Although, as explained above, the cost of dressing stone should properly be estimated by the square foot of surface dressed, most figures which are obtainable give the cost per cubic yard of masonry, which practically means that the figures are applicable only to stones of the average size used in that work. A few figures are here quoted from Gillette's "Handbook of Cost Data:"

(a) Hand Dressing - Wages, 50 cents per hour. Soft, 25 to 30 cents; medium, 40 to 45 cents; hard, 75 to 80 cents, per square foot of surface dressed.

(6) Hand Dressing - Wages, $3 per day. Limestone, bush-hammered, 25 cents per square foot.

(c) Hand Dressing Limestone - 36 square feet of beds and joints per 9-hour day (or 4 square feet per hour); wages, 40 cents per hour, or 10 cents per square foot.

(d) Hand Dressing Granite - For 1/2-inch joints, 26 cents per square foot.

(e) Sawing Slabs by Machinery - Costs approximately 17 cents per square foot.