Stonemason Resume Examples & Writing Guide

This sample sets stone on commercial jobs and does restoration work on older buildings. The contractor names are invented. Notice that stone types, square footage and the saws are all named, because that is how a masonry foreman decides where to put you on Monday.

Masonry contractors bid work on production rates and lose money on rework and safety. Your resume has to speak to both.

• Production. Square feet or tonnage set per day, and the joint tolerance you hold. This is the number a foreman uses to build a crew.
• Stone types and setting methods. Cut stone veneer, full bed, thin veneer, dry stack, flagging, paving, ashlar, rubble. Each one is a different pace and a different skill.
• Whether you can cut and template as well as set. A mason who can run the bridge saw, template a radius return and keep waste under control is far more valuable than a setter alone.
• Safety training that is current. Silica dust control on stone cutting is federally regulated and inspected. OSHA 30, silica competent person, scaffold and fall protection training belong on the page with the year.

“Tell me your square feet a day, the stone, the tolerance, and whether you can run a saw. Then tell me your silica training is current. That is a full picture. I get resumes that say hard working mason with attention to detail, and there is nothing on them I can price a job with.”

Two or three lines with production, stone types, tools and safety. Take whichever is closest to your work.

Every stonemason lays stone. Say how much, in what, to what tolerance, and what it added up to.

Name the stone, the setting method and the tools. This is a trade where specificity reads as competence.

• Setting: cut stone veneer, full bed, thin veneer, ashlar, rubble and random coursing, dry stack, flagging and paving, steps and treads, coping, sills and lintels, chimney and fireplace work.
• Stone: limestone, granite, marble, bluestone, sandstone and brownstone, fieldstone, travertine, plus manufactured stone veneer and how it differs in installation.
• Layout and drawings: story poles, coursing plans, elevation and shop drawing reading, dimensioning, checking for plumb, level and line over long runs.
• Cutting and fabrication: bridge saw, wet saw, grinder, splitter, CNC programming if you have it, hand tools including pitching tool, chisels, bush hammer and feather and wedge.
• Mortar and joints: mortar types, lime-based mortars for historic work, color matching, tooling joint profiles, grouting, pointing and tuck pointing, cleaning and sealing.
• Site: rigging and pick planning, telehandler and aerial lift, scaffold and swing stage, fall protection, silica dust control, material handling and staging.

Stonemasonry is not a licensed trade in most states, but training and safety cards are checked before you set foot on a commercial site.

• Apprenticeship. A registered masonry apprenticeship is the standard route. Say the program length, the on-the-job hours and the classroom hours, because contractors know what those numbers mean.
• Union membership. If you are a member of the bricklayers and allied craftworkers union, name your local. Union and non-union contractors both want to know before they call.
• OSHA 10 or 30-Hour Construction. Many commercial sites will not badge you in without it.
• Silica training under the respirable crystalline silica standard. Stone cutting is directly covered by it, and competent person training is worth naming with the year.
• Scaffold, fall protection, aerial lift and telehandler training. Employer-issued for the equipment, so write it as employer-issued and current rather than inventing a national body.
• Contractor licensing. Some states and cities license masonry contractors rather than individual masons. If you hold one, name the state and number; if you do not, do not imply you do.

Masonry contractors hire tenders and laborers constantly, and the good ones move onto the wall within a year. Show that you can work hard outdoors and follow a line.

1. 1Apply for the tender or laborer position and say plainly that you want an apprenticeship and intend to stay in the trade.
2. 2Show physical work history with real weights and paces: landscaping, concrete, roofing, warehouse, moving. Say tons moved or hours on your feet.
3. 3Get an OSHA 10 card before you apply. It costs little, it is online, and it removes an obstacle on day one.
4. 4List any hand skill: woodworking, tile, welding, auto work. Masonry is about hand steadiness and reading a line, and related trades transfer.
5. 5Say you own transport and basic hand tools, and that you can start at 6am. Masonry crews start early.
6. 6Ask about the registered apprenticeship in your area and mention that you have applied. It signals you are not there for one season.

One page. Masonry contractors read fast, often on a phone in a truck. Photographs of your work matter more than layout.

• Use the posting's word: stonemason, stone mason, mason, journeyman mason, stone setter, masonry finisher, restoration mason.
• Put safety cards in their own block with years, because larger contractors filter on them before anything else.
• Say whether you travel for work, whether you have per diem experience and how far you will drive daily.
• Bring or link photographs of finished work: veneer elevations, a repointed wall, a carved piece. This trade hires on what the work looks like.
• No photo of yourself, no date of birth. Single column, plain headings, PDF.