Has that house been mortared yet? If not, wait and see.

I think you should look for a better color anyway. :)

Yes, it has been mortared. This house is identical in floor plan, brick and mortar that we picked. The second photo that has the whiter brick is the one that we were shown when we picked the house and what we thought the brick would look like but now that we have seen it on someone else’s house in the neighborhood are seeing how completely different it actually is!

Have you addressed that with the builder? Obviously not the same brick.

@flopsycat1 agreed! we are going to bring it up to the builder tomorrow but nervous there won’t be anything we can do. They did confirm that it is the same brick but it looks completely different than the photo that was shown to us at the design center! We wanted a white brick and this looks brown

@chispa here is the “same” brick on another house in the neighborhood that looks identical to the picture shown at the design center. I’m thinking that the newer batches of brick produced in this specific color may be darker? We only had one photo to choose off of so was kind of hard to judge!

Is there a skid of bricks around to see what the label says? Building materials are in short supply; maybe they substituted to keep working. Not saying that's right, because I also prefer the lighter brick. What does your contract say about substitutions?

That one is much better and looks like the photo. Talk to your builder. Good luck!

@latifolia yes all of the pictures posted had labels on the bricks and they were all the same! I confirmed with the builder that they were the same also. We drove by to check on the house today and realized that there was significant differences in the brick shown originally and the brick on the houses being built and are going to address that tomorrow. Per the contract To substitute we would have have to pay $1k + material fees and really don’t want to pay since it feels like we were provided misinformation

I agree with chispa , your inspiration photo is strong full sun. Your photo of the neighborhood house is not taken in strong full sun. Too bad the builder didn’t send you to a physical address to make this decision. They could very well be the same.

@BetteP I do agree the inspo picture is taken in better light, however if you look there is significantly more white bricks and white overall on inspo pick than on the house our builder bricked. The builders house brick is almost completely brown/tan

Hi, Taylor,

Brick color can vary due to variations in either the raw materials or the manufacturing process. We saw a pretty big change, for example, when kilns were converted from coal-fired to natural gas. Such variation is not under the control of your builder so it's important to see the full range of variation in a particular brick when making your selection.

Identical bricks can appear to be different--and to a remarkable extent--by changing the color of the mortar used. Brick will also appear different when wet (who doesn't?) and in different light conditions. Make sure you're eliminating those variables when making your comparison.

@charlesrosshomes I appreciate your insight and advice! I do understand the variables that could cause differences however I do feel like since we were only given one picture to reference (no other homes had the brick at the time) we were mislead on what the brick outcome out be :/ regardless we’re going to bring it up to the builder and see what our options are here so fingers crossed we can get something figured out!

I would be more concerned about all the trash laying around.

I think, based on what you've posted, that your only option is going to be paying the additional money to have the house re-bricked. You stated that:

1) You chose a certain brick and that information was given to the builder. Since there were no other homes with that brick to view you chose the brick from a picture.

2) I don't think you were provided "disinformation". Maybe the builder could have noted that there might be variances in different lots of brick but I don't think he was trying to mislead you.

I understand your frustration and am the first to call out a contractor if they change a material or intentionally mislead a customer, but in this case I don't think that occurred.

If you keep the brick then look into trim colors that can unify the look for you.

@creativevisual thanks for the advice! We’re going to see what our options are but I do think that the picture given was very misleading. Do do believe I that we should have been warned/shown who variations in the brick if there was potentially it would come out looking this different. The point of going to a design center is to have someone help you pick out your home selections based off of their samples/pictures and what your goals are. Knowing this - If the colors would come out looking significantly different then that should have been vocalized so that the buyer could make a well informed decision.

Have you confirmed that house #1 is the "same" brick as #2 and the sample photo? (Not that I'd expect them to offer two similar bricks like that but it's possible.)

They likely can charge you the 1k, but you're getting to them before they started right? It can't hurt to ask really nicely to waive the charge because you really didn't know there could be SUCH dramatic variation in the brick lots. Depending on where they are in the process, it might not be a big deal to change and they might have pity on you.

But you wanted white. Your best bet might be to go ahead with this (you might get a good lot of bricks) and when you take possession, if it's got too much black, paint or whitewash individual (or all) bricks. It'll probably be more than 1K, though.

@fori we did confirm with our builder this morning gthat every house (in the pics) is the same brick. They agreed that the selections look different and are looking into options and what we can do! Fingers crossed we caught this soon enough that we can get it fixed before they start bricking ours. Because of HOA guidelines I’m not sure if we could whitewash/modify exterior but we asked that as well

If that was just done, it has not dried out yet. Brick is porous and absorbs moisture from the mortar. It takes weeks for things to dry out and lighten up.

@juneknow thanks, good to know in case we are unable to change!

The lighter house looks like it has a lighter color mortar and that can change the look of the brick significantly.

None of those photos look to have a "white" brick to me. But I do believe they are all the same brick.

Best bet is to simply make sure that your mortar is a white mortar. Either by using a white mortar that is ready to go out of the bag (mixed with water, of course), or by using a white mortar mix AND using with white sand...not a beige sand That will significantly lighten your brick. Will be worth an up-charge. ;)

It looks the same to me, with a few more of the darker bricks. The biggest difference is the two house examples have large areas of brick. You have a lot of windows so aren't getting nearly as much expanse of the brick to make it look lighter. They could pick and choose just light bricks if that's what you really want, but they would be more expensive because that's now how they are packaged.

Mortar can change the color of the brick a lot! To me it looks like a dark mortar was used on your house and an ivory mortar was used on the model home. So sorry it didn't come out the way you had hoped, but it is still beautiful ❤

Second house looks the same as the sample.