Hello, hello. Today's video topic is: " Brazil builds with brick, and why does that make your project more expensive?" I don't know how it is in your city, but in mine, like, every construction site has a dumpster out front. It becomes kind of common, just something you pass by, right? You walk by and don't even notice it anymore. But that dumpster has a size, okay? In 2021, Brazil generated about 48 million tons of construction and demolition waste. That comes out to roughly 227 kg per inhabitant. So, I don't know your weight there. I'm at 90-something kg. I shouldn't be, but, you know, age is catching up, that kind of thing. So, imagine adding 227 kg more to yourself. That for every Brazilian, every year. And my friends, can we call this "dirt" ? Of course not. This is purchased material. Think, someone went there, paid for that thing, they paid, right? Then let's say there's a house here in the middle of construction. The guy paid for it, brought it to the site, and then paid again to send it all away somewhere else. Actually, there are studies that estimate about 10 to 30%of all material bought for a project, this here, my friends, goes to waste. In fact, for some items it's worse. Thin plaster, like this one here, for example, can be up to 80%. Paint and brick exceed 25%. So think, man, 80%of thin plaster; that means for every five bags you buy, four turn into dust and a dumpster. And so the most obvious question, right, that you must have asked is: why does Brazil build in this bizarre way? And I'm going to show you some things, including calculations that make perfect sense for a construction company, okay? But if it's for your own project, it turns against you. So it's the same math with the signs flipped. But anyway, on that question about brick, right? Why we build with brick, we'll have some answers that individually are kind of incomplete. The first thing is cultural , right? People will say: "Oh, Brazilians love brick, they trust in a heavy wall, they think a house has to be solid, right?" So, there's that cultural aspect, and there's also the technological lag, right? Lack of technology, lack of knowledge, the sector is retrograde. And there's a third thing too, which is that banks don't finance different systems, right? There's also the claim that you can only build with masonry because Caixa won't accept anything else. And I'm going to debunk that one really quickly , okay? Because for many years, this response was actually true. Caixa, for example, classified Light Steel Frame as an innovative system, as we call it. And an innovative system required a document called a DATEC. And the DATEC is issued by a system called SINAT, which is part of the PBQPH, the Brazilian Program for Quality and Productivity in Housing. And getting a DATEC, for example, as we see here, is time-consuming and only for a few. Approval takes from 6 to 12 months, depending on the complexity. So, in practice, this blocked financing, right ? And without financing, there's no market. But something happened: in May 2022, NBR 16970 was published, which is the Brazilian standard for Light Steel Frame. And with the standard published, the system stopped being innovative and became conventional. And then Caixa started financing Light Steel Frame under the same conditions as masonry. And Caixa's housing guidelines confirm this, right? There is a version from December 2025, and a system with an ABNT standard is conventional and waives the old DATEC for buildings up to five floors. In other words, the barrier has fallen, and it's been 4 years. But the steel frame market in Brazil is still kind of a joke. I'm not saying "joke" to denigrate steel frame, okay? I'm saying it represents very little, it accounts for 2%of the Brazilian market, only 2%. It has grown , actually. It's growing well, it grew 60%in 5 years, but growing 60%on top of almost nothing is still almost nothing. And meanwhile, masonry is present in 88 %of construction in Brazil. So, notice what we just did here, right? They removed the regulatory hurdle, opened up financing, published the standard, and the market barely budged. So, when you remove a big problem and things still don't move, the needle isn't moving, it means that wasn't really the root of the problem, right? So the problem isn't the bank, it isn't the standard, it isn't a lack of technology , because the technology is there, it's standardized, and it's financeable. And I'll tell you, man, the problem is actually that the math doesn't add up. So, regarding the calculation, I need to show you the math, because just think about it: what does it actually mean to industrialize? The word industrialization means one thing. Industrializing is a process of exchange. You are exchanging labor for capital. That is the deal here. This is the trade-off being made. You front money to a factory, right? You're making a detailed project, you're making a precise design, and you save on man-hours at the construction site. So, it's an exchange, and every exchange depends on price, and this exchange pays off where labor hours are expensive. Now, where labor hours are cheap, it doesn't pay off. And so, let me put some numbers here that are— I'll call them "brutal numbers." Sounds like a Discovery Channel show, right? Brutal numbers. Because let's look here : the average salary of a construction worker in Brazil is 2,760 BRL per month . Those are the figures for an average mason's salary. To give you an idea, in the United States, that same worker's salary is, in dollars, 53,000, but that's per year, obviously. That comes out to roughly 25.50 dollars per hour. And if you do the conversion in your head, the gap will appear on its own. Now, think like someone who builds to sell. In the United States, every hour you save on the site, you're paying for a piece of the factory. So, industrialization pays for itself. Now in Brazil, the hour you save is worth very little, so the factory doesn't pay for itself. And there’s the other side of the coin, which is capital, right? To industrialize, you need money upfront. And upfront money in Brazil is expensive with the Selic rate, you know , at 14%, which I've mentioned in other videos. So, putting those two ends together, we have cheap labor on one side and expensive capital on the other . Therefore, the rational response here is to spend labor and save capital. And saving capital has a little name in Brazil. That name is masonry. So it's not backwardness; it's a correct response to the price system. And that is why this problem won't be solved with lectures. No one is going to change the system through persuasion, right? Especially if the spreadsheet shows the opposite. And look, I’m going to bring you a more explicit calculation, but I need to be transparent about the source. I'm using a source here from a steel frame company, okay? Because these figures comparing masonry with steel framing almost all come from companies that sell steel framing. So, just treat it as an order of magnitude, okay? Not a neutral study here, right? I even looked for some independent studies in Brazil, but I didn't find any. But in any case, the trend is consistent across all sources here. So, with steel framing, the initial cost is 15%to 30% higher than masonry, but the construction time is cut in half, and the total cost of ownership is lower in the long run due to thermal performance and reduced maintenance. So, that budget variance goes from 15%or 25%and drops to two or three. So, look at this last one: a masonry budget varies by 15 %to 25%. And translate that for your ears. You are hearing it like this: the construction will cost 500,000. But what was actually said, in practice, is something else; it's between 500,000 and 625,000 because of that 15%to 25% variance. So we are saying, look, we will discover a few things along the way. So, put it all together, right? Steel framing loses on initial cost, but it wins on total cost. And those who make decisions in Brazil think, we always decide based on initial cost, always, because expensive capital shortens our horizon. Think about someone paying 14%a year for money; the guy can't think about savings that will appear three years from now. He needs it to balance out now. And if you follow this channel, this phrase has already appeared here in other forms, right? The person who decides the method isn't the one paying the bill for that method. But there is proof that this thesis is correct, okay? And right here inside Brazil, because, for example, if you go to a large "Minha Casa, Minha Vida" project, one of the bigger ones, you won't see a mason laying blocks one by one there. You will see aluminum forms and concrete walls cast in place. And it's day after day, always the same. So that is heavy industrialization; it's extremely expensive to set up, but absurdly efficient afterward. And why did that happen on your street? Because there are 300 identical units there, right? And so, with 300 repetitions, the upfront capital gets diluted, right? Then the math works out. Now, with one single house, that math never works out . In other words, what I mean is that Brazil is not incapable of industrializing. It industrializes exactly where scale pays off, and uses labor where it doesn't pay that much. So, in the end, we're talking about the same equation throughout the video, just solved in different ways within the same country. I have very interesting data here about the productivity of the Brazilian workforce , which says that labor productivity in our construction sector is only 20%of that achieved in the United States, meaning five Brazilians to do what one American does. But before anyone complains in the comments, calm down, okay? People already say: "Brazilians are lazy, that whole thing." No, the Brazilian construction worker is good, but productivity doesn't measure effort , right? With productivity, you are measuring other things as well. You are measuring method, you are measuring tools, you are measuring organization. And often, it's the organizers who aren't the best. And there are even worse statistics. The CNI, for example, shows that productivity in the Brazilian construction industry fell 20.4%in 30 years. In other words, it didn't improve, it dropped. So it's not that the world moved forward and we stayed still; we moved backward. So, in 30 years, man, Brazil started producing less per construction worker than it did before. And there is a number that explains a good part of this, because in 2021 only 25%of construction jobs were formal. And in the manufacturing industry, this number was 66%. And there is a number that explains this quite well, because in 2021 only 25%of jobs, construction jobs, were formal. In the manufacturing industry, for example, it is 66%. And think about it: a sector with three out of every four workers informal doesn't train them, they won't be retained, and they won't accumulate a method. And that's where the cycle closes, it becomes vicious, because cheap, informal labor means what? That no one will invest in methodology. And without methodology, productivity drops, and then low productivity also keeps labor cheap. So it's a trap, and it has been spinning on its own for 30 years. Now let's go back to our nice dumpster here, because think about it, when you don't industrialize, you don't need a precise design, because the adjustment will happen on the job site, on the fly, it will happen with the mason solving it right there, right? I'm bringing the little freestyle kid here for you to see, so you know what this freestyle is all about. It's freestyle, it's freestyle. Me bringing memes from 18 years ago, right? And look, it might even sound nice. It might have flexibility, there's a way, there's adaptation, a Brazilian way to get things done. But that adjustment on the job site has a physical cost, you know? And it's called breaking what's already been done. So you put up a wall, then you find out the water outlet is wrong, so you break it and replaster, then you find out you're missing an electrical outlet, so you break it again, then you lay the floor, then you move the door, so you break it, then, I don't know, your uncle, the dog, the parrot all come to give their input, so you break it once more. So, each one of these breakages adds weight to the dumpster. Look, this bag here is because the parrot gave an opinion. This one here is because your mother-in-law gave an opinion. This one here is because, I don't know, the neighbor went in and gave her opinion too. And every kilo in that dumpster was bought twice, right? You had to bring it in to put it there and then take it out. And that's why this is the phrase I want you to take from this video, man. The rubble on the sidewalk is the project that wasn't done. So it's not just a mess, it's a physical form, solidified, like the marshmallow ghost from Ghostbusters. It's a physical form of a decision that nobody made on paper. And look at the outcome of this in civil construction. Only 21%of this waste is recycled, even though 98%would be recyclable. And it's worth understanding, man, why is this chain so hard to turn around? Because there's a historical answer here. The first cement factories in Brazil were established in the mid-20s, right? Then in 1940, ABNT published the NB1, which is the standard for calculation and execution of reinforced concrete work. In other words, the country standardized concrete before standardizing almost everything else it had. Think about it, a 1940 ABNT standard for concrete. And we're talking about Light Steel Frame which appeared in 2022, almost 100 years later. And then what happened? The war came, right? Brazil joined the Allied bloc in World War II as well. Brazil received American technology, and also built the National Steel Company, right , CSN. This pulled steel, pulled cement , and pulled energy all at once to here . So, concrete and cement became a national project for the country, and then there's the industry, the standards, and money built on top of that too. And so, 80 years later, what happens? We have an entire chain that is calibrated for this method. And so the supplier, the corner hardware store , the bank, the appraiser, the site foreman, the bricklayer, everyone is prepared for this. So, changing the construction system isn't just changing the material, it's changing an entire chain and doing it all at once and alone there. And that's why anyone who tries to break the standard quickly finds out that you're going to pay a toll in that process. You won't find trained labor nearby, and often you won't find replacement parts at the hardware store either. The bank appraiser, you know, will likely look at it sideways too. But there is a whole weight to us maintaining this process. One of the weights, including environmental, is that cement production, for example, accounts for about 7%of global carbon dioxide emissions. I've seen data that it's 8%. And the construction sector as a whole accounts for about 40%. I've seen data that it's 37, I've seen 38, 39, but it's around there. But the design here in Brazil is different. The cement industry accounts for 2.3%of emissions. So, notice, right? 7%total in the world and 2.3%here. Why? Because we make much better cement? No, because our energy matrix is clean, right? So that changes the math a lot. So look, I'm not going to come to you and say that the Brazilian brick is melting glaciers, right? It would be dishonest on my part . But what I'm saying is something else here too that is more concrete for you. Think of it this way, wasted material is carbon, it's money being thrown into the dumpster. So you pay two bills at once and the one that hurts your pocket will be the second one, right? And also remembering that masonry has virtues, we can't ignore that, right? Think about it, masonry is repairable by anyone anywhere in Brazil. A pipe burst inside the wall over in Rondônia, there will be someone who can fix that for you. So this has a real value, right? No one puts that on the spreadsheet. Another thing too is that it accepts change. You decided there to open a space two years later. You can do it. Now, the industrialized system is more rigid, right? Because it's precisely that rigidity that provides precision. There’s another issue as well, which is about mass. A heavy wall has thermal inertia. In climates with high temperature swings between day and night, this really helps. So it’s not just some mason’s superstition, okay? There is applied physics here. Another important thing is replacement parts, right? Blocks, cement, sand. They're right there at the corner hardware store. Today you can just, you know? Go over real quick and pick them up. So, thinking about all that, masonry isn't foolish; it's a technology adapted to a country with abundant labor, right? It’s also cheaper; people say it's getting expensive, but it's still cheap . There's also a fragmented supply chain and clients who change their minds every day, right? So what I'm criticizing here, folks, is not the brick itself, okay? It’s building with brick without a plan, which is what turns a reasonable technology into a rubble-making machine, right? I’ve even made a video about houses in the United States, right? We know a large part is wood, same for Japan and the Nordic countries. And those aren't houses for the poor in any of those places, obviously, right? Here in Brazil, wood carries a greater stigma, right? A wooden house has become synonymous, right? With temporary housing, a shack, or someone who hasn't managed to build in masonry yet. But it’s curious because Brazil has one of the largest planted wood industries in the world. There’s no shortage of raw material for that. I've already made a video about wood on the channel too, it turned out really cool actually . But notice what this stigma does, right? It's not just a casual opinion; it ends up affecting price in the end as well. It can lead to a lower bank appraisal for the property at times. It can turn into difficulty reselling, or even comments from your family at Sunday lunch as well. So, some technical decisions end up being made out of fear of resale value. And that’s also an economic decision, right, just disguised as personal taste . But everything I’ve said explains the market, right? And so my question to you is: are you the market? Maybe you are, but I honestly don't think the market would be very interested in watching my videos, to be quite frank, because developers have scale, large job sites, they buy in bulk, they have fixed teams that repeat the same apartment 100 times, and most importantly, they dilute a lot of errors. And when you make a mistake in a unit of 100, the cost is spread across 100 units. But now think about your project, just one house, a small team, a tight schedule there. Every wall redone comes entirely out of your pocket with no one to split that bill. In other words, the cheap labor that makes masonry rational for them isn't cheap for you, and you don't buy man-hours wholesale like a big construction company. So, look at the budget variance, right? Those 15%to 25% for a construction company is statistical noise spread over 300 units . But for you, it's the difference between finishing the house or stopping at the slab, right? So here, man, is the important part of the video, okay? Those who lack the scale to dilute errors need a proper design to avoid making them. So here, design is the substitute for scale, and I don't even need to mention that the CAU, the Council of Architecture and Urbanism of Brazil, has research stating that 82%of homes in the country are built without architects or engineers. I had already seen data of 85%, maybe it has improved . So what I'm trying to say is, most of the country's projects are managed by those least able to absorb errors, without the only tool that reduces error: the designer. And if you are going to build, these are decisions that move your needle, okay? And none of them require changing the construction system. So I want to give you some ideas on what you can actually do, okay? Because if you are going to build, there are decisions that move the needle, and none of them change the construction system, okay? One of the issues is the executive design. So, not just the architectural design, okay? The executive design is what says where every pipe goes, every conduit, every outlet; it’s what will avoid your demolition work. Number two, coordination. So what I'm saying here is: architecture, structure, plumbing, electrical—all designed together, clashing on paper instead of clashing on the wall. And a coordination meeting costs less than a redone wall, okay? Number three, floor and wall layouts before buying material, because this turns a purchase of 10%extra "just in case" into a calculated number. This is also essential. Another thing is modular masonry, because if you're using blocks, you design the wall as a multiple of the block. And that alone cuts out cutting, breaking, and waste, and it won't cost you a single extra dollar in materials. Another thing, ask for a quote with a cost breakdown, not a flat fee, okay? If the builder gives you a round number and no line items, what they gave you was just a wild guess disguised as a spreadsheet, okay? So, that's fundamental. Number six, account for the variation. Think of it this way. If a masonry budget varies by 15 to 25%, plan with that reserve from the start, okay? And whoever doesn't set that aside will have to stop the project. So, this is also fundamental. Number seven, if you are considering steel frame or wood frame, I'll use SF and WF. You have to ask a few questions , okay? Is there a trained team nearby, within a reasonable radius of your site ? Will the bank finance it? After 2022, the answer is usually yes, but double-check that. Got it? So, Brazil doesn't build with brick out of stupidity, not because of being backwards or by choice, okay? It builds that way because in a country with cheap labor and expensive capital, spending labor and saving capital is the right answer. So, masonry is the technology that this equation produces. And the price of all that was in that photo of the dumpster you saw, right? Up to 30%of material turning into waste , productivity that dropped 20%in 30 years. A budget that varies upwards by a quarter. And this cost doesn't just disappear, right? It is only paid for by those who weren't at the decision-making table. And often, when it comes to construction, the one who isn't at the decision-making table is you. And I have some good news here. You don't need to move to another country or change construction systems to escape the worst part of this bill. What you actually need is planning and a design. And this is precisely where most projects get lost, right? It's not for lack of money, it's because of decisions made at the wrong time, with missing information on the job site and workers waiting for answers. And that is why we have two options for you. One of them is "Casa Certa." It is a planning system for those who are going to build, buy, or renovate. There is a spreadsheet that covers the whole process; you fill it out, discover everything you need, and see the financial and financing aspects, etc., to make your best decision, whether to buy, renovate, build from scratch, or even just wait. And there is only one goal here. If you are going into a meeting with an architect, engineer, or builder, it is ideal that you know which questions to ask. Actually, the modules that matter most for this video are about where to save, because we need to know how to distinguish between things that truly lower construction costs and things that will push costs —potentially very large ones—to later. And that is the difference between saving on paper and saving in the dumpster later on. It’s even on a launch offer, okay? There’s a link in the description. And there is a second path for you who also want to build, which is to have us do your projects. Qú Green, alright? With this logic right from the start. We create high-performance architectural projects , with a focus on efficiency, thermal comfort, and sustainability. Most of our work is behind-the-scenes consulting for architects, construction firms, and developers as well. But we open a limited number of spots to apply this methodology directly to projects from concept to delivery. But I need to be very clear about one thing, okay? This is a contracted and paid project service. It is not a trade, it is not a partnership, and it is not profit sharing. You fill out the form in the description, our team will analyze it and get back to you to discuss the scope and the investment as well. So those are the two paths you have. You want to decide for yourself, there’s the right course, right? Deciding with method. And if you want your project done with this logic from the very beginning, talk to us. Both links are in the description. And I hope I have contributed to you in some way here. If you enjoyed the video, leave a like, don't forget to subscribe to the channel, and I’ll see you in the next video. Best regards.