Steel Buildings for Brazil

We have shipped two buildings into Brazil, the largest a 100 m clear span food factory at 98 m long with 7 m bays and 9,800 m² of floor. Both taught the same lesson: the structural design was the easy part, and the two things that consumed project time were the site wind figure and the tax sequence.

This page sets out what a first-time importer should decide before asking for a price, in the order that the decisions become expensive.

Wind, and why the coast is not the only problem

Brazil's wind climate is not uniform and it is not simply a coastal gradient. The south has its own pattern driven by extra-tropical systems, the northeast has a different one, and the interior plateau has almost none. A frame designed against a general national assumption will be over-built in one place and under-built in another, and neither error is visible in a finished building.

What to send me instead of a wind speed

If you do not have a design wind speed, send the municipality, the site coordinates and the intended eave height. The wind figure follows from the location, and we will state the value in km/h with the source it came from so that your engineer can check it. A figure quoted without a source is a figure that cannot be defended in a review.

Why span and wind have to be quoted together

A 40 m portal frame in a moderate wind zone and the same 40 m frame in a strong one are not the same tonnage, and the difference is in the rafters and the bracing rather than in the columns. A supplier who quotes span without wind is quoting the easier half of the question. Ask for the section list and the wind speed together, because separately neither can be checked.

The corrosion map, which is not the same as the wind map

Coastal Brazil is aggressive to steel at a level that surprises buyers from temperate markets, and the effect reaches further inland than people expect because of prevailing onshore winds. A site five kilometres from the sea is not an inland site.

Distance from the sea, as a specification input

Ask the coating system to be specified per zone rather than per building: the members close to the coast, the members inland, and the roof underside where condensation sits. A single system across a coastal project is either expensive everywhere or inadequate somewhere. The specification should be a dry film thickness in microns, not a product name. Give the distance and the prevailing wind direction together, since a sheltered site twenty kilometres inland can be gentler than an exposed one at five. Give the distance and the prevailing wind direction together, since a sheltered site twenty kilometres inland can be gentler than an exposed one at five. Give the distance and the prevailing wind direction together, since a sheltered site twenty kilometres inland can be gentler than an exposed one at five. Give the distance and the prevailing wind direction together, since a sheltered site twenty kilometres inland can be gentler than an exposed one at five.

Condensation, which is a Brazil problem in the south

In the south, the combination of cool nights and humid air produces condensation on the underside of a single-skin roof for a large part of the year. It looks like a leak and it is not one. The remedy is an envelope decision — a liner, a vapour control layer or a ventilated cavity — and it has to be made before the roof build-up is priced, not after the first wet season.

Importing, and the state step

The federal clearance is the part everyone plans for and the state step is the part that delays projects. The goods are entered nationally and then taxed at state level on their way to the final destination, and the two processes run on different clocks.

Why the destination state matters before the price

The same building entered through the same port for two different states can carry different total import charges, because the state step is not uniform. This is not something a Chinese fabricator can calculate for you, and a supplier who quotes a delivered-to-site price in Brazil is either using a forwarder who has done the work or absorbing a risk they cannot price. Ask which, and ask who is the importer of record.

The documentation language

Documents presented in Portuguese move faster than documents presented in English with a translation attached, because the officer reading them is not translating. Ask your broker whether the commercial invoice and packing list should be issued in Portuguese, and check the description of the goods against the tariff description before the vessel sails rather than after. Ask also whether the member marks on the erection drawings should be in Portuguese, because that is where a misread mark becomes a misplaced member. Ask also whether the member marks on the erection drawings should be in Portuguese, because that is where a misread mark becomes a misplaced member. Ask also whether the member marks on the erection drawings should be in Portuguese, because that is where a misread mark becomes a misplaced member. Ask also whether the member marks on the erection drawings should be in Portuguese, because that is where a misread mark becomes a misplaced member.

What to settle before asking for a price

Four items remove most of the uncertainty from a Brazilian enquiry, and all four are answerable without an engineering study.

The six inputs, in this order

Site municipality and distance from the sea, span and length, eave height, the destination state, the port you would use, and the intended use of the building. With those six, a quotation can be built that is comparable with another. Without them, three suppliers will produce three prices for three different buildings, and the comparison will cost more than the enquiry saved. The full list is on what to send before asking for a price.

Who is the importer, named rather than assumed

Name the entity that will appear on the entry. If it is your own company, the delivery term should be one that stops at a port rather than at a site. If it is a local partner, say so and let the term reflect it. This single decision determines the whole commercial structure of the order, and it is much cheaper to make now than to correct later. The mechanics are on who clears customs.

The language of the finished drawings

Ask whether the shop drawings and the erection drawings should be issued with Portuguese member marks and a Portuguese title block. This costs nothing at the drawing stage and it removes a translation step for the erector, which is the step where a mark gets misread and a member ends up in the wrong position. A translated title block costs nothing at the drawing stage and removes one interpretation step for the erector, which is where marks get misread. A translated title block costs nothing at the drawing stage and removes one interpretation step for the erector, which is where marks get misread. A translated title block costs nothing at the drawing stage and removes one interpretation step for the erector, which is where marks get misread. A translated title block costs nothing at the drawing stage and removes one interpretation step for the erector, which is where marks get misread.