[jacquesm]

Super comment. I always use the example of masons whenever people complain that computer programming is hard work. Laying bricks is hard work, and not all that easy either. If you have basic bricklaying skills then you will be able to appreciate much better the kind of work and craftsmanship that goes into what may look like an average building.

Be careful with your back!

As for your comment on the economics: the main reason that old buildings looked so ornate and beautiful to our present day eyes is that at the time the labor costs and costs of materials were a small fraction of what they are today, and cost overruns were very common. On a relative scale the cost of building has gone up substantially which leads to every building being put up with the least amount of labor and the cheapest materials that can be found. If brick is used at all (instead of the ugly stone strips, which is a material which I think ought to be prohibited) it is in a decorative rather than a structural manner, the building itself will be made out of concrete.

The only place where you'll find some room to really use your skills is in restoration work as well as the houses for the rich. Almost everything else, including commercial buildings is done to a very tight budget.

[VBprogrammer]

> I always use the example of masons whenever people complain that computer programming is hard work. Laying bricks is hard work, and not all that easy either.

I have worked some pretty tough summer jobs. Working in a garden centre it was normal to spend a whole day moving bricks and slabs from delivery pallets onto nicer retail pallets. While objectively it's much harder physically, it also much easier to guage progress and perhaps mentally more rewarding than having spent a whole day trying to wrestle a few bytes of information into the desired form. Even when you think you have succeeded you have a reasonable chance that something unexpected will come back to bite you in the ass.