Our second home-JG King Memphis - We are in!

How good is that!!!

Ekk fingers crossed everyone that we have bricks cleaned tomorrow like we got told pre-Christmas by our ss. This makes us both very nervous but hopefully it all goes well and we can finally move on from this bloody brick stage and onto final touch ups and handover in January ???

Fingers and toes crossed for you guys!
Looking forward to seeing the final result

Thanks yes we just want to move forward with the build and have it become our home.

Finger crossed! Surely it will be all good this time.

Hopefully they come up well.

No wash today...

Sooooo disappointed and after all this time i think im starting to get angry :/ our bricks were "cleaned" a few days ago. I think i could have done a better job myself. There is still mortar all over the bricks

When the brickies finished bricking we noticed the top rows mortar around the front facade was slightly darker and didnt blend well. We had our fingers crossed it would fix when washed but its still the same.
Have a look below particularly on the front pillar you notice the top half mortar is a lot darker. And let me know what you think... im ropable that after all this time they could make a mistake like this. Im not accepting it.


I really like the white mortar down the bottom, just very disapointed they couldnt control there mortar colours right the way through.
Sooo with this new hurdle in the way who knows if we will ever move in. Site supervisor is back from holidays monday 9th and he will have a very good conversation with us that morning....

Oh gosh, I am so gutted for the both of you. I'm glad that your mortar was not spotty; however, I agree with you, don't accept this. Yous have already passed your contract completion date so I wouldn't accept anything that isn't perfect. Two different mortar colours is a joke.I hope they offer you some serious compensation for this mess.

I'm so glad I'm not the only one that can see the change it mortar colour Jacinta. After all this time I just think bugger them I've waited 11 months already I'm not accepting this!! Our SS is going to be so annoyed they have done this. I don't see how they can fix it without pulling the bricks down and redoing them AGAIN! because we've tried repointing and that obviously didn't work well. OR do I say fck it and get them to render the whole front façade? I'm at the point where this is ridiculous and even suggested the idea of selling it and just buying established I'm that over it :/

I think that only because you have pointed out where to look for the darker mortar is why I can notice it, but now that I`ve seen it I can`t unsee it. Very noticeably different
Do you think they will fix it? I bet you just want to be in your new home already. What a stuff around!
Did you have a nice Chrissy?

I would ask them for a straight discount on the mortar colour mistake, not get them to render it. You've got pictures pre Xmas where you can see the color change.

Say to them that you will get it rendered yourself after handover. If it doesn't fade in a years time then render it or sell or live with it.

Thanks DreamHome2point0 we had a great christmas, living with my mum and youngest sister while we build so was lovely to have them around for the kids. But we never would have dreamed we wouldn't be in our house by now. Ive waited this long to get my mortar right so one way or another they will have to do something as im not accepting it. If it was around the back or side i wouldnt worry so much but its our facade so they will have to figure it out. I just cant wait till our ss starts back on the 9th so we can talk to him about it and get the ball rolling again.

Thanks Nico, do you think thats something builders do? At this point there losing $200 a week to us anyway so they will just want our build finished. Does anyone know roughly the costs on rendering? Thinking thats our only option now.

My feeling is that if JGK agree to render they will just rush it and the result will be no good as your at the end of the job and there is probably no money left. Better to have it done on your terms at least. Get a renderer to eyeball it or quote it and ask JGK for that much off your final payment. Costs will be around 800 to 1000 for 1 guy / 1 day. A good renderer will give you tips on where to render to make it look good - for instance just the brick pillar and doorway. You could even try match the alfresco / awning area too with the same render for continuity. May do it in dune (I think you have dune) to match the fascia.

Ah this is sucky news! How frustrating. You're right to not settle. I noticed the dark mortar in the pre Christmas photos but assumed it wasn't dry.

Hard to say from just photos but it looks like you could maybe get away with just rendering the pier. I can see the change on the wall but it's not as obvious being right up the top.

I'd be inclined to let them deal with it, not sure I would want the hassle of organising the rendering ourselves. I personally haven't seen a bad rendering job by kings here in Geelong, that's one trade they seem to do well.

Good luck with your ss tomorrow.

Omg guys. This is excruciating! Drove past last week and had a look. I don't think it really stands out but as others have said, if you know what you're looking for you can see it. I would be inclined to render it too and get them to do it, hold them accountable and they will still be paying you the $200 a week while they sort it out.

Just saw the jg king car drive past our place so hopefully he's had a look at it already and can sort it out. Fingers crossed!

I would also render the pillar. Personally I would get Kings to do the render. I'm sure you already have a huge list of things you need to do after handover and you don't want to add another to the list.

I also feel that if you ask for a reduction on the price ( so you can complete it later), that Kings won't give you a fair price.

No update on bricks/mortar, spoken with SS he is going to have a look.

The sparky has been back past and reconnected the outside electrics.

Chippy has been past to and "finished" the outside work but not to a good standard and our SS agrees.

Really ready to get off this merry-go-round.

Do you think its a real Chippy or a "Chippy". I can't understand the lack of pride in their work that these people seem to have. Just do it well the first time! I'm pretty sure building will send me to the looney bin

I think it is the same guy that has done the rest of the house he is a "real" chippy, not sure why the poor quality maybe his sick of coming to our house who know? Funny thing was that our SS said he is hard to get in contact with, I would think contacting your workers would be a key to building... so if you can't easily contact him wouldn't that change his job security?

Reading anyone's thread I don't know how builders can have all the issues they have when building houses it is there business/job. Can you imagine if car manufacturers built cars like some of the house building stories you hear? They'd go out of business but for some reason it's expected and accepted in house building.

It really does send you to the looney bin (rocking in the corner of my padded room)