Taking Shape

The internal walls on the ground floor are up, so we can walk around the rooms and imagine how they're going to look when finished.

A Job Well Done

I'd like to mention Gary here, our brickie foreman. A significant part of Gary's job is to work out the exact positioning of the walls and instruct his bricklayers accordingly. He has to be one step ahead of his team all the time, ensuring that he knows the orientation of all the walls and openings, heights of windows and doors, position of stonework, inclusion of damp trays and any other details pertinent to the build. He has to relay all this information to the bricklayers before they start to ensure that none of these details is missed.

At the same time, Gary has to keep production moving smoothly and quickly, because every bricklayer (or trowel as they're known in brickie lingo) is expected to lay about 400 bricks or 200 blocks a day for a house of this size. So the more trowels on site, the more pressure Gary comes under to stay ahead. To quote Jon, "if mistakes are made, then time is lost rectifying them and if the momentum is not kept up, then Gary's company would not earn a margin on the job and he would be quickly replaced. Not an enviable position to be in."

I'm happy to report that Gary is doing a fantastic job, aided and abetted by his team of trowels!