Bricks are one of those materials you nearly always end up with too many of. The order includes extra for cuts and breakages, like it's meant to. The walls go up, the brickie packs up, and then there's a few hundred bricks stacked on the front lawn.
They're heavy. They take up room. And nobody wants to pay to tip something that's perfectly good.
Here's what I'd do with them, in order.
1. Keep some back for repairs and later jobs
Face bricks are made in batches, and the colour can shift from one batch to the next. If a brick gets damaged, or you add a letterbox, a garden wall or an extension down the track, bricks from the same batch are the easiest match you'll ever get. Hunting for a match years later is a lot harder.
So hold a stack back. You don't need a pallet's worth. Enough for repairs and small additions is plenty for most houses.
Then label them. Write on the wrap or stick a note on the stack: the brick name and colour, the size, and which job they came from. In five years nobody remembers, and an unlabelled pile behind the shed is how "just in case" turns into clutter.
Store the keepers flat on a pallet, off the dirt, somewhere they won't get knocked or driven into.
2. Sort what's left into three piles
Once the keepers are aside, go through the rest. Full bricks, cut pieces and rubble are three different things, and they go three different places.
- Full, clean bricks. These are worth listing. Someone building a garden bed, a barbecue, a small retaining wall or patching an older house would much rather buy a couple of hundred than order a full pack.
- Halves and clean cuts. Some people want these for edging, paths or patch jobs. Mention them in the listing or throw them in with the full ones.
- Broken or mortar-caked pieces. That's rubble. This is what the skip or a recycler is for.
3. Don't assume they're worth nothing
This is where most leftover bricks end up in a skip. The thinking goes: it's only a few hundred, nobody will want them, it's not worth the effort.
A few hundred bricks might be worth a hundred bucks or they might be worth more. You won't know until someone who needs exactly that brick sees them. And even if you just want them gone, someone collecting them beats you paying to dump them.
The colour-match problem from step one works in your favour here too. Somebody out there has a house built with the same brick and needs a few more for a repair. Your leftovers might be the only place they'll find them.
4. Take photos that answer the questions
A good listing saves a lot of back and forth. Take these in daylight:
- The whole stack, so people can see roughly how many there are.
- A close-up of the face, so the colour and texture are clear.
- One brick with a tape measure across it, so the size is obvious.
Then put the basics in the description:
- The brick name or colour, if you still have it
- Size, and whether they're solid or cored
- Roughly how many full bricks, and how many halves
- Whether they're new or have been laid and cleaned
- Whether they're on a pallet or loose
- Your suburb, and how they'll need to be picked up
That's it. You don't need to write an essay.
5. Be upfront about the weight
Bricks are heavy, and that's what kills most deals. Say in the listing how they need to be collected: loaded by hand or not, whether a trailer is a good idea, and whether there's easy access to the stack.
Buyers who know what they're in for turn up ready. Buyers who don't end up making two trips, or not turning up at all.
6. What actually goes in the skip
Broken pieces, mortar-caked bits and anything crumbling. Before you chuck them in with general waste, ask your skip company or local recycler whether they take clean brick and concrete rubble separately. Some do, and it's worth the phone call.
What shouldn't go in the skip is a clean stack of full bricks. That's material somebody paid for once already.
Where to list them
This is the reason Overrun exists. It's a marketplace only for building materials, so leftovers like bricks aren't buried under couches and car parts. You can list it in about a minute. The buyer pays you directly, you sort pickup between you, and Overrun takes no commission on the sale.
If you're on the other side and you're after a few matching bricks, put it on the want list at overrunau.com.au. It's free, you don't need an account, and you'll get an email when a match is listed.
If you're a tradie with leftovers from more than one job, the first 3 months on Tradie are free with code 3FREETRADIE, then it's $19 a month. Your offcuts are someone's order.
Quick answers
How many spare bricks should I keep after a build? Enough for repairs and small additions, from the same batch, labelled with the brick name and size. You don't need to keep a whole pack.
Can I sell leftover bricks? Yes. Full, clean bricks are worth listing. Say roughly how many, the brick name or colour and size, and how they'll need to be picked up, because weight is what puts most buyers off.
What do I do with broken bricks? Keep them separate from the good ones. Use clean halves for edging or patch jobs, and ask your skip company or recycler whether they take brick and concrete rubble separately.