Why people are obsessed with watching bricks being laid: Vic’s TikTok and Insta tradies

Melbourne tradie Janan Daniel has built his TikTok following — quite literally — brick by brick, to nearly 92k in just a year. And he’s not the only tradie using the power tool of social media.

Mandy Squires

3 min read

September 20, 2023 - 8:26AM

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Melbourne tradie Janan Daniel has built his TikTok following, quite literally, brick by brick for the past year.

The 31 year-old bricklayer and father of three has his wife to thank for his new status as a social media star, after she noticed “watching bricks being laid is a thing” on TikTok.

For Mr Daniel and his small gang of brickies at JMD Bricklaying in Melbourne’s northern suburbs, the TikTok videos require nothing more than filming parts of their daily work.

It turns out, the systematic, rhythmical and ultimately rewarding process of laying bricks to build a house from the ground up — with the repeating ‘slap, click, scrape’ sound of mortar on brick — is soothing and enjoyable to watch and listen to for a surprisingly large number of people.

“It’s called ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) and I always hashtag that term when I post my videos,” Mr Daniel said.

“A lot of the comments I get are ‘this is therapeutic, I can watch this over and over, I can watch it all day, it’s so satisfying’.”

ASMR is the term used to describe a tingling sensation that usually begins on the scalp and moves down the back of the neck and upper spine.

One of Mr Daniel’s TikTok videos has had more than 15 million views while some other have had about 10 million.

Melbourne bricklayer Janan Daniel has taken off on TikTok. Picture: Supplied

In just 12 months, he has amassed 91.6k followers, which is enough to have had offers of sponsored product and be offered a contract by digital publishing giant LADbible.

Mr Daniel — who has the catch phrase “making bricklaying great again” on his bio — just a fortnight ago began uploading content to YouTube and has already gained nearly 20 subscribers.

He has also recently started doing live videos.

“The videos are all very simple in nature; just me laying bricks and mortar basically, often with music playing in the background, or a tutorial on how to lay bricks … and it seems to go pretty OK,” Mr Daniel said.

“It doesn’t take up much of my time because it’s raw and unrehearsed, but it gives me an outlet.”

Importantly, jobs have also resulted and work created from his increasingly high social media profile.

And the brickie is far from the only Victorian tradie using the powerful tool of social media to showcase skills and raise their personal and business profile in the process.

Master Builders Australia chief Denita Wawn said it was not surprising that more and more tradies were promoting their business and skills on social media.

“We know the importance of ‘word of mouth’ in our industry and have noticed an increase of ‘tradie influencers’ over the years providing a great opportunity to showcase talents and the industry as a whole,” she said.

“Increasing awareness around the amazing career opportunities the construction industry provides helps break down some of the stigmas of taking up a trade over university.”

Master Builders ran several initiatives across the network to assist builders and tradies promote their business including through its Women Building Australia program which ran free business resilience training covering digital marketing, Ms Wawn said.

Click on the links to see the tradie influencer pictures and posts.

Other TikTok tradies

joeyy770

What:TikTok point of view (pov) videos on everything from tradies who have toasties for smoko to apprentices quitting.

Profile: Tradie tings and other things, with his Instagram profile explaining he is “a complex guy with a fondness for the basics … roof plumber”.

Followers: 158.3k

luke_kosmanis TheConsciousTradie

What:TikTok videos on everything from learning from your mistakes to people not being able to take criticism because “they’re too soft to receive feedback”, to behind the scenes on a renovation job to someone blocking the tradie pathway at Bunnings.

Profile: Helping tradies bring passion, fulfilment and purpose back to the work site

Followers: 37.2k

APL Creations

What: TikTok videos of tradies working and having fun (cue a pool scene).

Profile: CNC owners specialising in 3D MDF wall cladding, south east Melbourne

Followers: 28.3k

lilymaeryann

What: Fun TikTok videos, including dances, with her tradie workers on Melbourne construction sites.

Profile: Lily Mae Ryan, 22, Melbourne, Australia. One happy little gal

Followers: 5830

Likes: 222.1K