I'm so sorry there was such a misunderstanding with your mason! As a homeowner with a brick house from the 1920s with steps in front and back that sound very much like yours (brick risers; stone treads and landing), I completely sympathize with your desire to have the risers match the brick on your house. I am not experienced with masonry so I don't know if what he has told you about reusing the old brick is accurate or not. But even if it is accurate and you need to use new brick for structural reasons, he should have matched the new brick to your old brick as carefully as possible. Our back steps are made with risers of new brick because we put an addition on the house and built the steps new. But our general contractor was very careful to get a close match to the tones of our old brick so the risers don't look jarring. If the risers truly look out of place to you with this new brick, and if you feel that you were clear enough in your original instructions to the mason, then I would be tempted to ask him either to redo it with the old brick for the risers (if that is possible) or to give you some different options for new brick that won't look so out of place. This is, after all, your front entrance and the first impression people get of your house, and you don't want to feel it is a mismatch or botched job. If you don't feel the mason is at fault, then you'll need to decide whether the new brick bothers you enough to pay to tear it out and start again. If you end up doing it again, be sure to have him match the exact color of your mortar as well. When I see tuckpointing with mismatched mortar on older brick houses it always makes me cringe at a job poorly done.
Good luck!

Thank you so much - so nice to hear from someone who understands. I hope after my initial shock I will see that it doesn't stand out so badly.

My walk is brick and he seems to have matched the walk well - problem is the walk is made from pavers that look like brick. The color of the walk matched the tones of the old brick stairs. He matched the color of the new brick very well. I just had no idea the corners would all be so square and the color so uniform....it just looks much more modern than what we had.

I now know that I should have demanded to see samples of every material and to be shown how it would look when completed. He should've explained that he was bringing something that would look different. He even admitted that clients have sometimes asked him to use old brick because they want that look! Unfortunately, I am not sure what to do now except try to live with it - perhaps try to stain the brick to make it look aged. Disappointing for sure - after delaying and delaying the job due to its expense.

Thanks again for commenting,

Do give it a week or so for you to adjust and assess. I am always in a state of shock at any change (new paint color, new rug, whatever) and run around at first worrying that we've made a huge mistake. My husband has learned to calmly ignore what I say for that first week. After that I am able to look at the situation with a more objective eye and see whether there really is a problem or not. I'm hoping that you'll adjust to the change and maybe feel that while it looks different, it is not necessarily unattractive. You should feel free, if you want more feedback, to post pictures here of the new steps, the walkway, and the brick on your house (as close up as possible to see the tones of the brick), as well as a shot of the three together, to see whether others here see a problem or not.

Best of luck!

OK. I will try and post some pictures. Thanks.

Would love an update. What did you do?