There is no doubt in the usefulness of the YouTube tutorials. A young system analyst in Brazil made use of these tutorials to construct his two-story house instead of hiring a professional construction crew and saved several thousand bucks. He did not have any construction experience and learned everything from YouTube tutorials and his friends and family. The 33 years old Evandro Klimpel Balmant and his wife Ane Caroline de Jesus Balmant, 34, now live in a beautiful 200 square-meter house which they built themselves in Almirante Tamandare municipality, a metropolitan area of Curitiba, Brazil. It took the couple three years to build the house from the ground up, and the upstairs still needs a plaster. They say that the house was worth the wait and they also managed to save almost 50% of the cost which would not have been possible with a construction company involved.
Evandro was not planning on building the house himself, but when he came to know about the cost of labor only for the foundations, he decided to give it a try. His father in law inherited a plot of land and told the couple that they could build a house on it if they wanted since they were tired of their noisy apartment in downtown Curitiba. They decided to build the house but realized that it would cost them 12000 Brazilian Reals ($3000) for only the cost of the construction crew and excluding the construction materials. Even combining both of their salaries, they won’t be able to cover the fees of the workforce. This was when he started watching YouTube tutorials on how to lay a foundation. He talked to his cousin who is also an architect and got to work. Once he laid out the foundations, he decided to complete the rest of the construction himself as well. He said, “Then I stopped and thought ‘If I could do the foundation, I can do the rest.”
He researched the materials for the walls and decided to use ecological bricks made by a local factory. These were a little expensive than regular bricks, but they also provided thermal and acoustic insulation and was very easy to assemble as well. He also didn’t pay for the transport cost and saved some money there as well. There were things that he needed help with like pouring the concrete pillars and the upper floor, and he hired professionals for these tasks. His father also had some experience with building roofs, so he also helped Evandro with the wooden skeleton of the roof. They built the frame within 15 days and saved some more money. Since he didn’t want to leave any significant gaps in the ceiling which can cause leaks, so he paid a professional to lay roof tiles.
After three long years, Evandro and his wife finished the house at a total cost of 150,000 Brazilian reals ($37,600). This is almost half of the total price which is required by a construction company for a project of this size. They are living in the house for a year and a half but still need to plaster the stairs. However, there is no rush since the downstairs kitchen, living and dining area, bathroom, two bedrooms, balcony, laundry area, and a garage is enough for now. Evandro said, “Every stage was a challenge, but I managed to cut labor costs almost completely, and that was worth it.” This is not the first time someone has built a house using YouTube tutorials. Previously, Cara Brookins, a mother of four from Little Rock, Arkansas built a two-story house using YouTube tutorials as well.