A brick hod is a three-sided box for carrying

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

s or other

building material Building material is material used for construction. Many naturally occurring substances, such as clay, rocks, sand, wood, and even twigs and leaves, have been used to construct buildings. Apart from naturally occurring materials, many man- ...

s, often mortar. It bears a long handle and is carried over the shoulder. A hod is usually long enough to accept 4 bricks on their side. However, by arranging the bricks in a chevron fashion, the number of bricks that may be carried is only limited to the weight the labourer can bear and the unwieldiness of that load. Typically, ten to twelve bricks might be carried. Hod carrying is a labouring occupation in the building industry. Typically the hod carrier or 'hoddie' will be employed by a

bricklaying Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called ''courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall. Bricks may be differentiated from blocks by siz ...

team in a supporting role to the bricklayers. Two

bricklayer A bricklayer, which is related to but different from a mason, is a craftsman and tradesman who lays bricks to construct brickwork. The terms also refer to personnel who use blocks to construct blockwork walls and other forms of masonry ...

s for each hod carrier is typical. A hoddie's duties might include wetting the mortar boards on the

scaffolding Scaffolding, also called scaffold or staging, is a temporary structure used to support a work crew and materials to aid in the construction, maintenance and repair of buildings, bridges and all other man-made structures. Scaffolds are widely use ...

, prior to fetching bricks from the delivery

pallet A pallet (also called a skid) is a flat transport structure, which supports goods in a stable fashion while being lifted by a forklift, a pallet jack, a front loader, a jacking device, or an erect crane. A pallet is the structural founda ...

using his hod and bringing them to 2x2 wide 'stacks' upon the scaffold that may then be easily laid by the bricklayers. The carrier should plan the deliveries of bricks with deliveries of mortar—also carried in the hod—to ensure the bricklayers can maintain a constant work rate. At sites without premixed mortar, the mortar will also be mixed by the hod carrier. Bricks may be cut and assistance given to 'rake out' the mortar joints, if that coursing joint form is required, or in re-pointing work. The baseline rate for a bricklayer is to lay 1,000 bricks a day; if the hod carrier is serving a team of two then he must move 2,000 bricks although it is not uncommon for experienced hod carriers to serve three bricklayers. The World Record for moving 500 bricks by hod is 12 minutes and was set by Daren Whitmore on 12 February 2011.

Song references

* In the song ''Never Any Good'',

Martin Simpson Martin Stewart Simpson (born 5 May 1953) is an English folk singer, guitarist and songwriter. His music reflects a wide variety of influences and styles, rooted in Britain, Ireland, America and beyond. He builds a purposeful, often upbeat voi ...

describes his father as "not steady enough for the office, not hard enough for the hod." * In the Irish folk song "

Finnegan's Wake "Finnegan's Wake" is an Irish-American comic ballad, first published in New York in 1864. Various 19th-century variety theatre performers, including Dan Bryant of Bryant's Minstrels, claimed authorship but a definitive account of the song's origi ...

", the line "...to rise in the world he carried a hod", suggests that Tim Finnegan worked as a hod carrier; hod is also a slang term for a drinking vessel. * In the song "The Sick Note" by Pat Cooksey (performed by many), the narrator of the song is told to cart a load of bricks down fourteen floors "in me hod". * The song "Seven Days of the Week" by

Ewan MacColl James Henry Miller (25 January 1915 – 22 October 1989), better known by his stage name Ewan MacColl, was a folk singer-songwriter, folk song collector, labour activist and actor. Born in England to Scottish parents, he is known as one of the ...

and

Peggy Seeger Margaret "Peggy" Seeger (born June 17, 1935) is an American folk singer. She has lived in Britain for more than 60 years, and was married to the singer and songwriter Ewan MacColl until his death in 1989. First American period Seeger's father ...

mentions "the poor old sod who'd built the world and carried the hod". * In the song " McAlpine's Fusiliers" it says of

Sir Robert McAlpine Sir Robert McAlpine Limited is a family-owned building and civil engineering company based in Hemel Hempstead, England. It carries out engineering and construction in the infrastructure, heritage, commercial, arena and stadium, healthcare, educa ...

, "...McAlpine's God is a well-filled hod". * In the song " Missing You" by Jimmy MacCarthy has the line "Your best mate’s a spade and he carries a hod". * The song "Hansel and Gretel" by

Jerry Jeff Walker Jerry Jeff Walker (born Ronald Clyde Crosby; March 16, 1942 – October 23, 2020) was an American country music and folk singer-songwriter. He was a leading figure in the progressive country and outlaw country music movement. He was bes ...

with the group

Circus Maximus The Circus Maximus (Latin for "largest circus"; Italian: ''Circo Massimo'') is an ancient Roman chariot-racing stadium and mass entertainment venue in Rome, Italy. In the valley between the Aventine and Palatine hills, it was the first and l ...

mentions "the stone walking away from the hod".

Notes

References

umsl.edu
"''Bricklayers and Stonemasons''" in the ''Occupational Outlook Handbook''. (1998–1999) {{Wiktionary, hod Construction equipment nl:Opperman (bouw)