2021 Fastest Trowel on the Block
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.พ. 2025
- Check out video of the 2020 competition at: • 2020 MCAA Fastest Trow...
Check out video of the 2019 competition at: • 2019 MCAA Fastest Trow...
Check out video of the 2018 competition at: • 2018 MCAA Fastest Trow...
The Fastest Trowel on the Block Competition, hosted by the Mason Contractors Association of America, is a showcase of industry craftsmanship and a testament of both the speed and skill of our industry's workforce. Only those journeymen masons who have the skill, confidence and courage to face-off with the industry's best are invited to compete. This is a contest that also proves how important teamwork is in accomplishing a final product.
The competition pits journeyman masons, accompanied by their two favorite tenders, against one another in a show of both speed and craftsmanship. Each contestant's goal is to complete as much of a 30 foot long long wall as possible, using 8"x8"x16" CMU and the provided mortar in a twenty-minute heat. Contestants must have a high degree of workmanship using normal masonry practices and hand tools.
Visit www.fastesttrow... for additional information including registration, photos, rules, and more.
My Dad started in 1959. He was a local legend, passed in 2017. Masonry is the only thing he ever did, but he was incredible to watch.
rip a legend
Rest in peace to a legend of our craft
My condolences, his legacy will live on in every place he built and every life he made better.
But yet you don’t lay?
@@raisetheline My two Brothers do. I'm an aviation Inspector. . When I was younger, I pulled the dolly, and made the mud. Those days are over.
Let the real working men of America flex their talent and durability. Very cool they do these competitions
Funny how those men of America are all from Mexico 😂
@@RobBln92 🤣🤣.. Too funny..,They all called Gonzalez, Santiago, Juan, Roberto...probably trace their kin back to the Mayflower!..😅
My lower back hurts just watching these guys!
Would be a smart way to get some storage units built cheap. Have a roof framing comp next, then garage door install competition.
Build some homes for England's immigrants 😁
😂😂😂
@@josephgooding9863 for the homeless #ThisMess
Not a bad idea. At least they'd be building with a purpose!
That's exactly what I thought they were doing
I been a mason for 43 year's, my fast days are behind me now. Cool competition, glad it just showed up in my feed.👍👍
I appreciate the fact that you showed the whole competition, unlike last year where it was just a 12 minute video and it was all talking about sponsors rather than the block layer.
And also no DJ So-Hype. Thanks.
I was a tender/apprentice for 5yrs in S Fla. early eighties construction boom. I never thought that masonry would have a fun competition. Good on y’all! I enjoyed watching. Brought back memories.
But be honest when you were doing it it was always like you were competing with someone else lol or that's the way I always felt... lol plus I think feeling like you were competing you done a better job🤷♂️😁 and I know you were just the tinder but still you were right thier in the action so I'm sure you know the feeling I'm referring too? Lol
@@paulrivers7248 yes, a lot of guys just lean on the shovel instead of using it! I haves aches&pains from grabbing stuff and moving it, when really, I should have had help. Ipicked up a 9’9” pre-cast lintel and carried it over and put it on the scaffold while the leaner was making excuses. I then whipped it out and told mr leaner that if I caught him, I was going to screw him silly, he never came back from break, I wonder why? I was just trying to motivate him! Some people pay big $ to go to a motivational seminar, and here I was giving it for free!
back in r kendals beging
My back would go out in less than 3 minutes. These guys are amazing
Growing up with a mason as a dad (I was the tender during school breaks and weekends), I know this work very well. Hardest work I've ever done. We laid 700-1000 8" block in a 10 hour day depending on conditions (those 12" block will absolutely kill ya, wanna sleep well at night try this out) . The only negative I can say about the jobs they all did is that was pretty messy and lots of wasted mud. They are all a lot cleaner masons on a real job I would think. Congrats to all the competitors.
Try 16-18" grout filled block. 8" is nothing after that, grabbing four at a time. I used to stand them up one in front of another and slide my forearms in them to carry four. Pass the up a scaffold one at a time constant for a whole pallet. Lots to press. First year in id laugh at the 20yr laborers. Oh I also qualified for 04 Olympic rowing team and would bench 405lbs seven times
@@joeblow8206 wow man you’re so amazing what a braggart
Dad loved his beer i bet ? Cheers to all the hard working people in the trades.
@@joeblow8206 This may be what my dad called 90% solids. Never had the pleasure.
@@joeblow8206did you also score 4 touchdowns against Polk high in the City Championships? I bet you you could throw a football over them mountains too.
I was a tender for about 8 years right out of High School (1977). Those bricklayers were the coolest men on the planet! To this day the happiest day in my working life was the day the boss brought a scaffold pulley to the job site. 2 years later the company got a forklift. Both made my job easier but that pulley was the real game changer at the time!
Which pulley sir?
8 years as a tender?
@@Acemechanicalservices 😂 It must have been the guy that had me beating the shit out of my pan because it was always empty.
8 years and they still said stay the away from the trowel. Instead of dropping my beer cans in the wall I would throw them at this guy. somebody was hated 😂.
He probably came in late every day so he didn't have to do the startup.
You'll never start chatting block if you can't keep block and mud at the ready. You learn in between.
@@Acemechanicalservices he is saying he was sore I think. He is a foreigner and not speaking in American English terms
@@xThePrinceOfPeace
No, a tender is the helper for a mason. They mix and haul mortar and blocks. I commented because anyone that spends eight years as a tender without advancing is either lazy or stupid, and quite possibly both.
This competition needs more sponsors and a Larger Cash Prize for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. I hope this gets the recognition it deserves because these men bust their asses out there. I would like to see a grand total $20K-$50K given to 1st place. That seems fair for the work they did.
Yeah, give the winner the F350!
@@genogeno6643 really any new pickup would be fine.
@@NR-gp2il Sure, but when there promoting one at the show, let it go!
Only 8 teams, no qualifiers. Not a huge audience. It's hard to get funding without an audience. But when I see the views this gets on TH-cam, 50k is a minimum prize.
I hope they will be building something useful in the future. And that wont have to tear it down
@@simopr09 There is plenty of funding. These events don't rely on attendance revenue, they rely on Sponsor revenue. Big names. Look at the surrounding fence line with all the sponsor's banners. That's where the money comes from.
This was pretty awesome , been on the trades for 40+ years and done it all , But subbed all concrete and block work because it is damn hard work .
I would liked to see the quality of the finished walls but as much as this was block laying it's any endurance competition that not many people could complete like these guys did . I started out framing with a 28oz framing hammer and every single nail was sunk by hitting it with that hammer , bent over putting walls together flat on the slabs and then standing them up completed .
These days so many tools have been developed to make jobs easier on the body , Nail guns for every type of fastener it takes to build a structure !
Not masonsry though , it's still one block at a time and strength and endurance , so in his competition I give them a bit of a break on the quality and challenge anyone bitching about that to go out and try it for 5 minutes , they would have to catch their breath before they could shoot their mouth off .
Hats off to those guys , all of them , it's the guys who do the tough jobs that I root for . Congratulations to the Winners !
Congratulations to ALL the competitors. Like you I did a smidgen of most all trades during my 29 years building and masonry, concrete and roofers have 100% respect from me.
I’m an Actual blocklayer, and these guys are jokes, sure they’re fast, but this is some of the worst laying I’ve ever seen,😂 this is the kind of block laying that happens in Mexico
I got your blocklayer , my work wouldn't look like that at one of my job sites and I have been told many times that I give away alot of work because I will fix a screw up that I didn't do because it it is close to or connected to my work , I won't bitch about it , I fix it so it won't reflect on my work , that's just me .
I think then competition is is to have some fun and speed is what the promoters are pushing .
Give guys a break and I imagine that it's not the product they would produce for a paying customer and BTW , hispanics were not the only race represented there and none of the other teams walls looked any better . I think that was kinda a cheap shot at the winners !
Good Luck to You in your endeavors , like I said in the very beginning , I bow to the block layers and concrete guys , they work hard and we all build on their foundations !
Plannerdude184u
@@rewright4621 it's not the best for sure, but it's about speed more than professionally done jobs
Ex brickies laborer here, I loved watching this.
Thank god for strong men who make our society possible
We should have more contests like this to inspire people to literally build a better world
lmaooo that wouldn’t happen ever
Build homes for the homeless instead of making competition. These barbarians 😂😂😂😂!
@@mediatationking2420 My wife was asking "Why don't they build a wall that they can use, like a brick fence somewhere"
I would pay 10 bucks for an entry of this kind of contents. It looks fun.
Like on the Mexican border?
Mexicans all from Arizona💪
You aren't supposed to recognize those patterns.
Or the irony of them building walls.
I didn't know there were these kinds of competitions..
..now, the idea is cemented in my mind. Thanks
Solid joke…
@@as48507
Tanks - I like to build my jokes from the ground up.
As someone who has never had to do this before and just built a three tiered wall around my porch these guys were superheroes lol. Took me like a month to get mine up, still gotta finish some lines up too. Hats off.
Tell me about it. Ì''m Currently doing a 2 wall, 12x16 ft room addition. These guys do in 10 minutes what will take me 2 months.
Great way to celebrate these hard working guys. These guys with trade jobs like these go unappreciated sometimes but they have mad skills.
That was really fun to watch.
I used to live in Scottsdale, Arizona and there were a lot of block fences in the Phoenix Metro area.
Should be a prize for the groundworker who has to clean up all that mess after.. they're the real heroes!
Ground work too easy brick layers have it harder coming from a brick layer myself who started as a labor
I tip my hat to all you guys who competed. Your strong backs build our nation. Raise up the next generation. Lord knows we need it !!
I'll be very honest with a bit more funding and bigger sponsors this competition could be as big as Strongest man. I have no interest in laying bricks yet I watched 2 whole videos about a brick laying competition.
I'm in
From someone that’s a union concrete mason, this is absolutely ass busting work and a lot of patience seen in these mens work. Good job guys
Dude I’m a masonry apprentice been at it for almost a year and just found out these competitions even existed but they’re badass to watch
Most definitely can
A lot of great workers out here for real for sure in Ohio
This was actually cool..about time we praise our craftmen/ women of this country.
Was a hod carrier/block tender for ten years...tending two masons and making my own cuts. Can tell you that is hard work. Maybe the hardest I ever did next to running the grout hose. 💯
Been a labor for 15 years. Became a Mason but still labor to this day!
Yes I agree the tinder having to keep up with one very good/fast Mason is tuff but keeping two going is absolutely a job lol
@@CookieMoster101 labourer for 15 years wow that's hard work I got out of labouring after 2 years now im a multi skilled worker
@@bernlew977 didn't say I don't lay full time.. just still enjoy the laboring part of it.. so therefore I still do it.. master of both so no need to stop either... 4th generation mason
@@paulrivers7248 when i was doing my apprenticeship me and the other apprentice were labouring for 5 brickies and still managing to get 150-300 a day in each, was hard as fuck but made me appreciate a dollar ahaha
America is truly a great country. I never imagined there would be a concrete block stacking competition. It's truly amazing.
I wanted a run down of the best walls, and what the scoring system was.
Same here
Yeah the judging should have been the last 30% of the show.
Not for full joints.
It would have been a teaching/learning experience for people new to the trade.
@@davidparker9676 How not to build walls,
Felicidades por su trabajo y tremendo esfuerzo, saludos de un cantero de Barcelona.
We need competition like this for all different trades!
Most tradesmen I know are highly competitive, no matter the trade.
We have it every year for the floor covering trade.Another tough trade is floor covering.
@@WillS-pl8wg my buddy is a "floor mechanic". His knees look like my heel😅
Brutal work, just did a block wall and do concrete from time to time as a contractor.....always sleep like a baby when these jobs come up......
I was a Tender (Mortar Maid) out of Highschool, and became a Journeyman Mason the following year. Knowing the perfect Mason- Mix for Cement, Mortar or Fire Clay; made me a better Bricklayer. Much more entertaining than the Daytona 500 for sure!
Guess there is no apprenticeship program where you live if you can go from tender to Journeyman in one year.
Watching them I needed a snickers to boost my energy! Hat off to all the guys that enter this contest
Everyone did amazing. Very hard work at a crazy pace. I have to hand it to the Mexican/American workers. They are very hard workers and good at what they do. Everyone did amazing though. So proud of every competitor. 💪
I used to work with Mexicans, you have to work very hard to out work them.
Godspeed and Blessings to these Men and Theirs
Muy Bien mi Paisanos!! Trabajando Duro 🇲🇽
You guys should show the winning walls as well!!!!
And the winning balls!
For real. How do you show white boys laying tall walls, then none of them even podium.
@@CommieCat is this Vogon poetry?
Winning walls and/or number of blocks, please.
God Bless America! what a awesome competition
There bosses when they get back home. “ I saw how fast you can move in that little competition of yours. Now it’s time to move that fast on the job site.”
cant do it all day much less every day.
Lol yea might wanna not tell anyone you participated
Brickies have two gears.. Price work and Day rate 😉
That’s impressive. I once laid eight blocks in 15 minutes, without mortar. I was trying to slow down water runoff.
Holy smokes!!! Dang those guys are amazing!
Great to see this! I worked in road construction my whole life and it's nice to see labor promoted instead of the woke liberal agenda. This is what America is about!
Amen
Every one of these guy's are winners! Beasts!!
These guys could put up an adult bookstore in a day or two single handed.
This is just ridiculous so good respect to all teams
I never thought I’d watch other men lay brick. Was interesting tho!
Me too!
The fact that they are doing this without getting dirty shows the level of skill.
I worked as a block layer's helper during the summer of my junior year of high school . The hardest and most rewarding job in my life .
Did it reward ya with a sore back?
@@eshhbill9318 sore wrist? sore feet? sore shoulders? sore knee? sore elbow?
Thank you gentlemen .. was everyone from AZ .
They should definitely consider quality in the judging. Still impressive
Allí no hay calidad.
Supposedly they do
There needs to be a construction version to Stihltimber sports
It's amazing that, even when working at competition speed, they're still able to do decent work (well, maybe not 27:48 :-). And they must be in really good shape to lay so many of those heavy blocks non-stop like that!
that wall is not even 50% finished......... no centermortor, not even filling vertical mortor.
@@hdj81Vlimitedobviously for whatever type of wall they are building that's enough, the center mortar would be dumped in later if it were a real project that needed it.
A la madre! Fierro pariente! 🇲🇽 solo otro pinche día en la oficina.
My dad was a brick layer in the 50's - 70's. A lot of hard work for so-so pay back then.
I quit tending in 2010 went to the oilfield and tripled my income, atleast 13 years ago the income was still so so. Id have to be really hard up to go back to that garbage
Gotta give these guys more than $8k
Enjoyed that, fun to watch, not sure I would want them to build me a house that fast though, quality rather than quantity is what I'm saying.
I remember being a hottie for a mason company in a snowy area of Idaho. Wind blowing, standing 3 scaffolding high on an icy plank as I looked down at rebar point up at me from the ground. We got the tarp over our job so it wound not freeze. Fun times.
Just started brick and block and im already obsessed XD you get a great work out and you feel like an artist lol
wait till your 50 and kness and shoulders are shot plus your stomach from ibuprofen. that's a real hoot. you dont see many older masons on the wall do you. trowel trades are the worst. man find another trade
@@doppler3237 eh i do commercial projects and most guys are 45+ stretching into their 60s they just slow down but the knowledge is priceless
Who knew , This is my first time ever watching something like this I have to say its entertaining .
Congrats paisas
English bricklayer here a good strategy here would be to use 2 trowels to lay your beds / have a trowel on every muck board and use 2 trowls to lay the beds 13 inch marshalltown all the way. Also these guys above are beasts 💪🏻
Hard work! RESPECT!!!
..I was exhausted just watching..!! Great job done by all. Obviously, couldn't keep that pace up all day. That was a fantastic effort and only 3 points to seperate 1st from 3rd. I certainly wouldn't like to get smacked in the face by their block lifting arm. ALL VERY STRONG GUYS..!! Well done to all.
Imagine they playing this game while building homes for the homeless and veterans
They are…it’s called habitat for humanity
I went down the youtube rabbit hole and was not disappointed
these men are awesome -
It’s almost derogatory to end up with such lowly prizes considering how hard the guys work
Begging people to cheer like it's so exciting
Shhiiiitttttt what a heck of job, congrats' to all, of course the Winner JoseS/IsrealM.
27:49 wonkiest wall I've ever seen
This is a joke. Making a mess building crooked walls
That's why it's all illegal mexicans there. The real masons don't fool around with this nonsense.
You got that right! The judges didn’t even know that the line side is supposed to be the best side! QUALITY MY ASS…A COUPLE OF THE GUYS WERE GOOD! But the spectators on TV Never knew.
? And points? It supposed to be how many block you can lay in twenty minutes! And quality should count…this is from a master mason…THE BEST OF THE BEST! My Nephew won The State of Florida! And in this competition, he placed second! The winner payed one more block than he did. But they didn’t count quality… Florida has the very best mason in the world! “NORTH CENTRAL FLORIDA” Bradford County, THE CRAWFORD BOYS WERE THE BEST EVER, AND THE FASTEST. MASON WOULD BE BUILDING A HOUSE FOR A DAY OR SO, AND WHEN WE STARTED OUR HOUSE NEXT TO THEM! THEY WOULD ACTUALLY STOP LAY BRICK OR BLOCK AND COME WATCH US. WE NORMALLY BUILT A FINISHED BLOCK HOUSE IN AROUND 6-8 HOURS… A BRICK VENEER ONE DAY AND A HALF…PEOPLE DONT WORK LIKE WE DID GROWING UP…5 BROTHERS AND A SISTER THAT COULD NATURE BORN LAY SOME BLOCK OR BRICK… IT FEELS GOOD TO KNOW YOU AND YOUR FAMILY WERE ABSOLUTELY THE BEST… AROUND GAINESVILLE AND JACKSONVILLE FL. AREA…MY DADDY HAD 4 BROTHERS, AND MY MOTHER HAD FOUR BROTHERS WHOM ALSO LAID BLOCK AND BRICK…THAT’S WHY WE WERE THE BEST…THE CRAWFORD’S WERE THE BEST OF THE BEST…
haha this is awesome. How did i get here? Who knows... watching random and various videos while falling asleep and when I wake up and open the screen this video was pulled up on the screen. Must have clicked it in my sleep or something. Now back awake and watching it though. Of course a brick laying competition exists. Why wouldn’t it?!
Imagine these dudes building a house would be done in no time 😂
and dirty AF
HARD work 88 s are heavy...tipping my hat... old mason here
Hi I am from PAPUA NEW GUINEA and i would very much appreciate to take part in this MCAA fastest trowel competition ....what i saw is that i can be a very tough competitor...cheers
You’ve probably never carried a real concrete block before or used up real mortar, don’t you use clay and mud in Guinea ?
@@ekbenny3939 you've probably got skidmarks in your underpants! How the f#$k would you know what he's done before 🤣
@@ekbenny3939 don't you use a crayon and helmet to go to school
@@joshrolfe9688 and? I’ve competed in this competition so try again bud
@@ekbenny3939 sounds like you didnt win
Great job guys!!🙂🙂. Maybe, you could teach this generation this trade😔.
How about we put the best tile installers in a 200 sqft floor on different size tiles and layouts and see how fast and how level and consistent the tile looks??? That’s skill
You mean each setter has like 3 floors to lay? Each with a different tile size and pattern?
Hell, let there be a full house construction - of course, must be in separate parts (brick laying, tile installing, pipes, electricity, and so on) but the idea still is good.
Most of the fast tilers I've seen would be better dealing cards in a casino.
I am from Caribbean an it's very interesting most persons will not appreciate the skillset needed to do this this is hard mentally in the hot sun especially not easy I can tell you
i cant believe these guys even load their trucks up for a CHANCE at a measly $8,000. seriously... there is AT LEAST a million on that parking lot in just materials and equipment.
It’s just a fun competition nothing more, the materials are donated then re used if not damaged. But if you had the skills the lay block that fast and enjoy doing it then 8000 would be worth it for that instead of a couple week job quoted at 8k. They aren’t buying they’re own materials nor equipment it’s all provided so yea I’d say it would be well worth it to try this for 8k. Just gotta be motivated and positive
Absolutely incredible!
I was slinging 6000 pounds as an order filler at a Walmart distribution center in 7-8 minutes depending on how much time was given for that specific order and it was like that until the shift ended and if you don't hit the times you will be fired in no time..the majority of the guys doing it were less than 180 pounds soaking wet me included and we slung that weight like it was nothing my body reminds me everyday..the weight was not the issue for me it was the movement and bending constantly that bothered me..
Just watched a short of someone laying down 4 bricks and I was so transfixed that now I'm here. I've never had a single grain of interest in construction, and yet-
300 m² of 8*8*16 cm wide block in 20 minutes is unrealistic, if my supervisor sees this video, I'm fucked, lol...
What they did in this tournament a team of 3 did in a week on our site.goes to show how good these guys are .
Those walls looked like crap though, there shouldn't be a ton of shadows. When they were tooling their walls you could see how crap they look. You can get away with that 20' in the air but the first 3-10 naw lol
No architect with one eye would accept that work.
Architect are paper boy
@@Uyiiouuoiuiiuyi still garbage work.
Hating at its finest, you are over here talking trash mean while they just got a check. Keep it moving playboy
@@juanespino2359 doesn't make you a good bricklayer even if you got a million dollar check. Doesn't promote the trade properly.
Awesome! Now have the electricians running conduit up in the web and setting a box with mud ring randomly so the masons have to cut them in, and work around each other and the conduit sticking up. Just for realism, add in the GC wondering where the door opening is supposed to have been. 😆
You can see the block sticking out it should all be flush...
It looks like a friday morning at 11 am trying to finish by 12
Whatever happens to these walls afterwards, I also think for the speed they’re laying at the quality is acceptable walls like this would only get rendered?
I would guess they demo and crushed and reused by the plant to make more block
what a nice way to ensure you know what builders working potential is and compare them against their records !!! - documented evidence they can work hard and if they are not preforming to at least 80% of their speed they are taking the PISS ! !- waoooo bring this to the UK -
Not impressed with the first place, I hired him to do my fences and still doing repairs on his walls so if you want to do a first place for the one who does more mess he is the one!
Guess Structural Steel walls should be another Comp.
The fastest is ALWAYS the least effective in walls
😂You're kidding! Right?
These people are so concerned with speed they absolutely forget that quality trumps all. I'd rather a man lay 40 block a day and it be plumb and level and fully mudded than someone slinging 200 a day and you're constantly filling gaps and cracks and trying to compensate for the lack of plumb.
I guess the U.S can't produce the best trowels in the block. Hater's are always going to hate.
@@csanchez91766 well the guy he hired was Mexican...soooo...
It doesn't take a genius to look at the beautiful historic American masonry, and then whatever that hut bunk is south of the border, to get a good idea of who the better masons are.
This will keep you fit and make you wealthy if your good at it. Worked with my brother in law, we did 1,400 duplexes and fourplexes in Foot Hood Texas. Worked rat jobs on the weekends, made $125. a day. Not bad for a high school kid. He was the best brother, brother in law, father image and husband to my sister.
I wish the commentators worked as hard on their jobs as the masons.
I love this style of competition
Bricklayers , STILL the CADILLACS of the TRADES !!!
I was one for 34 years .
These guys deserve every penny they earn
And more...
8K prize haha. Cracked me up. Pretty much means you can do it with no prize. This is just a passion.
my back hurts just watching these guys
Working hard af so that one day the boss can take that vacation to Hawaii while they struggle to walk and stand upright.
The most American/Mexican competition I've ever come across, I don't even know how this came up on my feed
This is just plain amazing
No idea why I am watching this, I don't even have a brick but it's satisfying