ZEMCH 2015 - International Conference Proceedings | Page 510

CCA Program
In the CCA program, most activities are performed by a construction company, which is responsible for developing, building and delivering the housing schemes to final consumers, as well as
monitoring the product’s use after its occupancy. It is also the company’s responsibility to gather
potential costumers and develop a social work project to assist them on the legal issues regarding
the acquisition and the definition of condominium rules. The city council and the financial institution have a secondary role on the process. The financial institution evaluates company’s performance according to the program’s rules, evaluates the product that is being developed, checking
if it is in accordance with the city’s urban legislation, as well as checks if prospective costumers
have enough credit to obtain the loan.
Housing schemes developed by the company generally consist of a hundred of role dwellings.
Usually, the highest possible occupancy ratio is considered, due to the high costs of land in Brazil.
Although housing units were repetitive, the product design cannot be characterized as modular.
From the point of view of product architecture the project is considered to be integral, consisting
of load-bearing block walls, with hydraulic and electrical systems close attached to it. After walls
are built, they cannot be modified because of their load bearing properties. Therefore, changes in
those systems must be planned well in advance, as extra features to allow flexibility in the block
walls need to be pre-defined and then placed in the construction phase. Once the architecture
and building services design have been finished, they have to be approved by the financial institution and the city council. The approved plan cannot be modified during the construction
process, as there is another evaluation process before the product delivery, in which this issue is
considered.
After receiving approval, the company can advertise and start building the housing scheme. Interested costumers are registered to apply for a loan contract with the financial institution. Since
dwellings are commercialized at the beginning of the construction phase, costumers are allowed
to request some changes to better suit their needs. The company offers a list of options that can
be modified in the dwelling plan, giving a period of 30 days for costumers to request changes.
The options are mainly some small changes on electrical and hydraulic systems, such as adding
outlets and relocating the kitchen sink, or changes in finishing materials.
Flexibility is also limited due to legal restrictions. If costumers do not want the standard finishing materials in wet surfaces, they will receive them in boxes to exchange for another, as the company is not
allowed to deliver the houses without such materials. Moreover, requests concerning spatial modifications are very difficult to be fulfilled since local authorities have previously approved that plan.
Sometimes, the company receives requests for change after the 30 days period. In this case, there is
a need to check in what stage is the construction, and if it is still possible to realize the request.
In the production stage each block of houses was built at a time. A block consists of two production batches of 3 to 5 units, and it takes around 4 months to build an entire block. After the completion of a batch of units and the necessary infrastructure, they are delivered to final costumers and the company starts to build the next batch. Building materials are normally bought for
each block of houses, and the negotiation with suppliers start at the beginning of the production
phase. The company has some steady local suppliers for most materials. Though, for ceramic tiles
and bathroom accessories, the suppliers are located far away and they typically deliver standard
materials in large batches, which enable the company to buy at a relatively low price.

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ZEMCH 2015 | International Conference | Bari - Lecce, Italy