My wife is Brazilian, and watches the Brazilian TV Channel TV Globo. It is actually quite good (the world news is better than the USA channels). The ads they run are also interesting…one in particular-its a company that makes a machine that makes concrete blocks. The machine is pretty small-it forms about 3 standard blocks in a minute or so. is there a market for such a machine? Why would you make your own blocks? You have to mix the concrete and shovel it into this thing-who would buy such a machine?
People who build houses in termite-infested or often-flooded areas, perhaps? Know of any place like that?
Actually, we are spoiled in the US. Here, concrete / cement (I can never keep it straight which one is the completed product, and which one is the binder) is an industrial or wholesale product. Few people by concrete for themselves.
In other parts of the world, the third world especially, concrete is CONSUMER product. Most people buying it are making it for their own home, driveway, etc.
J.
I’ve visited Haiti a few times on humanitarian missions. Part of what we did was help construct several buildings. In the completely off the grid village where we live and work, all of the buildings are made of concrete block and each block is made by hand on site. Two locals spent all day, every day mixing concrete, shoveling it into a metal form, packing it down and taking the form off - envision kids on a beach filling buckets of sand to build a castle. In a 10-12 hour day the two of them could make about 100 blocks. They would love to have a machine. Lack of electricity and inaccessibility of fossil fuels makes that a pipe dream for now.