Brick Fencing & Front Fence Posts Bricklayer Gold Coast to Byron Bay
"Build things and build them to last."
Tony Steenson
WHAT IS BRICK FENCING?
What holds the boundary says everything about what's inside.
The impression of a well-built brick fence can be felt throughout the street. From simple rendered front fences with a matching brick letterbox to grand rural entrance piers set either side of electric gates; from boundary walls and courtyard enclosures to hit-and-miss screens filtering sea breezes in coastal gardens. Bricklayer Tony Steenson builds brick fencing from the Gold Coast to Tweed and right down to Byron Bay, for private clients and builders alike.
If you’re considering building your fencing from bricks or blocks, the material choices are wider than most clients expect. Decorative bricks bring colour and texture in an enormous range of finishes. Heritage and recycled bricks suit older properties and rural settings. Rendered block gives a clean contemporary look. Split-face block has a rough, architectural quality. Breezeway blocks — purpose-made for fencing — create ventilation and visual openness without losing the structure of a wall. Stone cladding, laid over a block base, takes the finish into a different register entirely.
OUR APPROACH
Tony reads the room — and the site.
Some clients have a clear vision for their property frontage. Others know the enriching value of street appeal but aren’t sure where to start. Tony starts with a simple conversation — he knows when to share in the detail of his passion for this space and when to just present two options and step back to give space.
If the job calls for his input, Tony will guide on scale, proportion, finish, and material — what would sit right against the house, what would suit the grade of the land, what would hold up over time. For those who know exactly what they want, he builds it.
THE CRAFT (OUR PHILOSOPHY)
I've always loved stone ever since I was a kid.
Tony didn’t train in stonework during his earlier years in the industry. But when he started doing stone cladding jobs about ten years ago, something just clicked. Even though it’s an investment in time, with more steps than the humble brick wall, Tony finds building stone cladding fencing very rewarding.
The process of a stone clad fence starts with footings, followed by a block wall build, with the stone tiles (typically 30 mm thick) being glued with tile adhesive creatively over the face of the wall. Joints are either left tight — barely a millimetre — or filled with mortar squeezed in from a grout bag — like the piping bag used to ice a cake.
You can do so much with brickwork
Beyond stone, Tony brings a craft eye to brick fencing that shows up in details others skip.
- Hit-and-miss brickwork — alternating bricks and open gaps along the wall face — is probably the oldest decorative pattern in masonry, and still one of the most useful. A 1.8 m hit-and-miss fence doesn’t feel like a big fence.
- Dog tooth and dragon scale detailing — bricks rotated on an angle — gives a front fence a dematerialised look, and the changing light of the day casts shadows that help the wall feel alive with its surroundings.
- Split-face block — its face fractured during manufacture rather than formed, leaving a rough, irregular surface — creates texture giving the wall the depth of natural stone without needing the time or budget for cladding.
- Brick tiles — full bricks cut down to around 20 mm and adhered to a block wall or a compressed fibre sheet — are another option gaining popularity in the Gold Coast and Byron. They give the look of full brickwork, but often cost less. They are commonly used on pool surrounds, features, and anywhere the structure needs to be block but the aesthetic is calling for brick.
CONSIDERATIONS
Brick, Block, or Stone Fencing — Know Your Options
The material range for brick fencing extensive. Face bricks bring warmth and texture; heritage or recycled bricks suit rural properties and period homes; rendered block gives a clean, modern finish; split-face blocks have a rougher architectural quality; breezeway blocks are made specifically for fencing where ventilation and openness matter.
Brick prices in Australia can range from about a dollar a brick to north of seven dollars each, and stone cladding runs from $80 to beyond $250 per square metre. Chat to Tony about your budget as he always aims to maximise the output.
Stone Cladding: Worth Knowing What's Underneath
A stone-clad brick fence or letterbox isn’t built from stone — it’s built from block, with stone tiles adhered to the face. That means footings for the block structure, the block work itself, and then the stone on top. The process adds time, material cost, and skill. As a rough guide, a stone-clad wall will cost roughly double a plain rendered wall of the same size. It’s a beautiful finish, but needs to be built into the budget from the start.
Breaking Up a Solid Wall: Columns and Infill
A solid brick or block fence running full height around a property can look imposing. One approach Tony uses is to build masonry columns at regular intervals and fill the panels between them with aluminium screening or powder-coated infill. It reduces the visual weight of the wall, lets light through, and creates something more considered than unbroken masonry. Be sure to collaborate with Tony as getting the panel widths confirmed before the job starts can avoid costly custom cutting on the infill.
Lighting, Conduit and Water: Plan Before Concrete
If you want lights in your brick fencing or on your front fence — gate lights, path lighting, wall-mounted fixtures — or other electrical features, the conduit for the cabling needs to be positioned before even the footings are poured. The same applies to irrigation or water points near outdoor walls.
Trees and Brick Fences: The Long Game
Ninety percent of the leaning or cracking brick fences come down to one thing: a tree too close to the footing. Palm trees are the most common offender around pools and coastal properties in Byron Bay and the Gold Coast.
Over 30 or 40 years, roots grow under the footing and push it up. The fence leans, cracks form and wall sections start to move. In some cases the fence has to come down or the tree has to go. If you’re landscaping around a new brick fence or brick letterbox, consider the root spread of any trees planted within two metres of the structure.
Who supplies the materials?
Tony prefers to supply the blocks and manage the order. This ensures that the right size blocks are ordered for the specific walls in build. It means less waste and a more efficient schedule.
Brick, Block, or Stone Fencing — Know Your Options
The material range for brick fencing extensive. Face bricks bring warmth and texture; heritage or recycled bricks suit rural properties and period homes; rendered block gives a clean, modern finish; split-face blocks have a rougher architectural quality; breezeway blocks are made specifically for fencing where ventilation and openness matter.
Brick prices in Australia can range from about a dollar a brick to north of seven dollars each, and stone cladding runs from $80 to beyond $250 per square metre. Chat to Tony about your budget as he always aims to maximise the output.
Stone Cladding: Worth Knowing What's Underneath
A stone-clad brick fence or letterbox isn’t built from stone — it’s built from block, with stone tiles adhered to the face. That means footings for the block structure, the block work itself, and then the stone on top. The process adds time, material cost, and skill. As a rough guide, a stone-clad wall will cost roughly double a plain rendered wall of the same size. It’s a beautiful finish, but needs to be built into the budget from the start.
Breaking Up a Solid Wall: Columns and Infill
A solid brick or block fence running full height around a property can look imposing. One approach Tony uses is to build masonry columns at regular intervals and fill the panels between them with aluminium screening or powder-coated infill. It reduces the visual weight of the wall, lets light through, and creates something more considered than unbroken masonry. Be sure to collaborate with Tony as getting the panel widths confirmed before the job starts can avoid costly custom cutting on the infill.
Lighting, Conduit and Water: Plan Before Concrete
If you want lights in your brick fencing or on your front fence — gate lights, path lighting, wall-mounted fixtures — or other electrical features, the conduit for the cabling needs to be positioned before even the footings are poured. The same applies to irrigation or water points near outdoor walls.
Trees and Brick Fences: The Long Game
Ninety percent of the leaning or cracking brick fences come down to one thing: a tree too close to the footing. Palm trees are the most common offender around pools and coastal properties in Byron Bay and the Gold Coast.
Over 30 or 40 years, roots grow under the footing and push it up. The fence leans, cracks form and wall sections start to move. In some cases the fence has to come down or the tree has to go. If you’re landscaping around a new brick fence or brick letterbox, consider the root spread of any trees planted within two metres of the structure.
Brick and Blocklaying near me – who supplies the materials?
Tony prefers to supply the blocks and manage the order. This ensures that the right size blocks are ordered for the specific walls in build. It means less waste and a more efficient schedule.
WHY STEENSON?
"I'd rather knock the job back than do something that's not going to last."
The clients who keep coming back to Tony — many of them for decades — have usually come to know and love him for his particular attention to detail. The result: a front fence he built a decade ago still standing exactly as it was. That’s not a coincidence. It’s what happens when someone puts integrity first. If you want brick fencing from Gold Coast to Byron Bay and you want it done once and done right, get in touch.