Cut-to-Order Brick Slips: Matching a Brick and Planning an Order

Start by browsing the ready-made brick slips range. If a suitable finish and the required formats are available there, you can plan directly around that product’s coverage and ordering units. A bespoke cut becomes useful when a particular brick matters to the project or when you need a confirmed special requirement.

The Create Your Own Brick Slips builder lets you select a colour, choose from its eligible stock and handmade bricks, adjust the number of packs and request a quote. A brick appearing elsewhere in the wider catalogue does not mean it is automatically available or suitable for that service.

If you know the manufacturer and exact product name, include both. If you are matching existing masonry, use the brick matching service and provide clear photographs of the wall, individual faces and adjacent materials. Include measured face dimensions and any information about the original supply.

A match is affected by colour range, surface texture, shape and joint appearance. A new cut face can also look different from a weathered existing wall. Ask about a representative sample and compare it at the intended location. An image on a screen helps create a shortlist; it cannot guarantee that two batches or old and new work will appear identical.

Write down the required face length, height and cut thickness, identifying which dimensions are essential and which need the supplier’s recommendation. Tell the team how the slips will be supported and fixed so the proposed cut can be checked against the intended system. Cutting a brick does not by itself establish that the result suits an external cladding assembly or a heat-exposed location.

List outside corners, reveals, returns, exposed ends and unusual angles separately. Ask whether matching corner units can be supplied and in what format; do not assume they are included in a flat-slip estimate. Read corners and reveals before finalising the schedule, and provide drawings for details that cannot be described clearly in one sentence.

The current builder estimates two flat slips per source brick and approximately 60 slips per square metre. It works in whole source-brick packs. Its displayed estimate includes the selected brick, cutting, handling and delivery, and is labelled excluding VAT. Final pricing follows a check of availability and cutting suitability.

For a hypothetical 500-brick pack, that method gives 500 × 2 = 1,000 estimated slips and 1,000 ÷ 60 = approximately 16.67m² before your project allowance. This explains the calculation; it is not a claim that every offered product comes in a 500-brick pack or that every cutting specification yields the same quantity.

The displayed square-metre estimate is not automatically your usable finished wall area. Pattern cuts, corners, breakage allowance and whole-pack ordering need reconciliation. Ask for confirmation where a different source-brick size or cutting format changes the assumptions.

• The source brick name, or photographs and dimensions for a match.
• Net facing area, a wall sketch, openings and any clad reveals.
• Separate corner quantities and the proposed bond and joint width.
• Requested cut thickness and the fixing-system information.
• Project location, delivery postcode, access constraints and required timing.
• Any sample request and the details still awaiting confirmation.

Keep the measured area and the allowance separate. The quantity guide explains that calculation. Put details beyond the builder’s standard selections in the enquiry notes so they can be addressed in the confirmed quotation.

Review the final quote for the precise brick, supplied formats, quantities, dimensions, VAT basis, delivery arrangements and agreed lead time. Check whether corners or additional preparation materials are separate items. Ask how variations and any subsequent matching order would be handled; do not assume a later batch can be made visually identical.

Arrange fitting around confirmed supply dates and the installer’s preparation plan. On arrival, check the delivery against the order and compare the material with the agreed sample before using it. Retain the product and batch information for future reference. If you are still comparing the basic options, the brick slips overview explains the different routes to a brick-facing finish.