbour with a leaning pier.

Do I charge 0% VAT on a house extension?

Usually no. Notice 708 s.2.1: work to an existing building is normally standard-rated 20%. 0% is for listed cases such as new qualifying dwellings in the course of construction, or an enlargement that actually creates an additional dwelling wholly within the new work (s.3.2.5). A typical side-return on a lived-in semi is not that case. Do not invent 0% because the footings are new.

When is brickwork 5% VAT?

Two Notice 708 routes that come up in practice: a qualifying residential conversion (s.7) and renovation of a dwelling empty for two years (s.8). Both have conditions and evidence. A lived-in garden wall is not 5% because you used nicer facing bricks. Check, do not guess.

When does domestic reverse charge apply to a bricklayer?

Both VAT-registered, work reported under CIS, standard- or reduced-rated, no written end-user notice: show VAT, do not add it to payable. HMRC reverse charge guidance. Never on a private householder. Never on a 0-rated supply. CIS can still apply on a 0% new-build labour line.

Can I charge statutory late-payment interest on a homeowner brickwork invoice?

The statutory regime on GOV.UK is for commercial (business-to-business) debts. Bank Rate 3.75% + 8% = 11.75% when that Act applies, plus £40/£70/£100 compensation. Do not paste it onto a consumer invoice. Put a clear due date and chase. Contractor invoices: late commercial payments.

Should I invoice the deposit before I order the facing bricks?

Yes. Raise a numbered deposit invoice when you take the money. If you are VAT-registered, that payment is usually a tax point for that amount. See deposit invoice template UK.

Does a party wall award or Building Control notice change the VAT rate?

No. They are not VAT reliefs in Notice 708. Neither is NHBC. The invoice is still the bill for the brickwork.

Does InvoiceAdept file CIS, VAT or Making Tax Digital to HMRC?

No. It raises the invoice, stores the record, and on Pro+ prints CIS. It does not file CIS300, VAT returns or MTD quarterly updates. See MTD for UK trades.

How does InvoiceAdept compare to InvoiceFree for bricklayers?

InvoiceAdept Free: five invoices a month, £0. Pro £7.99 excl VAT with WhatsApp send. Pro+ £12.99 excl VAT with CIS. No platform fee on Stripe (UK cards 1.5% + 20p). InvoiceFree: unlimited free + CIS on free, 1% platform fee on payment links. Prices checked 1 September 2026. Pricing · vs InvoiceFree.

About this guide

InvoiceAdept is invoicing software for UK trades (Tech Me Today Ltd, Companies House 15917255, ICO ZB944663). CIS on Pro+. We do not file CIS300, VAT returns or MTD updates, and we do not issue Building Control, NHBC, party wall or warranty certificates. We do not decide CIS or VAT status.

Last reviewed: 1 September 2026. GOV.UK sources: VAT Notice 708 (updated 26 August 2026); CISR14100; CISR14020; CIS overview; who is covered by CIS (deemed contractor more than £3 million); invoices — what they must include; late commercial payments. Check those pages before you rely on a rate. General information for UK bricklayers, not tax, legal, Building Regulations, Party Wall Act or warranty advice.

Invoice generator · Pricing · Bathroom fitter / tiler / builder templates · deposit invoices · CIS invoices · how to invoice a client · reverse charge · CIS subcontractors · MTD · vs InvoiceFree.