Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Mar 29, 2010 8:41 am Hi, Our builders arranged an appointment with us this morning, to be upfront and honest with us and to let us know that they weren't happy with the standard and quality of the brickwork to our house. Apparently there aren't any structural issues, but the brickwork is not ideal because the joins between the bricks are inconsistent and the mortar raking is too deep. The option we discussed to rectify this problem is that the builders would render or whole house for free. Other options included pulling down parts of the brickwork and re-bricking if we chose not to render. Now in terms of my views on rendering, we didn't originally choose to render our home (at the start of the building process) because of the long term maintenance required, but I personally do prefer the render look over brick. My questions are.....what would you do in my situation? Is a full free render a fair compensation? Would you have also expected monetary compensation? If so, how much? How much do you think it would have costed to render a full double story house? In terms of types of render, apparently you can get paint the render after it has been applied, or mix the color through the render. Which options is better? Re: Brickwork compensation - opinions please!!!!! 2Mar 29, 2010 8:47 am Our builder quoted us $12k to render our whole Single story house, so thats a pretty large saving. Lara and Joshua http://pdheywood25.blogspot.com/ viewtopic.php?f=31&t=31186 16.03.10 Scrape 29.03.10 Slab 08.04.10 Frame 11.05.10 Lock Up 03.06.10 Fixing 24.08.10 Handover Re: Brickwork compensation - opinions please!!!!! 3Mar 29, 2010 8:51 am larajane Our builder quoted us $12k to render our whole Single story house, so thats a pretty large saving. Thanks LaraJane, do you know what type of rendering your is? ie, painted render, or color mixed through? Re: Brickwork compensation - opinions please!!!!! 4Mar 29, 2010 8:59 am Hi Rinny, Sorry to hear you are faced with this desicion, but be thankfull the builders recognised there was an issue and are willing to compensate you for it! If it were my house, I would not want the rendering, but I paid over $7K upgrade to get the bricks I love, and rendering over them would not be an option for me. I would be asking for it to be pulled down and re-bricked, using a different brickie! Did you pay to upgrade your bricks at all? If you did, then you should probably be asking for that money to be returned on top of the rendering compensation, since you won't actually see the bricks you paid extra for, and if the house was fully rendered from the beginning, they would most likely use commons anyway, and not an upgrade. I am not familiar with rendering maintenance at this stage, as I only have a small amount which is only 6 months old! I do know, that for my double storey 42 square house, it would have cost me over $28K (2007 prices) to fully render through the builder. Good luck! EDIT: My small amount of render is colour mixed through. Henley - Wilshire Mk 3 ... I love my house!! Site start: 4th Feb 09 Handover: 10th Sep 09 Blog: http://stormygirlscastle.blogspot.com/ Build Thread: viewtopic.php?t=7166 Re: Brickwork compensation - opinions please!!!!! 5Mar 29, 2010 9:05 am Stormy Hi Rinny, Sorry to hear you are faced with this desicion, but be thankfull the builders recognised there was an issue and are willing to compensate you for it! If it were my house, I would not want the rendering, but I paid over $7K upgrade to get the bricks I love, and rendering over them would not be an option for me. I would be asking for it to be pulled down and re-bricked, using a different brickie! Did you pay to upgrade your bricks at all? If you did, then you should probably be asking for that money to be returned on top of the rendering compensation, since you won't actually see the bricks you paid extra for, and if the house was fully rendered from the beginning, they would most likely use commons anyway, and not an upgrade. I am not familiar with rendering maintenance at this stage, as I only have a small amount which is only 6 months old! I do know, that for my double storey 42 square house, it would have cost me over $28K (2007 prices) to fully render through the builder. Good luck! EDIT: My small amount of render is colour mixed through. Thanks Stormy. No I didn't pay extra to upgrade my bricks, I just went with the standard. Wow, $28K is alot to render a whole house....which is probably a good indicator given your quote was from 3 years ago and my double story house is also 43 squares. Re: Brickwork compensation - opinions please!!!!! 6Mar 29, 2010 9:14 am I'm not sure if it is mixed through or painted. I assume it is painted. $28k sounds about right. Just over double my quote, and mines single story. My house is 25m2. Lara and Joshua http://pdheywood25.blogspot.com/ viewtopic.php?f=31&t=31186 16.03.10 Scrape 29.03.10 Slab 08.04.10 Frame 11.05.10 Lock Up 03.06.10 Fixing 24.08.10 Handover Re: Brickwork compensation - opinions please!!!!! 7Mar 29, 2010 10:05 am I would take the free render and run with it Caz & Co ALL MOVED IN!! Now comes all the hard work-decorating.... [b]Blog: http://cazoraz.blogspot.com/ Settling in Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=36993 Re: Brickwork compensation - opinions please!!!!! 8Mar 29, 2010 10:27 am I'd go against the trend and ask for it to be pulled down and re-bricked. Really depends on how inconsistant it is I suppose, one would assume that it doesn't meet AS for them to actually offer to compensate or take action to rectify. Also depends on how much you like your bricks vs a render color you could choose. And not to forget, perhaps ask about how either option would effect the building timeline, depends on your situation but if you had to extend a rental lease etc due to the time for the works, will render vs rebrick save you money on current costs? Our Build - Places Fairhaven 23+ - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=28045 Our Landscaping - Belial's Backyard - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=45375 Re: Brickwork compensation - opinions please!!!!! 9Mar 29, 2010 11:42 am I would avoid render as every 10 years it needs to be repainted. This will cost a lot as scaffolding is required. I would go for fixed-up face brick. Demolition August 2009, Construction Started September 2009, Completed December 2010 Re: Brickwork compensation - opinions please!!!!! 10Mar 29, 2010 12:21 pm Sorry, I missed this detail - did you upgrade your bricks? Anyway, if the need for re-bricking is not way too wide-spread (or complicated to demoish + redo etc), I would rather re-brick it (especially if you love your bricks). Otherwise, if you render, you need to get the render obviously for free (and any choice you want), but I think you should also get cash (ie. credit) of the cost of re-rendering in some 20 years, or whatever is the expected life of the render that you chose. This is because bricks will never need any such maintenance and you should not be penalised in the long term. Also, a fair and likely cost of future re-rendering needs to be evaluated and agreed upon. In regards to render type, to me the colour-through sounds better, as it would probably hide any small chips and accidents that will probably happen in the future (and therefore should prolong the life of your render). Re: Brickwork compensation - opinions please!!!!! 11Mar 29, 2010 1:43 pm I personally would jump at the render, although I have always lived in estates where render is a covenant requirement! I personally like the look of it better. Seeing as though you didnt pay to upgrade your bricks and you said you prefer the look of render over brick, I would be more inclined to think you would want render. If there is a choice, maybe go with the coloured render, then you can always paint it later if you dont like it. If you think you will sell the house within the 10 years definitely do it, it would have to add value to your house wouldnt it? I think the 10 year maintenance wouldnt be so bad would it? It wouldnt hurt to ask for monetary compensation but you are already getting free render worth say a minimum of $10k from your builder (their price - which may not be accurate but I was just saying at a minimum). Maybe think about it this way. If you were about to sign contracts and your builder was having a promotion that included render rather than bricks, would you decline and go with their standard range of bricks? Re: Brickwork compensation - opinions please!!!!! 12Mar 29, 2010 1:47 pm Rebrick... Render takes too much future maintenance to keep it looking nice, secondly it is my belief that render is simply a trend that will be poorly looked upon in 20 years time (if that matters to you). Aaron Smith Re: Brickwork compensation - opinions please!!!!! 13Mar 29, 2010 1:56 pm I would also go for bricks for the simple reason that render is going to have ongoing costs. If you did go for render, choose the render where the colour is mixed in (this does seem to be rare these days) Re: Brickwork compensation - opinions please!!!!! 14Mar 29, 2010 2:32 pm Rinny, be absolutely sure your render won't crack in the future. Have you got clay in your area? We lived in Homebush NSW for many years & there are MANY rendered homes & fences in the area. Unfortunatley, most of them are badly cracked & patched. It looks horrible. THe Homebush/Strathfield area is renowned for being on the dreaded CLAY, which swells in the wet & contracts in the dry. So do the rendered facades If you do go with render, get the builder to be totally clear as to whether he's rendering or using moroka, which looks like bagging. 2 totally different effects. Built the Eden Brae Cambridge 34 Family with Boston Corner Facade Re: Brickwork compensation - opinions please!!!!! 15Mar 29, 2010 2:53 pm I would take the render too if it's free In our previous house the paint was mixed through the render, it was a different type of render, sorry forget the name .... and we had it painted 10 years later in different colours, not because we had to, we wanted a change. This time it was painted after render. Personally I don't see render as being a trend it's a personal choice as to what you prefer and it has been around for long time now. Re: Brickwork compensation - opinions please!!!!! 16Mar 29, 2010 2:59 pm Rinny Hi, Our builders arranged an appointment with us this morning, to be upfront and honest with us and to let us know that they weren't happy with the standard and quality of the brickwork to our house. Apparently there aren't any structural issues, but the brickwork is not ideal because the joins between the bricks are inconsistent and the mortar raking is too deep. Hey Rinny can I ask, do you have any pics of your brickwork? I'm wondering how 'bad' it has to be before an offer to render comes into it. We have had our bricks cleaned and there are now heaps of chips and cracks that my SS think are the bricks fault and the rep is coming out this week.... Caz & Co ALL MOVED IN!! Now comes all the hard work-decorating.... [b]Blog: http://cazoraz.blogspot.com/ Settling in Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=36993 Re: Brickwork compensation - opinions please!!!!! 17Mar 29, 2010 3:01 pm asmith007 Rebrick... Render takes too much future maintenance to keep it looking nice, secondly it is my belief that render is simply a trend that will be poorly looked upon in 20 years time (if that matters to you). Personally, I wouldn't think at it like that. Chances are, the bricks used today will be old and ugly by that time too. Our first house was built in the 80's and the brick was so ugly. I wouldn't say ask for money as the builder has done the right thing by you before going any further and told you of the problem and given you options for what you want to do. Unfortunately, these things happen, but the fact they have been honest and not tried to rip you off or pass it off as o.k because it is structurally sound, shows the decent people your builders are, as a lot would do the former. You are well within your rights to ask for it to be knocked down and redone. We had part of our brickwork knocked down and re-done AFTER we had moved in, so it can be done if you would rather stick with brick. Yes, render can take some maintenance, but everything does. In 10 years, if it needs re-painting, at least it will look fresh and new again, and I know of lots of people who have gone on to render their houses after so many years, because they hate their bricks after a while. Chances are, the interior will need re-painting, or new carpets, etc, so I wouldn't base a decision on that. Our builder is using a render and I have no idea what it is called, but it allows for movement and doesn't crack with it. (yes, I know it can still crack, but this reduces it), so maybe ask for that if you are worried. Anyway, good luck with your choice, I guess it's really up to what you prefer and what look you'd rather have. Re: Brickwork compensation - opinions please!!!!! 18Mar 29, 2010 3:13 pm Personally I would rebrick but I dont Like the look of render. Two things to consider are 1) do you like the rendered look (appears to be yeas from your comments) 2) Purely financial - Whats the extra cost to you - how much longer do you need pay rent and mortgage I also agree with rizzo, in not asking for additional cash compensation if you go with the render option the builder has done the right thing by you in mentioning it now and offering to fix it. Good luck, gonna be a tough decision Building "DOMAYNE" through COMMODORE HOMES in Pearsall WA Slab down 15-01-2010 Handover 16-06-2010 viewtopic.php?f=31&t=29049 Re: Brickwork compensation - opinions please!!!!! 19Mar 29, 2010 4:54 pm Rizzo asmith007 Rebrick... Render takes too much future maintenance to keep it looking nice, secondly it is my belief that render is simply a trend that will be poorly looked upon in 20 years time (if that matters to you). Personally, I wouldn't think at it like that. Chances are, the bricks used today will be old and ugly by that time too. Our first house was built in the 80's and the brick was so ugly. I wouldn't say ask for money as the builder has done the right thing by you before going any further and told you of the problem and given you options for what you want to do. Unfortunately, these things happen, but the fact they have been honest and not tried to rip you off or pass it off as o.k because it is structurally sound, shows the decent people your builders are, as a lot would do the former. You are well within your rights to ask for it to be knocked down and redone. We had part of our brickwork knocked down and re-done AFTER we had moved in, so it can be done if you would rather stick with brick. Yes, render can take some maintenance, but everything does. In 10 years, if it needs re-painting, at least it will look fresh and new again, and I know of lots of people who have gone on to render their houses after so many years, because they hate their bricks after a while. Chances are, the interior will need re-painting, or new carpets, etc, so I wouldn't base a decision on that. Anyway, good luck with your choice, I guess it's really up to what you prefer and what look you'd rather have. + 1 - and really any area of a house will need maintenance in 10 years if not sooner! Sleven Moved into our Atlantique MkII 36 by Carlisle Homes Re: Brickwork compensation - opinions please!!!!! 20Mar 29, 2010 6:36 pm You'd be nuts not to accept a free full house render! I am in the same situation, would you be able to give some insights in to this? I am in SA 8 17047 I wanted to get some thoughts on the quality of workmanship on the following brickwork? are there specific clauses in Australian Standards which relate… 0 4798 |